Surviving as the Adopted Daughter of the Genius Duke (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
While Reina was briefly away, an intensely hostile atmosphere flowed through the garden, incomparable to anything before.
“When will Your Highness return to Ksia?”
Kirian crossed his arms and lifted his chin toward Hith.
Hith suddenly understood why everyone feared Istira’s young lord—the moment Kirian’s large, usually gentle eyes narrowed in Reina’s absence.
But Hith had no intention of backing down easily. Instead, he offered an even more courteous smile and spoke.
“I plan to stay a few more days.”
“How dreadfully unfortunate.”
Kirian bobbed his head.
“Well, who knows? Something might suddenly come up that requires me to leave.”
Hith’s eyebrow twitched.
“You must be exhausted hiding your true self from Lady Reina—pretending to be innocent, pretending to be pitiful. Quite the performance.”
“Hmph. What nonsense. My sister already knows. She’s pretending to be fooled on purpose because she likes me.”
Kirian said proudly, and Hith let out a soft chuckle.
“You seem remarkably confident. Yet I see no reason why Miss Reina would play along.”
“Because I’m cute.”
Kirian pointed confidently at his own face.
“In this world, everything is forgiven if you’re cute. Don’t you know that?”
Hith tilted his head slightly and gave an ambiguous smile.
“I’m not so sure.”
At Hith’s enigmatic response, Kirian scrunched his brows tightly.
“What do you mean?”
“Will you still be cute when you’re older? Didn’t you yourself say you’d grow taller?”
At Hith’s remark, another wrinkle formed between Kirian’s brows.
“No, more importantly—does Miss Reina even find cuteness attractive?”
Kirian snorted dismissively at his words.
“Your Highness clearly doesn’t understand. My sister has liked me since the very first time we met because I’m cute. She loves cute things most of all.”
Kirian glanced sideways at Hith.
“I mean cute—not handsome.”
Hith gave a small laugh and ruffled Kirian’s hair. Kirian swatted his hand away, but Hith didn’t seem to mind at all.
“Yes. Please remain forever as Lady Reina’s one and only closest friend.”
Kirian nodded once, just to be safe.
“That’s exactly what I intended.”
After all, the spot as Reina’s closest friend had always belonged to him—it was only natural.
Yet strangely, the very position he would have desired above all else before now felt oddly irritating.
Just in case, Kirian decided to drive the point home firmly.
“There can only be one best friend, so Your Highness Hith should find another.”
Hith shrugged his shoulders.
“I have no intention of remaining as Lady Reina’s best friend.”
Seeing Kirian eyeing him with deep suspicion, clearly baffled by his words, Hith gave a thin smile.
“I intend to become engaged to Lady Reina.”
As I neared the drawing room, the Duchess’s voice faintly drifted through the crack in the door.
“Your son is truly well-mannered and handsome. They say he’s a prodigy too—you’ve certainly succeeded as a parent. Ho ho ho.”
Since she was praising Hith so warmly, I guessed the Duchess would instantly agree if the engagement were mentioned.
“Your praise is too kind. My son still has much to learn.”
Amid the dignified voice of the King of Ksia, the Duke’s stern tone cut in sharply.
“I’ve heard the trade routes to the East have become perilous due to pirates. Do you have a plan to sustain your kingdom’s strength over the next hundred years? Money isn’t everything, of course—but I believe one must at least possess the means to effortlessly adorn a dress with a hundred diamonds before I can entrust anything important.”
The Duke suddenly began probing deeply into Ksia’s affairs.
His questions were so blunt, it seemed as if he were seriously considering launching a major venture with the Ksian Kingdom.
“Could he really be thinking of a business deal?”
If so, the Duke himself would likely support the engagement too—nothing solidifies a business partnership like a betrothal.
I knocked on the door, and it opened immediately.
“Reina!”
The Duchess gasped in surprise and pulled me into a hug.
“What brings you here? Where’s Hith?”
I hesitated for a moment. How could I send an SOS without seeming like a tattletale?
“I just stopped by briefly to use the restroom. Prince Hith is over there.”
I pointed beyond the window.
“We were taking a walk together with Kirian.”
I threw it out there. SOS.
At the mention of “Kirian,” the Duchess whipped her head toward the window and scanned the outdoors thoroughly.
“Kirian? Why is Kirian outside? He was definitely watching the dragon in his room.”
I felt bad for Kirian, but I had no choice.
I pointed to the spot beneath the tree where I’d left them.
“There, right there.”
Kugugung. No sooner had I spoken than the tree was uprooted.
The King of Ksia cried, “Earthquake!” and dove under the sofa.
The Duchess and the Duke rushed out into the garden through the window.
Feeling no need to correct the King’s misunderstanding, I let out a deep sigh and stepped out of the drawing room.
I wanted to check on the garden quickly, but not urgently enough to jump out the window.
As I shuffled slowly down the corridor, someone suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Kirian!”
Kirian appeared abruptly before me, trembling all over.
“Is it true?”
“…What is?”
It was a pointless question. Just from Kirian’s wildly shaking eyes, I knew exactly what he was asking.
Yet I deliberately feigned ignorance.
“About the engagement. Are you really getting engaged?”
I’d imagined it before.
Kirian’s reaction upon learning that I, who had promised to avoid becoming an adult at all costs, was now engaged to Hith.
