Sister, I'm the Queen This Life (330 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 8
Ariadne was officially a girl who had grown up in a rural backwater until the age of fifteen, so the Latin and arithmetic she was to be taught were truly basic.
She sat amid a boring lesson, pondering what to do next.
‘What can I possibly do to avoid my engagement to Cesare and survive?’
Her first thought was marriage to another man. But Ariadne quickly shook her head.
‘They’d never let me marry off so easily.’
Ariadne had been brought from the farm specifically to save Isabella from Count Cesare’s marriage proposal. If they weren’t going to marry her off to Cesare, there’d be no use keeping her at the estate.
‘Maybe I should earn some money and run away? They say in the northern Republic of Porto, gold coins reign supreme, regardless of noble titles.’
Yet money came from land, and as a girl without a title, Ariadne couldn’t even raise initial capital, let alone grow it. This was an era where commerce hadn’t developed enough—only noble men who owned land and serfs could wield wealth and power.
‘……A happy ending where he falls in love with me won’t happen.’
The sweet kind of life where she’d become engaged to Cesare, he’d cherish her, marry her, and crown her queen.
Ariadne shook her head. She wasn’t that naive. And above all else,
‘You’ll pay for what you’ve done.’
Once betrayed, blood must be repaid—there could be no forgiveness without it.
Cesare de Como, who had spent fourteen years layering sweet promises only to cruelly abandon Ariadne at the end for the sake of her beautiful older sister.
Isabella de Mare, who, without a shred of familial affection—or even basic human conscience—had treated Ariadne as nothing more than her personal accessory from start to finish, and when she became a threat, took her very life.
And Cardinal de Mare, who, as a father who ought to protect and care for his child, had regarded Ariadne merely as a chess piece—used only for the benefit of the children he’d borne with Lucrezia.
“I won’t let this go.”
“Ariadne, focus.”
At her muttered vow, Teacher Giovanni—nicknamed “Strawberry Nose”—rapped his ruler sharply on her desk and scolded her.
“If you’re stupid, at least work hard.”
This was deeply unfair. In her previous life, Ariadne had served as the de facto wife of a regent duke and drafted official documents in Latin; Giovanni’s study materials were painfully elementary.
– auctor
“What does this word mean?”
“It means ‘founder’ or ‘author.’”
Giovanni’s brow furrowed.
– officium
“And this one?”
“It means ‘duty’ or ‘office.’”
When Ariadne answered flawlessly and effortlessly, Giovanni looked displeased. Ariadne glanced sidelong at him and asked calmly,
“Teacher, must ‘divitiae’ always be used as a feminine noun? Isn’t there a neutral form?”
“Stop blathering nonsense and just memorize the words! ‘Wealth, riches, treasure’—it’s always feminine! When have you ever heard it used in another case? You fool.”
The ablative of ‘divitiae’ was ‘divitiis.’ Teacher Giovanni was clearly someone who’d only rote-memorized Latin vocabulary and became utterly lost when it came to sentence structure.
Ariadne decided to test him once more.
“Teacher, after my sisters return a month from now, will you continue teaching me?”
Giovanni flinched.
“I’ll teach for a month. Once that’s over, I’ll take my payment and go enjoy myself in San Carlo before heading back.”
‘So he’s not from around here.’
His accent carried a faint trace of the southern provinces.
“You must earn quite a bit. Teaching the Cardinal’s daughters must bring both prestige and a generous salary for a private tutor.”
Though she’d merely offered a simple compliment, Giovanni immediately grew boastful. Clearly, he wasn’t someone accustomed to receiving praise.
“When I return home, this’ll serve as a credential—more work will come my way. People will treat me better out in the world. You, sheltered as you are, wouldn’t know. Even the courtesans in Carampan would welcome me.”
Ariadne frowned at Giovanni’s bragging. As expected, he was no paragon of virtue. Carampan was a pleasure district, and “courtesan” was a euphemism for high-class prostitutes.
A night with a Carampan courtesan cost no less than ten ducats (roughly ten million won)—far too much to pay even for the Cardinal’s daughters, let alone a beginner-level Latin instructor.
“Teacher, you’re really impressive. So cool.”
