When the Cruel Dark Lord Tenderly Seduces (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9
Nellia’s face was flushed red as she dashed out of Duke Hart’s mansion and hastily climbed into the carriage.
‘Ugh. I almost had a heart attack.’
She’d been startled first by his figure appearing right in front of her when she turned around, and then startled again by his hand suddenly reaching out.
Because of his cruel deeds deeply ingrained in her subconscious, she couldn’t help but flinch.
And above all else….
‘They say you feel a chill whenever the Duke gets close.’
It happened just now too. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but not just her hands and feet—even her whole body felt colder.
Was he naturally a cold person? Or… did he really have cold hands and feet…?
She’d heard poor blood circulation caused that condition.
‘…No. That’s not what matters right now.’
Nellia pushed Duke Hart’s cold hands and feet out of her mind.
What mattered right now was that, despite everything, today had ended safely.
Taking that first step without incident held great significance.
‘I should hurry home and have dinner.’
Nellia smiled pleasantly, having already put all thoughts of the Duke behind her.
But that pleasant smile quickly faded.
It was because of the person she saw as soon as she opened the door upon arriving home.
As she’d expected, Layton hadn’t taken long to return from the monastery after all.
If they were going to send him away, they should’ve kept him gone for a few years…!
Nellia believed her parents’ soft-hearted attitude was exactly what had produced someone like Layton.
“Nellia, you.”
Layton, spotting Nellia, was the first to acknowledge her.
“You’re back already?”
“‘Already’? Do you have any idea how much I suffered over there! Was it really necessary to tattle to Mother and Father about the necklace incident?”
Layton snapped loudly.
“Of course I had to tell them. And you should consider yourself lucky the punishment stopped at that.”
In another household, they might have broken your leg over something like that.
When Nellia shrugged her shoulders as if she’d done nothing wrong, Layton’s eyes turned menacing.
Then, sighing with resignation, he waved his hand dismissively.
Nellia found this unexpected. She’d anticipated he’d lash out like an angry colt.
Still, someone like him really ought to be sent to the army to straighten up—but unfortunately, the Andrian Empire had no conscription system.
“Anyway, weren’t you supposed to have gotten a job as Duke Hart’s maid?”
“Yeah, it just sort of happened.”
Layton clicked his tongue.
“Guess Duke Hart must’ve been really hard up for staff if he hired someone like you as a maid.”
Although she slightly agreed with the part about Duke Hart being hard up for staff, the latter part of his comment grated on her nerves.
“If the Duke needed a maid, there’d be lines wrapping around the capital city and still more people waiting.”
“Shut up. It’s not like I wanted to do it either.”
Nellia replied irritably. Layton propped his chin in his hand and stared intently at her.
“Could he really have fallen for you or something?”
“Don’t spout nonsense.”
Though the Duke had shown her unprovoked kindness, the idea that he’d fallen for her was absurd.
Seeing Nellia’s look of disgust, Layton shook his head.
“Well… come to think of it, I’ve heard rumors he prefers men, so he probably hasn’t fallen for you.”
Once again, the rumor about Duke Hart preferring men was brought up.
Her parents had mentioned something similar on their way home from the party.
Knowing from the original story that Duke Hart would eventually fall for the female lead, she knew it wasn’t true—but hearing it twice was still rather bothersome.
“Duke Hart prefers men?”
“That’s what people are saying behind his back.”
Nellia fell into brief thought.
Apparently, Duke Hart hadn’t met the female lead yet, but once he did, he’d fall in love with her immediately.
So why did these rumors keep circulating…?
‘Could it actually be true?’
After all, he could very well be bisexual….
As Nellia was deeply pondering the Duke’s preferences, Layton’s voice cut in.
“Anyway, that’s not the point. I’ve got a favor to ask of you.”
“…What is it?”
Nellia’s brow furrowed.
That scoundrel Layton. As expected, he’d let the earlier tattling slide only because he had a favor to ask.
“Well… I’ve been feeling uneasy about what happened with the Crown Prince that day.”
Nellia understood he meant the recent party day when he said “that day.”
“So?”
“Could you ask the Duke for me—how’s the repair of the broken necklace coming along? And… has the Crown Prince mentioned me at all since then?”
