Love Me Just Once (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6
Afterward, Lakmataga, having lost their heir, left Reden. It was an unavoidable choice, as the entire house risked being branded with treason.
Ophelia heard the news while confined to the princess’s chamber. Mahanas had locked her in the room because she had been acting like a madwoman at the time.
Imprisoned, Ophelia lived without caring what went into her mouth or what was draped over her body. Whenever she closed her eyes, the execution grounds she had seen from the watchtower flickered before her.
Being awake changed nothing. If night was the endless repetition of her fiancé’s death, then day was already a world in which he was gone.
Then, one day, a marriage proposal came for her.
It had not even been a full year since her fiancé’s death.
Late in the afternoon, Mahanas entered her room. He was drunk, as he sometimes was, but unlike before, he appeared exceedingly pleased.
Although aware her brother had entered, Ophelia did not turn to look at him. Instead, she curled up on the bed and pulled the blanket over her head.
In the past, she would have watched his mood carefully, fearing his temper might flare up for no reason.
But after losing her fiancé, Ophelia had lost all will to protect herself—as if the mechanism that once guided her toward safe choices had broken down.
“Ophelia.”
When Mahanas called her name, stepping closer to the bed, Ophelia thought he might grab her by the hair.
But he didn’t. Instead, he sat down on the edge of the bed. The mattress sank under his weight, and the familiar scent of his habitual tea mixed with alcohol wafted over her, making her stomach churn.
Disgusted by her brother and everything about him, Ophelia curled herself tighter. Mahanas placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Sister.”
At the sound of his wheedling voice, she nearly vomited. Lying on her side, she stubbornly kept staring ahead. A thick glass vase glinted in the sunlight streaming through the window.
Mahanas began to spew words as rotten as overripe fruit.
“I’ve found you a new marriage prospect.”
Even upon hearing those words, Ophelia kept her eyes fixed on the vase. It shimmered golden, embedded with tiny gemstones, and most of all, it looked incredibly solid and heavy….
Mahanas continued.
“A splendid man—utterly incomparable to that vermin. None other than the Grand Duke of Aglante…”
When she came to her senses, the vase was shattered, and her brother, blood trickling from his face, glared at her with a crimson flush.
That day, Ophelia was slapped twice across the cheek. Mahanas, who would normally have kicked her again and again, stopped there.
She knew perfectly well why he held back—he couldn’t afford to damage the merchandise he intended to sell off to the Grand Duke—and that knowledge brought her no satisfaction.
Afterward, she did everything in her power to refuse the marriage.
But the one person who had ever respected her wishes was already dead, so matters proceeded regardless of her will.
On the day she finally crossed Reden’s border for the wedding, countless people came out to watch the princess’s bridal procession.
Ophelia took note of every single person who joyfully threw flowers and paper. These were the same people who two years prior had hurled stones at Lakmata’s only son.
The Grand Duke of Aglante turned out to be tolerable enough, considering he was someone Mahanas had approved of.
Her husband never raised a hand against her, nor did he make unreasonable demands.
Though perhaps distrusting his foreign bride, he handled all state affairs himself.
She had no complaints. Though he entrusted her with no role in governance, he granted her a territory she could manage freely. Though small compared to Aglante as a whole, it was vastly richer than Reden.
Without that wealth, bringing Reden to ruin would have been far more difficult.
The gold coins flowing from the land her husband had given her proved extremely useful in strangling her despicable brother. Mahanas, who had sought profit by handing her over to the Grand Duke, was ultimately ruined by it.
When Reden’s national debt swelled uncontrollably due to the prince’s repeated failed investments, Mahanas came to her again.
Unlike before, Ophelia feigned kindness toward her brother, who now watched her every move anxiously. By then, she already held the noose that would fully close around his neck.
“This is the last time I’ll help you. It’s becoming too difficult for me to intervene further.”
If it had been her, she wouldn’t have believed a word from someone who previously tried to smash her head with a vase—but her brother obediently did exactly as she instructed.
Once certain there was no escape for him, Ophelia finally pulled the rope tight. The slow strangulation proceeded with almost pleasant ease.
