“My ladyyy!”

At that moment, Hannah, covered in ashes to the point her hair turned white, came running. Thankfully, aside from being covered in ash, she didn’t seem to have suffered any other harm.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere, and what about young lady Valerie?”

“I’m fine, Hannah. Are you hurt anywhere? Valerie is with the knight.”

“I’m so relieved you’re not hurt. I was so scared.”

Despite my assurances, Hannah thoroughly examined me from head to toe.

“My lady, you’re not alright! Bloooood!”

Seeing the blood stained on the hem of my dress, she turned pale and screamed.

“This isn’t my blood. Over there, Grand Duke Albrecht…”

After alternately checking Carl’s shoulder and my dress hem a few more times, Hannah finally calmed down a bit. She slightly lifted my skirt to confirm I was unharmed down to my toes, then turned towards Valerie.

Valerie was crying with her face bright red. She seemed to have been startled by the tremendous noise. Fortunately, she didn’t appear to be hurt. Hannah brushed off the ash that had settled on Valerie’s hair and face.

“It seems that as the floor collapsed, the adjacent pillar tilted, and the debris that poured over it acted as a shield. If it weren’t for that, it would have been a disaster, Your Highness.”

There was a reason why no one was seriously injured even though the house floor had collapsed. They said that the large wooden pillar supporting the ceiling fell first, creating a gap between people and the pile of wood.

While listening to the report from the knight called Clovis, I looked around at what had been a cottage until just moments ago.

What could have caused such a sudden explosion? When the ground started shaking, I initially thought it was an unexpected earthquake.

But the loud explosion sound heard just before the house collapsed was certainly not the sound of a natural disaster. It was clearly the sound of some chemical reaction artificially created.

Could someone have planted a bomb in my cottage? How else could such a peaceful place turn into a wasteland in an instant?

After considering various possibilities and repeated reasoning, what I arrived at in the end was the magic stone hidden under the living room floor.

“They said it was just a trap to tie up feet.”

Did tying up feet mean destroying the house to render legs completely useless?

As this thought occurred to me, chills ran down my entire body. Even though it seemed like too extreme a speculation, considering that the explosion started right after I chanted the spell to activate the magic stone…

I couldn’t believe I had walked over something so terrifying buried in the floor. It was also hard to believe that such a horrific incident occurred, yet no one was seriously injured.

Carl and the knight exchanged a few more words, mentioning the possibility of unexploded ordnance and discussing places to evacuate.

“I guess it’s not my fate to die yet.”

“What did you say, Celeste?”

“Ah, nothing. It’s nothing.”

When I heard the last explosion, I thought I was going to end my second life here without a doubt. But fortunately, it seemed my lifespan wasn’t over yet.

While exchanging a few words with Carl as I leaned on him, I gradually became able to move my feet.

The knight’s words that we should quickly leave this place as we don’t know when another explosive might go off sounded like a command to move my body urgently. Just as I was about to force my legs to take a step,

Thud.

Something hit the tip of my foot.

“This is…”

It was the detective’s potion bottle that had only Valerie’s blood drops in it. It must have fallen down when the floor collapsed, as one corner was broken and the contents were leaking out.

One, two, three. Exactly two more potion bottles lay broken beside it. What a waste.

And a little distance away, the potion mixed with the detective’s and Valerie’s blood was also shattered. Even though at least several minutes had passed since the explosion, it still looked red enough to be mistaken for bloodstains at a glance. It was a very obvious result. The probability of this detective being Celeste’s man was zero, after all.

“Of course. Naturally.”

“What did you say?”

“It’s nothing. My leg hurts a bit, I was talking to myself.”

“Your leg hurts? Where and how?”

The words I threw to divert Carl’s attention elsewhere ended up drawing his attention instead. Carl bent down as if to examine my legs, and I quickly pulled my skirt to cover them.

“You should stop your wound from bleeding first. Anyone can see that you’re the patient in a more serious condition.”

Blood was still flowing from his shoulder. Somehow, the bloodstains that fell from his shoulder to the floor as he lowered his head were chilling.

