7.
“What do you wish for?”
Perhaps mentioning the duke had been more effective than anything else. Madame Valmont quickly dropped her shoulders in surrender.
She spoke as ruffians often did, provocatively wiggling her index finger.
“Half of your weekly wage shall be given to me.”
“T-that much…!”
Madame Valmont’s eyes widened as if they might pop out at any moment. Clearly, she considered this an unreasonable demand. Before Madame Valmont’s resentment could grow further, Rosetta swiftly played a card that would be hard to refuse.
“Then I promise to attend every lesson you give for the remaining three days with utmost dedication.”
“……”
“I’ll obediently listen to whatever lesson you provide.”
From her week-long experience, the Valdemar family was indeed immensely wealthy, yet extracting money from them proved quite difficult. The wealth and power belonged to the duke, not to ‘Leah’ herself.
One could request any necessary items from the butler freely. However, not even a single coin was permitted.
Yet this wasn’t the only oddity. Given her status as a duke’s daughter, one would expect drawers overflowing with precious jewels… but whether Leah had stored them separately or the maids had stolen them all while she was unconscious, they were nowhere to be found.
The remaining items were heirloom pieces like tiaras and necklaces—rare artifacts that would cause serious consequences if stolen. In the Eastern regions, one might find a way to sell such things… but Valdemar’s territory lay far in the North, distant from the East, and Rosetta didn’t know a single suitable fence around these parts.
Money was absolutely necessary. Even if she built up her strength and escaped, reaching the Eastern lands would be another challenge entirely. The Duke of Valdemar would surely pursue her with full force, and without money, she wouldn’t last even a single day.
Renting a carriage outright cost 20 sols, and bribes had to be paid to every gatekeeper along the way… totaling roughly 60 sols at minimum. Add in various daily necessities, and the sum would grow even larger.
As for what came after—well, that would sort itself out once she reached the Eastern lands. She had a considerable amount of gold deposited under her name at the maritime bank. Not even Nick, that scoundrel, would dare touch it. Accessing that fortune required a password, and she was the only one who knew it.
Once she retrieved that money, she could ask Calypso to cast a curse to alter her appearance until she was old enough to blend in. She’d have to offer up eighty percent of her accumulated wealth… but still, obtaining a young body to start anew was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
After finishing her calculations, Rosetta tilted her head and asked slyly.
“What will you do? The choice is yours.”
Rosetta inwardly smiled in victory. That poor woman would never refuse anyway. People connected to nobility usually valued their reputation above all. As Rosetta predicted, Madame Valmont groaned with a complicated expression, then reluctantly agreed.
“…Alright then.”
“Good.”
“But if the young lady’s demeanor and etiquette do not meet my expected standard, I cannot give you the money. Do you agree?”
“I do.”
Rosetta readily agreed, but belatedly felt a chill run down her spine. When had she last felt this sensation? It was exactly like the time Kirgos, drunk, had promised his subordinates to grant any request they made…
“At 180 sols per week, half would be 90 sols for the young lady.”
The ominous premonition melted away like snow before money. Good heavens! 90 sols meant she’d earn 30 sols more than expected? True to her pirate nature, disregarding consequences, she replied.
“Fine! I promise full cooperation with anything.”
“Then I humbly ask you, swear upon the young lady’s honor.”
Honor? It seemed like a trivial matter. Rosetta readily nodded.
“I swear upon the honor of the Crimson Dawn—no, the Valdemar duke’s daughter.”
“Very well. You must be properly prepared.”
Until just moments ago, Madame Valmont’s gaze had been as gentle as a grazing herbivore, but now it flashed sharply, like a lion before its prey. It was a piercing stare that even Rosetta, who had lived as a pirate for decades, flinched from. She instinctively shrank back. Her instincts screamed.
Run.
* * *
“Again!”
At Madame Valmont’s shout, Rosetta forced her trembling arms and legs to move. Sweat poured down her back like rain, and her slender waist, tightly constricted, ached as if it might snap at any moment. Her lips, mercilessly pressed by the writing quill for pronunciation training, stung painfully.
