“If I mention Jonathan Percy, you said you would know who he is.”
“Really?”
Bianca’s face was instantly filled with delight.
“Where is Sir Percy?”
The maid was a little flustered by her enthusiastic attitude but soon regained her composure and began to guide her.
“First, the young lady asked me to escort you to the drawing room, so I did.”
“Which drawing room?”
“I will take you there.”
“Wait a moment.”
Bianca quickly tidied up her appearance while looking in the mirror. She couldn’t take the time to dress up satisfactorily, but it seemed pretty good.
“Then please show me the way.”
Following the maid into the drawing room, Bianca greeted Jonathan warmly.
“Sir Percy!”
The man who had been standing restlessly flinched his shoulders.
“La-Lady Bianca.”
Jonathan tried to smile, but the confident and charming look she had seen when they first met was somewhat gone.
“It’s been a while. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you, Sir Percy.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I wanted to go out and meet you, but as a guest here, it was difficult for me to go out as I pleased. Still, thank you for coming to see me like this.”
Bianca offered him a seat.
“Let’s sit down and talk first. I’ll ask the maid to bring out some refreshments.”
Her attitude was so natural that anyone would think Bianca was the owner of this mansion.
However, before Bianca could even call the maid, Jonathan quickly exclaimed.
“Refreshments are fine! I won’t be staying long anyway.”
“Oh, I see. Then shall we go out and have tea since the weather is nice?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Jonathan heaved a deep sigh.
“Lady Bianca, I came today to end my relationship with you.”
“…Pardon?”
Jonathan’s face looking down at Bianca was solemn.
“I have to leave the capital due to some business.”
“Leave the capital? All of a sudden?”
“Yes. So I don’t think I’ll be able to see you anymore.”
“Where are you going?”
Bianca grabbed Jonathan’s hand urgently.
“Are you going far away? I don’t mind if we’re far apart.”
He carefully removed her hand.
“Yes, I’m going quite far. That’s why I came to say goodbye.”
“So suddenly like this?”
“Well, I’ve conveyed what I wanted to say, so I’ll be on my way now.”
After bowing his head in greeting, Jonathan tried to quickly leave the drawing room. Bianca grabbed his arm as if clinging to him.
“Wait! I still don’t understand. Let’s talk a little more…”
Jonathan brushed off her hand rather roughly. Bianca blankly looked down at her sore palm.
“I don’t think we need to talk anymore. To be honest, we’ve only seen each other twice now, right? Even then, if you exclude today, we’ve only properly met once.”
“But we had a good time when we met last time. How can you make up your mind so quickly?”
“Hasn’t it been a while since then?”
“What?”
“If we had met right away, that would be one thing, but how can feelings deepen when we haven’t seen each other for a long time in a state of mere attraction?”
Jonathan’s expression as he looked down at Bianca again was even chilly.
“So let’s end it here, Lady Bianca.”
Bianca bit her lower lip.
It was true that she had taken a liking to Jonathan Percy. What woman wouldn’t fall for a man with a handsome appearance who kindly showed interest in her?
However, more than liking him, she was desperate. Bianca currently needed a lifeline to escape from her hellish reality.
If she let Jonathan go like this, who knows when she would find new prey again.
“But if you just give me a little more chance…”
Bianca clung to him once more. Under normal circumstances, her pride wouldn’t allow her to do such a thing, but now she was that desperate.
That’s when it happened.
Jonathan, who had been acting coldly all along, changed his expression and leaned his body towards her.
“If that’s the case, well…”
He whispered in a voice like an evil snake.
“It’s not like there’s no way at all.”
Bianca’s eyes, who had been silently listening to his words, widened round.
[This is the timeline separator]“It’s all because of you!”
After Jonathan left, Bianca immediately rushed at Riena. She looked like she was going to strangle Riena’s neck.
“If only you hadn’t locked me up in the mansion…!”
Riena took her, who was extremely agitated, into the room. After dismissing all the worried maids, she spoke to Bianca.
“Did you wrap up the conversation with Sir Percy well?”
Last night, Riena had heard from Cassel that Jonathan would be visiting the mansion today.
