#33
I was enveloped in a feeling as if I had swallowed a handful of needles passed on by others. It felt like dusty cold air was sweeping across every inch of my skin. I took a deep breath for a moment. We’re fine, let’s stay calm. Once we leave, it will all be over.
I was getting sick of the guilt that suddenly crept up on me again. Without realizing it, a shadow fell over me from the top of my head.
“Huh. Is something wrong?”
The familiar, abruptly spoken tone fell on my forehead. Startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, I looked up.
“You’re here early, elder sister.”
A deep golden blonde. The impatient face of a boy came close to me. It was Winfrid.
I calmed my racing heart. My head lowered along with my long exhale. How did this child get in again? Lately, everyone keeps startling me like this. After composing myself for a moment, I met eyes with the annoying intruder and asked.
“What are the guards doing? Did they let you in?”
“Yep.”
Winfrid responded casually. He could have made an excuse for the subordinates caught up in this, but he ended it with just one answer.
“How can you be so shameless…”
I frowned.
It was easy to guess that Winfrid had likely forced his way in. They may be called guards, but if they’re so easily breached every time, aren’t they meaningless to have around? Suddenly remembering being dragged away by that bandit-like man, I shuddered once.
“Get out now.”
And I spread my arms downward, gesturing as if shooing away a dog. Backing away with an “Uh, uh?” at that force, Winfrid nearly tripped over his feet and then burst out in frustration.
“Stop that. Damn it. I came urgently for the holy relic. Who are you to drive me away as you please, elder sister?”
“Goodness, look at you. You tracked dirt into the inner palace before, and now you’re being brazen again. Have you saved any face to show Mother? Come back later. It won’t take long anyway.”
Winfrid, who had regained his balance, glared at me with a crooked gaze. Just as I was about to hurry him along, unable to wait any longer. He erased the fierce energy from his eyes and began to look around.
From the exaggerated motion of turning his shoulders to scan front and back, left and right, to the half-lidded glance, every gesture was as exaggerated as a performer on stage. Winfrid deliberately checked the wide open space where even the sound of dust rolling could be heard, then shrugged his shoulders unpleasantly.
“There’s no one here.”
“So what?”
“Since we’ve met, let’s have a cozy chat.”
Winfrid said something absurd. Before I could even answer, he stepped closer and stood blocking the way. His deep blue gaze, almost at the same height as mine, came straight at me. In addition, the way he crossed his arms as if he were some kind of lock was enough to exasperate me.
“I thought you were busy, but it seems you have time to play?”
I let out a hollow laugh and said again.
“Chatting alone with you? I’ll pass. What we shared last time was more than enough.”
“…How cold.”
Winfrid tilted his forehead to one side and grumbled. He came a little closer to me.
“Actually, I have something important to talk about.”
“How good could anything coming from your mouth be? I don’t want to hear it. I’m not even curious.”
I half shuddered. How did Winfrid corner me in the inner palace before? After tormenting me with curse-like words, what terrifying story is he trying to tell this time?
“Your rejection is premature, elder sister. At least listen first before cutting me off. Before any unnecessary trouble arises.”
As I was about to turn towards the altar, no longer wanting to listen, Winfrid’s last words stopped me in my tracks.
“What trouble?”
“……”
I asked suspiciously, and Winfrid closed his mouth. The look in his eyes fixed on me was meaningful. There was a strange smile around his eyes. Seeing that near-sneer made me feel unpleasant, so I ignored Winfrid and gathered my skirts.
“If you really can’t leave, I’ll avoid you.”
“Oh my. Where are you going?”
Winfrid completely blocked my path.
I tried to sidestep him. But every time I turned my steps left or right, Winfrid’s shoulder tilted to block me as if playing a game. What on earth is he doing! At that point, I was just annoyed.
Finally unable to get past Winfrid, I straightened my back fully and quietly snapped.
“Are you really crazy? Move aside.”
“You know the newly appointed assistant priest, the one with a severe harelip and a limp? Have you seen him by any chance?”
Winfrid suddenly smiled brightly. What nonsense is this now? I was even flustered at that point.
Of course, I was already acquainted with the priest he mentioned. He was one of the many priests who came and went to my chambers to recite Johannes’ letters on his behalf. He was a very pitiful and wretched man.
I didn’t see his face well because of the long hood he wore, but his lips below the philtrum and his legs certainly didn’t seem right. Perhaps due to a severe illness in childhood, the length of his legs didn’t match, and when he wasn’t leaning on a cane, even taking a few steps seemed so difficult that it hurt to watch.
While I immediately recalled that man, I had no desire to answer Winfrid. I remained silent, ignoring Winfrid. I was determined not to utter a word until he moved aside.
After waiting quietly, Winfrid began to snap at me irritably.
“I asked if you saw him.”
“……”
“Hm?”