But what kind of twist of fate is this?

As if on cue, Carl’s blood that had splattered onto the floor came into contact with the potion that had spilled from another nearby bottle.

Don’t tell me that’s the potion with only Valerie’s blood drops in it?

Watching quietly with a sense of disbelief as I looked at Valerie and Carl’s faces, the clear liquid that seemed to swallow the blood drops turned red in an instant.

Ah, please don’t let it be!

“There’s a wagon nearby. It’s not ideal, but Countess Louisette, please use that carriage. I think it’s best we evacuate to the Urentum security office quickly.”

Instead of nodding at my words to treat his wound, Carl put one arm behind my back and the other under my legs, then lifted me up just like that.

“Wh-what are you doing? I can walk on my own. More importantly, your shoulder…!”

I was suddenly lifted up as if being embraced by him. The sudden contact was so bewildering, but Carl seemed unaffected.

“It’s better this way, as we don’t know what kind of accident might occur while waiting for you to walk on your own.”

The contact was startling, but in fact, what worried me more were the potion bottles on the floor.

I glanced down surreptitiously. I wondered if the color of the potion had changed again.

“Celeste?”

Carl’s gaze followed my line of sight down to the floor.

“My, my legs are fine! I’m okay, I’ll walk on my own.”

When I hurriedly pushed against his chest with both hands, Carl let me go without resistance, probably due to the injury on his shoulder.

“Let’s go. Where’s the wagon?”

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I shielded the spilled liquid on the floor with my body to prevent him from seeing it. My visibly flustered appearance would have seemed suspicious to anyone, but given the situation, it seemed they didn’t have the chance to pay attention to that.

So, naturally receiving support, I slowly took one step, then two. To check how the potion mixed with his blood was changing, I had to walk as slowly as possible to buy time.

And when I turned back after about five steps.

I could see that the liquid, which had turned red after absorbing the blood drops just moments ago, had become clear again.

Found him. The father of my child.

It took only a moment for the once-peaceful security office to turn into utter chaos.

Urentum was originally a quiet rural village where the most significant incidents were settling petty quarrels between neighbors or finding stolen crops for someone.

So when knights in uniforms bearing the imperial seal appeared in this peaceful place, it was only natural for a commotion to break out.

“Bring the head of the security office.”

“Yes, sir!”

The security officers, who had been leisurely enjoying their afternoon naps, turned pale and stepped aside to one corner. Their fingertips, standing at attention, were visibly trembling even from a distance.

Not knowing if there might be residual explosions, we first left Celeste’s log cabin and came to the security office. As it was such a small village, there was no higher authority like a security bureau. Grateful that there was at least a security office, we moved the carriage straight here. Although it was a tiny security office with only about three rooms.

The injured knights were busy tending to their wounds, while the uninjured ones were occupied helping their wounded comrades.

‘Grand Duke Albrecht.’

I quietly mulled over Carl’s name.

He is indeed the male protagonist of this novel, the father of my child. My head throbbed with pain at this unimaginable fact.

The death of the Duke of Swabia had finally come to light, and in the rural village I had come down to avoid entangling with the protagonists, I ultimately met the male lead. What’s more, we didn’t just meet, but became thoroughly entangled.

What should I do about this? It wasn’t a situation where thinking would necessarily yield an answer, but my mind was busy working nonetheless.

“Waaah. Mama.”

The child, seemingly startled by the explosion, showed no signs of calming down. I had tried soothing the child in my arms all the way from the carriage to the security office, but all I got for my efforts were sore arms and neck.

“Momm, maa…”

Mother.

At the child’s babbling, calling for their mother, I kept glancing at Carl. Fortunately, that man hadn’t realized he was the child’s biological father, but I still felt self-conscious.

Should I be glad that I found the child’s father, or not? Ah, I don’t know. I really don’t know.

*

This is also on my reread list!

This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.

Definitely worth a read, y’all!

The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.

But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.

Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.

I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.

The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.

As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.

Intro

As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.

But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…

Do you dare?

Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.

Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.

The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.

Link to read 

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