He said he had already persuaded Jonathan, who was being threatened by Johannes, to sort out his relationship with Bianca.
So he added that even if Jonathan Percy came, she shouldn’t be flustered and let him meet Bianca.
Judging from Bianca’s current attitude, it seemed that Jonathan had ended his relationship with her as Cassel had said.
‘Actually, there was no relationship to sort out in the first place…’
Riena calmly continued speaking to Bianca, who was still huffing and puffing, unable to contain her anger.
“Mother was very worried after hearing about Jonathan Percy. She was even surprised that you tried to secretly leave the mansion because of that man, and now she’s trying to calm herself.”
Bianca glared at Riena, her eyes flashing.
“Are you happy to make a fool of me like this?”
“What?”
“You’ve caught the Duke and are living well, so you can’t stand to see me doing well, right? If you hadn’t locked me up in the mansion for absurd reasons in the first place, Sir Percy wouldn’t have rejected me so coldly!”
“Bianca, don’t you still get it? If he was the kind of man who would abandon you for such a reason, it means he wasn’t a good man to begin with.”
“What do you know!”
Bianca, who had been screaming, covered her face with both hands and sank to the floor. The sound of sobbing leaked out between her fingers.
“How much I liked Sir Percy… We grew up like sisters, but how can you not only not help me but also hinder me?”
“Bianca.”
“Enough. I don’t even want to see your face, so get out right now.”
Riena let out a small sigh.
“Alright.”
Then, after leaving a few words to the maid in a small voice to keep a close watch, she left the room.
Only after the sound of the door closing was heard did Bianca raise her head. She glared at the door with dry eyes.
“I won’t let this go.”
In the first place, it doesn’t make sense for someone like you to become the Duchess.
Bianca gritted her teeth as she whispered like that.
[This is the timeline separator]“Lady Dyke, come on in.”
Before Riena could even greet her properly, Anais quickly approached and hugged her.
“Y-Your Highness.”
Riena awkwardly waved her arms in the air, not knowing where to put them. Anais laughed heartily.
“What do you say we drop the stiff formalities between us? I get enough of those greetings from other people anyway.”
While Riena pondered for a moment what kind of relationship ‘between us’ was, Anais took her to a table placed in one corner of the garden.
As the two sat facing each other, the maids began to bring out refreshments.
“I heard you haven’t been feeling well? Are you okay now?”
“Yes, thanks to Your Highness, I’m much better now.”
Anais made a hmm sound.
“You’re good at saying things you don’t mean, Lady Riena.”
“…Pardon?”
“What have I done for you to say it’s thanks to me? It’s not like I sent you medicine or anything.”
“That’s…”
Riena rolled her eyes.
“For worrying about me…?”
“What if I didn’t worry about you?”
She hadn’t expected this kind of response. While Riena was struggling to find a retort, Anais laughed out loud again.
“I’m just kidding. Why wouldn’t I worry about you? Actually, I tried to send the imperial physician to check on you and prescribe medicine, but Duke Winkler refused.”
“Ah…”
Regarding that, Riena wanted to praise Cassel.
The imperial physician. Just hearing those words made her feel so honored she could go crazy.
“Anyway, I’m glad you’re better now. But it seems you haven’t fully recovered yet, judging from your complexion.”
“That’s…”
“Or do you have some worries?”
Anais, with her chin resting on her hand, observed Riena, who had her eyes round like a rabbit.
At that moment, Riena had an intuition.
‘She knows what I’m here for.’
She didn’t know how much Anais knew.
However, she seemed to clearly know that Riena had not come to the princess palace simply to have a casual conversation.
“It’s not something I’d call a worry…”
Riena feigned ignorance for now. Anais made a hmm sound and personally poured tea into her cup.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, and it seems I’ve been focusing too much on the conversation without even giving you time to drink tea. Have some refreshments first.”
“Yes. Thank you, Your Highness.”
After wetting her throat with tea, Riena opened her mouth again.
“Have you been well without any issues, Your Highness?”
“I’m always the same. Except that there are some annoying people lately.”
“Annoying people?”
“Yes.”
Anais smiled, fiddling with her teacup.
“The Belliards are really getting on my nerves.”
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