I’d expected him to get angry, glare at me with betrayal, or sulk and start tormenting me again. I never imagined this.
His voice thick with tears, his eyes shimmering—just like a child abandoned by me.
Faced with such a Kirian, I couldn’t bring myself to lie.
“Yes.”
Tears, perilously close to spilling over, finally rolled down his flushed cheeks.
“You’re… lying.”
Kirian buried his face in his arms.
“You promised you wouldn’t marry! You promised me you wouldn’t become an adult!”
“It’s just an engagement—not marriage right away. And even the engagement will happen later.”
Even to my own ears, it sounded like a flimsy excuse. But I couldn’t reveal to Kirian that it was a contractual engagement.
After all, the future was uncertain.
It wouldn’t do me any good to start blabbing about my independence plans now.
But at my feeble excuse, Kirian wiped his tears with his sleeve.
“So engagement and marriage are different?”
They say even when the sky falls, there’s always a hole to crawl through. I quickly squeezed myself into that hole.
“Yes. An engagement is just a promise to marry… It can still be broken.”
Since it was a contractual engagement meant to be broken later anyway, saying this much seemed acceptable.
“So if the prince stops seeming handsome to you, you’ll break off the engagement?”
It was a strange question, yet I found myself nodding absentmindedly.
“Yes. So don’t worry too much.”
Kirian suddenly hugged me tightly, then gripped my waist and looked up at me with an unusually serious expression.
“This time, you’re not lying, right?”
His sharp question made me flinch involuntarily.
“It’s true. Believe me.”
Kirian buried his face in my shoulder.
“Okay. I’ll believe only you, sister.”
Relieved by Kirian’s obedient reply, I sighed inwardly in relief.
Kirian’s face, hidden against Reina’s shoulder, hardened coldly.
He didn’t believe it. No—he couldn’t believe it.
If even his sister, who had sworn she’d never marry, could change her mind within days, then trust alone wouldn’t solve anything.
He’d only end up abandoned, clinging to empty promises.
But it didn’t matter.
He just needed to think of a more certain way to keep his sister by his side—something stronger than a promise easily broken.
‘Please remain forever as Lady Reina’s one and only closest friend.’
Hith’s words echoed in his ears like a haunting refrain.
Kirian mumbled into Reina’s shoulder.
“I don’t want to be just a friend.”
If a friend could be so easily stolen by a fiancé, then he had no use for the title of “best friend.” He wasn’t sure what else he wanted to be instead, but perhaps with time, he’d find the answer.
One thing was clear: things couldn’t stay this way.
Fortunately, Hith wasn’t injured.
Before the Duchess could scold him harshly, Kirian drooped his eyes and approached Hith, voice quivering.
“I-I’m so sorry… My foot got caught on a tree root, and I didn’t know the tree would come out.”
I was astonished anew at Kirian’s sincere apology—so unlike the arrogant male lead from the novel.
Hith let out a brief, incredulous chuckle, then nodded.
“Yes. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
The Duchess clapped her hands.
“Oh my, such a generous heart at such a young age!”
Then she pressed down on Kirian’s head, forcing him to apologize properly.
“Our Kirian is still too young and made a mistake—thank Hith for forgiving him.”
Hith waved his hand.
“It’s truly alright. His Lordship is still young, so I fully understand.”
Kirian beamed brightly.
“Thank you for forgiving me, Your Highness. You’re nicer when you’re old.”
Though their eyes seemed to spark with tension, both of their lips curved upward in perfectly polite smiles.
When the Duchess led Kirian back toward his room, he surprisingly followed without protest.
And finally, I could sit down with Hith again to plan our contractual engagement.
“Around age fifteen would be best.”
I decided on the engagement date after seeing the amount Hith proposed. His offered annual stipend as a fiancé was enough that I could live as a commoner in leisure for the rest of my life after just a few years of work.
So there was no need to rush into the engagement and shoulder a fiancée’s responsibilities too early.
It seemed I only needed to work hard for five years—from age fifteen until I turned twenty.
“Fifteen it is. Father mentioned he’ll hold the heir selection trials around then, so the timing seems perfect.”
Hith paused slightly.
“But I’d also like us to maintain a close relationship even before the formal engagement—is that alright?”
“Yes, of course.”
Hith was far more mature than others our age, and we shared many interests—spending time with him was always enjoyable.
Hith smiled brightly.
“Then I should ask Father if I may stay a few more days.”
“Yes. While you’re here, we might as well try to win over the Duke’s family too.”
I fluttered my notebook.
Hith’s eyes crinkled prettily.
“Yes. I’d like to win them over as well.”
I leaned toward Hith and lowered my voice.
“Actually, I just overheard the adults in the drawing room. The Duchess seems very fond of Prince Hith, and the Duke showed great interest in Ksia’s business affairs—I think they’ll likely be supportive of our engagement.”
I glanced briefly toward Kirian’s room window.
For a moment, I thought I saw a shadow reflected in the glass—but when I blinked, it was gone.
“Hmm, even if we set Kirian aside for now, we’ve already won over the majority.”
Hith shook his head.
“Not the majority—exactly half.”
“Huh?”
Hith gave an inscrutable smile.
“Lady Reina is still at an age where she loves cute things.”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
BWAHAHAHAH if only we all had a buff in life 🫡🫡it should be tha easy 😩