Chapter 14. What if I undergo the virginity test?
2023.10.14.
“Let’s do something, Yuan. If we become useful, they won’t chase us away!”
It was a time when I didn’t even know the power of the Pelliese lay within me.
My aunt had taken over my mother’s bedroom.
Regina had seized my own bedroom.
And every birthday gift I’d ever received was snatched before my eyes. Yuan felt, deep in her bones, that there was no place for her in the Pelliese household.
Yuan followed Louise around, cleaning the mansion, attending to her aunt, and helping her uncle with his work.
Whether due to the peculiar nature of the Pelliese—nobles who actually worked—or the desperation of not wanting to be cast out, she had adapted this way.
“Milady, what are you doing?”
“I thought I’d help out a bit. Earlier, Mr. Hille seemed overwhelmed, and the kitchen looked terribly busy.”
“Oh, please, don’t speak so formally! I’ll really get scolded by the butler if you do! And helping with chores? What on earth are you saying?”
Hena stared in disbelief.
Her sleeves were rolled up, revealing delicate hands still wrapped in bandages—how could she possibly help?
And wasn’t she someone who should be giving orders to maids, not doing labor herself?
“This mansion is large, but it seems short-staffed.”
“Well, yes… but milady, you must still have a high fever to be saying such things.”
Hena touched Yuan’s forehead, asking with concern.
Yuan’s large eyes blinked several times before naturally curving into a faint smile.
“I’m serious. The exiled prince has no inherited title, hasn’t he effectively become a commoner now?”
Hena’s mouth fell open. She looked as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.
His wife, with such an innocent face, casually questioning whether that terrifying prince had become a commoner?
“The Pelliese mansion, which is less than half the size of this one, has over thirty servants.”
“Wha—?! Really?”
The Black Mansion had fewer than twenty servants, excluding the royal guards sent down by the palace for surveillance.
The master of the mansion disliked large staffs, and financial support from Marquis Rev’s family wasn’t generous either.
Besides, rumors surrounding the exiled prince made everyone reluctant to work here.
The elderly servants were mostly those who had worked here for decades, or their family and relatives.
If not them, then others were servants who had drifted from one noble house to another until they had nowhere else to go, treating this place as their final exile.
“Still… it’s just not right for you to do our work…”
“There must be somewhere I can be useful.”
Yuan answered firmly.
Handling household matters was deeply familiar to Yuan.
If she could manage the household on behalf of the master, who never left his bedroom.
Or if she could fill in for the understaffed servants.
Perhaps then, she wouldn’t be cast out.
***
The mansion, grand enough to be mistaken for a small principality’s castle, was always in need of help.
Cleaning every room daily, as in other mansions, was unimaginable when there were too many rooms to even count.
Although the lands owned by Clade were under the stewardship of Marquis Rev, who kindly redirected taxes and crops directly to the Black Mansion, the region was poor and the supplies were woefully insufficient.
The servants struggled even to preserve food with salt or drying for the harsh winter.
Once the precious ointment on her skin wore off, Hille had strictly warned Yuan not to let her hands touch water, so Yuan helped with dry cleaning, tidying, and gradually assisted Hille with minor tasks.
Thanks to this, Hille’s face grew livelier by the day.
At first, Butler Gustav had adamantly refused, insisting that even a soon-to-depart lady should never do work. But once Yuan began helping with his minor duties, he started rationalizing it to himself.
Wasn’t it only natural for the lady of the house to oversee domestic affairs?
Gustav had been burdened with handling not only Clade’s responsibilities—which he had completely abandoned—but also all household duties. He was practically working himself to death.
Yuan helped the maids when Gustav wasn’t looking, and when he was locked away in the butler’s room, head in hands, she would enter under the pretense of needing something, subtly resolving his worries.
“That uninvited guest in my mansion. Judging by how she’s moving around, she should be able to walk out on her own now.”
And so, upon hearing Clade’s words, Gustav stood mute as if he’d swallowed honey, lips trembling slightly.
Considering Clade’s original intention had been to send her back to her family by carriage once she recovered, this delay was already far too long.
“Your Highness… I humbly apologize for speaking out of turn.”
“Don’t say anything you’ll regret, Gustav.”
Clade’s face remained cold.
His expression, indifferent to the world, hadn’t changed—but he couldn’t hide the intense rejection and wariness in his eyes.
Gustav, who had spent the past few days with Yuan, had seen for the first time a noble who actually worked.
It was absurd behavior for someone married to a royal like Clade, yet as the lady of the house, she had mingled freely with others, easing the mansion’s stiff atmosphere—something almost admirable.
Her effort, despite her fragile health, seemed both pitiful and commendable. In such a short time, positive feelings had easily formed.
But personal affection and official duty were clearly separate matters.
Even if the ninth bride had, against all odds, adapted well to this mansion, if the master disliked her, she should still be expelled.
Butler Gustav reproached himself for having silently tolerated things he would never have imagined in a typical royal or noble household, then bowed his head deeply.
After Gustav left, Clade sat with his eyes closed in the rocking chair for a long while, until he caught the sound of a gentle voice seeping in from outside.
***
“If only every day could be like today.”
“Ever since milady arrived, the mansion’s atmosphere has changed completely. This is exactly why a household needs a lady.”
