It was a voice resembling thick, heavy fog.
Together with him, his leaning body cast a long shadow across the table.
As his face drew closer, a hand reached out and pried open her tightly sealed lips.
His thick-knuckled thumb and middle finger probed the saliva-drenched inside of her mouth.
The slightly irritable motion slowly forced apart her clenched teeth.
“Ugh….”
His curled fingers slipped out, brushing against her sensitive palate.
A faint, hazy moan escaped through her parted lips.
A pale streak of blood-tinged saliva formed a thin pink thread connecting him and Yerpi.
He wiped the saliva coiled around his fingers and asked,
“Why did you say that?”
“What….”
“Did you really think I’d bring in a new woman so soon after getting married?”
Ah.
Only belatedly did Yerpi understand Raymond’s words, letting out a soft sigh.
At the same time, the events of last night came flooding back.
The reason Raymond had come, the reason he had seemed particularly upset—it was all because of the message she had asked him to deliver.
‘I didn’t even consider that it might have hurt his feelings.’
But from Raymond’s perspective, it must have sounded utterly absurd.
Even if it was merely a contractual arrangement, this was still undeniably a marriage.
While Yerpi was retracing the situation in her mind, Raymond pressed her again for an answer.
“Answer me. Do I seem like such a shameless man to you?”
She hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking.
“It’s not that.”
Raymond frowned at her evasive reply.
But that was all—no reproachful words followed.
Perhaps Raymond assumed this kind of hesitant response stemmed from her feeling abandoned by him.
‘But that’s not it.’
Yet she truly harbored no resentment at all about the matter.
If Raymond hadn’t been of dragon blood and she hadn’t been a spice, he would have met someone he loved and married her instead.
This entire chain of events had led Yerpi to regard herself as something alien, an intrusion.
Yerpi lowered her eyes. It was the only way she could hide the discomfort welling up inside.
Not only did she avoid his gaze, but she cautiously pulled her body backward, increasing the distance between them as if sensing his discomfort.
Raymond’s brow furrowed tighter as he noticed this.
Unaware of his expression, Yerpi was forced to lift her face by a hand gripping her chin.
Fierce golden eyes glared into hers.
Flustered, she averted her gaze and stammered as if making excuses.
“It really isn’t like that. So….”
“So?”
His sharp retort caused Yerpi to swallow her words.
If she had to name the reason she was avoiding Raymond so intensely—
‘Because I was fated to become your crystal.’
A thing neither dead nor alive.
In the original story, Yerpi was a pitiful woman.
She received no attention from her husband, unaware of what he did or where he went.
Or whom he brought home.
The protagonist of the original work, Charlotte Deilang, had been walking the path of learning at the Grand Temple in the capital as a candidate for Saintess.
Everyone had been proud of Charlotte becoming a Saintess candidate.
That was, until she suddenly disappeared.
People didn’t know why, but the original story recorded the truth.
An ancient trap existed beneath the Grand Temple.
Triggered by curiosity, Charlotte fell into Raymond’s domain.
Raymond took the stranger he found in the forest back to his castle and imprisoned her.
Was this the price for activating the ancient trap?
Charlotte lost all her memories, not even knowing who she was.
Raymond regarded her with deep suspicion, convinced she was lying.
‘If it had been the original him, he would have killed her on the spot.’
Even Raymond himself couldn’t explain why he had brought Charlotte to the castle.
But readers of the original story would have known.
That from the moment their eyes first met, it was love.
Only he himself remained unaware.
Eventually, obsession turns into love.
Witnessing Charlotte, injured because of him, Raymond sincerely regretted his actions and devoted his entire heart solely to her.
But Raymond already had a wife.
A pitiful, wretched wife who desperately begged for her husband’s love.
Yerpi only discovered the existence of her younger sister long after true love had already begun.
Learning that Raymond loved her own younger sister, Yerpi fell into profound shock.
Seeing the two share genuine love, Yerpi went completely mad.
In the end, she chose to leap from a seaside cliff.
Washed ashore by the waves, she was found unconscious on the beach.
But even in this state, Yerpi was useful.
She possessed a power that Charlotte herself lacked.
The value of a spice.
Washed up onto the shore, Yerpi’s entire body had crystallized due to the sea’s crystallizing moisture—touching it turned flesh into crystal.
