The Price is Everything of Yours (76 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 14
Atop the tall grass, as high as a child’s waist, a white flower shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.
Neris walked slowly, breathing in the delicate floral fragrance. Even the nearest building lay far away along this secluded stone-walled path—reachable only after a long walk for a child. From a distance, her figure struggling through the shrubbery, with short building shadows falling upon her skirt, appeared utterly endearing.
The place she headed for was her secret spot. An unexpected disturbance some time ago had nagged at her mind, keeping her away for a while—but the more she thought about it, the clearer it became that she had no reason to avoid it.
During her eight years at school, that hadn’t been her only place to enjoy solitude. Yet other spots had already accumulated unpleasant memories, and she no longer wished to visit them.
‘It feels as if I’m losing.’
In her previous life, she’d simply gone along with everyone else—and that had been enough. Back then, circumstances forced her to watch others closely, but truthfully, Neris disliked losing. Her sharp intellect came with equal pride.
It wasn’t that she lacked ability—merely the right environment to show it.
Finally reaching her destination—the topmost floor of the Zacharia Library—Neris listened carefully for any nearby movement. Hearing neither the rustle of pages nor footsteps, she sighed in relief and approached the pillar.
“Back again, I see.”
At the sudden voice from behind, Neris’s eyes widened, and she froze near the pillar.
That cool, gemlike voice seemed to come from just behind the bookshelf beside the pillar. Though invisible to Neris, who’d walked directly from the entrance, it was an ideal spot for someone hiding to notice her approach.
“Why do you keep coming here?”
Had he been hiding? Suspicion and irritation flared within Neris, and she asked coldly. Cledwin Maindlant replied with breathlike lightness, yet even his brief, relaxed tone carried unmistakable strength and confidence.
It was the voice of a ruler—perhaps, no, certainly far superior to Abelus.
“It’s my seat. Didn’t you come here knowing that? Neris Trude.”
Cledwin knew Neris’s name. She wasn’t surprised. Among new students with violet eyes, only Megara and herself existed—and their usual attire and manner of speech differed greatly. He wouldn’t have needed long to identify her.
“It’s my seat. Whatever you think, senior.”
But the phrasing—that he called it his seat—grated on her nerves, so she snapped back petulantly.
Clearly, he’d discovered this place before she had. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have approached the pillar so confidently that day without hesitation, given its isolation.
Yet why would he need such a cramped spot? He surely had a lavish dormitory room.
“That chair was brought here by me.”
Neris flinched. The chair… indeed looked expensive—fitting for the son of Duke Maindlant.
But imagining Cledwin idly napping in the library felt strange. Suspiciously, she asked, “Really?”
“When urgent, one must hide—just like when you switched that child’s ribbon.”
“You were watching?”
“I know many things.”
Neris felt both startled and slightly impressed.
High-ranking figures usually had followers, but Cledwin was still young and hadn’t formally inherited the dukedom.
The headmaster, acting as the Emperor’s eyes, monitored all academy students closely—yet here Cledwin was, deploying hidden agents. She’d thought even Abelus only gained such resources upon adulthood.
“You must be lucky to know so much.”
“You’re not afraid.”
A soft chuckle floated toward her like a cloud. Neris replied indifferently, “If you’d intended to inform others, you wouldn’t have kindly mentioned it to me yourself like this. What do you really want, Cledwin Maindlant?”
“No.”
Cledwin chuckled lightly again.
“Tell me what you want.”
“I’m not a spy watching you, senior. If that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Then?”
“Just an ordinary twelve-year-old new student.”
“An ordinary twelve-year-old new student who doesn’t fear blades, scored the highest marks in academy history without prior tutoring, knows diplomatic phrasing used only by seasoned envoys, and manipulated public opinion about a childhood friend?”
Neris frowned, a slight crease forming on her narrow, upturned nose.
“A lady’s private affairs—surely you, trained from an early age, understand better than I that such behavior isn’t befitting a knight.”
“Were your actions those of a lady? Perhaps I’ve been mistaken about modern ladylike virtues.”
Though he threw her words right back, Cledwin retorted immediately without a trace of discomfort. Irritated, Neris shot back sharply.
“Maybe you’re just too old to know, senior. Should’ve paid more attention in etiquette class.”
Suddenly, a faint breath-like sigh drifted from beyond the bookshelf. Could he have laughed? Cledwin Maindlant?
‘I must’ve heard wrong.’
In diplomacy, waiting patiently to accurately gauge the other’s emotions was crucial. Neris waited—for Cledwin’s next words.
“Your record is clean.”
“What is?”
“Your background. Neither House Elantria nor any noble family in the Imperial Capital shows evidence of privately tutoring you. As you’ve always claimed, you truly grew up in a rural village since birth. But your parish priest speaks the Sacred Tongue worse than you do.”
“Our priest speaks the Sacred Tongue quite well.”
Neris, at a loss for words, blurted that out halfheartedly. She wanted to see Cledwin’s face. Honestly, he was already difficult to deal with—and without seeing his expression, it was even harder.
Maybe she shouldn’t have come at all.
“If you’d like, come over here. Let’s talk face to face.”
Stung by his words, Neris fell silent, deliberating. After a moment, she decided.
She walked a few steps, leaned her back against the bookshelf’s side, and turned her head to look up at Cledwin standing diagonally opposite.
He leaned against the bookshelf, arms crossed, gazing down at her. To Neris, much shorter than him, his head seemed to brush the ceiling.
“You didn’t call me over here just to kill me more easily, did you?”
“If that’s what you think, why did you come?”
