Something was definitely behind the furniture. The Duke pushed it aside to reveal a hidden door with hinges.
Like Adeline had done in the past, the Duke opened the door and began descending into the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs was an iron door.
As he entered the cellar, dust covered his vision. The Duke quickly covered his mouth with the sleeve of his coat.
When the dust cleared, paintings of various sizes on canvases, from large to small, came into view.
The chill surrounding him suggested it was a storage cellar for artwork.
Why it was hidden behind furniture was a mystery.
He walked towards the center, his eyes drawn to a large canvas.
‘…Is that me?’
A portrait of a young Duke in the arms of a woman.
‘Then this woman is… my mother?’
Strangely, looking at the painting enveloped him in an inexplicable sense of discord.
“Ugh.”
Lost memories rushed in, swirling chaotically.
Unable to bear the headache tearing through his head, the Duke collapsed onto the cold cellar floor.
This villa was a secret place filled with memories of his mother, unknown to anyone.
The woman named Del, who claimed to be his lover, existed nowhere in his memories as a lover.
‘A stranger.’
Yes, they were complete strangers. Not the intimate lovers they seemed to be…
‘Adeline Credion.’
At the royal debutante ball in spring.
Debutantes were to wear white dresses and white corsages on their chests.
In a sea of white, every lady tried to stand out with elaborate designs and decorations.
Among them, one lady caught his eye, appearing indifferent to the event, her expression nonchalant.
Her simple dress without any decoration and a notably small corsage complemented her milky hair, making her stunningly pure and beautiful.
The Duke’s gaze was instantly captivated by her.
When Adeline turned her head under his intense stare, their eyes met.
‘Captivated by a meaningless woman.’
The woman with gray eyes tinged with blue closely resembled the Duke of Credion.
The Duke immediately realized she was Adeline Credion.
As the flashback ended, the Duke opened his eyes.
Despite the returning headache, his mind was filled with Adeline.
He felt like he was going mad with confusion.
‘Why…’
Why was the sole daughter of the Credion family in his villa?
It was unplanned for the injured Duke to take refuge in this villa.
Yet Adeline had been staying here even before his arrival.
‘What’s the scheme?’
If she was from the Credion family, she wouldn’t miss the chance to kill him.
But instead, she healed him, even fabricating a story of being his lover… despite having a lover named Hailo.
“Adeline.”
He murmured her name softly.
Uttering her name aloud brought a flood of memories.
The woman who cared for him during his memory loss.
Adeline, who audaciously claimed to be his lover when asked if they were married.
Memories of being with her made his blood boil, his heart racing madly.
It was an indescribable feeling – anger, betrayal, and a sense of emptiness.
“Hah…”
The Duke sighed.
His prolonged absence from the ducal estate due to memory loss had left many tasks piled up, including urgent matters.
But still.
“I need to know. What you wanted from me.”
He couldn’t bring himself to leave.
Adeline Credion. What was her true intention?
Why was she in Torpeo’s hidden villa, unknown to anyone?
No, putting all that aside, he needed to understand the emotions boiling inside him towards her.
The rusty door of the villa opened. It seemed Adeline, who had stormed out in anger, had returned.
She almost passed by without seeing Cassis.
“Did you enjoy your walk?”
“Were you waiting for me? It’s so hot, I need to shower.”
Adeline replied brusquely, unaware that Cassis had regained his memory.
“I was sensitive because I lost my memory. I’m sorry.”
His dignified apology softened Adeline’s heart, making the previous anger seem pointless.
“Ah… Alright! I’ll go shower.”
Embarrassed, Adeline quickly headed to the bathroom, not realizing the air around him was cooler than usual.
After showering, Adeline came out with wet hair, walking around comfortably in front of him, unaware that her chemise was revealing her figure due to the moisture.
‘She doesn’t even realize I’m here. To come out so unguardedly.’
A smirk formed on Cassis’s lips.
Such behavior was not fitting for the daughter of a ducal house. And why was she in this villa, a place of a rival family?
And here she was, acting as if they were lovers.
‘Are you really sincere, you?’
Were the actions she showed him genuine?
At that thought, he wanted to test her.
Cassis approached Adeline.
He took the towel from her hand and began drying her hair.
“Adeline.”
Hearing her name, Adeline froze.
“What did you say…”
“That newspaper. The newspaper says the lady of the Credion ducal house named Adeline is missing.”
[Breaking News! Beautiful lady of the Credion family. Missing]He pointed to the newspaper on the table, brought by Adeline.
Cassis deliberately mentioned Adeline’s full name to gauge her reaction.
“Ah…”
“I thought the name Adeline sounded similar to yours.”
Pretending ignorance, Cassis continued to probe.
“Not at all. My name is just one syllable.”
Adeline just wanted the conversation to end.
“Del.”
Cassis stopped drying her hair and turned her towards him.
His hand, which had been gently smoothing her damp hair, wrapped around her slender waist.
“Do you love me?”
Asking if she loved him was like a test.
The lady of the Credion house, who had tenderly cared for and healed him.
The woman who acted like a lover to him after he woke up with no memory. So affectionately.
Although it had been less than two months, the summer they spent together made Cassis feel like he was intoxicated by a sweet dream.
So, he asked.
Were the emotions she showed during the summer real?
Cassis’s intense gaze deeply entangled with Adeline’s.
Her lips quivered slightly as she gazed at him.
“…….”
Cassis moved even closer to her.
Regardless of the reason why the daughter of the Credion family approached him, the Duke felt that if she revealed the truth now, he could forgive everything and set aside all doubts.
He had, unknowingly, developed deep feelings for Adeline.
Even now, at this moment, he felt a strong urge to steal her breath away, to be close to her, despite her deceiving and brazenly staying by his side.
‘I must be utterly mad.’
Was it a desire to ruin her because of his sense of betrayal towards her?
Or did he wish for her to be entirely his? Even the Duke himself couldn’t understand his own feelings.
The Duke lifted Adeline in his arms and laid her gently on the soft bed.
Adeline, suddenly laid down on the bed, tried desperately not to lie down.
As she stretched her arms behind her to grasp the bedcover, the Duke enveloped her hands with his, slowly moving closer to her.
Adeline’s hands were trapped in his large ones. He gradually lowered his head towards her.
“I like you. I think I’m fond of you, Del.”
With the Duke’s words, their lips met.
As Adeline felt faint with the loss of strength in her hands, her body was increasingly enveloped by the bedcover.
Unable to resist his weight, she gradually leaned back.
As her back fully touched the bed, the Duke slightly parted their closely pressed lips and spoke.
“If I say I love you, will you never leave me?”
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
