“Really, karma does exist.”
Isaac spoke, seeming elated.
Just then, a gust of wind made his brilliant golden hair shimmer and sway.
Yet, in the Duke’s mansion, no one noticed that he was up in the tree.
It was because Isaac and Cyrus were using a concealment technique known only to a select few in the North.
“I like that lady.”
Isaac, who easily accepted others, seemed to have taken a liking to Ariana already, but Cyrus had not.
‘She’s 16 years old?’
No matter how he looked at her, she didn’t seem 16.
Her appearance might have looked just past 10, innocent and small, but the way she led the situation, her gaze, her expression changes, were not something an inexperienced girl could do.
Ariana knew how to bring out the appropriate expression at the right time, and to quickly hide it, even changing the tone of her voice freely according to the situation.
That change was so subtle and secretive that it was the kind of thing you couldn’t know unless you watched closely.
Now alone, Ariana was quietly hiding a medicine pouch that was on the bedside table into her skirt pocket.
Upon seeing this, Cyrus’s red eyes darkened.
‘She’s not an ordinary woman, after all. What is she hiding?’
The existence of Ariana was an anomaly in the Duke’s mansion, which he had visited to find a connection between the Eastern and Western Emperor’s sons.
It was only meant to observe briefly, hoping to find a weakness for dealing with either of the Emperor’s sons later, but he saw an unexpected side.
“We can’t keep watching that lady here. What will we do now?”
At Isaac’s voice, Cyrus took his gaze off Ariana.
“Tonight, we’ll look around the mansion.”
“Do you think there’s something worth getting? Duke Bronthe is just a timid man who only cares about how he looks to others.”
“I don’t know about Duke Bronthe, but Rachel Bronthe might know something. After all, she married the Eastern Emperor’s son at just that time; she might still have evidence related to that.”
+++
Ariana, who had prepared a sleeping pill, lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.
‘This is all I can do right now.’
Louise will be imprisoned for a few days in a room similar to where Ariana had been confined after being beaten.
She wasn’t sure if Rachel would scold Helena for this, but probably not.
To Rachel, Helena was a particularly sore spot, so unless she killed someone, no, even if she did, Rachel wouldn’t scold Helena.
‘This is enough for now. This is the best I can do with the power I have in this mansion.’
The Duchess Bronthe did not treat Ariana kindly, so the Duke Bronthe wouldn’t either.
To them, Ariana’s existence was merely a chess piece to be sold for the sake of the family.
‘I have only a few months left.’
In a few months, Rachel will marry Ariana to Ingowu Alfrei, a Western Duke’s son.
16 is the age when one can marry, although recently it’s become common to marry after 20.
Nevertheless, Rachel immediately sent Ariana away from the Duke Bronthe’s mansion as soon as she turned 16.
To a man 16 years older, and of lower rank.
Rachel must have brought Ariana along when she divorced for this reason. In this world, daughters are raised to be sent to good families to help their own.
‘I have to get out of this mansion before then.’
The terrible days she spent in the Alfrei house vividly came to mind. Back then, she endured it with foolish smiles without knowing how tough it was. She doesn’t want to go back to that life ever again.
‘I need the Eastern Emperor’s power.’
Her father, Eastern Emperor Russell White, with whom she hadn’t exchanged a single word.
Ariana had seen the Eastern Emperor only once, at a royal party to be held in a few years.
Even then, they only made eye contact; they didn’t converse.
Dongjehu turned his head and frowned as he locked eyes with Ariana, as if he had witnessed something unpleasant.
Ariana, who had been timid, was deeply wounded by her father’s cold attitude.
‘Seojehu and Rachel dislike Dongjehu. Dongjehu also has no good feelings for Seojehu.’
The vassal states of the east, west, south, and north surround the Camellia Empire under the pretext of protecting the empire, but there has been constant strife between them to gain power.
The powers of Bukjehu and Dongjehu, who were in charge of the northern and eastern regions where barbarians and heretical remnants exist, were the strongest, followed by Namjehu, and Seojehu was the weakest.
So Seojehu had sent his daughter Rachel to keep Dongjehu in check.
‘At that time, the power of the North Spirit was weak, so Bukjehu wouldn’t have known it would grow so quickly. Dongjehu has weakened due to Rachel, but it’s not yet at a level to be ignored.’
Rachel described Dongjehu as ‘a very cold, quickthinking, cruel man.’
She incessantly told Ariana how terrible life in Dongryeong was, how illmannered and wicked Dongjehu’s family was.
[Dash]”So Ariana, you should be grateful that I brought you out of that hellish place. Compared to Dongryeong, this place is heaven.”She had foolishly believed that.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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