Mom's Possessed (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 7
Regardless of the turmoil inside, Luke’s outward appearance was utterly cold.
Bonita’s pupils trembled like barley at harvest time as she gripped the doorknob, seeing the Duke’s expression—exactly as rumored for his icy-blooded nature.
‘Was I… not supposed to come in?’
That terrifying face…
Perhaps he’d suddenly snap and chase her out, declaring a child like her had no place in this mansion.
“Oh, Bonita! What are you doing just standing there?”
“I, um…”
A gloomy voice sounded from behind Bonita. Luke involuntarily flinched at the chill in those words.
Creeeak.
As the door swung fully open, a golden-haired, blue-eyed woman stood there as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Luke’s eyes met Aria’s.
With an irritated expression, she yanked Bonita toward herself and sneered,
“Hello there? I’m the idiot who can’t understand a word you say.”
“That’s not what I meant…!”
Luke nearly exploded in anger, but stopped short at the sight of tears welling up in Bonita’s eyes. His expression turned as foolish as the village simpleton’s.
“No, no—that wasn’t meant for you. Please don’t cry…”
*Sniff.*
Damn it.
Though he rarely used such crude language, nothing else came to mind. Luke froze solid on the spot like ice.
It was quite a sight—the nearly two-meter-tall giant stiff as a fool before a child. And this was none other than Duke Lysianthus himself, a man burdened with every dark rumor imaginable.
Ed, the steward watching nearby, nearly burst out laughing, but choked it back into a hiccup under the sheer audacity of Aria’s amused expression. All he could manage was a hiccup.
‘How could you say something like that to a child?’
True, Aria herself had accidentally let slip a harsh word or two in front of Bonita before, but at least she’d never said it directly to the child. Even as a mistake, it was infuriating.
‘After all I did to help you bond with her!’
Aria, who had happily baked a cake together with Bonita, had been the one to suggest, “Why don’t you take this to your father as a gift?”
“Darling, how about showing this to Papa? It’s a present.”
“But it’s such a mess… Won’t he find it annoying and dislike it? Besides, Your Grace hasn’t even come to see me in three whole days…”
“That’s impossible. His Grace loves you very much. He’s just a bit awkward—that’s all. For now.”
‘After all that convincing I did!’
She’d hit precisely the point Bonita was worried about.
She felt an urge to hurl the cake box away (in truth, during their courtship, Luke had once been hit by Elodie with an actual cake), but considering her own position, she held back.
Above all, she didn’t want Luke to appear so utterly ruined in front of Bonita.
“I, um… well…”
Aria’s gaze turned toward Luke.
He was still standing before a girl half his size, repeating foolish, parrot-like nonsense—“that,” “well,” “you see”—over and over.
His tendency to stammer when genuinely flustered was a trait no one else knew.
Aria decided it was time to help her ex-husband.
“Bonita, come here.”
Bonita took a few hesitant steps backward and buried herself in Aria’s skirts. Luke glared at her resentfully.
“Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”
But that was absurd.
“I knocked!”
“…Well.”
Luke fell silent, lips pressed tightly shut, staring at Bonita hiding behind Aria’s hem. His sharp red eyes brimmed with injustice and lingering regret.
At this rate, dawn would break soon. Aria sighed and urged him gently.
“Your Grace, wouldn’t it be best to apologize to Bonita?”
“Oh.”
He let out a dazed little sound.
His hand floundered in midair.
“Ahem… Bonita.”
“Y-yes?”
Her voice trembled sweetly.
No matter how accustomed Bonita might be to such situations, facing Luke—whose demeanor was far more intimidating than other men—left her terrified. Luke slowly recalled this fact and took a deliberate step back. Bonita’s expression softened just a little.
“It truly wasn’t meant for you. I thought you were someone else.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
Luke tried his hardest to speak in the gentlest, kindest tone he could muster.
“You’re my daughter—you can come to my study anytime, for any reason or none at all. You’re always welcome.”
Bonita’s eyes widened at such an unprecedented statement. The fear in her red eyes receded slightly, replaced by curiosity. Luke breathed an inward sigh of relief.
Ed, the steward standing nearby, cleared his throat. Deciding to spare the utterly tense Duke, he asked the little lady on his behalf.
“My lady, what brings you to the study? And if I’m not mistaken, the box Aria is holding looks like a gift.”
“Oh!”
Bonita gave a short gasp and glanced back. Aria nodded.
After a moment of hesitation, Bonita cautiously confided in the Duke, who now seemed slightly less frightening than before.