Suppressing her disgust, Ariadne pretended not to understand and gazed up at Teacher Giovanni with feigned, innocent admiration.
Her youthful appearance truly came in handy. An adult making that face would’ve been called insincere and mocked.
[This is the timeline separator]Dinner at Cardinal de Mare’s residence was unlike usual.
Isabella, whose ankle hadn’t yet healed, ate separately in her room; Arabella was under house arrest; and Ippolito, the household’s eldest son, was away studying abroad. No children remained at the dining table.
Lucrezia normally occupied her seat, but tonight she claimed to be unwell and took dinner separately.
Thus, it was the perfect opportunity for a private audience.
– Clack… clack…
Only the sound of cutlery echoed through the silent dining hall. Cardinal de Mare paid Ariadne no attention.
Ariadne spoke first.
“Your Eminence, thank you for assigning me such an excellent teacher.”
Cardinal de Mare replied indifferently.
“Good. Are you making any progress with your studies?”
“Ego habeo, per pax universalis.”*
Ariadne recited the phrase proudly and smiled.
“It’s a Latin sentence the teacher taught me. I’ve memorized it. Did I do well?”
Cardinal de Mare’s expression soured instantly.
“Who taught you such gibberish? Are you sure you memorized it correctly?”
“Yes, I really did! E-g-o, h-a-b-e-o…”
“Then the teacher must be incompetent.”
“No! Teacher Giovanni is quite famous! Mother said she spent ten ducats just to bring him here.”
“What? Per year?”
“He’ll only teach for a month. Next month, he’s returning south.”
“What?! What’s that man’s name?!”
“His given name is Giovanni. He didn’t tell me his surname.”
Cardinal de Mare was an astute man. The excessive tutoring fee assigned to Lucrezia—a concubine-born daughter who’d normally be scrimped on—the teacher’s abysmal competence—and the fact that this so-called teacher hailed from the same southern region as Lucrezia…
He quickly grasped the situation, and his face flushed red with fury.
“Lu—cre—zi—a!!!!”
[This is the timeline separator]Snitching so openly wouldn’t work often—it’d lose its effect—but doing it once or twice should be fine.
If she’d regressed to the body of a five-year-old, she could’ve milked this for an entire year, Ariadne thought with a sly smile.
Chaos erupted within the household. The notoriously stingy Cardinal de Mare stormed off to Lucrezia, demanding she hand over the household ledger—and sure enough, it bore the entry: “Education fee—10 ducats.”
‘I just took a wild guess at the amount, and it was spot on.’
“Ten ducats a month—for a daughter, not even Isabella, but Ariadne’s education?! Does that even make sense?!”
“I wanted to hire a good teacher…”
“A good teacher who can’t even conjugate Latin properly?! Who is he, and where did he study?!”
Lucrezia stammered, unable to answer.
“And he’s not even from San Carlo! Why would you hire a Latin tutor from the countryside instead of the capital?! Who is this man?! He’s from the south, isn’t he?!”
Giovanni’s hometown was Taranto in the south—the same region as Lucrezia—and his surname was Rossi, Lucrezia’s maiden name.
In other words, he was her relative from her birth family.
Lucrezia had wanted to send money to her struggling relatives, but Cardinal de Mare watched her spending like a hawk. So she’d hired an unqualified instructor and set his salary ridiculously high.
“Are you out of your mind?!”
“Your Eminence… Your Eminence… I was wrong. It won’t happen again.”
“I won’t let this go!”
‘Lucrezia’s birth family must be dirt-poor, fallen nobles.’
As Ariadne recalled, they all relied entirely on Lucrezia—the only one among them to have improved her fate by becoming a cleric’s concubine.
‘If I dig deep enough into that ledger, I’ll find plenty more.’
But Lucrezia couldn’t just stop sending money after getting caught once. Her entire family clung to her like grapes on a vine—more incidents were bound to happen.
Giovanni had his wages confiscated, was beaten with a club, and thrown out. Lucrezia was now forced to seek Cardinal de Mare’s explicit permission for every single expense in the household ledger for the next month.
‘I hope this is enough for them to leave me alone now.’
