Chapter 7. A Cruel Winter Night
2023.10.07.
While Count Pelliese sighed, brushing his arm covered in goosebumps, Priscilla took up that sigh.
“Ah, well. It’s a bit of a loss since she was more than just an extra pair of hands—.”
Priscilla regretted losing Yuan, who had done far more than simple chores, and almost smacked her lips in frustration. But she held back from telling her husband that she had entrusted all the financial ledgers entirely to Yuan.
“Anyway, we don’t have to worry about marrying off that girl anymore. Having two useless daughters, both nobles, and having to give dowries just to send them away—just thinking about it used to turn my stomach.”
“Mother, you’re too kind. You actually thought about that? She hasn’t even debuted in society—why bother? We can just treat her like she doesn’t exist!”
“If we get land as a dowry, wouldn’t that be great? If we put it under your father’s or Frederic’s name, we might actually become true nobles with real territory! Just imagine—Count Treloni’s third son took a liking to Yuan recently. How perfect would that have been! You know that family, right? All they have is land. If we played it right, we could’ve gotten rid of her and taken their land!”
“What? The Treloni family? Where did you see her? Why are you only telling me this now!”
“Where did I see her? She came as a guest once, and I casually asked one of the maids.”
“Ah, all of you just shut up!”
Count Pelliese suddenly flared up at the conversation between Priscilla and Regina. Marry her off where? Hand over that goose that lays golden eggs to someone else? How wasteful!
“Father, what’s wrong with you? Even if she’s a niece, you should still care about her!”
Frederic asked, staring at Count Gerret Pelliese, whose face flushed red with anger.
Though his words were slurred from alcohol, his loud voice was enough to draw everyone’s attention.
Priscilla and Regina turned their eyes toward Count Pelliese’s mouth.
“It’s not that—!”
Who would handle the orders now that she’s gone? Who would manufacture the medicine we need to deliver immediately? Who would write the speech worthy of presenting at the upcoming Academy symposium?!
Count Pelliese looked one by one at his family members, their eyes drowsy and unfocused, and forcibly suppressed the words rising in his throat.
Compared to his youth, when he had married Priscilla, the daughter of a merchant, and lived penniless under others’ scrutiny, he now stood much firmer as the head of the household.
Now, to admit that the true talent of the Pelliese family wasn’t with him, the current patriarch, but with his niece, Yuan Pelliese—such a thing was simply impossible.
“She’s taken something crucial for my research! She left without a word and vanished into some remote place—of course I’m in serious trouble!”
“That damn thief!”
Frederic, draining the last drops of his drink, roared and abruptly stood up.
His large frame caused a brief tremor on the sofa as he moved.
“I always knew she’d eventually steal something out of greed! Mother, didn’t you mention the ancestral necklace went missing from the storage? It must’ve been her!”
Regina flinched, lowered her eyes, and picked up her teacup, sipping it quickly.
Frederic, his face burning red, shouted with rising fury.
“Talking nicely won’t work! Everyone, just back off! When that damn girl returns this time, leave her to me, the eldest son. Treating something inhuman like a human is exactly what caused this problem.”
“Now, now, Frederic. Calm down and sit back down. There’s no need to get this angry over just Yuan. Where could she possibly go? She’ll realize how hard life is without her family’s support and come crawling back for help.”
“Family support? Hah! Unless she becomes a useful stepping stone for my ambitions, don’t even mention such nonsense!”
Frederic hurled the wine bottle to the floor and staggered off toward his room.
Priscilla hurried after him, anxiously stomping her feet, afraid her sturdy son might fall.
“That girl needs to be punished. Letting such disrespectful people into this house and then taking their side? And stealing something important from Father? If she comes back sniveling this time, don’t let her back in at all! At best, send her off with gratitude to become a second wife to some old noble in the backlands! Dreaming of the Treloni family, of becoming a crown princess? Hah, honestly.”
Regina pouted and stormed out of the room.
As she ran down the corridor, Regina began imagining herself meeting Count Treloni’s third son instead of Yuan.
In her mind, she vividly saw herself marrying into a powerful family with vast lands, living as a noble lady, and dominating the capital’s social scene.
Count Pelliese narrowed his eyes, watching the retreating backs of his thoroughly mistaken family.
The monstrous crown prince would never accept Yuan.
That place was always either turned away at the door or had brides fleeing on their own.
Louise, who lasted a whole year only to return as a corpse, was a rare exception.
‘People died suddenly without any apparent reason, yes.’
