Earl Haliwell was looking down at his daughter, who was growling like a beast, with a depressed and desperate feeling.
Yerka, caught in Eustar’s hands, became powerless without even being able to resist. As Muge said, her magic was not solidly built from the ground up by someone or something.
She had succeeded in summoning a doppelganger due to her aptitude for handling magic power, but strictly speaking, she was not a magician.
The captured Yerka was spewing out words of curse, grinding her teeth tirelessly. Eustar, who was looking down at her with a complicated feeling, asked.
“What was your intention in doing that?”
Yerka, who raised her head with a growl, twisted her lips and smiled.
“I hated the dirty blood of this family.”
“What do you mean? Speak so I can understand.”
While saying so, both Eustar and Muge glanced at Earl Haliwell. His face had noticeably turned pale, and his widened gaze was filled with disgust and fear.
Yerka chuckled and dropped her head. Her disheveled hair scattered on the carpet.
“How would you know the pain of being desired by those you don’t want?”
“Enough!”
Suddenly, a roar-like cry burst from Earl Haliwell’s mouth. Yerka raised her blood-stained lips to smile, and looked at her father with clear eyes, just like when she was sitting by the window.
“Why, Father? Don’t you want to reveal the family’s dirty secret? Or is it because of your loyalty that you don’t want to taint His Highness the Prince’s ears?”
“Enough! That’s enough! Please take that away! Please remove it from my house, Your Highness the Prince!”
Earl Haliwell wailed. He collapsed from the sofa to the floor and sobbed like a beast. Yerka seemed to enjoy watching it, and only Eustar and Muge, who were observing this whole situation, couldn’t shake off their complicated and heavy feelings.
Muge asked.
“Let’s say your words about your elder brother are true. Why did you make the Countess into a doppelganger?”
Yerka tilted her head, wiggling her bound hands.
“Just because I thought I could. And because she didn’t protect me.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Aren’t all magicians like that?”
Her voice, filled with anger, lowered as if echoing. However, Yerka smiled again as if she were a different person.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. When I first tried magic using Wells, I had a feeling something might go wrong. Everyone feels anxious when they first do something, right? Isn’t that so? Magician, you felt the same, didn’t you?”
Muge looked down at her with a snort.
“No, not at all. I was a complete magician from the beginning.”
After saying that, she turned to look at Eustar.
“I’ll have to take this girl, Eustar.”
Eustar turned to Muge with a surprised expression and said.
“What are you saying? This person killed three people. She should be arrested and put on trial.”
“Do you think they will just sit by and watch her be punished by human laws? Which is more serious, killing people or recklessly using forbidden magic? This girl is a broken slingshot. But it’s a slingshot that shoots blades instead of pebbles. What if she’s hiding the fact that she can use other magic? What will you do then?”
The ‘they’ Muge mentioned referred to the last group of magicians in this kingdom remaining in the magician residence area. Eustar knew how stubborn and obsessive magicians were about such issues. He could also understand Muge’s comparison to a broken slingshot.
“Olga, I understand what you’re saying, but this…”
It was then. An employee of the Haliwell household burst open the door and said.
“Your Highness the Prince!”
Eustar, frowning, strode towards him as if to chase him out.
“What is it? I clearly warned that no one should come in.”
“It, it’s an urgent matter, so I had no choice. Your Highness the Prince, Her Majesty the Queen…”
Eustar ran out before hearing the rest of his words. Only Yerka’s giggling laughter remained, echoing emptily in the quiet living room of the Earl’s residence.
[This is the timeline separator]Creak…
Creak…
—Should I call you Father, or should I call you my future husband?
—Do you know what I am?
—I know. You are the only being who can give me a new witch bloodline.
Laila opened her eyes, startled as if stabbed by a knife.
Even after regaining consciousness, she was momentarily confused, unable to tell where she was or who she was.
But soon, familiar scents and sensations gently enveloped and penetrated her entire body, and when she saw the familiar curtains and peaceful golden decorations, she realized she was back in her room at Sierou Palace.
When she moved her arm slightly to try to get up, the thin veil draped under the canopy was lifted. As Laila raised her head, she saw Eustar’s face. His expression was very complex.
“Laila, are you alright?”
He asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and holding Laila’s hand. When Laila tried to get up again, he shook his head and gently pushed her shoulder.
“You shouldn’t get up yet. The royal physician said it would be better to rest more and observe your progress. Do you remember? You collapsed in front of the Haliwell mansion.”
