Holding the teacup placed on the table, she stared slightly at the man’s red eyes.
With a gaze as if trying to peer inside, she locked eyes with the man and straightened her slightly bent waist.
‘Luter asked me to keep what he said a secret, didn’t he?’
Lamein, recalling the conversation with Luter, opened her eyes wide for a moment.
“Lu…Luter? Then… could you possibly be…”
As if she had never known that the man Luter spoke of was him.
As if she was now extremely surprised.
“The master Luter spoke of… are you Duke Haribo?”
At that moment, when she had been acting with all her might, pulling up nonexistent acting skills.
“I heard that Luter already told you it was me.”
…Ah, this looselipped bird.
A curse seemed about to flow naturally.
She twisted her tightly raised eyelids and pulled them down.
“Hmm hmm. Yes, I already heard.”
And then, as if she had done nothing wrong a moment ago, she spoke with a shameless expression.
A languid smile spread across the man’s mouth, who had been staring intently.
“Madam, you are quite an amusing person.”
He put it very politely, that he was laughing at her.
At that time, when she was applying pressure to her eyelids to hide the creeping embarrassment.
“So I am becoming more and more interested in you.”
A voice as languid as the smile settled in her ear.
She turned her eyes, drifting away from Duke Haribo, back to their place.
The man’s eyes, tangled with dense light, twinkled, and slowly circled above her face.
“Duke Haribo, what do you mean by that?”
“Am I not a person who should take an interest in you?”
She couldn’t grasp what he was asking for.
“Not knowing that is stranger for me.”
Duke Haribo straightened his upper body, which had been comfortably leaning on the back of the chair.
“A noble young lady who buys thousands of series of medicines and herbs every time.”
“…”
“Isn’t it natural to take an interest in such a person?”
Ah… Lamein slightly parted her lips.
“I may sell the medicine, but I have been curious about that part.”
“…”
“What you use all that medicine for, that is.”
Lamein tightly closed the lips she had opened.
At that moment, Duke Haribo’s eyelids twitched minutely.
Honestly, she didn’t know, so she couldn’t speak, but it seemed to the man that she was exercising her right to remain silent.
“I don’t think I need to tell you that, Your Grace.”
She decided to push it as is for now.
The man who had been looking at her for a long time slowly nodded his head.
“Then why did you want to see me?”
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“Please speak.”
Hearing Duke Haribo’s calm voice, she slowly swallowed her breath.
“Why do you sell the medicine at such an expensive price?”
She asked, looking him straight in the eye.
“Do you wish to haggle over the price with me now?”
He asked, with a look of amusement.
“No. I’m really curious, so I’m asking.”
He, who had been looking intently, cleanly wiped the slight smile from the corner of his mouth.
“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
“Yes. If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.”
Duke Haribo stared intently into her eyes, which were the color of serious violet.
Truly, a look of complete ignorance.
“That’s surprising. I thought you would know at least something about herbs since you seem to have a particular interest in them.”
Duke Haribo lightly smiled.
“And I have never received more than twice the price I paid for.”
Twice wasn’t small, but it was surprising.
‘Is the cost really that high?’
Digestives, fever reducers, costing several hundred thousand won.
“Our kingdom’s medicine and pharmacology lag behind other kingdoms by decades. Because they know that, they don’t easily hand over the medicine at its true value. That’s the reality.”
Decades behind? Why?
Lamein slightly narrowed her eyes.
“In other words, they see the nobles of the Martin Kingdom, who are trying to obtain medicine, as cash cows.”
Having finished speaking, Duke Haribo lifted the teacup in front of him.
He slowly savored a sip of the fragrant tea, leisurely fluttering his eyelids.
And beneath them, his red eyes subtly examined the expression of the woman seated in front of him.
Thick red lips tightly closed, as if focused on something.
The gaze that had lingered there gradually dropped.
A white hand neatly placed on a violet dress.
With slender fingers, she traced as if caressing with her eyes, slightly narrowing them.
“Does the King know about this?”
“What are you talking about?”
Duke Haribo, taking his eyes off her hand, set down his teacup and raised a faint smile on his lips.
“I mean that such medicines are being circulated at an absurd price.”
“He may not know, right?”
“If so, why isn’t the Martin Kingdom making the medicine themselves?”
Duke Haribo blinked slowly.
“You really don’t seem to know anything.”
And he erased the smile he had on the edge of his mouth.
“Lady Roger.”
A significantly lowered voice.
Without intention, she tensed her body, focusing on his face.
“Have you heard of the people of the Myers family?”
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
