“Indeed… you are interesting.”
It’s as if I can hear Resban’s voice.
The reason he shows such interest in me… it must be related to the ‘Hasetsu’ mentioned in that note.
It was around when I was eight years old, there was a brief gap in my memories.
‘I should ask Elder Brother Shupert about this when I see him later. Or even before that… it would be good if there’s a way to find out.’
Resban doesn’t seem like he’ll tell me easily.
He just seemed to be playing with her, twisting the corners of his lips dangerously and smiling.
Like a child observing fish in an aquarium.
“……”
Esika, who was strolling in the garden, suddenly reached out her hand over a flower and carefully closed it.
When she opened her hand, there was a white butterfly sitting on it.
As she gazed at the white butterfly with its soft wings and smiled, a low voice was heard from behind.
“Esika.”
Callian was standing there with a stern expression, looking at her.
In fact, she had known he was coming towards her for several minutes already, but she asked in a monotone voice.
“You seem to have free time today.”
At those words spoken in a cool tone, Callian’s hand flinched.
If it had been a few weeks ago, he would have frowned immediately, but Callian knew well that he had no right to do so now.
Callian took a few more steps towards her.
However, even as the physical distance closed, it felt like the mental distance wasn’t shrinking.
Rather, her gaze seemed to retreat as he approached.
Callian’s heart ached.
“…I misunderstood yesterday.”
Callian’s voice was heard in the quiet garden.
After a moment, Callian opened his heavy lips to convey his sincerity to her.
“I’m sorry for not trusting you and pushing you, Esika.”
A warm breeze was blowing between them.
But Esika’s gaze remained cold.
Esika inwardly mocked Callian and thought.
‘Would you have apologized to me if the Crown Prince hadn’t eaten the cookie to prove my innocence?’
Surely he wouldn’t have.
Callian had grown up under the education of Riona Klaus, who rationalized all his actions.
So no matter what he did, he believed there was a reason for his actions and that he was rational.
This apology is just a superficial display of forced defeat.
“I heard your apology well.”
At Esika’s voice without inflection, Callian looked at her with a start.
The previous Esika would have shed tears and complained about feeling hurt, or comforted him saying not to say such things.
However, the Esika before Callian’s eyes now had a cool gaze that he couldn’t even guess what emotions were contained inside.
“Tonight……”
Callian became uneasy about Esika’s gaze at some point.
As if she had really become a completely different person.
Of course, he believes it’s just a whim for a short time.
“…If you have no other plans, I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner together, what does my lady think?”
He awkwardly spoke to Esika.
He believed that this time she would accept.
After all, it was he himself, not someone else, who apologized to her directly.
And the old Esika always wanted to have dinner with Callian.
“I’m sorry, but I haven’t digested lunch yet, so I was planning to skip dinner tonight.”
“……”
Callian’s hand twitched slightly.
Esika continued with a very uncomfortable expression.
“That’s why I was taking a walk like this.”
Callian felt a churning in his stomach.
Being rejected for a proposal he hadn’t expected to be rejected, it felt like an illusion becoming reality.
An unwelcome expression appeared on Esika’s face.
For a moment, Callian was overcome with the urge to grab her wrist and force her to join him.
“…I see.”
But if he did that, his dignity as Duke Klaus would become laughable.
Clinging to a lady who refused a meal? Unthinkable.
With darkened eyes, Callian turned back.
Irritation began to boil in his mind.
‘How did I end up like this?’
**
In the dim warehouse, Hans, who was looking around, found Esika.
Moonlight shone around her as she sat under the window.
Beautiful silver hair and deep blue shining eyes… she exuded a cool atmosphere, as if she had come out of a fairy tale.
‘It’s not an illusion, the lady has changed.’
Hans didn’t immediately take Esika’s side.
It was after seeing her defeat the Duchess at the tea time that Hans became convinced.
If she really had changed… it was worth taking a chance on.
