A soft bass voice came down from above her head. Reneb turned to Icar and asked,
“……The princess of Solty?”
Icar, still looking at the woman, nodded.
The woman lightly walking towards them was none other than Esika, the heroine of the original story, and Lucius’s fiancée before the regression.
Reneb’s body began to tremble thinly with rage.
“Your Highness?”
It seemed Icar had detected the trembling.
Reneb, lacking the confidence to look Icar in the eye with a calm face, slightly bowed her head.
‘I need to answer that it’s nothing, quickly.’
But her lips, as if glued together in a forced smile, wouldn’t part.
“Why is that?”
Icar asked again, but Reneb couldn’t answer.
She felt an urge to twist Esika’s slender neck rising over the fluttering dress.
But Reneb knew well that she had to be calm at times like this.
What kind of result would come back if she vented her emotions as they welled up.
In the past, Esika had provoked Reneb in crowded places.
Probably out of jealousy for her husband’s fiancée, she had wanted to show everyone the ugly side of the empress.
Once, succumbing to that provocation, Reneb had snapped.
She had slapped Esika’s cheek.
Sure enough, Lucius had shielded Esika, and Reneb had ended up slapping her husband’s fiancée in public.
What followed?
If she could slap a cheek in public, what would she do in private? The suspicion that she bullied the fiancée out of sight had followed her.
Recalling that time felt like something heavy was pressing on her chest. Her breath quickened as if she had forgotten to breathe.
“……!”
Then, a warm hand slowly stroked Reneb’s back.
“Breathe in slowly and exhale.”
Reneb lifted her trembling eyes.
Icar’s red eyes were quietly staring at her.
The hand silently stroking her back was tender.
Reneb’s breathing gradually returned to normal. It was strange that she felt reassured just by the silent touch.
“Are you okay?”
Icar’s soft voice pierced Reneb’s heart like something sharp.
Reneb had always wanted to hear those words from Lucius.
He never said it to Reneb in the end.
“Indeed.”
Reneb, holding back tears, tried to smile. Then Icar raised an eyebrow.
“Your Highness is quite strange.”
“What is?”
“Smiling with a face that seems ready to burst into tears at any moment. Quite odd.”
At Icar’s sharp words that pinched her feelings, Reneb smiled even more broadly.
“Cry? I’m not some child…”
“If Your Highness says so, that must mean adults should not cry.”
Icar looked at Reneb, narrowing his eyes.
“…”
Come to think of it, no one had ever told Reneb that she must not cry.
The Empress simply repeated to herself that she must not show weakness.
“…I hope you do not cry in front of just anyone.”
Reneb was about to ask what he meant by that.
“Hello.”
Beyond Icar’s broad chest, a familiar voice was heard.
“Princess of Solty, Adria. I greet the Sun of Bashuker.”
Icar turned his body towards the direction of the voice.
Reneb’s eyes caught the sight of Esika, who was looking up at Icar with a lovely smile.
“You’re late, Princess of Solty.”
“I hurried to make it to the palace ball but…”
Esika began to speak with a pitiful expression, but her words did not fully reach Reneb’s ears.
‘Why has Esika become the Princess of Solty?’
The original story began in Paradium.
With excellent eloquence, lovely appearance, and an attitude appropriate to the situation, Esika became the admiration of many noble men as soon as she entered society.
Lucius was one of them.
At the time, with the news of her father’s death and the pain of a lost legacy, Reneb’s mind and body were utterly exhausted.
In that situation, Esika, who had captured her husband’s attention, could not have been pleasant to the original Reneb.
At first, it was only to the extent of humiliating her in front of the nobles. But later, she drove Esika to the point of a lifethreatening crisis.
In that way, the original Reneb truly revealed her villainous nature.
Of course, Esika, who received a lot of buffs as the female protagonist, cleverly dealt with Reneb’s traps and gave the readers satisfaction.
The original story is about how Esika, an ordinary noble lady of Paradium, rises to the highest place by using her wisdom and wit.
‘But why?’
In the original story, even before the regression, Esika had never been the Princess of Solty…!
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
