The Secret Affairs of the Fake Duke Couple (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 7
Cain lifted the corners of his mouth as he looked at Jane collapsed on the floor and the two men beside her.
The sharp-witted man immediately grasped the situation upon seeing Jane lying unconscious and Victor panting with a hand pressed against his waist.
“Who’s… Ah, Duke Hastings?”
Victor instantly recognized Cain, a well-known figure in the kingdom.
Victor hastily rubbed his palms against his thighs to wipe them clean, then bowed deeply to Cain.
Jane couldn’t help but let out a quiet, bitter laugh at his sudden shift in attitude.
“To think I’d meet Your Grace here of all places—my luck must truly be shining today.”
Victor fawned shamelessly, acting overly familiar. Cain completely ignored him.
“Haha, the weather is quite lovely, isn’t it? What brings Your Grace to this place…? It’s hardly a path suitable for a leisurely stroll.”
Victor kept chattering away by himself. Cain’s eyes remained utterly indifferent toward him. Victor now cleared his throat awkwardly and rolled his eyes nervously.
When Victor, visibly anxious, began trembling his leg while standing, Cain finally let out a sigh-like remark.
“Do you know me?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know you.”
“Oh… Of course. How could Duke Hastings possibly know someone as lowly as us?”
Despite Cain’s blatant disregard, Victor kept bowing repeatedly. The corner of Cain’s mouth tilted slightly.
“You’re slow on the uptake. I meant for you to leave.”
“Huh?”
“Jane, you made plans with me, didn’t you?”
Ignoring Victor completely, Cain directed his gaze toward Jane. She lifted her head.
“Yes.”
Though Cain was also an uninvited guest to her, he was infinitely preferable to Victor. She’d rather endure harsh words from Cain than the insults spewed by Victor.
Even if the wounds inflicted by Cain cut deeper and hurt more.
“So, what’s going on here?”
He spoke to Jane, yet somehow it felt as though he were questioning Victor instead. Victor, evidently feeling the same, opened his mouth.
“We had some business with Jane. Does Your Grace also have matters to discuss with her?”
“Hmm.”
Cain tilted his head slightly as he glanced down at Jane.
What should he do for her?
His eyes seemed to ask.
If Cain declared right now that he had business with Jane, Victor and Hamuline would simply leave.
Moreover, the deal she’d made with her greedy uncle—who’d attempted to sell her off—would likely be nullified entirely.
But in exchange, Cain would expect something in return.
And Jane had nothing to offer….
Her hesitation stretched on.
“Have you thought over my proposal from yesterday?”
Jane recalled Cain’s offer. If she accepted his help now, she’d be irrevocably bound to accept his terms.
‘Is it really alright? Can I truly live in the Hastings household, raise his child, and face him as if nothing happened?’
Even a fool could tell which choice was more rational.
But anything involving Cain was never something Jane could view with objective, rational eyes.
Even when she wasn’t looking at him, she’d struggled to suppress her feelings for him—now, standing so close, she feared she’d shamelessly fall deeper in love with him.
To her, love was a burden. That’s why she wished to cast it all away.
“I suppose I’ve heard your answer.”
While Jane hesitated, Cain turned away. He had no reason to wait for her.
Panicked, Jane impulsively grabbed his arm.
“I’ll do it!”
She couldn’t bear to see Cain’s back turned to her.
Their eyes met. A faint, subtle twist appeared on his lips. He gave a single, curt nod in reply.
In a flash, his long legs narrowed the distance between them. Jane held her breath at his unrelenting presence.
But Cain headed not for Jane, but for Victor. Without concealing his menacing intent, he strode swiftly toward him.
“Y-Your Grace?”
Victor’s voice trembled faintly. Cain’s eyes, fixed on Victor, were icy and sharp as a dagger.
Despite having done nothing wrong, Victor felt an overwhelming urge to prostrate himself before Cain and beg for mercy.
“Your voice is rather unpleasant.”
Cain muttered under his breath, then gave a faint smile. He glanced down at his own hand.
“What a pity—I’m not wearing gloves.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. Instead of his hand, he raised his foot and kicked Victor without mercy. Cain’s boot struck Victor’s side.
Thud. The heavy impact made Jane’s own side ache in sympathy.
Unable to withstand Cain’s strength, Victor staggered, clutching his ribs. Hamuline had rushed toward Victor but froze mid-step.
He’d met Cain’s eyes.
That silent, chilling gaze had seized Hamuline’s throat and rooted him to the spot.
“Y-Your Grace! Even if you are a duke, you can’t just assault an innocent man like—”
Victor lifted his chin defiantly.
“Innocent? You dragged the future Duchess around like a dog.”
Jane’s eyes widened, a damp film gathering over her pupils.
She was mortified that he’d seen her in such a pitiful state—so much so that she missed the truly important words he’d just uttered.
“F-f-future Duchess? Who? Surely not that beggar woman?”
Thud. Another sharp impact rang out—this time striking Victor’s shoulder as he bent forward. He tumbled backward onto the ground.