It seemed sending him to the monastery hadn’t been entirely futile after all—he was finally worrying about things, even if belatedly.
Still, Nellia hesitated.
Layton’s request wasn’t difficult, but it was awkward.
She was already walking on eggshells around the mastermind behind the scenes, and now she had to ask about this uncomfortable matter too.
“What will you give me if I ask him?”
“…I’ll buy you a strawberry tart from Pâche Bakery.”
Nellia scoffed.
“Forget it. I don’t need to stand in line there anymore.”
“What…? How?!”
Layton asked in surprise. Nellia merely shrugged.
“Employee benefits.”
As Nellia, having rejected his request, headed upstairs toward her room, Layton grabbed her arm.
“Hey, wait! My favor!”
“The reward isn’t tempting enough.”
Layton stood up with a displeased look and quickly approached her.
“How about this, then….”
“What?”
“I know one of the Duke’s secrets. If you agree to my request, I’ll tell only you.”
A secret…?
The provocative word tempted her for a moment, but she soon shook her head.
“I don’t really care to hear other people’s secrets.”
Besides, it wasn’t coming from the Duke himself—and she didn’t trust a word coming out of Layton’s mouth anyway.
“But wouldn’t it be useful for you to know something as long as you have to work as the Duke’s maid?”
Layton’s subtle tone held her back once more.
Nellia glanced sidelong at Layton.
True, the Duke had been kind to her, but she didn’t know his true intentions.
Thus, Layton’s offer was certainly tempting.
Knowing more about him might help her navigate her life as a maid more smoothly.
“Well? Are you willing to grant my request now?”
Seeing Nellia hesitate, Layton grinned slyly.
But in the end, Nellia turned away.
“Forget it.”
She simply couldn’t bring herself to accept a favor paid for with someone else’s secret.
From behind, Layton’s desperate cry followed her.
“Hey! Aren’t you even a little curious?”
Without a shred of reluctance, Nellion headed straight up to the second floor.
.
.
.
Back in her room, Nellia picked up the book she’d borrowed from the library over the weekend.
Its title was ‘The Myth of Zigrit.’ The cover bore an illustration of a gray dragon.
The same emblem had been on Duke Hart’s carriage—it was the symbol of the Andrian Empire, modeled after Zigrit, the ancient dragon and god of wrath and destruction.
The Myth of Zigrit was one of the key storylines in .
Nellia had borrowed this book simply out of curiosity.
This myth seemed like a crucial key to unraveling the original story’s plot, but since she hadn’t finished reading the original, she was eager to know what came next.
The tale of Zigrit’s myth went like this:
Long ago in the Andrian Empire, there lived a dragon named Zigrit—he was the god of destruction and wrath, a powerful ruler.
Before his death, he hid his heart and left a will promising to grant the wish of whoever found it.
The key to finding his heart was the gemstone in the necklace Layton had tampered with—‘Tears of Elena.’
She wasn’t sure how Tears of Elena guided the way to the heart—after all, she’d only read up to the middle of the original story.
‘Why did Duke Hart want to find the heart again…?’
Ah, right—to seek revenge against the Emperor.
There had been a brief flashback showing Emperor Argen killing Duke Hart’s father.
And there seemed to be another reason as well, but again, that was as far as she’d read.
‘If I’d known I’d need this book, I would’ve stayed up all night to finish reading it.’
She knew regretting it now was useless, but it was still disappointing.
Pushing aside her disappointment, Nellia flipped open the thick book’s cover. It was clearly old—the pages were considerably faded.
[Chapter 1: The Majesty of the Gray Dragon.]In the beginning of the world, only gods existed. Among them, Zigrit, born of destruction and wrath, delighted in causing war and ruin.
Yet even the other gods could not stop him. He was the world’s one and only magnificent gray dragon—Zigrit.
Flame from his mouth could melt through anything instantly, and his claws as hard as steel could pierce through anything.
‘So Zigrit really was powerful.’
Nellia flipped through the terrifying descriptions without much emotion.
[Chapter 2: The Spring Breeze That Melted Ice.]But someone finally stopped his tyranny—ironically, an insignificant and small human woman.
Her name was Elena—the only woman Zigrit had ever engraved upon his heart.
His meeting with her was both coincidence and fate.
