Cardinal de Mare laughed palely.

Ariadne’s mother was a maid to Lucrezia, the official wife. On a day when it rained heavily, the intoxicated Cardinal de Mare took the maid instead of Lucrezia. When Lucrezia found out, she was furious.

But the maid was already pregnant with the Cardinal’s seed. The child that was born was not a son, and it didn’t resemble the Cardinal at all, it was a daughter.

The maid was locked in a room at the top of the tower shortly after childbirth and died after a few years. Ariadne was raised in the servants’ quarters after being separated from her mother’s arms.

Ariadne, who received no special education, could neither write nor draw nor play a musical instrument. Then, in the spring when she turned fifteen, Cardinal de Mare’s butler, Nicolo, informed Ariadne ‘Miss’ to pack her things and move to the castle.

Then she finally thought her father had remembered her. She thought that she finally had a family, that the noble family beyond the castle had finally forgiven her mother’s humble status and accepted her as a family.

What family?

If sucking bone marrow with a straw and then, when they think the utility has fallen, hitting the back of the head is a family, then the three children of Cardinal de Mare and Ariadne were unobjectionable families.

“I accept your proposal. The daughter of the de Mare family will be engaged to Count de Como.”

When Cesare de Como received this reply, he was overjoyed. Isabella, the only daughter Cardinal de Mare introduced to society, was the lover in every man’s heart and the ultimate goal. Getting her meant being the most eligible man in the capital.

With porcelainlike white skin, a blush like a ripe peach, and amethyst hair draped over, Isabella was as beautiful as an angel in a holy painting. Occasionally, when she smiled in her amethyst eyes, she was playful like a fairy in ancient mythology.

But when her beauty stood out the most, it was undoubtedly when Isabella had a solemn expression. Anyone would have been desperate to comfort her when sorrow was added to her noble and pure beauty, as beautiful as a statue.

And now, the appearance of Isabella in front of Cesare de Como was just that.

“Miss Isabella, why do you look so sorrowful?”

“……”

“Do you not like me? Although I have a noble title instead of the right to the throne, I am still a cousin of the king and Count de Como. The territory I will soon have is wealthy and beautiful. Among the nobles in the capital now, there is no better groom than me. I will stake everything I have to make your Highness happy……!”

Isabella cut off Cesare’s words.

“It’s not me.”

“Excuse me?”

“The one who got engaged to Count Cesare is not me.”

Cesare was taken aback.

“But in the proposal, there was clearly a positive reply……”

Isabella lifted her amethyst eyes and stared at him with a pitiful look.

“The ‘daughter of de Mare’ written in that proposal is my younger sister, Ariadne. A timid younger sister who is not well known in society.”

Her slender voice sounded like heavenly music to Cesare’s ears.

“My sister was making a fuss to our father, saying she has nothing in her life, begging him to let her marry the best man in this Etruscan kingdom. She was so stubborn that no one could stop her.”

Isabella sighed deeply, casting down her golden eyelashes.

“I… I have lived with more than my sister. So this time, our father said I should give way to her, and so I did…”

In her violet eyes, appealing tears welled up. She bowed her head slightly as if she did not want to show her tears.

“I cannot go against our father’s wishes, Count Cesare.”

Her slender bowed head was heartwrenching.

“I’ve always admired you from a distance during the mass, Count Cesare. But now we’re becoming family, aren’t we? Feelings of affection are not allowed between family members. Please bury these feelings deep within your heart, and remember me with only love and goodwill.”

This was unthinkable. Cesare, who had been listening in shock, finally opened his mouth.

“But…!”

“Hush.”

Isabella raised her finger and silenced Cesare’s lips. Her white and clear finger lightly touched Cesare’s silent lips. Taken off guard by the contact, Cesare gasped and took a deep breath.

“Ariadne is also a good girl. Please treat her well. That’s all I wanted to tell you.”

Leaving those words behind, Isabella de Mare lightly turned and went back to her family’s seats in the cathedral.

Cesare watched Isabella’s receding figure in a daze, and then spotted a lace handkerchief that Isabella had dropped.

He picked it up and held it dear. He wanted to smell its fragrance, but that too felt disrespectful. He seemed to feel a faint warmth from the handkerchief in his breast pocket. He placed his right hand over his heart, where the handkerchief lay.

Thump, thump.

His heart pounded. He couldn’t tell if his heart was racing because of his excitement at seeing Isabella or the anger of having her taken away right before his eyes.

When he looked up, he saw the darkhaired girl standing with her head bowed next to the Cardinal de Mare, who was chatting with the people around him.

The girl was unnecessarily tall, her hunched back looked more like a laborer than a highborn noble, and her sunburned skin was unfashionable.

He stared endlessly at the girl with black hair standing huddled next to the whiteclothed Cardinal. Just as he was about to grasp the golden trophy, those two ruined his life.

“Giacomo!”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

“Take Miss Ariadne to the top of the west tower for her recuperation. She’s so disfigured from the disease that she can’t perform her queenly duties anymore. Do it discretely so no one will see her.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

Clang!

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.

Link to read

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