Ariadne almost wished she could sit down with Lucrezia and negotiate openly and honestly.
Unfortunately, the de Mare family and their household were not the sort of people amenable to such civil dealings.
[This is the timeline separator]“I’ve put your laundered clothes in the wardrobe. Change and come down for dinner.”
Maleta, the red-haired maid, had been watching Ariadne warily for about three days after Arabella’s house arrest incident—but had now reverted to her old self.
At first glance, Ariadne hadn’t recognized her, but they were actually old acquaintances.
Maleta, Isabella’s trusted maid, had followed her mistress into the royal palace in their previous lives—only to cause a scandal by becoming the mistress of a married palace official.
“Are you busy?”
“Yes.”
The maid’s voice was curt.
Ariadne, deciding to give her one more chance, feigned innocence and asked,
“Won’t you help me change?”
It was a duty any proper lady’s maid would perform without question. But Maleta failed to recognize the opportunity handed to her and instead snapped, turning away in irritation.
“You’re not a child—can’t you dress yourself? You did it alone on the farm every day, didn’t you?!”
‘The farm?’
Ariadne’s patience snapped.
‘She thinks I’m utterly beneath her.’
The maid was just like her original mistress.
Once you appeared weak, there was no stopping it—that was a lesson from Ariadne’s past life.
Something flew through the air and struck the back of Maleta’s head as she muttered aloud about how Ariadne was acting like a proper young lady despite being worthless.
– Thwack!
“Ah!”
Embedded in Maleta’s skull with a dull thud was the Imperial Scripture Office tome Ariadne always carried.
When Maleta turned, clutching her head, she saw Ariadne’s icy glare.
“Know your place! Who do you think you are to act so insolently?”
For a fifteen-year-old, Ariadne was tall, and her cold eyes carried an unnerving weight.
But Maleta had her own reasons and confidence.
“Excuse me, but if you were born from a maid like me, aren’t you in the same position as us?”
“What?”
“Honestly, your father was just a self-made cleric. Strictly speaking, clerics aren’t even nobles—so you’re not even a noble’s bastard.”
Seeing Maleta’s true feelings laid bare, Ariadne fixed her with a steady gaze, curious to see how far she’d go.
“Go on, then.”
Maleta thrust out her plump, sensual chest and continued,
“Frankly speaking, if I caught the Cardinal’s eye tomorrow, my child and yours would be no different!”
Her voice rose.
“Isabella and Arabella get respect because Lady Lucrezia is noble—but for you, Ariadne, to act like you’re equal to them? That’s what’s truly disrespectful!”
– Slap!
Stars exploded before Maleta’s eyes. Ariadne had slapped her—no need to listen further.
“So you’re saying my father’s bloodline is so base that he lacks dignity?”
Ariadne’s voice was ice-cold.
“This is punishment for insulting my father.”
Before Maleta could recover, Ariadne struck her other cheek.
– Slap!
Holding her right cheek, Maleta reeled from the blow to her left. Ariadne declared sternly,
“This is punishment for your jealousy.”
Ariadne picked up her fallen tome and delivered one final strike to Maleta’s face.
– Thud!
“Aaah!”
This time, it wasn’t a sharp slap—but a deep, bone-rattling thump. Maleta staggered backward and collapsed.
“And furthermore—are you seriously dreaming of stealing your mistress’s husband and taking her place? This is punishment for a servant who oversteps her bounds and dares to gossip about her masters’ private lives.”
Clutching her swollen cheeks, Maleta glared at Ariadne through gritted teeth.
Looking down at the fallen maid, Ariadne added kindly,
“What you just said—if anyone else had heard it, they’d be trembling in fear. Watch your tongue.”
Trembling violently, Maleta received her dismissal.
“Get out.”
When Ariadne pointed to the door, Maleta scrambled out of the attic room in a panic.
Alone at last, Ariadne finally clenched her jaw.
‘The essential difference between you and me isn’t about bloodline.’
Maleta wasn’t entirely wrong. Ariadne’s current privilege stemmed solely from her father’s power in the capital—technically, under a strict caste system, she was no different from a commoner.
But it also wasn’t, as Maleta claimed, simply about who was prettier or better at seducing men. Life wasn’t that simple.
