The beautiful woman with red hair and leaflike eyes spoke with an elegant gesture as she sipped her tea.
And as tea time was ripening, Lady Cline, with a snap, folded the fan that had been covering her face and gently said,
“Have you all heard the rumor?”
Bringing up an interesting subject, Cline captured everyone’s attention and continued.
“The woman of Duke Fernamenus.”
“Could it be… are you talking about Duke Valige Fernamenus? The one who returned from the recent war?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“My goodness, the world!”
Almost as soon as Lady Cline’s words were finished, the women gasped in surprise, all but one.
Lady Lintz was just quietly sipping her tea with an unreadable expression on her face.
“What family’s young lady is she?”
“Could it be Lady Rohas? Count Rohas is on intimate terms with the First Prince, so maybe he introduced her.”
Although the Duke’s family had weakened significantly due to the curse of being a damned family, the wealth and honor built as a founding family did not easily disappear.
Especially, the young unmarried Duke, who returned as a hero from this war, was more than enough to ignite the hearts of young ladies. And to have a woman in the presence of such a Duke.
The young noble ladies’ eyes were focused on Cline.
“Regrettably, it is not Lady Rohas, nor any lady from a distinguished family.”
“What is that… then who on earth with the Duke…?”
Seeing the bewildered faces of the women, Cline spoke in a calm voice.
“The Duke’s maid, they say.”
“My goodness, the world…!”
At her words, everyone inhaled sharply, sighing in disbelief.
“My exclusive maid says she is an old friend with the maid working in that house. According to her, the Duke has disliked receiving care from someone since childhood due to living on the battlefield. But lately, he is particularly close to one maid, without looking for anyone else, all day, looking for that maid only.”
“But receiving care from a maid is normal for nobility. I don’t understand what’s so special about that. It might simply be that the maid has gained the Duke’s trust?”
As Lady Pashu contradicted Cline’s words, the other young ladies looked at her, nodding as if they agreed. However, to their words, Cline gently shook her head and said,
“Unfortunately, that maid even takes care of the Duke’s bathing.”
Most nobles are attended to by maids or servants during their baths. However, everyone was attended to by servants of the same sex, and this was an unspoken rule.
Occasionally, noblewomen who became widows, or older nobles would receive bathing assistance from servants of the opposite sex, and in most cases, it was their husband’s maid.
“Even at night, there’s more than one or two people who’ve seen that maid coming out of Duke Valige’s room.”
Another young lady who had been silently listening to Cline’s words cautiously spoke up.
“I’ve also heard something, that this time the maid stole the mansion’s jewelry and ran away.”
“Good heavens…”
“So the angered Duke closed the castle gate and issued a search warrant for the maid.”
“Did he find her?”
“He protected her without asking any guilt. I hear he treasures her very secretly, like watching something precious in the best room.”
“Is that maid a great beauty?”
Kiel, the young lady, asked as if it wasn’t surprising anymore, a realistic question.
“No. She’s quite ordinary. Rather, she looks like a child, probably because she’s malnourished?”
“The love between a maid and a nobleman. Isn’t it a story that would only appear in a play?”
“I don’t know. Considering the beautiful young ladies from good families among the past Duchesses of Valige, no one knows.”
Indeed, whether it was because of the curse passed down through the Valige Duke’s family, most noble families hesitated to send their precious daughters to be the Duchess.
There were many cases where, not wanting their precious daughter to become a widow, among the past Duchesses were servants of noble families or young ladies of good families who were practically sold into marriage.
The naive young ladies were chattering about the cursed Duke and the love between him and a maid. An anomalous sound echoed between the excited tables.
Clatter
A young lady named Lintz, who had been silently listening to their talk, spoke as she loudly put down her teacup.
“You young ladies are making quite a humorous noise.”
At Lintz’s words, the angered Cline fluttered her fan.
“Humorous? Aren’t you, Lintz, saying this out of spite? If you had known that your ‘former’ fiancé, Duke Valige, would return so grandly, you wouldn’t have broken off the engagement in the first place.”
“Oh my, Cline, you too? You think Lintz did it because she knew this would happen? She’s the one who’s heartbroken now more than anyone.”
Everyone knew that Heylen Lintz, the hostess of this tea party, had been the former fiancée of Duke Valige. And this fact was a great feast for the other envious women.
Sarcastically speaking, Heylen softly murmured, watching the women.
“A former fiancée.”
One corner of her mouth rose gently.
“Who said that? That I’m Duke Valige’s ‘former’ fiancée?”
“Who wouldn’t know among the people of the Empire? Count Lintz unilaterally sent a notice of divorce to the Valige family.”
After the sudden death of the former Duke and Duchess, and the young Duke was dragged into the war, Count Lintz unilaterally sent a notice of divorce to the Valige family.
And this was called the tragedy of a young Duke who lost his parents and was divorced by his fiancée, causing a stir in the Empire for a while.
“The notice of divorce is true. But His Grace did not agree.”
“What’s that……”
“It seems that everyone is under a big misunderstanding, so I’ll tell you using this opportunity. I didn’t divorce Duke Valige. In other words, I, Heylen Lintz, am the only ‘current’ fiancée of Duke Valige.”
Thus, the tea party ended with a somewhat tumultuous atmosphere, contrary to its successful start.
[This is the time separator]Everyone had left, and Heylen, who was sitting alone in the garden, carefully stood up.
Her figure, holding her fluttering skirt and moving, was like a swan.
Truly the posture of a woman called the Empire’s rose.
With impeccable elegance, she approached the place where the hibiscus were in bloom and plucked the most temptingly bloomed one, bringing it to her face.
The sweet fragrance that seeped into her nostrils.
She took in the scent of the hibiscus fully and exhaled slowly, speaking in a clear voice.
“Now everything will return to its place, Valige.”
With a bright smile, like a fully bloomed hibiscus.
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