Unless the monster knew of Yuan’s abilities, there was no reason for him to accept her.
Gerret Pelliese was ready to deliver utter despair to Yuan this time—if the crown prince sent her back as he expected—so that she wouldn’t even think of running away again.
‘And this time, I’ll hide her somewhere no one will ever find.’
Before Count Treloni’s third son sent another marriage proposal, or before Crown Prince Bollonico started inquiring about Yuan.
Count Gerret Pelliese’s pitch-black eyes reflected the flickering firelight from the hearth, gleaming with cold cruelty.
***
After Marquis Mosan Rev had left, the horse, coachman, and guards who had been quietly whispering behind Yuan also locked the iron gate tightly and departed for their shift change.
Bitter cold pierced through her ear muffs, scraping against her ears.
Despite the bone-deep chill, Yuan stubbornly remained standing. The sensation in her feet had dulled. A desolate wind whistled through the gaps in the black mansion, creating eerie sounds.
Whoooooo—.
It was a gloomy, freezing sound.
‘Louise.’
Staring at the tightly shut iron gate, Yuan silently called out to Louise in her heart.
‘Since you brought me here, I will consider this place my home.’
Even if, as rumored, the crown prince was a truly terrifying man.
Even if he meant to take my life.
I’ve already abandoned the home I protected all my life, and the people closest to me are gone.
Had Louise also stood here, waiting endlessly for her husband?
Or, as the rumors said, had she looked directly into that man’s eyes, causing her body to rot and her limbs to wither, worsening her illness?
Hazy clouds brought in a dark purplish gloom. The wave of night rushing in from the edge of the distant winter forest would soon engulf the white snowfield.
Long after darkness had fallen.
The gate never opened.
Pulling her thin cloak tightly around her, Yuan stopped watching the second-floor window, where a faint sliver of light had been seeping out.
She was clearly standing on flat ground. Yet she felt as if she were alone atop a thousand-foot cliff.
Yuan stood like that for a long while before dragging her half-frozen body into the carriage—now empty of both horse and coachman. Curling up inside, she felt her frozen body crack with sharp pain.
A cold, indescribable sensation ripped across the surface of her skin.
‘This is nothing.’
Compared to the past ten years, spent submerged in a sea of suffering.
‘This is truly nothing.’
Yuan repeated those words like a desperate prayer and closed her eyes.
The desolate wind from the mansion followed her into the carriage, scratching at her ears. Curled up in her stiff body, Yuan used that sound as a lullaby and quickly fell asleep. In her dream, Yuan lay side by side with Louise, both of them dead.
A cold winter night.
A white forest where no one ever came.
***
The winter night was harsh for everyone.
Only a few servants remained in the mansion.
A deep groan, suppressed in agony, seeped out from beyond the bedroom door.
Blended with the howling snowstorm outside, the groan sounded no different from an animal’s pained cry.
A chilling voice—seeming both like and unlike a human’s.
One after another, sounds erupted like monsters wailing.
“Your Highness, please open the door!”
Outside Clade’s bedroom stood Doctor Hille, who had only recently arrived from the capital city of Cielo, clutching his medical bag.
From inside the room came the sound of someone slamming their head against the bedpost in an attempt to endure the pain.
Hille stomped his feet anxiously, yet hesitated to open the door, frozen in indecision.
“Your Highness—.”
“XX just get the hell out!”
A voice, hypersensitive and raw, leaked out. Even through the thick door, the desperate scream was unmistakable.
“Please, just tell me your symptoms in detail! Let me in!”
Creak—!
In front of the distressed Hille, the door—seemingly never meant to open—suddenly swung open.
As soon as the door opened, the stench of rotting animal carcasses paralyzed Hille’s nose.
Stunned by the unbearable stench, he froze, then noticed a massive shadow on the floor.
Hille flinched and slowly lifted his head. He couldn’t even open his mouth—he screamed.
“I told you, XX get out.”
The figure inside the darkened room was closer to a beast than a human.
Not just the hair, mangled like autumn leaves trampled underfoot—beneath it, there was nothing left of a human’s appearance.
Eyes so bloodshot that the whites were nearly invisible, every capillary burst.
The corners of the mouth, stained red from biting down on the tongue to endure pain, came into view one by one.
In truth, it was hard to even call that a mouth.
Would a wooden doll carved into a human shape, burned and turned to charcoal, look like this?
Or would a corpse dug up from a grave, rotten and decayed, appear this way?
The crown prince, once half intact, was now completely gone—nothing but living death itself.
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.]
