Litania collapsed, startled out of her wits, upon seeing Orbis who appeared cutting through the air in the blink of an eye.
“Am I terrifying to you?”
“Ah, ah…”
“You want to escape from me.”
He reached out and grabbed Litania’s neck. Her slender body, like a blade of grass, was writhing like a dance under his hand.
“You said you were one with me, and now you’re trying to leave my side.”
An unfamiliar emotion crept up his throat. It was a slightly different feeling from anger.
‘To deceive me.’
Orbis, who did not yet know the feeling of betrayal, thought it was anger at deception.
Dragons do not get angry. He could tear apart and kill anything that irritated him with just one claw. So there was no need to get angry.
If something was bothersome, just kill it.
Just trample it.
Just eliminate it.
But the woman before him was his bride.
One with him.
Surely the discomfort of not being able to easily kill her must have manifested as anger. That’s what he thought.
“Anywhere in this world is within the palm of my hand, where are you trying to go to escape me?”
“Ack, urk…”
“You’ve become one with me, where are you trying to send me?”
The woman struggled desperately with her eyes wide open. Her fingers, with skin melted to reveal bone, mercilessly scratched the back of the man’s hand that gripped her slender neck.
It was a pathetically futile resistance, as it wouldn’t leave even a scratch on the dragon’s skin.
“…”
Her bloodshot eyes were covered by eyelids. Her limbs, which had been swaying like seaweed, hung limply downward.
No more fluttering could be felt from her neck, as if her pulsing heart had stopped.
Orbis, startled, dropped the woman. She fell lifelessly to the floor like a shed skin.
“Why…”
He had choked her, but not enough to kill her.
Orbis had no intention of killing Litania.
Because she was one with him. Because she was his bride. Because if he killed her, he would have to die too.
He had never killed her.
He had clearly controlled his strength so as not to kill her, so why.
“…The wishing stone.”
Because Litania said she wanted to escape from him.
Since there was no way to make her escape from Orbis, the wishing stone fulfilled her wish by taking her life.
Because no matter where she went in this world, Orbis would find her.
To a place where Orbis cannot find her.
To a place that is not of this world.
“No.”
Orbis grabbed Litania who had fallen to the floor. Her body drooped over his arms like a wilted flower.
“The wishing stone didn’t grant Litania’s wish.”
Litania was the dragon’s bride.
She and Orbis were one.
“Granting Litania’s wish means granting my wish.”
It was forced.
But it didn’t matter.
Orbis had granted Litania’s forced plea when she argued that she couldn’t kill herself because they were one body as husband and wife.
The wishing stone is the essence of the dragon’s power.
Then, just as he had granted her forced plea, the wishing stone would grant his forced plea as well.
“Bring Litania back to my side.”
Orbis glared at the wishing stone Litania had swallowed, his eyes flashing.
Though her heart no longer beat, a blue light was emanating from her chest.
“My wish is to meet Litania again. You’ve fulfilled her wish who is one with me, so you must fulfill my wish too.”
But no matter how much Orbis threatened, the wishing stone in her chest only continued to shine without giving any answer.
“…Dragons rule this world.”
As long as breath is not cut off, a dragon can revive a dying person.
Because the laws of this world are under the dragon’s authority.
The reason they cannot revive the dead is because dead people have left the current world where the dragon’s power applies.
Litania had already left this world.
Just as dragons cannot revive the dead, the wishing stone cannot exert any power over beings that have left this world.
Then.
“I just have to turn back time.”
She had already gone to a place beyond his reach, but this world was still under his authority.
So if he turned back the time of this world to when she was alive.
He could bring her back to his side as much as he wanted.
“Litania, you said it yourself. Killing you would be the same as taking my own life.”
He held her unresponsive form in his arms. Her body, no longer beating with a heart, felt colder than ice rain.
“By having your life taken by the wishing stone, you have killed me as well.”
The dragon tore open his own chest and pulled out his heart. Unlike hers, he mercilessly crushed his furiously beating heart.
“This proves that we are one.”
The dragon closed his eyes, pulling his companion close as if to fill his empty chest.
Beeeeeng.
The wishing stone emitted an intense light, sucking in the two unified forms.
