However, it’s fascinating how meticulously you observe manners. I couldn’t help but build a favorable impression of the duke with each exchange, thinking that he must have received a good education.
“Anything is fine.”
“Then, this time, I’ll ask for permission first. Is it okay if I order two things?”
Nothing is not okay.
Ordering various dishes would inevitably extend the time spent sitting.
I was curious about Duke Shailo Silverrose.
“The North is quite far from here.”
I gave up using honorifics. Still, the duke didn’t seem to mind.
That was also intriguing.
“Yes, it’s very far. The seasons are opposite here.”
“But how did you end up here…?”
“Well.”
After the dishes were cleared, chocolate ice cream was served for dessert. The duke, using a silver spoon, lightly tapped the preserved cherry on top of the ice cream.
“I came to warn about the abnormal flow of monsters.”
Wait, then why are you on my cruise? To warn about that, don’t you need to go to the Imperial Palace…?
In that moment of contemplation, as if reading my mind, he added:
“Things are urgent, and when I went to the palace, I was told that the Emperor is here.”
“???”
I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Why would Enrique be here?
Although it was bewildering, there was no need to show excessive agitation.
The duke also didn’t seem to bring up such a topic just to scrutinize my reaction.
“Is that a sufficient answer?”
“Is it okay to say such things to a maid?”
“Well, originally it shouldn’t be allowed, but…”
The duke rolled his eyes and soon came to a neat conclusion.
“I’ve already said it, so there’s nothing we can do.”
It was a very refreshing tone.
While rolling the preserved cherry on my tongue, I sighed and bit it with my molars.
‘In the past few years, the number of monsters has steadily increased, but it’s strange enough for the Duke of Silverrose to come out of the North.’
Enrique, who should receive that report, is on my cruise.
‘The country is in good shape.’
It was on the verge of madness.
“Are you interested in monsters, Lady Arti?”
“Yeah.”
“You seemed like it. Now, information about monsters is so commonplace that there’s even a monster catalog. As a duke, I manage the named ones that inhabit the North.”
Monsters were fundamentally remnants of magical power.
They weren’t intentionally created but rather formed by the coalescing and entangling of magical power released from the magical world, evolving naturally.
Most of them weren’t particularly threatening since they would disappear soon after being born.
However, among such monsters, there were those with distinct forms and abilities, gaining intelligence. They were referred to as ‘named ones.’
Representative examples include minotaurs, basilisks, griffins, and the like.
These named ones tended to form groups and create clusters, posing a significant threat.
Well, the threat was relative to human standards.
“I’m appealing right now, Lady Arti. To that extent.”
That was the moment.
The duke, who had stopped talking, rested his chin on the back of his hand and smiled gently. It seemed he noticed my distraction, and his skillful way of gracefully redirecting my attention to him with a kind word was quite impressive.
‘He truly has a personality that won’t incur hatred.’
Watching such a duke, I naturally thought of Merm.
Unlike this man, who seemed to have received nothing but love since birth, Merm had only experienced wounds.
Until I took him in, he hadn’t slept peacefully.
While it’s a natural law that if someone receives abundant blessings, someone else must experience a corresponding lack – the law of cause and effect and the balance of nature – I found it a bit distasteful.
Because Merm was mine, the suffering he had to endure according to the laws of nature felt pitiful.
“The reason I boarded this cruise is… because the sirens I’ve been monitoring recently have disappeared.”
“Sirens?”
“As you know, sirens seduce people with their songs, make them fall into the sea, and then devour them. I understand that they also hunt to survive, but it’s quite inconvenient when an entire cluster disappears.”
Sirens are sea monsters with the oldest female being the leader.
In their matriarchal society, females create songs and raise their offspring. Meanwhile, males hunt and provide for the cluster.
The population of a cluster usually ranges from 50 to as many as 100 individuals.
‘I can’t express how difficult it must be to witness an entire cluster disappearing.’
The reason sirens are difficult to deal with is that their habitat is the sea.
How do you catch those deep-sea creatures?
Even if you throw a strong net and pull, it’s not easy to catch them because the sirens’ arms and legs are as sharp as blades.
The only ways humans have to counter them are firing cannons or throwing harpoons.
Neither of them is particularly effective.
“Tracking their movements, it seems they’ll come to this sea within a few days. Initially, it was quite perplexing, but… I met Lady Arti as if by magic.”
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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