To You, So Noble and Vulgar (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 14
‘It would be troublesome if my plans are ruined and the future changes too much because of Duke Bukje.’
Cyrus watched with interest as a flicker of wariness appeared in Ariana’s blue eyes.
Until now, the women who had faced Cyrus had shown one of two expressions: admiration or fear.
But the emotion in Ariana’s bright blue eyes was different.
Wariness—and a hint of annoyance.
Since Cyrus had never been regarded as an annoyance by anyone before, dealing with Ariana was somewhat enjoyable. He even found himself looking forward to how she would respond and what sharp words she might use.
“Does Duke Dongje know you’re being treated like this?”
A cold chill briefly passed over her small, lovely face before vanishing.
Ariana spoke calmly, her gaze fixed on the darkness beyond Cyrus’s shoulder.
“He surely can’t be unaware—but even if he were, it wouldn’t matter. News of what happened at tonight’s party will spread among the nobles, so if I ever seek his protection, he won’t be able to pretend ignorance. Even Duke Dongje wouldn’t want the disgrace of having cast out his pitiful, abused daughter.”
Ariana referred to her father as “Duke Dongje.”
Her composed voice held no trace of longing or affection.
“You think a great deal with such a small head.”
Her blue eyes, which had been staring into empty space, now locked onto Cyrus’s face.
Her red lips parted, and a clear, refreshing voice—utterly out of place in the darkness—spilled forth.
“Your Highness’s head doesn’t seem particularly large either.”
“So you mean to say that if someone like you can think such thoughts, why shouldn’t I?”
A smile instantly spread across Ariana’s face.
It was the first genuine smile Cyrus had seen from her in the days he’d been watching her.
It was as pure as a winter flower blooming atop Gratun Peak in Bukryeong, braving the cold, and as beautiful as a lotus rising from a dark marsh.
Cyrus stared blankly as her neat eyebrows softened and her cat-like eyes narrowed.
The smile, which had begun like a dream, vanished like a daydream.
“Your Highness truly speaks in an amusing way.”
“So you know how to smile after all.”
“I smile when necessary. And I smile when there’s reason to.”
Cyrus reached through the bars, gently grasping her small chin and lifting it.
Despite his sudden action, Ariana showed no sign of fluster.
“You’re the first person to smile because my words amused you.”
“That can’t be. If you ordered them to smile, wouldn’t everyone do so?”
Her calm reply, slipping smoothly from between her plump lips, intrigued him.
Thus, he grew curious.
“Do you cry as well?”
What would her face look like when she cried?
“I cry when necessary.”
“I’d like to see you cry.”
“If you command it, I shall cry.”
Cyrus released her chin.
Ariana straightened her posture as if nothing had happened. She certainly didn’t resemble a young noblewoman confined indoors and deprived of proper education.
With her back straight and chin slightly raised, Ariana carried herself with the dignity of a woman seated in the highest position of the imperial court.
Cyrus wondered what use Ariana—the link between Duke Dongje and Duke Seoje—might be to them, and what role they intended her to play.
But from what he’d observed so far, Duke Seoje showed no interest in Ariana, and Rachel seemed to genuinely despise her.
‘Yet the fact that she brought this girl along during the divorce must mean there’s a reason. And Duke Dongje’s feigned ignorance about his daughter suffering like this must also have its purpose.’
Perhaps Ariana was merely being used by them without knowing anything. But given her unusually mature behavior for her age, she didn’t seem like someone who’d be blindly manipulated.
Rarely, Ariana spoke first.
“Is there something Your Highness desires within the Bronte estate?”
“I don’t feel like answering.”
“You ask me countless questions, yet you’re stingy with your own answers.”
“You should understand by comparing our situations. Clearly, you’re the one who must answer.”
“Do I seem afraid of Your Highness’s sword?”
She didn’t.
Cyrus wondered whether Ariana would ever show a moment of terror.
But he didn’t want to deliberately frighten her just to find out.
“A woman who fears neither darkness nor her parents surely won’t fear my sword. But what of hunger? From what I recall, you seemed rather fond of eating.”
Ariana blushed, remembering the incident in the pantry.
Fortunately, it was too dark for him to notice.
“I’m used to going hungry. It’s painful, but not frightening.”
“Rachel Bronte was furious. Do you think your opinion of her will remain unchanged after being locked up here for several days?”
“If you knew how many days I’ve been imprisoned before, you’d be shocked.”
“So there’s still something left that can surprise me? How intriguing.”
Cyrus vanished after saying that. By then, even the lamp had gone out.
Ariana stared into the darkness where he’d just stood.
In the pantry, the maids hadn’t noticed them even when they were right before their eyes.
Could the same be true now?
The thought that Cyrus might be hiding somewhere in the shadows made it impossible for her to rest easily.
‘How bothersome.’
Amid so many things to ponder and plan, Cyrus’s presence was nothing but an irritation.
‘From what I heard Duke Bukje say about Rachel, he doesn’t seem fond of her. Maybe he could be on my side… No, no. Getting entangled with Duke Bukje would bring no good.’