Most heartbreaking of all was the fact that she had brought all this upon herself.
“Pay attention to the position of your knees and legs! Bow your head once more, gracefully—elegant-ly!”
The moment she hesitated, Madame Valmont’s sharp critique came flying. Before, she had refrained from being overly harsh due to Rosetta’s noble status, even when Rosetta was negligent. But now, Madame Valmont was like a mackerel shark encountering brine.
Rosetta bit down savagely on her lips. The fragile quill cracked between her teeth, sending tiny fragments across her tongue.
“Your eyes are too fierce! You mustn’t chew the quill like that! You must smile elegantly!”
How exactly was one supposed to smile elegantly while biting a quill…? Rosetta forced her fierce gaze to soften. If she gave even the slightest excuse, she might have to go back and perform fifty more bows. She had seemed frail at first, but in truth, she was a truly vicious woman.
After slowly scanning the thoroughly drenched Rosetta, Madame Valmont finally nodded.
“Good. You may stop the bowing now.”
Finally. Rosetta spat out the broken quill and tossed it aside. Madame Valmont allowed her only enough time to drink a single cup of water before suddenly asking.
“What kinds of gifts are acceptable to receive from a gentleman?”
This was easy. It was a question straight from the first page of the etiquette manual Madame Valmont had assigned as homework. Rosetta answered confidently.
“Only relatively modest and dignified gifts worth under 50 sols—such as a fan, a letter filled with affection, a handkerchief, a lace-trimmed parasol, or a bottle of perfume.”
“And in return?”
“One smile, and a promise to dance at the next ball.”
“What forms of physical contact are permitted?”
“A kiss upon the back of the hand, and a light embrace.”
A faint, satisfied smile flickered across Madame Valmont’s lips. But immediately, she tightened her jaw with stern expression.
“What kinds of food may a lady eat at a banquet?”
“That’s….”
Rosetta bit her lip. Damn it. Foods a lady could eat at a banquet? These blasted etiquette manuals seemed endless no matter how much she read. It was probably written somewhere in that 200-page tome, but she couldn’t recall at all.
As Rosetta struggled, Madame Valmont smiled gently.
“Go read it again.”
* * *
The three days of her contract with Madame Valmont were, without a doubt, the most dreadful period of Rosetta’s life. She revised her assessment of Madame Valmont—she was even more vicious than the women in Kirgos’s prison.
Nevertheless, thanks to that intense training, her etiquette improved to a level that was ‘plausible at first glance.’ At the very least, she no longer stabbed her teeth with a knife, scratched her head with a fork, or shattered teacups at banquets.
As a result, the infamous reputation of the ‘mad duchess of Valdemar’ gradually faded, and marriage proposals poured in like waves. This was also proof of just how valuable the mines the duke had offered as dowry truly were. In any case, the Duke of Valdemar was immensely pleased to discover his daughter was still a reasonably acceptable bride.
Dozens of lavish dresses, velvet shoes, and lace-trimmed fan cases flooded into Rosetta’s room daily. Even Rosetta, long immune to extravagant spending, was stunned—every single item was of the highest quality.
Behold, this overwhelming wealth!
Rosetta forgot her circumstances and grew delighted. Pirates, by nature, were weak for shiny things. At this point, revenge and everything else seemed distant—perhaps starting anew as a true duchess wasn’t such a bad idea.
With a contented smile, she casually shoved a large sapphire necklace deep between her cleavage. This single piece alone would equal one-fiftieth of the Crimson Dawn’s maritime income for the first half of the year.
“Ahem, huff…”
Anna, who had been arranging her hair, awkwardly coughed and shielded her with her body. Rosetta narrowed her eyes and interrogated Anna.
“…Did you see?”
Anna’s face turned deathly pale. The murderous glare seemed to say, If you did, you’ll be silenced as a witness. Just as Rosetta was about to press her again, the duchess entered the room.
“Oh, my dear.”
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.]