After all, the current House Klaus was becoming financially precarious day by day.
Even if the bet he placed failed, there would be no loss to Hans, as Esika said.
“My lady.”
Hans bowed his head to Esika in greeting.
He could see Cella behind Esika.
She was looking at Hans with distrustful eyes.
“As you ordered, I recommended the Tzuchen investment to the Duchess, and it seems the Duchess will invest even if she has to take out a loan.”
Now the fate of Klaus depends on the Tzuchen investment.
Seeing the corners of Esika’s lips rise, Hans wondered.
He couldn’t read Esika’s moves.
“There’s something I’d like to ask. Didn’t you say… you would take Klaus?”
“I did.”
“The reason you had me recommend the Tzuchen investment to the Duchess must be because you think the investment will fail. If the investment fails, not only the Duchess but all of Klaus could fall.”
Given the current imperial situation, the possibility of failure seemed low.
“Moreover, Tzuchen is a good investment opportunity, so this is an investment that’s difficult to fail.”
After all, Tzuchen was a promising candidate for a western stronghold.
“The Duchess will fail.”
However, Esika’s voice interrupted Hans’ words.
A calm but cool voice, neither low nor high.
“But I will not fail.”
Hans flinched at Esika’s words.
Her cold, soft voice stopped Hans’ logical thinking.
It’s as if the thought that it will really happen that way is etched into his mind.
Where did that conviction in Esika’s blue eyes shining in the darkness come from?
“If you could tell me in detail about your thoughts and intentions…”
“You don’t fully trust me yet. I don’t fully trust you either.”
Esika’s voice caught Hans off guard.
Hans, who had managed the duchy’s finances for over a decade and dealt with numerous people inside and outside, found Esika difficult to deal with after her change.
No, rather than ‘difficult’, it would be more accurate to say that it seemed impossible to know what was inside her mind.
“So I can’t tell you everything.”
“I trusted you and acted according to your will. But you say you don’t trust me…”
Hans deliberately showed a disappointed look, but Esika smiled faintly.
“Just as you calculate and judge me, I will judge you too.”
At those words, Hans twitched his eyebrows.
If Esika hadn’t shown her skills at the tea time, Hans would have relayed exactly what Esika had said to the Duchess.
“Surely what you want from me is not just verbal trust.”
The foolish duchess who was pushed around by everyone is no longer here.
There is only one woman who sees through Hans’ mind piercingly cold.
Although he is busy now just with cleaning up after the extravagant Duchess, Hans was originally an ambitious person.
“What I can say for certain is that I will swallow Klaus whole and drive out the useless ones.”
“……”
“So prove your usefulness yourself. Only then will I let you on my ship.”
The corners of Esika’s red lips turned up.
The moonlight was shimmering like a curtain beside her as she smiled.
**
Knock knock−
Callian, who was alone on the balcony admiring the moonlight, turned around at the shadow falling beside him.
Yuri was standing there with a tray carrying the liquor and cheese he enjoyed.
After a moment of silence, Yuri awkwardly opened her mouth.
“Duke, you seemed to be in a bad mood today…”
Taking one more step towards him, Yuri continued.
“So I brought some things you might enjoy comfortably.”
A bitter smile formed on Callian’s lips as he looked at her.
Why was that? He had expected for a moment.
That that door would open, and Esika would appear as before.
If it were his former self, he would have grimaced at Esika and told her not to disturb him, but… today he might have spent time with her.
Yuri, taking Callian’s bitter smile as affirmation, stepped onto the balcony where Callian was.
And placed the liquor and cheese pieces on that table.
“If I’m not disturbing you… may I be your conversation partner?”
At Yuri’s words, Callian looked at her.
With delicate features, bright blonde hair and red eyes, she certainly had beauty that seemed wasted as a maid in a duke’s household.
Of course, she didn’t match up to Esika, but still.
If Esika hadn’t called her here, Yuri would have been of marriageable age to some man by now.
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.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
