“Thank you very much for saving me, Miss. I’ll certainly repay this favor.”
[This is the time separator]During the sunny weather transitioning from spring to summer, Ariadne, who was living in the stable with shabby wooden walls and straw mattresses, received an unexpected surprise.
“Miss Ariadne, the Madam asks you to wash up and prepare.”
It was Maleta, who came with the stillapprentice Sancha, to announce the lifting of the confinement.
It had been ten days of confinement.
“I was prepared for a month, what happened?”
Before Maleta could answer, Sancha, who had an initiative, stepped forward and answered.
“A carriage came from the royal palace! They specially asked to bring Miss Ariadne!”
Ariadne laughed in delight. It was an opportunity she hadn’t even considered to repay Lucrezia for ten days in the stable.
Ariadne followed the maids up to her room on the third floor.
In the small attic room, there was a neatly arranged ivorycolored silk dress and a pure white chemise for the young noble lady to wear underneath.
It was not an expensive outfit. But among the things she had handled after her return, it was the most beautiful dress.
However, instead of coveting the dress, Ariadne turned to Sancha with a broad smile.
“Hey, let’s play dress swap.”
“What?”
“The chemise. You wear that. I’ll wear what you’re wearing now.”
The maids were also surprised. Furthermore, Maleta’s face distorted when Ariadne chose Sancha instead of herself. Sancha, feeling lost as the Miss was telling her to do so, took off her clothes she had been wearing and handed them to Ariadne.
Ariadne swapped the chemise she was wearing for Sancha’s, and put on the dress given by the De Mare family over it. Instead of the white lace of the chemise that was supposed to be visible, the yellow cotton underwear was seen.
Ariadne, having neatly combed her hair and completed her outfit for going out, went downstairs.
[This is the time separator]“Mom, mom! Why did Queen Marguerite suddenly invite us to the Mass?”
“She must have been curious to see our beautiful Isabella’s face!”
Inside the carriage, the mother and daughter’s excited ‘axe disease’ parade was in full swing.
“The prince will come, right? I’ve brought a handkerchief just in case.”
Isabella flaunted a handkerchief with the initials AFC. She had washed it clean, sprayed perfume, and kept it.
Isabella herself was dressed up like a porcelain doll.
She blushed her lovely red skin, blackened her eyelashes by dipping coal powder in oil to make them thick and dark, and styled her flaxen hair in a trending style from the Republic of Porto, half tied up and the rest wavy down.
The dress she wore was the same ivory dress for going out as Ariadne’s, but there was no comparison in terms of luxury.
Already beautiful, the girl stood out even more when she dressed up, and everything else seemed to lose its light, making Isabella shine alone.
As per the customs of the Etruscan Kingdom, a young lady who has not made her debutante cannot use colored cosmetics.
Ariadne, with her plain face, closed her mouth like a clam and tried her best to not be compared to Isabella, sitting in a corner of the carriage while bearing those arrogant mother and daughter.
“Heehee!”
With the sound of the horses trotting, the carriage arrived at Palazzo Carlo in the center of San Carlo. The palace manager welcomed Ariadne, the affectionate mother and daughter who got out of the carriage which stopped at the inner main gate after passing the external entrance.
“Welcome to the family of Cardinal de Mare.”
The manager cleverly avoided using words like ‘Madam’ for Lucrezia or ‘family’ for the clergy.
Instead, he escorted the three with neat palace etiquette to the outer reception room used for Queen Marguerite’s mass. It was a small but elegant chapel.
In the chapel, a priest in white robes was just about to open his mouth at the altar, and a dignified woman in her forties, wearing a Mass veil on her head, was devoutly bowing her head in the front row.
Behind her were a few maidservants about to offer a prayer.
The priest was holding a Mass in the language of the Gallico Kingdom.
‘That’s Queen Marguerite.’
Ariadne had never seen Queen Marguerite in her previous life, but she could recognize her at a glance from her portrait.
Even if she hadn’t seen the portrait, she would have recognized her at a glance. The queen’s demeanor and attire immediately gave away that she was a noble lady.
“What, what should we do?”
Lucrezia, who had no experience of meeting royalty, didn’t know what to do and whispered in Isabella’s ear in a fluster.
When meeting Her Majesty the Queen, it was customary to greet her first. But it was a great rudeness to speak to the queen who was praying. Isabella was no different in not knowing what to do.
After glancing at the two flustered mother and daughter, Ariadne calmly sat a few rows behind Queen Marguerite and began to offer her own prayer.
“Mom!”
Indeed, Isabella was quickwitted. She jabbed Lucrezia’s side to look at Ariadne and quickly sat down next to her and began to pray.
She was annoyed that Ariadne had taken a good spot first, but for now, this was the best she could do.
When her eldest daughter settled in, Lucrezia also awkwardly sat down next to her and began to pray.
“And therefore the Gon of Jesarche sacrificed himself and saved the sinners, for they are imperfect yet still his children.”
The priest’s prayer was reaching its end.
“We can only ponder what went through Gon of Jesarche’s mind when he sacrificed himself for the immoral, selfish, dundering ones under his wings. The noble, rich, witful or spiritual ones must care for the others first before saving themselves in order to replicate Gon of Jesarche’s way of living. Amen.”
[“What could have been the thoughts of the Gon of Jesarche when he sacrificed himself for the immoral, selfish, and notsosmart people. Those who have, whether it’s wealth, status, or spirituality, must always be there for those less fortunate than themselves. This is the goodness that humans do not possess at birth but must always strive for. Amen.”]“Amen.”
The voices of the women in the chapel rang out together.
Isabella, who was eager to be noticed by the queen, sounded unusually high and clear in her ‘Amen’.
Did Isabella understand even a word of the Mass content? Ariadne instinctively frowned, realizing that she was being influenced, she carefully smoothed out the wrinkles on her forehead.
Such a desperate attempt to stand out was in fact a foolish act. Isabella herself, had she been just ten years older, would never have done such a thing.
But her cruel nemesis who tormented Ariadne cleverly throughout her life and eventually succeeded in locking her in the West Tower, was just a seventeenyearold girl in puberty for now.
A particularly loud ‘Amen’ drew the attention of the lady of the chapel, who turned around. Her hair was as brilliantly blonde as her son’s. The sunlight piercing through the stained glass windows enveloped her gentle features.
The queen’s expression was kindly, yet her turquoise eyes were cold.
Her gaze came to rest on Isabella.
Seeing the Queen’s gaze, Ariadne, seated next to Isabella, bowed her head politely once more.
Upon realizing that Queen Marguerite’s attention was directed at her, Isabella, driven by an innate desire for attention, opened her mouth.
“Oh my goodness…!”
All eyes in the room were now fixed on Isabella.
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
