To Arthur, Cain was the first person he met in his short life that he wanted to follow.
But to kill me with your own hands?
Arthur was consistently cheerful. Cain’s insides were burning.
It was an evaluation too heavy and unfitting for Cain.
Cain’s eyes wavered. He couldn’t grant Arthur’s request. He didn’t want to grant it.
“It’s too…… too cruel.”
Jane wrapped her arms around herself as if she felt cold.
“It’s cruel. But I understand Arthur’s feelings too. He was worried that I would be interrogated if he ended up committing suicide. It was obvious that I would be questioned about what I was doing while he was killing himself.”
“Ah……”
Even from the short anecdote, Arthur’s character could be glimpsed. In the end, Cain…… Jane’s face darkened.
“I killed him. Me.”
Bang, it sounded like a gunshot, so Cain closed his eyes.
Cain remembered everything from that time.
The trembling felt from the gun barrel, the smoke rising from the muzzle, the parabola drawn by Arthur’s body as it fell backwards, the blood droplets splashing into the air, the pungent smell of gunpowder and the fishy smell of blood, and even the sound of military boots running from afar.
He couldn’t forget. He shouldn’t forget.
Every time that thought came to mind, pain arose, but it was Cain’s burden to bear.
“Arthur left a will. He said he had a loved one and a child. He entrusted me with their comfortable life. That’s Jexie and Joseph.”
“……!”
Cain’s occasional pained expression when looking at Joseph was immediately understood. He was recalling Arthur’s last moments when looking at Joseph.
Jane tightly clenched her fists.
“Cain……”
“If only it had ended with Arthur’s death, but His Majesty didn’t stop. He told me to find his descendants as well.”
“So that’s why you said Joseph was your son.”
“The darkest place is under the candlestick.”
Jane’s eyes became moist. She turned her head, sniffling, trying not to cry.
“Then why did you leave Jexie behind? Of course, she doesn’t fit in with the ducal family, but……”
“The person who reported Arthur.”
“What?”
“It was Jexie.”
Jane covered her mouth tightly with both hands.
“How…… could that be?”
Cain shrugged his shoulders.
When Cain found out about the report, he couldn’t possibly take in Jexie.
So Cain sent living expenses and child support to Jexie.
However, Jexie gambled and indulged in luxury with that money. The child was an afterthought.
It wasn’t like Cain was sending a small amount of money, but Jexie even went into debt to maintain a luxurious lifestyle.
While living in a house that was about to collapse, she went out to enjoy high-end food and went boating with men on the lake.
It was too much to handle with just the living expenses and child support. Moreover, the reward money received for reporting Arthur was scammed.
In less than two years after Arthur’s death, Jexie became penniless.
Cain wanted to bring Joseph right away, but in the meantime, misfortune struck him as well.
After Arthur’s death, the Rosarians lost momentum and scattered, so the pursuit of them decreased, but Cain’s parents died, and he suddenly became the family head with no time to catch his breath.
To bring a child, at least a stable living environment was needed. However, Cain traveled the continent to build up his business and family.
He also judged that it was better for the child to be with his mother.
After Cain stabilized to some extent, he went to find Jexie.
It was the first time since discussing the child support and living expenses issue.
In the meantime, Jexie had moved several times. From a two-story house to a single-story house, from a three-room to a two-room, her house became more and more shabby.
Now she lived in a place where the kitchen, living room, and bedroom were all mixed together.
Seeing that, Cain clicked his tongue. Despite sending a considerable amount of money, her life was so desolate that Cain couldn’t understand Jexie.
Still, because of the promise made to Arthur, he intended to sharply tell her to get herself together.
At least until Joseph saw her being beaten.
On the day Cain visited, no matter how many times the servant rang the bell, Jexie wouldn’t come out. Cain had no choice but to open the door.
The loose lock completely broke after Cain shook it a few times. He felt sorry for a moment, but thinking he would install a sturdy lock now that it was broken, he heard a sound.
Thump, thump.
The sound of hitting something soft and.