“Aaagh! Y-your Grace!”
“A commoner who lays hands on a noble can be sentenced to death at worst. Go ahead—say something else if you dare.”
Victor’s jaw trembled violently.
Damn these aristocrats and their damn laws!
He could’ve argued his case in court and possibly been acquitted if the circumstances were considered. But when his opponent was from House Hastings, everything changed.
He could already picture the judge sentencing him to the harshest punishment imaginable.
Groaning, Victor clutched his side and unsteadily got back on his feet.
“If what Your Grace says is true—if Jane, damn it, if Lady Jane truly is to become your duchess—then you’ll pay off these thugs’ debts as well, right?”
“Victor! We’ll talk about money later—just you and me.”
Jane cut in. Though her lowest state had already been exposed to Cain, she didn’t want to burden herself further here.
“When exactly? If you become Duchess and then pretend you don’t know these men, how are we supposed to live with such injustice?”
Victor ran his tongue inside his mouth and spat out a glob of saliva.
While Jane hesitated at his vulgar display, Cain asked,
“How much is the debt?”
“Ten thousand marks. With interest, twenty thousand.”
“Don’t lie, Victor! Just yesterday, it was fifteen thousand marks including interest!”
“Interest piles up by the day, milady.”
Victor sneered with a vile expression. Cain stared at him for a moment, then rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a checkbook. Without hesitation, he wrote a number.
Zeroes—one, two, three, four… and the digit before them was precisely a 2.
Twenty thousand marks.
An amount sufficient to buy several townhouses in the capital—and he wrote it down and signed without a second’s pause.
Cain tore the check out and threw it straight at Victor’s face. The check bounced off his face and landed atop the spit Victor had just spat out.
“Pick it up.”
The terse command humiliated Victor deeply.
“You acted like a beast over money, didn’t you? Or is it simply your nature, bred into you from birth? And yet you hesitate so long over something as trivial as bowing?”
His piercing eyes bore into Victor.
He was right. Was money dirty—or was it the wretch who borrowed money and refused to repay it? So what if it was covered in spit?
Victor bent down and grabbed the check. At that moment, a deep shadow fell over his bowed head. His eyes caught sight of a pair of impeccably polished shoes.
Without hesitation, Cain stomped down hard on Victor’s hand with his boot.
“Aaagh! AAAAAGH!”
The pain was incomparably worse than the blow to his ribs. No matter how violently his large body writhed, Cain’s foot refused to budge.
“P-please spare me! I was wrong! I—”
Saliva dribbled from Victor’s mouth, staining Cain’s shoe. He knelt, begging for forgiveness.
“You’re apologizing to the wrong person.”
Victor flinched as their eyes met. Cain arrogantly jerked his chin. Following the gesture, Victor turned his head—and saw Jane, looking utterly bewildered.
“…! J-Jane—no, Your Grace… I was wrong. Please forgive me.”
Only then did Cain lift his foot. Victor’s hand, crushed and mangled beneath the boot, was now horribly disfigured.
“Take your check and go. I’ll have to charge you for my shoe, dirtied by your spit—but consider it charity.”
Cain strode past Victor, whose eyes were nearly rolling back in his head, and walked toward Jane.
The man who had just committed merciless violence moved with unnervingly composed grace.
Jane felt a sudden chill of fear. This wasn’t the Cain she remembered.
Had seven years changed him? Or had he changed that day, seven years ago?
‘What am I thinking? That I’m the reason he changed?’
Jane mocked herself inwardly.
She meant nothing to him. That’s why, after seven years, he could appear before her with indifferent eyes and propose, “Be the mother of my child.”
If even a shred of lingering affection had remained in him, he never could have made such a proposal.
Entrusting her with a child he’d had with another woman—never, no matter how desperate his circumstances.
“Can’t even stand on your own?”
Jane’s shoulders flinched. Unconsciously, she’d been waiting for him to reach out his hand, just like in the old days.
“No. I can get up myself.”
Jane pushed herself up from her knees. She smoothed her disheveled hair and straightened her clothes. Meanwhile, Victor and Hamuline had already scrambled down the hill as if rolling.
On the small hilltop, only Jane and Cain remained. A spring breeze drifted between them.
She had to say something—anything.
Awkwardly biting her lip, Jane bowed her head. Cain’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“Thank you… for helping me.”
“Help you? I didn’t do anything of the sort. It was merely a transaction.”
Jane hesitated, then barely managed to get her next words out.
“Thank you for paying off the debt. It was a huge amount… I’ll pay you back someday.”
“Don’t worry about it. Consider it charity. That trivial sum means nothing to me.”
Was twenty thousand marks truly “trivial” to him?
“Take this.”
Cain dug into his pocket and handed her a small vial. Jane blinked, startled, as she accepted it absentmindedly. Cain frowned.
“House Hastings has no use for a cripple.”
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.
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Sure later Cain wil regret everything he’s done to jane..he only looked the bad side from opposite but never looked inside