In her past life, Ariadne had learned firsthand how brutally a life dependent on a ‘lucky’ match with a fine man could end.
‘The real difference between us is whether we can set goals—and how much we’re willing to endure to achieve them.’
Ariadne’s jaw tightened.
She didn’t want to live like Maleta.
She wanted to protect her dignity with her own hands—a life free from violation, attack, and full of mutual respect. A life not tethered to a single man’s whim.
‘This time, I’ll reach the top—just to ensure I’m never trampled again. That damn maid, this damn household—I’ll get rid of them all.’
Male lead Asks for a Divorce Every Day
It’s not often you come across a plot like this in the female-dominant genre — make sure to check it out!
This is a novel I’m planning to reread as well.
The male lead is strong, skilled in martial arts, and not the usual fragile type you often see in matriarchal novels.
Meanwhile, the female lead is a scientist—rational and logical. Even when she falls for the male lead, she doesn’t let her emotions cloud her decisions.
If you push through the first few chapters, you’ll gradually find the story really intriguing.
It has a mix of mystery, detective elements, and romance.
The author’s writing style is like crafting a puzzle—except they deliberately leave out a few pieces, making it hard to predict what happens next, yet keeping you hooked.
In the end, everything will come together and be explained.
One-sentence summary: Wife, stop playing with beakers and look at me!
In a laboratory accident, research scientist Zhu Wansheng accidentally travels to a matriarchal world. The original owner of the body is an eighteen-year-old only daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant, already married with a handsome young man.
Zhu Wansheng grins: Nice! She always said she was heaven’s favorite granddaughter. After a life of toil in her previous life, she can enjoy blessings in this one.
However, her joy lasts no more than three seconds as bad news arrives: the original owner’s family is about to go bankrupt, and her husband wants a divorce.
Even worse, she’s stuck with a research system full of restrictions.
Zhu Wansheng: ? Is this the destiny of a research dog?
——
Faced with this mess, Zhu Wansheng pours herself a bowl of wine to drown her sorrows. In her drunken haze, her husband arrives.
His figure is imposing, holding a long sword, with a dignified air that captivates Zhu Wansheng.
Gu Yingqing, however, looks at the alcohol-reeking Zhu Wansheng with undisguised disgust and coldly asks, “Divorce or not?” The intoxicated Zhu Wansheng mumbles vaguely, “I think… it’s not… it’s not… impossible!”
——
The next day, after sobering up, Zhu Wansheng is full of energy, rolling up her sleeves ready to make a big move. As for yesterday? She has no memory of it.
Zhu Wansheng is ambitious; a research dog fears nothing!
Upgrading rouge, extracting fragrances, producing perfumes, researching lipsticks… all shall bow to the power of modern technology!
The original owner’s dying rouge shop is revitalized. Her mother is pleased and with a wave of her hand, passes on the family business to her. As she takes control and her experimental results gain popularity, it’s the pinnacle of her life…
——
But there are always those who can’t stand to see her doing well. Jealousy, scheming, assassination attempts – they want nothing less than her life.
The person who has always kept his distance from her suddenly holds her tightly in his arms, eyes full of concern.
She is unharmed, but he falls into a pool of blood…
Zhu Wansheng feels guilty, “I can grant you one wish.”
Gu Yingqing tentatively circles his arms around her, carefully resting his head in the crook of her neck, pleading softly, “I regret it. Can we not divorce?”
Zhu Wansheng: ? When did I agree to a divorce?
[Small Theater]
The newly developed rouge is beautifully packaged, and Zhu Wansheng is eager to try it.
Gu Yingqing suddenly appears: “My lady, may I apply it for you?”
Cool fingertips lightly brush her lips. His Adam’s apple bobs as he leans in for a light bite.
Zhu Wansheng: ?
Gu Yingqing: It smells so good, I wanted to taste it…
On a warm spring day, Zhu Wansheng tries a new perfume: “Spring Night.” Gu Yingqing corners her against a wall.
Warm breath lingers on her neck.
“My lady, from now on, may I test the fragrances for you?”
[Humorous female scientist vs scheming live-in son-in-law male lead]
[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