Received the Obsession of a Chaste Dark Lord (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
And when I opened my eyes again, I was utterly startled.
“Oh dear, Miss! What are you thinking, waking up now!”
“……Beatrice?”
Beatrice Moldina.
My maid, who had died alongside my family when our house was destroyed.
Despite her magnificent name, she had insisted on being called Betty, claiming it suited a maid better.
She was the daughter of my nurse, my wet nurse, and had followed me into the imperial palace when I married in.
And then……
The child who had borne every disgrace to soothe the unrelenting rage of the crowd, and died miserably.
Seeing her so bustling, I felt certain the gods were trying to make me feel remorse.
“I’ve asked you countless times not to call me that! No, there’s no time for this, Miss! You must prepare for your wedding at once!”
“Prepare for what…?”
“The wedding! Today is the day you marry His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince!”
“What?”
Was Betty’s lifelong loyalty not enough?
Now I must also face the husband I killed with my own hands?
I could feel the blood drain from my face.
I said nothing, only clenching the blanket tightly.
If the gods truly meant to awaken me before taking my soul, they had already succeeded more than half.
The voice that had echoed in my ears at the moment of death still lived vividly in my mind.
‘Do you truly have no regrets?’
I regret it.
I regretted it desperately.
I had even whispered a ridiculous prayer in my final breath—please, let me turn back time.
But was that not enough?
“First, get up, Miss. Wash yourself immediately.”
“Am I mad, Betty? Isn’t this a dream?”
“What? What are you saying, Miss?”
“If not, then how could today be my wedding day…?”
The Betty before me was too clear.
The maids bustling around were familiar faces who had served our house for years.
Was it as if all the lives crushed beneath my weight were protesting?
“No matter how much you hate the idea of marriage, Miss, there’s nothing to be done! The palace has already prepared the wedding hall!”
Betty, with a tearful expression, forcibly pulled me upright.
Then, half-dragging me, she shoved me into the bathroom and began washing me.
The bathtub, filled to the brim, floated with yellow tulips.
Whether this was a dream or reality, I never imagined I’d still be confronted with Lloyd’s tastes here.
A hollow laugh escaped me at the life so meticulously tailored to him.
The gods must truly be playing a trick.
My body still throbbed with lingering pain.
Through my blurred vision, Lloyd’s face looking down at me seemed startlingly vivid.
If not a divine prank, then what else could this be?
“Is the temperature all right?”
“…Mm.”
“Don’t worry so much, Miss. I quietly inquired, and they say His Majesty is gentle and kind—he’ll treat you well.”
As I listened to Betty’s voice while she wiped my body, I felt an eerie sense of déjà vu.
‘The palace maids say, Miss, that His Majesty is gentle and kind—he’ll treat you well.’
Those were the exact words Betty had used to comfort me on my wedding day.
She had said the Crown Prince was kind-hearted and would soothe my anxieties.
At the time, my mind had been full of Lloyd, and the words had only saddened me.
But after Betty’s death, those words kept circling endlessly in my mind.
And now, hearing them again, I could not suppress the thought—
The eyes that had reopened after I thought I was dead.
The maids bustling as they had before.
Betty saying the same words.
I clenched my fist underwater and bit my lip.
“Betty. I have a question.”
“Yes, Miss. Ask.”
“If today is my wedding day… is it the 16th of May, Empire Year 387?”
“Yes. Today is Empire Year 387… Miss, are you truly alright?”
Betty asked, worried.
I nodded vaguely and surrendered myself to the maids’ attentions.
My mind was filled with hypotheticals.
Had I truly been reborn?
Or, more precisely, had time reversed?
Thoughts tangled upon themselves.
I stopped thinking only when I feared my head might burst.
And then, strangely, everything grew calm.
Perhaps this was real.
The bathtub filled with yellow tulips.
Betty’s worried words.
The maids bustling since early morning.
The familiar wedding dress before my eyes.
My chest sank with chilling dread.
If this were truly reality—
If what lay before me now was indeed the painful past, before I committed all my crimes—
Then I would willingly sacrifice everything to atone.
For the loved ones who had quietly perished for my sake. For my husband.
In the mirror, my eyes held a hardened resolve.
[This is the timeline separator]Leopric Baldini Reinhardt.
He, too, had been my husband in my past life—and as Betty had said, he was gentle and kind.
Before our marriage, I knew little of him.
Only that he was the Crown Prince of this land, with striking, pure ruby-red eyes.
That he was spoken of as a perfect man, destined to be emperor.
In martial arts, he excelled. In administration, he excelled. In initiative, he excelled.
Nobles who understood politics would gather and say they looked forward to the nation he would create.
Externally, he was that way.
