“Still, when Mom was alive, after work, he brought snacks, bought toys on birthdays, and went out to town on weekends. Even if only Mom were alive…”
I didn’t know what to say, so I awkwardly patted Matt’s shoulder.
After glancing at me for a moment, Matt chuckled softly.
“It’s okay, me. You don’t have to make that expression.”
Matt instead patted my shoulder.
“It will just take time, and I believe Dad will come back just like before. So, I’m not giving up.”
Matt smiled brightly at me.
“That’s what family is like, isn’t it?”
“Family…”
Being with Matt made me think of the aristocrats who had left.
People who accepted me as family despite being a complete stranger.
Even if I went to cafes every time, flipped through magazines, and complained at bars, I knew inside.
They would have been sadder than anyone, knowing that I had died. Even now, they might occasionally think of me when they miss me. Just like I do.
So, even if the magazines say people have been living well for two years, I knew they hadn’t completely forgotten me.
“Yeah.”
I put my hand on Matt’s head.
“That’s how family is supposed to be.”
For similar reasons, I’d probably keep trailing behind the Marquis Magnier, even if I didn’t have any substantial income. Because they were family, I couldn’t give up.
Even if I moved to another continent, I would probably read magazines and collect gossip. Even while being hurt by seeing their well-lived lives, I felt I couldn’t give up, even if it meant living with the contradiction of receiving comfort.
Until I could sincerely wish them happiness, forgetting about my wounds.
“I’ll help too.”
When Pablo opened his eyes again, he was in a dimly lit room. His arms and legs were tied to a chair so he couldn’t escape, and the only light, a candle, barely illuminated the surroundings.
“How did you repay such a huge debt?”
The man sitting across the table asked. Even in the faint light, his green eyes shone vividly.
He was a quite handsome young man, but his scrutinizing gaze wasn’t entirely polite.
Pablo swallowed his saliva.
“S-someone paid it off for me.”
A polite voice involuntarily came out.
“So, who?”
“Uh…”
Pablo hesitated on how to explain. Someone had rescued him from the thugs and even paid off his debt, but his memory was hazy from the alcohol.
Crucial details like the person’s appearance and name had long been erased. Since that day, he had only seen the person wearing a hood.
“He, he used brute force. Easily knocked down adult men.”
His eyes narrowed.
Even though Reyna was sturdier than her peers, it wasn’t enough to knock down adult men. Feeling uncertain, I probed again.
His eyes squinted.
“Do you know what this is?”
He put a gold ingot on the table and pushed it towards Pablo.
“Do you know what this is?”
Pablo looked at the gold ingot with puzzled eyes.
The gangster who paid off his debt had several gold bars like that. Whether it was because he saw someone swing a gold bar and send a thug straight into the afterlife, the memory was vivid.
“It’s a gold bar with the stamp of the Krycia Royal Family, 100% pure gold.”
At the mention of the Krycia Royal Family, Pablo flinched. It seemed like he had mistakenly tangled himself up with someone high up.
“If a gold bar has this stamp, the quality of the gold is guaranteed by the honor of the Krycia Royal Family.”
Hys tapped the stamp clearly imprinted on the gold bar.
“Sometimes, there are scoundrels who forge this stamp to pass off alloyed gold as pure gold. Even the royal appraisers unanimously verify this as genuine.”
After saying that, Hys placed two more gold bars on the table.
“If one gold bar were circulating in the black market, it might be dismissed as secretly disposed of by some urgent noble, but when three are found simultaneously?”
When Hys’s gaze focused on him again, Pablo shrank back with a whimper.
“Moreover, when we trace the source of the money, it turns out to be used to pay off the enormous debt of a gambling addict?”
Hys pushed the pile of gold bars forward.
“Let me ask again. Where did the money come from?”
Though Hys’s whispering voice was incredibly soft, Pablo felt shivers all over his body.
“If you don’t reveal it, Pablo, I’ll have no choice but to conclude that you stole from the royal funds.”
“I-I’ll talk!”
Pablo forced his stiff neck to turn.
It had been a long time since he had borrowed money from many places, often not remembering where he got it from, but he could sense it.
If he couldn’t recall it now, he would die.
Certainly, the gang that had hung him upside down that day had used an unexpectedly fancy name that didn’t match the image.
What did the boss say?
“He said it was the name of something you could only find in the noble’s house…”
It meant that the thing named was even more profitable than a noble. Although the boss didn’t know exactly what the item was, the name had an odor strong enough to roll off the tongue.
“Madeline Park!”
Like a lightning bolt, the name brushed past the alcohol-soaked brain.
“The person who paid off my debt is Madeline Park’s new boss, Ant!”
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