“Mother and I baked a cake… She said you’d like it, so I came to give it to you as a present.”
Luke stared at Aria in astonishment—more precisely, at the gift box she held.
‘Your Grace… a present…’
He was momentarily torn—should he feel saddened by the distant form of address, or overjoyed by his daughter’s first gift? Meanwhile, Bonita watched him anxiously, her eyes flickering with worry.
“I-I mean, you might not like it… Now that I think about it, this probably wasn’t a very good idea—”
“Nonsense!”
Luke cried out in alarm. He nearly snatched the box from Aria and placed it carefully on his study desk as if it were a priceless treasure.
“I truly love it. May ‘Dad’ open your gift now?”
He deliberately emphasized the word ‘Dad.’ Unfortunately, Bonita was too captivated by the Duke’s gentle smile to notice his earnest hint.
Bonita blinked slowly, then gave a small nod.
At her permission, Luke carefully unwrapped the package. As he untied the meticulously knotted ribbon, a sudden sense of déjà vu struck him.
‘This…’
“Elodie, how on earth did you tie this ribbon? It won’t come undone at all.”
“I tied it tightly with all my love!”
“No, seriously—it won’t budge.”
“Just cut it with scissors.”
“Absolutely not! Anything you give me, I’ll keep perfectly preserved and display forever—even if it’s just a gift ribbon.”
“…Isn’t that kind of creepy?”
An oddly tied ribbon, impossible to decipher.
Luke paused briefly, lost in distant memories, then skillfully untied the peculiar knot with practiced hands.
Inside lay a cake exuding a sweet fragrance. Luke’s gaze fell upon its contents.
Roughly spread whipped cream, unevenly sliced strawberries clumsily arranged on top—clearly the work of untrained hands.
Compared to what he usually ate, it was a pitifully plain cake.
Yet imagining his little daughter making it with her tiny hands made his chest tighten as if someone were squeezing his heart.
Overwhelmed by a sudden wave of emotion, Luke fell silent for a moment, then carefully knelt down.
When he dropped to one knee, their eye levels finally matched. He had to be exquisitely gentle so as not to frighten her. Placing his hands on his knees, he offered a soft smile.
“What a wonderful cake, Bonita. Truly a splendid gift.”
“Oh.”
Luke reached out his hand—very, very slowly. Bonita flinched slightly at the approaching hand but, sensing his considerate demeanor, stayed in place instead of pulling away.
Thud.
When his enormous hand—big as a pot lid—touched her small head, Luke silently exhaled in relief, his tension finally easing.
Meeting his daughter was blissful, yet his heart had plummeted so hard from nervousness that he felt his lifespan shortening.
“…?”
And then his hand froze there.
Bonita looked up at Luke’s hand resting on her head with bewildered eyes. Aria pinched the bridge of her nose.
Ed, still watching, cleared his throat again to prompt the Duke.
“Ahem… Your Grace. Weren’t you going to… stroke her head?”
“…”
Stroke?
At those words, Luke seriously wondered if he dared do such a thing—and then his eyes met Bonita’s.
Pink irises.
A face identical to Elodie’s.
Seeing Bonita, whose very being proved she was his blood, his mind went blank again. To him, his daughter was like a mirage—precious, fragile, liable to vanish if touched wrongly.
In the end, he swiftly pulled his hand back. He couldn’t bring himself to touch her again.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Silence settled over the study.
For various reasons.
‘What should I say?’
Luke’s mind had gone utterly blank—like a simpleton facing someone he desperately needed to care for.
‘What… was that just now?’
Bonita was busy puzzling over Luke’s bizarre behavior.
‘Why has he gotten so foolish in my absence? Honestly, this is exactly why I can’t leave him alone!’
Aria was already deciding she’d have to keep her idiot ex-husband under close watch—she almost wanted to slap him.
Truly, each lost in their own thoughts.
And Ed, the steward witnessing all this in real time, groaned inwardly. If only they’d dismiss him—he feared he’d suffocate under the weight of this excruciatingly awkward silence.
Helpless, he stepped forward.
“Ah, Your Grace?”
“What is it?”
Hiss.
Ed broke into a cold sweat, silently screaming at the Duke’s unusually stern expression.
“Well, um… since the young lady went to the trouble of baking a cake, how about the two of you enjoy a cozy tea time together?”
“Tea time?”
The Duke’s eyebrows twitched fiercely. Ed gulped, feeling as if the man before him might murder someone at any moment.
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.
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😅😅 They are about to die mentally, sooo exhausting