She should have been dead. Yet miraculously, Yerpi remained alive even as a crystal—retaining the abilities of a spice.
Even if Raymond had a lover named Charlotte, due to the nature of dragon blood, he still needed a spice.
Officially, Yerpi—unconscious and fully crystallized—was declared dead.
But as a crystal, Yerpi could remain with the two forever.
Beyond the moment the story’s protagonists reached their happy ending—eternally.
All of it had been memories from a dream, and it was the cause of her avoiding Raymond.
But she couldn’t reveal what she knew here and now.
Instead of speaking the truth she held inside, Yerpi chose to apologize.
“If I upset you, I’m sorry. I misspoke.”
If his feelings were hurt, bowing her head was the only possible response.
Before her silent, obedient apology, Raymond grimaced.
He sighed, leaned back as if dismissing the matter, and began eating.
Even if the meal was decent, dinner eaten in a temporary tent was simple.
Inside the tent, only the faint clinking of utensils echoed softly.
Flustered by the sudden turn of events, Yerpi could do nothing but stare blankly at him scooping stew.
‘Is that it?’
She hadn’t expected his anger to subside over just an apology.
Yerpi, who had been wondering if she should beg more specifically for forgiveness over her mistake, now wore a dazed expression.
If she had made even a small error, the Count never hesitated to raise his whip.
Apologies weren’t just once or twice—they were dozens, hundreds of times as a bare minimum, and even then, forgiveness wasn’t guaranteed; she had to endure until the Count grew weary and tossed the whip aside.
But this man before her was not the Count—he was her husband.
‘Why did I expect him to react like my father?’
Was it because she had been conditioned beneath the Count’s rule for far too long?
Unconsciously, she might have assumed anyone angry at her was just like her father.
Then, inwardly, she turned over Raymond’s earlier question again.
Had she truly believed, as he said, that he was such a shameless man?
But her reverie didn’t last long.
“What now?”
“Huh?”
Her reflexive reply was met with a sharp glare from Raymond.
His sharp golden pupils contracted as they fixed on her.
So he still hadn’t calmed down after all?
Perhaps he had been waiting for Yerpi to grovel on her own.
‘…And I didn’t even realize.’
She had idly weighed her thoughts in silence—clearly, she had committed an even greater rudeness.
Just as regret welled up inside her, Raymond continued speaking.
“You, who wouldn’t even consider this as food—did you expect to be treated like a noble lady?”
At his words, Yerpi slowly blinked.
Then, gradually, she deciphered the meaning hidden within his mocking tone.
“No. It’s a wonderful dinner. Thank you for inviting me.”
Raymond raised one eyebrow at her response.
Though he had always reacted with dissatisfaction no matter what she did, he didn’t flare up with anger as he had before.
Seeing Raymond silently continue his meal, Yerpi relaxed and reached for the bread closest to her.
The rye bread, freshly baked from the iron pot, still held warmth and emitted a rich, appetizing aroma.
Tearing off a small piece revealed a soft, tender interior beneath its coarse exterior.
The morsel in her mouth tasted far better than its rough appearance suggested.
‘Nutty and delicious.’
After swallowing one bite, the hunger she had felt earlier intensified.
Impulsively, she scooped up a spoonful of soup and brought it to her lips.
The corn soup, made with fresh kernels, filled her stomach with its unique sweetness and comforting warmth.
Unlike the dry, twisted bread scraps and sour-tasting soup she had eaten at the Count’s mansion, every dish on the table tasted fresh and wholesome.
“It’s delicious.”
She meant it—this was no mere formality.
Hearing this, the man who had been glaring at her resumed his meal.
Though he had started eating first, it was Yerpi who finished sooner.
As she set down her spoon, he seemed to itch with words—finally unable to hold back, he asked.
“That’s it?”
“The portion was small. Should I have more?”
Her gentle eyes turned toward him.
A gaze that silently said she would do exactly as he wished, no matter what he offered.
He seemed about to say something, then instead exhaled a short sigh.
“Never mind.”
With that brief command, he shook his head and pushed the remaining bread aside.
Yet even as the meal ended, his eyes never left Yerpi.
Not even as she was about to leave the tent.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