He didn’t seem as cruel as the rumors claimed, but Cyrus Karha was still someone she couldn’t fully understand. Introducing too large a variable might ruin everything before she even got started.
Moreover, Cyrus wasn’t as easy to handle as Victoria or Helena. Since he certainly wouldn’t act according to Ariana’s wishes, excluding him was the right choice.
‘I have no allies.’
Ariana glared into the darkness.
‘Anyone, at any time, could stab a knife into my back. I must walk this path alone.’
+++
Cyrus sat cross-legged atop the eastern tower, gazing down at the vast Bronte estate.
Numerous ornate buildings and towers, beautiful gardens crafted in every corner.
Yet in all this grandeur and luxury, there was no place for Ariana.
‘She’ll escape from here soon enough.’
There wasn’t a trace of warmth in Ariana’s eyes when speaking of her own parents, nor any expectation toward them. Even if Duke Dongje and Duke Seoje intended to use her, Cyrus was certain she wouldn’t let herself be used so easily.
Then what was Ariana’s ultimate goal? Where was that unmistakable killing intent and hatred in her eyes directed?
Cyrus had seen that same look before.
Long ago, in a mirror.
When he’d lost his parents at a young age and was tossed about by various factions, Cyrus himself had once worn that same expression.
No— even now, that look still lingered within him. He’d merely learned to tuck it away carefully, keeping it hidden.
‘Everyone came at me with knives drawn. Not knowing who killed my parents, I had to be wary of everyone.’
Then where did Ariana’s hatred originate?
From parental neglect and abuse?
No, it wasn’t that. Something far darker than that lurked deep within the shadows of her eyes.
But where could a sixteen-year-old girl, confined to this estate, have experienced something that would breed hatred akin to Cyrus’s?
It was precisely this question that made him wary of her—and also made her intriguing.
‘She seems to plan on seeking refuge with Duke Dongje…’
Cyrus suspected Duke Dongje might be connected to his parents’ deaths.
Just before his parents died, caught in an enemy’s scheme, Duke Dongje had married Rachel. After their deaths, Rachel divorced Duke Dongje and returned to Seoryeong.
While Rachel was in Dongryeong, Duke Seoje might have secretly exchanged plans with Duke Dongje through his daughter Rachel.
‘I can’t tell whether her connection to Duke Dongje will benefit or harm me.’
Should he interfere?
A woman whose intentions were so hard to read—and who carried a knife—would be safer locked away in this stubborn estate. After all, he didn’t know what kind of variable Ariana might become in his plans.
At any other time, Cyrus would have ruthlessly chosen to obstruct Ariana. No— rather than merely obstructing her, he would have simply killed her to remove a mental burden.
Whether or not someone had wronged him personally never mattered to Cyrus when it came to killing.
What mattered was whether they’d become an obstacle in his path.
Regardless of age or gender, Cyrus’s sword moved impartially.
When he’d discovered Ariana’s plan to leave Seoryeong and seek Duke Dongje’s protection, he should have killed her.
But he didn’t feel like it.
‘She has value to me.’
He repeated the thought he’d already had many times.
‘Someday, she’ll become a useful piece for me.’
Cyrus recalled her smile, shining like the sun beneath the dim lamplight.
‘And she’s entertaining, too.’
+++
Victoria picked up the water glass beside her and threw it.
Crash!
The glass shattered with a loud clatter.
The maidservants and housemaids in Victoria’s room dared not even breathe.
It was the first time the gentle and well-mannered Victoria had lost her temper like Helena.
Victoria glared at Helena’s maids, who had been ordered to bring Ariana. They knelt with pale faces.
“I clearly told you to dress her nicely before bringing her!”
“My lady, we followed your orders exactly. We dressed her in a gown and applied makeup, but Ariana—no, that woman—chased us out and changed back into her old clothes before coming out.”
“You let yourselves be chased out just because Ariana told you to? She was alone, and there were four of you! You should have held her down and redressed her!”
“Ah, but… she’s still a princess—how could we…?”
“A princess? You mean to say that wretched girl shares the same blood as me?”
Victoria looked around for something else to throw, but everything nearby had already been smashed.
After the party ended, Helena—having been severely scolded by Rachel—had stormed into Victoria’s room, vented her fury, and left.
It would have been better if she’d only shouted and cursed; instead, she’d even slapped Victoria across the cheek.
-“You’re the one who insisted on bringing her to the party!”
-“Sister, I never said that. I only said she seemed pitiful…”
-“Regardless, if it weren’t for you, she never would have appeared at the party!”
Helena, scolded more harshly than usual, was out of her mind, so Victoria’s words fell on deaf ears. Rachel, having heard of their quarrel, came to Victoria and said disapprovingly,
-“Don’t provoke your sister so much. As the younger one, you should show restraint.”
It was always like this.
Both Mother and Father had always been lenient only toward Helena.
She hated Helena and her parents, but what she hated most was Ariana.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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I finally found the chapter corresponding to chapter 42 of the manhwa!
Here’s a mother who refutes the “instinctive motherhood” notion.