“Heu, heuuk.”
A faint groaning sound.
Did something happen to Joseph and Jexie?
Cain burst through the door and entered. And he witnessed a terrible scene.
Jexie had wrapped Joseph in a blanket and was beating him.
Judging from the hair stuck to her cheeks drenched in sweat, a considerable amount of time seemed to have passed.
Cain immediately grabbed Jexie’s shoulders and pushed her. Unlike when she was brutally beating the child, her body flew easily and slammed into a corner.
Cain pulled back the blanket. Inside was Joseph, curled up like a ball.
The moment he saw Joseph, who had tightly covered his mouth with his hands to prevent any sound from leaking out, a flame soared in Cain’s heart.
At Cain’s question, Joseph looked up. Tears that had clung to his long eyelashes dripped onto the floor.
As much as the child’s tears stained the floor, bruises formed in Cain’s heart.
The child’s eyes, tainted with fear, shook violently.
The child barely spoke.
Cain gritted his teeth. He held Joseph’s hand and lowered it so the child could breathe properly, then approached Jexie.
Jexie’s pupils were dilated as she leaned against the wall, and saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.
She had fallen into pleasure and luxury, and eventually even got her hands on drugs.
Cain made a decision.
Cain held Joseph, who was trembling like a newborn herbivore, in his arms.
Jexie didn’t stop Cain and Joseph as they left.
The next day, Cain went to find Jexie and received a waiver of parental rights and a waiver of custody.
And he gave her a large sum of money, promising never to look for Joseph again and to erase her memories of Joseph and Arthur.
* * *
But the shameless woman forgot the sins she committed and came looking.
“What kind of story did I just hear……”
Just listening was painful.
Following Cain, even Joseph, the men she had given her heart to were all unfortunate.
She thought no one was more pitiful than her, but……
“Don’t worry about the Jexie issue. I’ll take care of it.”
“How will you take care of it?”
Cain pressed his forehead as if tired.
“I have to send her far away.”
“Giving her money again?”
“If it can be solved with money, it’s easy.”
He wanted to kill her, but because of his promise to Arthur, Cain couldn’t kill her himself.
Jane pondered for a moment. Was there no way to quietly send her back to where she originally lived?
But even the clever Jane couldn’t find a clear method.
Jane’s face, which had been thinking of Jexie, Arthur, and Joseph in one category, suddenly hardened.
“Cain.”
Jane’s voice was urgent. Cain looked up. Jane was terrified.
“What’s wrong, Jane?”
“What if…… What if it’s revealed that Joseph is Arthur’s child? Then what happens?”
Helena still trembles at the mention of the Rosarians. Moreover, recently the Rosarians had been gaining power again and exerting their influence.
In this situation, if Joseph’s biological father is revealed, if the story of Cain hiding the child’s identity and raising him as his own son is revealed……
‘Everyone dies.’
Jane shuddered, recalling her family being trampled 7 years ago.
Cain hugged her. Even in his wide embrace, her trembling did not easily subside.
Cain, who was stroking Jane’s back, was startled. Her heart was beating so violently that it seemed to pierce through the dress. Her breathing also gradually became faster and shallower.
“Jane, can you lift your head?”
Cain detached her from him. Her forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Her face was pale.
“Jane, can you see me? Look at me.”
She couldn’t even properly make eye contact with Cain. She was in a state of panic.
“Take a deep breath, Jane.”
No matter how much Cain called Jane, she showed no response. First, he had to bring her to her senses.
Biting his lower lip and pondering while constantly stroking Jane’s face, a light flashed in Cain’s mind.
Sensory stimulation was best for awakening the mind.
If a similar situation occurred during combat, comrades would slap the cheek or pour a canteen over the head without hesitation.
But both were impossible, so……
Cain lifted Jane’s chin. Gazing at her trembling eyelashes and the anxiously shaking pupils underneath, Cain bit Jane’s lower lip.
His canine teeth dug into the soft flesh inside her lip. Jane shuddered like a fish out of water.
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
