Dietrich stared at Seliya intently. As if he hadn’t heard her words at all, he brought up something entirely different.
“You’ll be staying in that room from now on. That’s why I came to tell you.”
Seliya looked at him with an expression of incomprehension. Dietrich added to his previous statement while looking at her face.
“There are clothes in the wardrobe for you to change into, and the bathroom is attached to the room. If you need anything, pull the cord next to the bed. A maid will come.”
Seliya thought Dietrich’s words were very strange. And she had every reason to; Seliya was a criminal—a co-conspirator in the assassination of the Emperor.
Yet, she woke up one morning to find her room and situation completely changed. And they were even assigning her a maid? Seliya couldn’t understand the situation at all.
“…I’m a criminal who assassinated the Emperor, right? Isn’t pulling me out of prison enough? How will you cover for this?”
“It’s fortunate you’re aware you killed the Emperor.”
Dietrich looked at Seliya dispassionately. Contrary to his sarcastic words, the way he looked at Seliya was calm, like a placid wave.
“I’ll take care of the consequences. Just stay in your room. When the time comes, everything will be explained.”
“……Okay.”
Seliya obediently nodded, and Dietrich made a face as if it was unexpected.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
Turning as if his sole purpose was to deliver the message, Dietrich walked away. Seliya grabbed the hem of Dietrich’s clothes.
Dietrich’s brows furrowed pleasantly.
“Where will you sleep?”
“Why do you care?”
“……Because we’re now on the same side.”
At Seliya’s words, Dietrich looked dumbfounded. With his eyebrows twisted as much as possible, he sighed deeply and uttered a single word.
“Sleep.”
Dietrich forcibly removed Seliya’s hand from his garment. Then, he moved away from her.
Seliya watched Dietrich walk away without turning back, a soft smile on her face.
It wasn’t just her imagination.
The way Dietrich looked at her had become much more hostile.
Dietrich crossed the corridor. This mansion was entirely his space.
The mansion with a garden was a gift from the deceased emperor. He had bestowed upon him a ducal title but had feared that giving him a fiefdom to match would make him leave.
So instead, a spacious mansion was built for him within the palace grounds. To stay in the palace at all times and protect him.
The emperor couldn’t have known. Not long after the mansion was built, he would meet death at the hands of the woman he so coveted.
At that moment, a penetrating voice summoned Dietrich.
“Sir.”
Dietrich tried to enter his room as if he hadn’t heard anything.
A slender hand rested on his muscular forearm, stopping him.
Only then did Dietrich’s gaze fall upon the owner of the hand. The woman smiled with her eyes closed as soon as their eyes met.
“So you finally notice me.”
With her abundant blonde hair cascading down, the woman in the thin dress sent a seductive gaze towards Dietrich. However, Dietrich was uninterested in her.
She had engaged in such activities nonchalantly even when the emperor was alive.
‘Empress, Erphia Li Basilisk.’
The woman before him was more cunning, scheming, and difficult to handle than the foolish emperor.
Dietrich stared past the empress. Seeing that not even maidservants were present, it seemed she had come in deliberately.
“What business do you have in my mansion at this dawn, Your Majesty? Others might find it strange.”
“There’s no place in this palace I can’t go. Especially if it’s your mansion.”
The empress lightly stroked Dietrich’s forearm. He removed her hand and spoke.
“Leave.”
The smile that was on the empress’s lips vanished at Dietrich’s resolute words.
“I heard you released that woman from the dungeon.”
“……”
“You set free the woman who assassinated the emperor. Are you in your right mind?”
The empress opened her eyes wide as she spoke. Her quick change of attitude resembled her son Jeremy exactly.
“Your Majesty must have heard the news from outside the palace as well. There was almost a riot due to those demanding the release of the prisoner. It was a necessary measure to keep them at bay.”
“Necessary?”
“Yes. And I didn’t fully release the prisoner, she is confined in my mansion. To prevent others from doing something foolish.”
Dietrich particularly emphasized the words ‘something foolish.’ Because he knew that the empress had turned a blind eye during the investigation of the knight who tried to harm Seliya.
“I intend to watch and guard thoroughly to ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen again.”
At those words, the empress lifted one corner of her lips.
“So that woman seems to be quite special to you, Sir?”
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