“Exactly. Look at Hille. He used to complain all the time—‘I’ve turned into a lazy glutton,’ or ‘I’m just a painkiller-making machine’—but ever since milady’s treatment, he’s been full of life.”
“He must really enjoy working. Heehee.”
Yuan smiled faintly, quietly listening to the young maids’ chatter.
The maids giggled among themselves, making up stories, until they noticed the bare ground beginning to glow red with twilight and hurried their steps.
“It’s already this late?”
“Milady, tomorrow morning, please don’t touch your bedding, okay?”
“Yes, please. The butler warned us, and honestly, it’s easier on our minds if you just let us work.”
Yuan bid farewell to the maids as they hurried inside, saying they’d check the garden later.
As soon as the sun set, everyone vanished into their rooms.
It was the rule of this mansion.
Yuan kept hoping, more and more, to meet the master of the mansion, Clade, and plead her case.
To beg him to let her stay, even in some forgotten corner of this vast estate.
She also wanted to express her gratitude.
Had he acted according to his infamous reputation, he should have either killed her or cast her out bare-handed, regardless of her illness.
She waited in her room, wondering if he might finally summon her—but he still showed no response.
As she wandered the garden, troubled, a soft click came from above—a window opening.
On the second floor, from Clade’s bedroom.
Yuan stiffened, slowly turned, and looked up.
Pale golden hair fluttered in the wind.
Carefully stepping back, Yuan positioned herself where she could see his face.
But the inside of the window was shadowed, and Clade didn’t fully reveal his face.
“Hello.”
Yuan greeted the man looking down at her, trying to sound casual.
The man, his eyes glinting in the darkness, returned a blank, unreadable stare.
“Um…”
“You look fine. You should leave now.”
Yuan’s attempt at a smile froze as she looked up at him.
His slightly visible, unblemished half of the face remained pale and shadowed.
His words were harsh, unlike his sorrowful appearance.
“Stop your nonsense.”
Nonsense!
Such a rude word.
Yuan froze, startled by Clade’s far harsher demeanor than expected, but finally gathered her courage to reply.
“I am your Highness’s wife.”
She felt absurd even saying it.
Hadn’t she just been told to return to her family?
She could almost hear mocking laughter ringing in her ears.
“I don’t need a wife.”
Clade showed no mercy, even as she poured her heart and courage into her words.
Yuan clenched the hem of her skirt like crumpling paper.
No. No, I don’t want to be cast out.
“I will surely be useful. I’m quite good at cleaning and preparing meals. Once my hands heal, I can do laundry well too. I don’t need to be a wife. Just let me stay here. Please…”
“I don’t need another maid.”
At last, Clade’s lips—frozen like ice—cracked slightly.
A twisted, shadowed smile.
“Cleaning. Laundry. Meal prep… Hah.”
The window shut as abruptly as if it had never opened.
Yuan, who had been craning her neck upward, stood frozen in shock, unable to move.
She didn’t think she was asking for much.
Over the past few days, she had naturally come to understand Clade’s reclusive nature.
She had even considered it acceptable to secretly annul the marriage and simply live here as a maid in this isolated mansion.
If she were cast out and sent back to the Pelliese, Yuan would be captured by her uncle and forced back into another horrifying hell in a side room.
Worse, Louise’s body, temporarily sheltered at the chapel, would have to return there too.
If Marquis Companni tried to investigate, they might even have to burn it.
“I can’t let this happen.”
I need a way.
I have to become more useful, by any means.
Yuan stared at the tightly closed window for a long time, biting her lower lip hard.
***
An unexpected solution arrived the very next morning from outside.
Just as the maids began clearing breakfast, a presence appeared at the open door.
“May I come in?”
It was Butler Gustav, his expression grim.
“Doctor Hille informed me that milady’s condition has improved significantly. I apologize for bringing this up while you’re still unwell, but…”
Was he saying she had to leave immediately?
Still unprepared, Yuan tensed and listened intently.
“The palace has sent a message urging that the virginity test be conducted promptly, so the marital bond may be formally recognized.”
Hena’s hands froze mid-cleaning. Yuan, too, couldn’t hide her shock.
“The palace has never previously pressured former residents, but perhaps you’ve received word directly from the Pelliese? This is unprecedented.”
Gustav scratched the back of his neck, seemingly dazed even as he delivered the news.
Noble marriages primarily aimed at producing heirs, so proving virginity and being recognized as a true couple was standard.
She had known this since childhood, reading about it in books.
The palace wasn’t making an unreasonable demand.
Noticing Yuan’s stunned silence, the butler continued.
“Technically, without the virginity test, the marriage is invalid. It’s my duty to inform you… so please don’t take it too to heart.”
He says it’s the palace’s demand.
But in truth, you can’t pass the test, so you’ll be sent back to your family anyway—don’t worry about it.
That’s how it sounded to Yuan.
Yuan wiped all traces of her brief shock from her face and replied.
“What if I undergo the virginity test?”
Gustav, already turning to leave, froze mid-step.
“If I undergo the virginity test… does that mean your Highness won’t be able to cast me out, even if he wants to?”
He stared at her, eyes wide with disbelief—as if wondering how she could even think such a thing.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
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