After even the royal family’s treasures had been seized as collateral, Mahanas came to her once more.
Ophelia deliberately ignored him, knowing despair after prolonged waiting would be all the more bitter.
She met her brother again only when he was nearly dead from anxiety.
Mahanas, whose face was now pale and hollow—unimaginable compared to his former self—immediately began begging the moment he saw her.
“Ophelia, my sister… just help me one more time.”
What a futile plea it was.
Ophelia showed her brother, who still failed to grasp his position, just how worthless the knees of a destitute prince truly were.
At last realizing that his current predicament was entirely his own doing, Mahanas let out a mad scream and lunged at her.
Ophelia mocked him and drove him out without giving him anything.
Though cast out like a street beggar, Mahanas eventually returned—his debt weighed so heavily that it crushed even his rage.
Ophelia never granted him an audience again.
Not long after, she heard news of his death. He had been drinking in a tavern, concealing his identity, and died after getting caught in a brawl.
Upon hearing this privately delivered news, Ophelia seized all assets belonging to the Reden royal family. Since she took everything down to the last copper coin, the dead prince would be buried without even a coffin—an overly generous fate compared to his vile nature.
On the night she heard of Mahanas’s death, Ophelia fell asleep with a smile. The fruit of her long patience was sweet.
Yet peace would be sweeter still—and so she chose the latter.
Drinking one of the potent poisons she had long kept on hand, Ophelia closed her eyes.
Everything seemed to end that way.
Until she opened her eyes again in Reden’s princess chamber.
Now, Ophelia could no longer ignore her circumstances.
She didn’t know why, but she had returned to the past—specifically, to the most dreadful moment: right before her marriage.
Ophelia couldn’t understand why this had happened to her. Until then, she had been skeptical of divine existence, equally dismissive of miracles or fairy tales.
Then why?
She longed to scream at the heavens, but she lacked the strength. Hating someone with every ounce of her being both kept vengeance alive and consumed everything else.
She still cursed Reden and Mahanas, yet she had no desire to relive that long, tedious life again.
With eyes closed, she curled her body. Beyond the tightly shuttered window, crimson twilight seeped through.
[This is the timeline separator]Standing before the door carved from white wood, Idren wondered why he was here.
He stood before the very room from which he had been driven out the day before.
After being expelled from Ophelia’s bedroom by her own hand yesterday, Idren had thought of nothing but Ophelia. Those vivid blue eyes glaring at him through the crack in the door kept flickering in his mind.
Though he and Ophelia had never been close, Idren had never seen her wear such a face brimming with hostility.
It felt as though the fault lay entirely with him—and alongside guilt, he felt shame.
Of course it was absurd. In this relationship, the one truly at fault was Ophelia, who for over three years had treated him worse than a stranger, only to suddenly take her own life one day.
That he should suffer guilt over it was clearly unnatural by any measure.
Yet Idren could reach no other conclusion but that he must apologize to her. Since Ophelia would never admit fault herself, there was simply no alternative.
He wasn’t untouched by frustration at his own frivolous attitude—but Idren was already accustomed to disappointing himself. Having repeatedly cast aside his pride for the most humiliating kind of love, this was nothing new.
Knowing that acting on a decision without further hesitation was best for his mental health, Idren resolved to apologize to her at breakfast the next morning.
But Ophelia did not appear at breakfast. Instead, he faced the King of Reden, who bore no resemblance to his daughter, and the prince, who looked very much like his father.
Though he had many questions he wished to press them on, Idren set those aside for now. First, he needed to resolve the matter concerning Ophelia.
As soon as breakfast ended, he went straight to the princess’s chamber—both to check that nothing untoward had happened to her during the night and because he preferred to get the apology over with as soon as possible.
Yet upon arriving at his destination, he found himself hesitating once again.
He should have brought flowers. Regretting his empty hands, Idren took a deep breath.
He knocked on the door.
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
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Cowardice? Bitch you barely even look at him or speak to him 😦😡
Finally! Put her in her place!!! She should treat you better 😡😡😡
That caught him by surprise 😭🥺🤣 that he almost choked