“If you’ve decided to kill me, running away wouldn’t stop you anyway.”
One corner of Cledwin’s mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
“You deliberately ask questions you already know the answer to, just to gauge the other’s reaction. Well-learned indeed.”
Neris’s violet eyes glinted coldly.
“Practicing mind-reading?”
She’d met plenty of difficult people in diplomacy—but Cledwin might well rank among the most formidable.
Could it be that memories of her past life had made her overconfident? Neris considered that possible and carefully guarded her expression.
“So what if I am?”
Cledwin still smiled. Without giving her room to hesitate, he cut straight to the point.
“Tell me what you want from this school.”
“What?”
Neris frowned suspiciously at Cledwin. Unaware herself, her expression struck others as an amusing, endearing sight—a child imitating adults and worrying about worldly affairs.
Cledwin lowered his diamond-bright gray eyes and studied her face for a long while.
“Many things. Academics matter first, of course.”
After a pause, Neris answered evasively.
His gaze held an irresistible authority. Neither Abelus nor even Princess Kaymil possessed such a perfect ruler’s eyes. It was strange indeed that the heir of a ducal house, orphaned young, exuded more dignity than members of the Imperial family.
“Oh?”
His ink-black eyebrows rose like night-dyed silk.
“Shall I hire Henri Voltaire as your personal tutor?”
“Sir Voltaire already teaches me.”
“No—as your private tutor. You understood perfectly.”
Neris’s eyes widened. Cledwin looked down at her with quiet satisfaction as she struggled to decipher the true intent beneath his words.
“Why?”
“Because you want it.”
“No—why would you, senior, do such a thing?”
“Because I need talent.”
Yes—satisfaction. Neris was certain. His smooth smile radiated genuine pleasure.
“Talent? You think a mere twelve-year-old like me is worthy of serving a future duke?”
“Then why else would I have come here to see you?”
Neris’s mind raced. She admitted plainly to herself.
She needed protection—something to guarantee at least her own safety, and if possible, her mother’s as well.
But could she trust Cledwin?
If she made the wrong choice, she might end up just like before—working herself to death for others, only to be abandoned and left to die. She certainly lacked the ability to manipulate a future duke.
At least, not yet.
“Think it over.”
Cledwin straightened from the bookshelf and bent slightly at the waist. Suddenly lowering himself to her eye level, his beautiful eyes held Neris’s gaze for a long moment.
His long, black lashes cast shadows over crystal-clear irises and the ivory smoothness of his cheeks beneath.
“Neris Trude, a ruler always needs people. When you have something you desperately want, come find me. I’ll treat you according to your worth.”
[This is the timeline separator]If any new student were asked to name the classmate they most wished to befriend, the answer would almost certainly converge on one person—with only a few exceptions.
The House of Marquis Rikeandros was wealthy and storied, boasting illustrious ancestors and magnificent treasures scattered about as casually as pebbles. Among new students, Megara Rikeandros seemed the very essence of that noble house.
To Angharad Nain, this peer of exquisite beauty was an object of admiration. The finest violet silk dress and frilled headband—things unimaginable, let alone seen, in Baron Nain’s domain—appeared like treasures from heaven.
How wonderful it would be to befriend such a girl.
That thought had lingered in Angharad’s mind ever since her first day at school.
Of course, Megara had no reason to befriend her. But then again—who could say? A magnificent girl like Megara already surrounded by wealthy, high-born friends might also desire a more humble, obedient companion.
Yet even now, sitting alone with Megara over tea, Angharad felt no joy.
“I… I can’t do it.”
“Why?”
In Megara’s opulent dormitory parlor, only Megara and Angharad remained besides maids and servants. Megara tilted her head, genuinely puzzled.
Angharad’s fingertips turned cold.
She’d obeyed the order to put a spider in Neris’s bag. Neris had upset Megara, so startling her with a bug would be sufficient payback, they’d said.
They’d even promised it would help Angharad adjust better at school.
But Neris, upon encountering the spider, acted as if nothing had happened. Anyone else would’ve dumped their entire bag in panic—sending everything flying in chaos. The calm composure she usually displayed would’ve vanished completely.
Didn’t bugs disgust people? To Angharad, Neris herself seemed disgusting.
Such a strange girl.
Though many admired Neris, Angharad, having known her since childhood, felt no such awe.
What truly puzzled her was this: she knew better than anyone that the Trude mother and daughter in little Rohez couldn’t even afford to invite a theology student for lessons.
Yet Neris had surpassed everyone immediately upon enrollment.
To Angharad, this wasn’t just strange—it was bizarrely unsettling, and therefore, plainly wrong.
If Megara ranked first among all new students, that made sense. Everyone would accept and celebrate it—her upbringing and bloodline were different. But the daughter of a low-ranking knight?
Angharad dimly recalled Neris from their childhood. There’d been few girls her age in Baron Nain’s lands, so she remembered feeling happy when Neris became her playmate. Only faint, hazy images remained from those early days.
Thus, she’d tried to suppress her irritation and get along well.
But Neris had coldly rejected the hand she’d offered. What a nasty girl.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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The male lead being so proud of his wife is honestly adorable, even when he gets jealous.
And the female lead is so elegant and beautiful—I can’t wait to see this scene illustrated
Haha, did the ML really just say that to the FL? He’s so cute when he gets a little jealous.
Can’t wait for next chapter
The ML is so considerate of his wife. He treats her with so much care and gentleness, even when she doesn’t say a word—he just understands her. He’s honestly so perfect, I can’t 😭
I really hope the FL can overcome these painful feelings soon. I can’t bear to watch her suffer this much. 💔