“……”
“Come on. Don’t you have a mouth? Can’t you answer?”
“……”
“Ah, really….”
I watched with amusement as Winfrid irritably messed up his own hair. He sighed deeply as if frustrated and muttered.
“How annoying….”
After hearing such harsh words, my desire to avoid getting entangled disappeared completely.
“Mind your language. I told you I don’t want to hear you speak. Move aside.”
“Elder sister, do you perhaps know? Why he looks like that?”
When I retorted in anger, Winfrid quickly seized on my words.
“Why would I know that? What use would that be to me? Stop talking nonsense and please move aside.”
“How can you not know? Even if the whole world doesn’t know, you should know, elder sister.”
“W-wait…!”
There was no time to stop him. Winfrid suddenly approached me. I reflexively clasped my hands in front of my chest. Our bodies were pressed together with only the space of my fist between us.
Winfrid lowered his chin with his arms still crossed, and his nose tip almost touched my shoulder. Winfrid’s voice struck my ear as I shrank back.
“Incest.”
I widened my eyes. What did I just hear? My mind seemed to flash white. My jaw went slack and my lips parted involuntarily. Winfrid stepped back like the wind. The corner of his mouth, barely visible, turned up sharply like an icicle.
“From what I hear….”
Winfrid slowly opened his mouth.
“It seems siblings slept together. That appearance is the result of one rotten night. No, it might not have been just one night. Who knows how long they were involved? In any case, it’s an abominable act. Disgusting… Those immoral ones….”
Gradually, the smile faded from Winfrid’s lips. I felt a chill. How could Winfrid’s gaze, losing focus as he spoke, be so cold.
Winfrid let out what might have been a sigh or a laugh.
“But he became pitiful. Did he want to be born that way? They say the actual sinners were stoned to death quickly, but the evil bloodline was left alone pitifully, barely clinging to a stubborn life that couldn’t die. I hear he only managed to convert a few years ago. So at that age, he’s still just an assistant priest. The chief priest must have been really desperate to bring in just anyone.”
“…I don’t want to hear such rumors. I don’t understand why you’re telling me this either.”
My voice seemed to come from someone else’s throat. My tense heart was pounding.
“Why? I’m doing this just in case you don’t know. Out of concern.”
Winfrid spoke nonchalantly. Still, I couldn’t respond rashly. Since he wasn’t the type to engage in meaningless small talk with me, whom he wasn’t even close to, I was focused on trying to gauge his intentions.
Winfrid’s thin cheek tilted slightly to one side. His yellow hair shifted to cover half his eyes. Only his blue eyes were bright in his dry expression.
He asked me.
“These days, I hear our elder sister’s face is full of smiles. I wonder what the reason is. I’m curious about that.”
“Why are you… meddling in my good mood…”
“You see, I’m just a bit worried about it.”
To my retort that came out without much thought, Winfrid smiled coldly under his half-lowered eyelids. It was a gentle curve like a single streak of blood drawn on a white sand beach.
“Worried…? You? About me?”
“Are you crazy? How carefree of you to say that. Why would I worry about you? What I’m concerned about is elder brother’s well-being.”
Winfrid clicked his tongue in displeasure and straightened his upper body. And then.
“Stay away.”
A baseless warning was carelessly thrown out.
“Stay away…?”
“The two of you. Stay away, I said.”
Drip.
My thumb that I had been pressing inward slipped a little. Only then did I realize that cold sweat had formed in the fist I had gathered at my front. Winfrid abruptly walked over. I stepped back two paces. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be coming any closer, but a whirlwind was raging in my chest.
“I don’t know… what you’re talking about…”
I denied it haltingly. I wanted to avoid Winfrid, to avoid conversation with him. A sensation of my legs stiffening while also feeling like I might jump up. But Winfrid didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of letting me go.
“Don’t try to wriggle out of it. I already know everything, so.”
“What… do you know…”
“It’s elder brother, right? The lover elder sister has been hiding.”
It felt like my waist had been cleanly cut off. Hot breath rose wildly from the severed part.
“There’s no… such person. Even if there were, by some minuscule chance… Johannes?! How could that make any sense?”
“Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing now, elder sister, something that makes no sense as you say? Did you think no one would know after giving off such a sweet scent? You should at least be moderately discreet. Tsk…”
My mouth was completely blocked. The flames coming up my throat felt like they would burn the root of my tongue. I barely parted my lips.
“…Who.”
“What?”
“Who… said such… nonsense?”
For a moment, Winfrid tightly closed his mouth. His gaze, piercing forward at about my height, was hard to read.
In fact, at that time, I immediately thought of Griselda’s face first, but the pitch-black fear spreading over me felt like it would kill me before the wave of betrayal. Ah, the reason was that it wasn’t just Griselda alone who was pushing me to the edge of the cliff at that time.
What if it wasn’t her?
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.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