Laila’s eyes blinked quietly. Eustar asked if she remembered, but in fact, it was hazy like a foggy mist.
In the fragmented memories, there was a demon named Badin. He said he created the witch’s bloodline and was also her father…
Laila, who exhaled a trembling breath, looked up at Eustar.
“What happened with the Earl’s household?”
Eustar, who had been anxiously waiting for what she would say, let out a small sigh. It was hard to tell if it was because it wasn’t the words he was expecting, or if he was relieved that she had regained consciousness.
Eustar said.
“It’s been resolved. Don’t worry.”
“What do you mean by resolved?”
He briefly explained the series of events to Laila. That it was Yerka who created the doppelganger, and that Muge had taken her to the magicians for punishment.
“…Karsh Haliwell harbored improper desires for his half-sister. It must have been a terrible thing from Yerka’s perspective.”
Laila, frowning, groaned in a low voice.
“What about Wells? What happened to him?”
Eustar’s fingertips twitched.
“He disappeared.”
Laila quietly closed her mouth. It was obvious what “disappeared” meant without asking. The souls captured by Eustar become food for the Decepter. That is the only thing that demon desires from Eustar.
“What happened in the forest, Laila?”
When Eustar asked, Badin’s face appeared in Laila’s mind again.
Should she tell him honestly? No, she couldn’t. The fact that she was a witch was fine now. But how the witch’s bloodline continued, that was something she absolutely couldn’t utter. Badin had talked about human common sense, but after all, aren’t both she and Eustar humans…?
“Nothing happened.”
“Then why did you collapse?”
“I felt dizzy.”
Laila’s answer was unnecessarily firm. It felt as if she had pushed Eustar away hard, and at that moment, she felt a guilt that seemed to tighten her chest again. But now she knows the reason…
—Can you hate or dislike that human man? You couldn’t have resisted him and you won’t be able to in the future. As long as he is under the influence of the Decepter, you will have no choice but to be drawn to him. The blood flowing in your body does not forgive rejecting him, who bears the demon’s seal.
Badin’s words were engraved in Laila’s heart like an ominous prophecy. All those feelings she had felt for Eustar, all that trembling, wanting to approach him… How could she accept the fact that it was just because demon blood flowed in her body?
Eustar, who had been silent, said.
“I said I would believe whatever you say, Laila. So I’ll believe what you just said too. But… please. Don’t make me worry too much.”
His voice was kind as usual, reassuring Laila. For a moment, Laila was overwhelmed by the urge to pull him into her arms.
She wanted to draw him into the veiled bed, into the sheets warmed by body heat. She wanted to kiss his hair and lips, the back of his hand where veins stood out, his entire body.
—Let’s meet again.
Laila’s hand, which was about to touch Eustar’s body, stopped abruptly. She turned her back and lay down, silently looking at his face.
“Alright. Go back, Eustar. I want to rest.”
A small sigh was heard from behind. Laila squeezed her eyes shut to ignore his disappointment.
“Okay, Laila. Sleep well and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Eustar’s lips lightly touched and left her hair, which was almost buried in the sheets. As Laila listened to the sound of him moving away, the sound of the door opening and closing, her eyes became hot.
[This is the timeline separator]—That wench is hiding something.
As soon as he left Laila’s room, Eustar heard the Decepter’s whisper grating on his nerves. He walked briskly without replying, but he couldn’t shake off the demon that was always attached to his shoulder.
—Shall I tell you how to possess that witch wench, Eustar? Don’t you want to make her completely yours?
Eustar spat out while clenching his molars.
“Everything that comes out of your tongue is a lie, Decepter. Don’t think I don’t know.”
A chuckle echoed ominously in his ear.
—Of course. But if you try to disguise lies with other lies, they eventually become the truth.
“Stop playing with words and get lost.”
—Make that witch bear your son.
The veins on Eustar’s temples bulged. He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes to suppress his anger. But the Decepter didn’t stop.
—Take away the witch’s law from her. Make her the last witch that existed in this world. Then she will become an ordinary human and fall into your hands.
“Get lost.”
The Decepter’s giggling laughter pierced through the center of Eustar’s chest like a spear.
When he felt that its presence had completely disappeared, Eustar turned around abruptly to look back at Laila’s room, like an extremely angry person. The door was firmly closed, but she was beyond that door.
‘Make that witch bear your son.’
Eustar’s eyes closed tightly as he breathed heavily with his lips pursed.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
