A bony hand gripped her ankle like a claw. Pushing through the bubbles that spread with a gurgling sound, she lowered her head and met ashen eyes staring at her like a ghost.
Herna’s cheeks had turned dark, likely from swallowing too much water. Even as Litania kicked, the hand clung to her like an evil spirit, refusing to let go.
Flailing, Litania grabbed the white rope hanging from the surface. But the weight of the two women seemed heavier than the buoyancy of the life preserver, as their bodies refused to rise.
Litania recalled how moments ago, the departing ship had turned back towards her.
Since they had seen her sinking, rescue divers must be searching the waters. She needed to somehow signal her location.
“Help me!”
Glug. Screaming underwater produced no sound. Litania shook her head vigorously.
A ringing filled her ears as she struggled to breathe.
‘No. There’s no way.’
Litania kicked her legs hard. Unable to swim, they would both die at this rate. No matter how much she wanted Litania dead, surely she didn’t want to die herself. Litania pointed upwards at Herna in protest.
But the two wide eyes only stared at her fixedly, as if taxidermied.
‘Does she intend for us to die together.’
Herna’s hair wrapping around her legs like seaweed tendrils was chilling. Struggling, Litania finally lost her grip on the white rope.
The cold waves pressed down on her body like a boulder. The pitch-black water was now filled with blue light.
Just like the color of someone’s eyes.
“Orbis…!”
[This is the timeline separator]The sound of the damp night breeze grew stronger. The ship swayed gently with the rolling waves. Though the voyage was stable enough to be barely noticeable if not focused on, it was quite an ordeal for the sensitive divine dragon to adjust to the ship’s rocking.
Perhaps it was because the atmosphere of the not-so-familiar emperor’s wedding was unusually festive.
While strict procedures were used to verify the identity of passengers, that only applied to those boarding via the gangway at the port. Orbis, who could move freely anywhere, entered the ship just in time for the party.
Though the number of guests was not large, thanks to magic that lowered others’ perception, once again no one noticed his presence.
Not even Litania, who was beautifully dressed in a rose-colored gown.
Orbis had no intention of acknowledging Litania. There were too few people on the ship to make any noticeable move to approach her. He planned to approach her when people dispersed after the party, taking advantage of when she headed to her cabin.
That was until he spotted a black-haired woman holding a cane in one hand and champagne in the other.
‘Herna, was it?’
Though not worth remembering, she was the one who constantly picked fights with Litania, making her uncomfortable. Noticing the metal inside the cane, he briefly considered seizing Herna here to prevent her from approaching Litania.
‘She wouldn’t like me interfering like this.’
What if he exposed the fact that Herna had disguised her leg injury to hide a sword in her cane? Though she had smuggled in a weapon, she hadn’t made any threats, so she likely wouldn’t face severe punishment.
Princess Herna was also the current emperor’s sister, after all.
It would be difficult to harshly punish a sister released for the joyous occasion of a royal marriage. To punish Herna, they would need decisive evidence that she had committed a crime.
‘Well then, let’s see what happens.’
Sure enough, when Litania left the party, declining a glass from a waiter, Herna limped out shortly after. She moved quite skillfully, as if she had studied how to move stealthily during her confinement.
‘As expected, she’s targeting Litania right away.’
Just as Orbis was about to follow, a sharp voice pierced his ear.
“I don’t recall inviting a divine dragon.”
It was Emperor Ferus’s voice.
When perception-lowering magic is cast, even if someone passes right by, the memory of encountering them disappears the moment they leave one’s sight. Yet Ferus was glaring directly at Orbis.
“Ah.”
Orbis blinked as he recognized the protective magic stone attached below Ferus’s collar.
A magic stone that protects against magic. It seems the one he wore for protection in case of any incidents on the ship had temporarily weakened Orbis’s magic.
‘I should have cast the spell more strongly.’
Orbis shrugged slightly, then inclined his head slightly towards Ferus.
“I came to congratulate you on your marriage, Your Majesty.”
“I hope you don’t think I’m foolish enough to mistake an uninvited guest sneaking in with a hidden face as coming to offer congratulations.”