To stop Zigrit’s rampage, the gods united and attacked him. Off-guard, Zigrit suffered grievous wounds and plummeted to earth.
He crashed onto a remote hillside, where Elena, gathering spring herbs, tended to his injuries.
‘So that’s how he fell in love with Elena, who saved him.’
Given that only Elena’s tears could unlock the path to his heart, the name was undeniably romantic.
Nellia quickly turned the page again.
[Chapter 3: The One Who Challenged the Dragon.]‘Oh ho! So someone actually dared challenge the strongest being in this world.’
Intrigued by the subtitle, Nellia paused her page-turning.
Thanks to Elena, who had melted Zigrit’s cold heart, peace came to the world. The once bellicose Zigrit no longer desired battle.
Not only because his beloved Elena wished for it—but also because he now had two children to care for.
Yet these gifts from heaven brought both happiness and sorrow.
Though born of the same mother, the two children possessed strikingly different appearances and temperaments.
The younger son, Karl, had an ordinary human form, resembling Elena closely, with a kind and upright heart.
Conversely, the elder son, Sillin, bore the exact dragon form of Zigrit—and inherited his father’s innate temperament as well.
That’s where the trouble began.
Sillin, with his destructive nature, started fights and set his surroundings ablaze. Zigrit could not bring himself to love Sillin, and the boy gradually grew estranged.
One day, having come of age, Sillin approached Zigrit with a wounded expression and asked,
‘Why don’t you love me, Father?’
‘That’s not true.’
‘No. Even if I asked a stranger on the street, they’d nod and say the same.’
Zigrit fell silent.
‘What exactly have I done wrong?’
Anger flared around Sillin, setting the air ablaze. Seeing this, Zigrit finally spoke.
‘Look at yourself. You can’t even control your own strength—yet again, you seek destruction?’
‘I am just like you.’
‘No. I have changed. If you refuse to change, no one will ever love you.’
Zigrit’s cold eyes fixed upon Sillin.
Nellia’s hand, flipping pages, stopped.
She knew Sillin was in the wrong, yet couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
If only Zigrit had shown him more affection back then, Sillin might not have turned out this way.
Clenching his fists, Sillin vanished in response to Zigrit’s cold words.
And as uneasy days passed, foreboding a coming storm—
‘AAAAAAAH!!’
Karl let out a pained scream.
Rushing over in alarm, they found only a collapsed house and roaring flames.
Zigrit, steadying his trembling steps, approached the fallen Karl.
‘What… on earth happened!’
‘F-Father…’
‘What’s wrong, Karl!’
Zigrit’s trembling eyes fell upon his son’s arm. Karl’s right arm was horribly burned.
‘My arm caught fire… I tried to put it out… but no matter what I did, the flames wouldn’t go out… So I struck my arm with an object.’
‘…And then?’
‘My arm… won’t move anymore….’
Enraged at his son’s sudden disability, Zigrit sought the cause of the fire.
And there he found—
‘I did it.’
Sillin stood there, confessing with a crooked smile. His eyes, devoid of remorse, held only madness.
Furious, Zigrit shouted,
‘What possessed you to do such a thing!’
‘I thought it only fair that Karl lose something too.’
‘Fair?’
‘Karl isn’t smarter or stronger than me, yet he has everything. I have nothing—only this boiling urge to destroy.’
Despite Sillin’s anguished voice, Zigrit felt no pity—only regret as he closed his eyes.
‘…I shouldn’t have brought you into this world.’
Zigrit opened his eyes wide and declared,
‘I curse you. You will pay for your jealousy and envy toward your younger brother.’
Nellia found herself unconsciously drawn into the story.
‘So that’s how Sillin came to be cursed.’
She wanted to see what kind of curse was placed, but the back pages of the old book were smudged—likely water-damaged then dried.
Without hesitation, Nellia closed the book.
Lying still in bed reading had made her gradually drowsy anyway.
She’d have to find a better-preserved copy to read the rest later.
After all, the Myth of Zigrit was so widely known among the empire’s citizens that finding another copy wouldn’t be hard.
Right now, maintaining her condition for work tomorrow was more important.
Nellia closed her eyes.
Thanks to the day’s tension, she slipped into deep sleep almost instantly.
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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