“Can’t you pull yourself together?”
Nikolai yanked the bedsheet.
Elizabeth, who had been lying on the sheet, rolled sideways.
Just before falling under the bed, Nikolai caught Elizabeth’s neck.
As if capturing a hamster trying to escape outside the cage.
“Eek! What are you doing in someone else’s room?”
Elizabeth, waking from sleep, opened her eyes wide.
These black eyes, twinkling like stars.
Uncombed anger and a confusion close to irritation flashed together.
The fragrance surrounding her became even more intense, and soon Nikolai completely forgot the bad smell.
‘That’s why I didn’t want to come. Though I couldn’t stand it anymore.’
The clear air, like the sky after a storm has cleared.
The comfort and lethargy felt for the first time in a long while.
All of it blurred Nikolai’s reason.
The revived sensation since his coronation wanted more stimulation.
The wolf of the goddess was also greedily drooling at the scent it had never encountered before.
“This room is also my room. Just as this country is mine.”
Nikolai said coldly.
Elizabeth retorted with a blank expression.
“I was foolish to expect common sense from Your Majesty.”
“Are you calling me an ignorant?”
“So, is it common sense to enter a woman’s room without knocking?”
“Think of it as a prison, it will be easier.”
“To make the head of the viscount family a servant?”
This time, Nikolai could not find an answer.
Elizabeth raised her voice.
“The declaration of mocking the younger sister of a loyal subject who swore allegiance?”
“I don’t mock anyone.”
“Who would believe that? You’re frustrated because you can’t bring in a new woman while the empresses are giggling.”
Perhaps thinking her words were too harsh, Elizabeth was taken aback.
But it was just another attempt to turn Nikolai’s insides out.
“Oh my! What should I do, committing the crime of lesemajesty again? I’m so sorry.”
“When did you tremble for your life? What wind blows now?”
“I realized that method won’t work.”
“Elizabeth. Don’t test my patience.”
Nikolai warned in a low voice.
Elizabeth, flipping her bright red hair back provocatively, responded.
“Kill me if you want.”
“!”
“But you can’t. You’ve started an entertaining play.”
“Don’t you know? I can replace the actor at any time.”
Nikolai put his mouth close to Elizabeth’s little pink ear.
And he whispered into it.
“I can find any number of women to replace you.”
He thought she might flinch a little.
He wanted to see that look.
But Elizabeth was composed.
As if she had anticipated all of this.
“You should have dealt with it from the beginning. Instead of locking me in this pretty prison.”
“……”
“Shall I tell you? What you think, Your Majesty.”
Elizabeth poked Nikolai’s chest with her index finger. Thump.
It felt like his soul was stabbed.
His heart, trying to be calm and indifferent, started to beat again.
‘Doesn’t she know she will die if she touches the royal body without permission? Is this woman fearless? Or is she playing with me?’
But there was something he had to decide first.
‘If I can’t handle her, I should kill her. Shall I let her live? Or shall I kill her?’
Whether or not she knew that Nikolai was lost in thought over his slender neck, Elizabeth continued speaking.
“Your Majesty’s play has begun. You’ve called the elders and made a fuss.”
“Really?”
“A ridiculous contract. The arbitrary appointment of the empress. Threats against Viscount Nettleton… It means there must be a reason for all these hassles.”
“What is that reason?”
“I don’t know.”
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders as if it didn’t matter.
“The important thing is that Your Majesty is not a libertine Casanova as rumored.”
“!”
Nikolai swallowed his false hope.
He could not believe that Elizabeth had penetrated a secret that even the nobles did not notice.
Was his acting poor?
Or was Elizabeth something special?
It was as painful as it was joyful that she had recognized the mask he had to wear reluctantly.
He almost questioned how she knew.
Partly out of admiration.
“You might have gathered beautiful women and had fun.”
“What?”
“But you did not neglect the state affairs. The national power of Hart has not changed much since the time when the Emperor was called a conqueror.”
“So?”
“How could he do that when the Emperor is busy playing with women? The nobles seemed busy filling their stomachs.”
“What do you want to say?”
“Let’s rewrite the contract. Properly this time. In a winwin direction.”
Elizabeth folded her eyes and smiled.
The more he saw her, the more absurd and strange she was.
‘Is this woman the femme fatale who enjoyed parties drunk on alcohol? She’s much smarter than most lords or kings! Insightful and astonishingly bold.’
It was hard to hide his admiration.
If she had been any other noble young lady, she would have been prostrated at the Emperor’s feet, weeping and pleading, and that would have been all.
She would have emphasized her weakness or flaunted her wealth to curry favor.
She would have accepted the fate set by the Emperor beforehand.
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