Ferus’s voice was sharp. Perhaps it was because he was emperor now, but he no longer showed the tense, intimidated look from when he was crown prince.
“I’d like to think you haven’t come to interfere with my wedding night on this auspicious day.”
“My. That’s not something I want to hear from the one who ruined my marriage.”
As Orbis laughed lightly, Ferus’s eyebrow twitched.
“The divorce from Litania was decided from the beginning. You… don’t suit my sister.”
For a moment, the surroundings stirred.
They thought relations between the imperial family and the divine dragon had been restored, so they were surprised to hear the emperor and divine dragon speaking as if checking each other.
The new bride of Nobus standing behind the emperor looked around with wide eyes, seemingly unable to grasp the situation.
“You’re not the one to judge that, Your Majesty.”
“No, I am in a position to permit it.”
Imperial permission is absolutely required for the marriage of royalty. As long as Litania was a princess of Veriververium, that was an absolute rule.
“Duke Aeternitas failed to prevent the kidnapping despite being with Princess Litania during last year’s hunting festival.”
“Oh my.”
“That’s when I realized. He’s of no help to the princess, so I can’t allow him to get close.”
He deliberately mentions the title of Duke Aeternitas rather than divine dragon, confirming Orbis’s position as one who should follow his orders.
It also meant that if he didn’t want to obey the emperor’s orders as a duke, he should leave the empire.
“Hmm.”
Orbis tilted his head. He had no attachment to living in the empire, but Litania wouldn’t abandon her homeland, so he couldn’t leave her behind.
“Then, does that mean you’ll allow it if I’m helpful?”
“What?”
“Hey, it’s a joyous day!”
As Ferus’s expression turned grim, Vapor intervened to restrain the two men.
“It’s getting late, so wouldn’t it be better for everyone to retire?”
As Vapor tried to lighten the mood with a deliberately cheerful voice, Nobus’s princess, sensing the strange atmosphere, approached and gently grasped Ferus’s right hand.
“It’s not right to keep the newlyweds for too long, after all.”
Small cheers were heard from the guests in the party hall. As Vapor made eye contact as if asking for a response, Ferus cleared his throat with a “Ahem” and announced the end of the party to the guests.
As the doors opened and people began to file out one by one, Orbis headed towards the door with quick steps. But this time he was stopped by Vapor.
“Sneaking in only irritates His… His Majesty’s mood. Of course, I’m sure the divine dragon doesn’t care about such things.”
“That’s true.”
“You want to improve your relationship with that guy, don’t you? Then you should ask for cooperation instead of antagonizing His Majesty. Rather than coming on such a good day and ruining the mood.”
“If I hadn’t come, something terrible would have happened.”
“Pardon?”
Orbis turned his head to look at the deck. One of the life preservers that should have been tied to a white rope was missing.
“Would you tell His Majesty? That it would be best to postpone the wedding night for a moment as we need to turn the ship around.”
[This is the timeline separator]“Litania!”
“Hey! Are you alright?”
Facing the pale face barely emerging above the dark water, the two men, Ferus and Vapor, were startled and ordered the sailor to lower a ladder.
“That idiot! Did she fall in while admiring the water from the deck?”
Vapor rushed towards the ladder and grabbed the rope, leaping over the railing.
But before he could take his first step, the black water swallowed Litania’s form.
“Huh? Hey!”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Orbis, coming to Vapor’s side, narrowed his eyes at Ferus who was looking at him.
“It seems brothers are just as unhelpful, Your Majesty.”
“What…!”
Before Ferus could shout anything, Orbis dove into the water. As if a blue sun had risen in the pitch-black river water, the area brightened, and the rough waves were pushed back in a circle.
“My goodness!”
The voices of those witnessing the miracle rose.
Orbis emerged onto the deck, scooping up two thoroughly soaked figures as if with a net.
The one gripping Litania’s ankle until it bled was Herna.
“W-What happened?”
“That’s for Your Majesty to interrogate from now on.”
As Orbis pointed to the area around Litania’s ankle with his fingertip, Herna’s hand, which had seemed completely rigid, fell away. He lifted Litania’s body and spoke to Ferus.
“I truly had no intention of interfering with your wedding night, but it’s turned out rather unfortunate.”
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.]