Perfect, without flaw, allowing no margin for error.
As a husband, he was the same.
Unlike Lloyd, who spoke to me as easily as a longtime friend, he always treated me with flawless etiquette, maintaining precisely the distance he deemed appropriate.
Always courteous to all, yet showing interest only up to a certain, measured line—a perfectly aristocratic husband.
Leopric maintained this demeanor throughout the brief time we lived together.
Because of it, I wondered whether a human heart could truly dwell within him.
So I lived believing he harbored no desires or expectations toward me.
Of course, to me, he was merely someone who temporarily held Lloyd’s place and arranged the conditions for Lloyd’s goals.
Lloyd, who, for no reason other than having a mother rather than a father from the imperial family, had been denied any opportunity.
Lloyd, who had not even received lavish care from his mother.
All this was for the sake of Lloyd Alois—who knew how to treat people far more warmly than stiff, formal Leopric.
I thought if the late Emperor had lived just a little longer, things might have been different.
They said he had promised aloud to grant Lloyd his rightful claim.
Yet, there was no proof, no way to verify it.
When I saw Lloyd in despair, how had I felt?
I had wished to help him, to stand up for him, though he never even hinted that he was biding his time.
And when I finally decided we must eliminate Leopric together, I felt no guilt whatsoever.
Even now, I know it was no easy task—but still, I felt none.
I never thought we’d succeed outright, since he would never fully trust me.
But the expression on Leopric’s face as he drank the poisoned tea, vomited blood, and looked at me—was something I could never have imagined.
He asked me again and again, in a voice fading with each breath, “Do you truly have no regrets? Are you truly alright?”
With trembling hands, he reached toward me before closing his eyes.
Even as he exhaled his last breath, the faint upward curve of his lips sent shivers through me.
I did not know what his outstretched hand meant.
But that scene, vividly etched in my mind, will never fade.
It surfaces whenever I wish.
And now I realize: the last thing I remembered from my past life was his voice asking that very question.
Why?
At the final moment of a life I thought I had lived only for Lloyd—why did your voice come to me?
[This is the timeline separator]Throughout the carriage ride with my father, I thought of Leopric, whom I would soon meet.
My father glanced at me sidelong, then cleared his throat.
He must have sensed my tension, since I had remained silent in thought.
“Are you nervous?”
My response was light, though his tone carried both warmth and awkwardness.
“Just… a little tired.”
“Did you come home late again last night?”
My father frowned, clearly displeased with how long I continued to meet that mysterious man.
As someone who had lived longer than I, he found the man too perfect to be trustworthy.
Though he feared I might take offense, he never forgot to warn me to stay away from Lloyd.
And rightly so—back then, I had left the mansion daily to meet Lloyd.
I had poured so much effort into earning the title of society’s blossom, yet I believed that with him, any rumor would be worth enduring.
After our marriage to Leopric was decided, I met Lloyd even more often.
Each time, my father sighed with deep concern.
He always warned me to be wary of Lloyd, never to reveal too much.
I understood his worry, but in my eyes, he was simply too lovely, too pitiful.
A man who, despite his unjust circumstances, could not abandon his loyalty to Leopric.
Or so I thought.
I had failed to see just how calculating and meticulous he was—how far he would go to climb higher.
I smiled faintly.
“I’ve seen him for the last time. From now on, you needn’t worry anymore.”
“Last time? You mean you won’t see Viscount Alois again?”
“Yes. I’m getting married, after all—not just anyone, but the Crown Prince’s wife. I must be careful in my conduct.”
“Hm… you…”
A look of doubt crossed my father’s face.
Seeing it, I realized how loudly I had proclaimed my love for Lloyd.
If even my busy father, who rarely saw me, wore such an expression, then words were unnecessary.
A bitter feeling rose in me.
How easily I had been betrayed—and yet, how loudly I had pretended I had found lifelong love.
I silently sneered at my past self as I swept my dress aside.
“Don’t worry, Father. I’ll do well.”
I smiled gently and comforted him.
This life, I will never again be swayed by such meaningless emotions.
No matter what happens, I will stop Lloyd and ensure Leopric ascends the throne safely.
And then, quietly, I will leave the palace.
As I made this silent vow, I gazed at my father, smiling awkwardly.
In my past life, I had hated every action my father took and found every word he spoke absurd.
I knew, intellectually, how hard he had tried to raise me without a mother.
But emotionally, I had never understood.
So I had spent every day resenting my busy father.
When he opposed my marriage to the man I loved, and even threatened to disown me if I refused the Crown Prince, I had truly believed he was the worst villain in the world.
When I ran to Lloyd, weeping and wailing after hearing that, what had he said?
“Still, I don’t want you to estrange yourself from your father because of me.”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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