Sister, I'm the Queen This Life (330 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 7
The central staircase was dizzyingly high.
Arabella didn’t care at all about its height and showed no sign of slowing down—as long as she could shove Ariadne off, nothing else mattered.
But there was inevitably a difference in build between a fifteen-year-old and a ten-year-old. No matter how hard Arabella pushed herself forward, she simply couldn’t overpower Ariadne.
Ariadne stepped lightly to the side with effortless grace.
But unfortunately, standing diagonally right next to Ariadne was Isabella.
With Ariadne having moved aside, Arabella’s path shot straight toward her eldest sister, Isabella.
“Huh? Wha—?”
“Huh?!”
Isabella couldn’t dodge Arabella in time and collided head-on with her younger sister, tumbling down the stairs.
—Clatterbang!
“Kyaaaak!”
“Aaah!”
Because Arabella had been looking ahead and charging straight, she managed to grab the railing near the stairs and barely stopped herself.
But Isabella, who had been standing with her back to the stairs, had nothing to hold onto and no support to absorb the force. She tumbled down an entire flight—about one floor’s height—landing in the narrow space between the stair landings.
—Thud!
She’d rolled down so violently that she couldn’t even get up by herself.
“Oww…”
The central staircase of Cardinal de Mare’s residence was oddly both high and narrow. Its steep incline and extremely narrow steps looked genuinely dangerous.
Because of the high ceiling, her scream echoed thunderously. At the sound of Isabella’s desperate cry, the door to Cardinal de Mare’s reception room burst open.
“What’s that noise!”
Cardinal de Mare, alarmed by the commotion, rushed out of his private reception room and looked outside.
He scanned the area, eyes darting between Arabella—visibly terrified—and Ariadne, who stood calmly composed. Then he spotted Isabella collapsed on the landing below the stairs and roared furiously.
“What on earth happened here!”
He gestured to a maid to help Isabella up. Maids from every direction gathered around, lifting Isabella into a sitting position and beginning to apply ice packs fetched from the kitchen.
Isabella, who had injured her ankle, couldn’t stand properly. Seeing her slumped on the landing, Cardinal de Mare bellowed again.
“Who did this!”
Isabella, wisely, kept her head bowed and said nothing. Snitching would only cost her dignity.
Since Isabella remained silent, Cardinal de Mare glared alternately at Ariadne and Arabella, pressing them for answers.
“Which one of you did it?”
Arabella, pale as a ghost, stammered out an attempt at an excuse.
Before a father displaying such fury, a ten-year-old would normally burst into tears—but Ariadne spoke coherently instead, which made Arabella seem surprisingly capable.
“Father, it wasn’t me… It was Ariadne, Ariadne who—!”
Being capable and saying what your father wanted to hear were two different things, however.
Arabella’s attempt to shift blame landed perfectly with Cardinal de Mare.
“Ariadne! You’ve only been back from Bergamo for a few days—how dare you already cause this kind of trouble!”
Arabella breathed a sigh of relief now that a scapegoat had appeared, while the maids gathered on the landing stared at Ariadne as if she were some strange foreigner.
Having returned to Palazzo Carlo from a rural estate only a single day ago, she’d already injured Lucrezia’s precious eldest daughter and earned Cardinal de Mare’s wrath—this young lady’s future certainly wouldn’t be easy.
But Ariadne showed no trace of fear. Instead, she began speaking with an expression that seemed genuinely regretful, as if she were misunderstood—all while maintaining a demure yet composed demeanor.
“Father, I’m deeply ashamed for causing such a loud disturbance so soon after returning from the estate. But Isabella sister was merely trying to help me when she got hurt…”
“Help you?”
Isabella, who had kept her head lowered, looked up at Ariadne with eyes full of suspicion.
“What’s her game?”
Arabella frowned and glared sharply at Ariadne. Yet Ariadne continued speaking undisturbed by her sisters’ hostile stares.
“Isabella sister—though I’d only heard stories about her kindness while at the estate—truly is compassionate. She’s undoubtedly the most esteemed young lady in Palazzo Carlo. Though I’d only just arrived, I’m sincerely grateful she reached out to assist me. However…”
Ariadne glanced briefly at Arabella.
“Arabella really ought to be more careful with her conduct. She pushed me playfully, and Isabella sister ended up falling down the stairs while trying to help me. At ten years old, she’s no longer a child—she should be mindful of her behavior as a maiden.”
Arabella’s face flushed crimson from ears to cheeks.
She’d assumed the country bumpkin who’d just arrived from the countryside wouldn’t dare speak properly in front of the fearsome Cardinal de Mare—so she’d felt safe. Yet Ariadne, seemingly oiled-tongued and utterly fearless, had smoothly spilled everything right before the Cardinal.
“No! That’s not true!”
Arabella screamed desperately. She knew exactly what her father was capable of when enraged. She absolutely couldn’t become the youngest daughter who’d hurt the beloved eldest sister and lost her father’s affection.
“Isabella sister wasn’t trying to help her—she was just standing nearby! That girl shoved me straight toward our sister! She’s the one who made Isabella sister fall!”
Even at Arabella’s bold lie, Ariadne didn’t even blink—she simply lowered her head with a wounded expression.
After all, there was no objective evidence—only a single witness.
“Although I’ve just come from a rural estate, I do not lie.”
Ariadne pointed toward Isabella, who lay on the lower landing.
“If you doubt me because I seem ignorant and unfamiliar, then please ask Isabella sister herself!”
Arabella was thrown into confusion.
“What kind of trick is this?”