All the scenery of the world was also pulled into the swirling light.
[This is the timeline separator]“I, I am your bride!”
They returned to the past.
Orbis felt a strange emotion as he looked down at Litania’s face desperately shouting at him.
Relief at facing her alive again.
And anger towards her who had deceived him.
“If you claim to be my bride.”
Orbis grabbed Litania’s neck and brought his face close.
Litania’s eyes widened and her complexion paled as she witnessed Orbis’s blue pupils narrow into slits. She gasped for breath while held by the neck.
“Sa, save me…”
“You must never leave my side again.”
He had merely corrected her retracted words, but Litania began to cry, her lips trembling as if she had been threatened.
“Your heart is beating fast.”
A strange elation arose as he felt her neck’s blood vessels throbbing and pulsing in his hand.
She’s alive.
She’s alive and before my eyes.
He had brought Litania, who had left this world on her own, back to his side.
It wasn’t his fault for being scary since she was the one who begged for her life saying they were one as husband and wife, then acted contradictorily.
It was Litania who was bad for daring to deceive the divine dragon.
“Don’t do bad things anymore.”
“Hic, huuk…”
Tears that had rolled down her cheeks wet Orbis’s hand. They were hot tears.
The liquid with a slight saltiness had a strange savory taste. It piqued Orbis’s interest.
“Haauk, eup…”
From chin to cheek, to the corner of her eye, then across the bridge of her nose to her lips.
Before turning back time, this was an act Litania had taught Orbis, but despite him doing as he had learned, she now seemed to be in great distress.
‘I didn’t squeeze her neck painfully.’
He was just holding it so she couldn’t run away. Even though he hadn’t pressed on her blood vessels, her face turned from white to blue and her breathing became rapid.
“Save me, hup…”
She rolled her eyes back and fainted. Why did she faint when her body’s wounds had clearly all healed?
Orbis carried the unconscious Litania into the dragon castle. Sitting on a wide stone slab, he tightly embraced his tiny bride.
Thump thump. He could feel her heart pulsing through her clothes.
‘She’s warm.’
No longer cold. She’s by his side, her heart beating and breathing.
This is how it should be. Because she is his bride.
Because the two of them are as good as one body.
“Let, let me go…”
“Where are you trying to go?”
However, Litania, who had barely regained consciousness, kept trying to push Orbis away.
Perhaps her memories from before the time reversal had disappeared, as she always spoke in a small, trembling voice and couldn’t look Orbis properly in the eye.
“Litania.”
“…Hic, huuk…”
Just calling her name made Litania start crying, her shoulders shaking.
“My bride.”
Even when he caressed her cheek and patted her back, her body’s trembling only grew worse. This used to be something Litania had demanded from Orbis before, but for some reason it didn’t seem to be to her liking now.
Moreover, the way she desperately tried to create distance from Orbis by placing both hands on his chest and shaking uncontrollably seemed quite determined.
“Are you afraid of me?”
“…Pl, please…”
“You were the one who said you were my bride.”
“Please spare me…”
“Of course. You must live by my side.”
Fire pillars still shot up from the lake in the dragon castle and cold winds blew. Litania struggled to escape from Orbis’s embrace, but when she burned her feet on the heated stones, she whimpered and curled up her body.
“It hurts. It hurts so much…”
“Oh my.”
Orbis no longer immediately healed Litania’s body when she was injured.
“If I heal you, will you promise not to leave my side?”
“It hurts, please…”
“Answer me.”
Orbis persistently pressed.
Only after Litania nodded her head, unable to bear the pain, did he feel at ease and heal her body.
New flesh grew on her burned feet, soon becoming smooth.
Although he had clearly healed her completely, after the treatment, Litania would sob quietly for a long time.
‘Why?’
She used to be prickly and fierce like a cat with raised fur, but strangely, now she only trembled like a trapped bird.
‘Why has she changed?’
Though he couldn’t understand the reason, Orbis didn’t dislike the change. Since the initial memories were not pleasant, this change was welcome.
The changed her would not try to leave him like before.
That was enough. Orbis decided to be satisfied.
“It’s our wedding anniversary.”
“…What?”
“Is there a gift you would like?”
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