Meanwhile, Isabella—the villainess who in her past life had shaken the Etruscan court to its core—had shown promise from the very beginning.
In just the time it took to draw one breath, Isabella collected herself and immediately adopted a pitiful expression, dramatically shaking her head.
“Father…”
Isabella’s decision was clear-cut.
“I was only trying to help Ariadne when I accidentally…”
She wouldn’t miss the chance to appear virtuous—and she made sure to add a final, saccharine touch.
“Arabella was just playing, Father. Please don’t punish her too harshly.”
In an instant, Arabella—now cast as the wicked child tormenting her kind half-sister, unlike the affectionate elder sister—stared at Isabella, mouth agape.
Isabella gently lowered her head, while Ariadne inwardly sighed in relief.
“Nothing’s changed at all. Of course you’d do that, Isabella.”
Blood relation or not, Isabella was never one to miss an opportunity that benefited herself.
[This is the timeline separator]“Arabella! You’re confined to your room for two weeks! You’ll eat only dry bread and water and spend your time in prayer!”
“Father! I really didn’t do it!”
“Call me ‘Your Eminence’! How dare you call me ‘Father’ so disrespectfully! When you’re caught lying, you should repent—not argue! ‘Really didn’t do it,’ you say? For that backtalk, add another week! Three weeks of prayer!”
Arabella trembled violently, staring only at the floor. Isabella avoided eye contact with her sister, repeatedly rubbing her injured ankle.
“Call a physician for Isabella! Where is that woman Lucrezia! How exactly has she been raising her children!”
The house was absolute chaos. Ariadne, who on her very first day back had so effectively sown discord in Cardinal de Mare’s residence, smiled to herself.
“That’s right… So this works.”
At the thunderous voice echoing through the landing, everyone in the household—except Ariadne—lowered their heads in silence, not daring to utter a sound. Cardinal de Mare stomped his foot, seemingly unsatisfied even with that.
“What are you all gawking at, lined up like this! None of you please me—ugh!”
He swept aside the hem of his white robe and slammed the reception room door shut behind him.
Though Isabella had traded her ankle injury for this opportunity, she seemed thoroughly pleased to appear kind in front of others. With a gentle expression, she accepted the maids’ support and retreated to her room on the second floor of the mansion.
Just before being dragged away by the head maid, Arabella gritted her teeth and shot Ariadne a venomous glare.
“Don’t think this is over!”
Ariadne simply offered a faint smile.
“You’re pitiful.”
“What?”
“Father and Mother only love Isabella sister.”
Arabella trembled, her face burning red.
“What would someone like you know! You don’t understand anything!”
“Young miss, please come along. If you raise your voice here again, His Eminence the Cardinal will scold you once more.”
Unable to resist Giada the head maid’s urging, Arabella was dragged away. As she was pulled off, her stream of crude insults—calling Ariadne lowly, ugly, and provincial—echoed thunderously down the corridor.
Ariadne brushed off her dress and adjusted her posture. In the now-empty space remained only anonymous maids busily cleaning up and Maleta, the red-haired maid who’d been standing by the Cardinal’s reception room door the entire time.
Ariadne gave Maleta—who was now even more deferential than before—a bright smile.
“Well then, shall we go?”
[This is the timeline separator]Cardinal de Mare ordered that Ariadne receive the same education as his other two daughters, but Isabella was bedridden with a sprained ankle, and Arabella was confined for three weeks—leaving Ariadne as the only one available to study.
Lucrezia, seemingly reluctant to spend money on a tutor for Ariadne, told the usual tutor to take a month-long vacation and brought in a different one instead.
This hadn’t happened in her previous life. It seemed the causality had shifted because Isabella was injured and Arabella was confined.
Back then, she’d merely sat blankly through lessons given alongside the other two, completely lost in lectures far beyond her comprehension.
“This is Teacher Giovanni. He’ll teach you Latin and arithmetic. Behave yourself.”
Teacher Giovanni was a man in his thirties who looked somewhat unwell. His nose, seemingly marinated in wine, was red and dotted with prominent pores. The stench of a drunkard stung the nose.
Ariadne eyed Teacher Giovanni with suspicion. At first glance, he clearly didn’t seem like a proper instructor. And why was she told to address him by his first name instead of his surname?
“Mother, how can I possibly address a teacher so familiarly by his first name? What is Teacher Giovanni’s family name?”
Lucrezia flared up instantly.
“Stop asking useless questions and just study! If his name’s Giovanni, then it’s Giovanni—why so many words!”
Lucrezia reacted sensitively even to this trivial question, as if something pricked her conscience. Teacher Giovanni himself looked even more suspicious, chuckling sheepishly.
He simply nodded silently, showing no sign of displeasure at being addressed informally—as if he explicitly preferred being called by his first name.
“Something smells very suspicious.”
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.]
Chapter Comments (4)
Inline Comments (8)
“Let’s say you wanted to ask me to dance, Your Highness.”
Wah! Isabella is very cunning. Perfect fit for Cesar.
“My sister and I are so close that she herself insisted we match colors—she aske
Wow! Isabella’s impudence knows no bounds. We’ll pretend to believe you this time.
– “Didn’t that older lady make her cry?”
Every time Isabella amazes me with her cunning. Smart at turning the situation to her advantage. ( ◐ o ◑ )
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Ari realmente é incrível. Cada capítulo mostra o quanto ela é inteligente e sempre um passo à frente de todo mundo. Mal posso esperar para ver até onde esse plano dela vai chegar.
I’m still curious of what Alphonso meant by the last chapter
I’m still curious of what Alphonso meant by the last chapter