Before I could recover from the shock of him throwing what seemed to be a stone inkstone at me, a fierce roar erupted.
“How dare you let such a good-for-nothing associate with my daughter!”
I quickly bowed my head low and refuted.
“That child does resemble Sun An. However, that child is not Sun An’s, Your Majesty.”
“The Sun family has already acknowledged it. Yet you still say it’s not!”
As expected, the Sun family has made their move!
No, at this point, they’re not just on bad terms, but pushing him to his death? Are Sun An’s parents powerless?
The Sun family is suspicious. Extremely suspicious.
However… I couldn’t tell the Emperor such things in a situation with no evidence yet.
Almost all the information I knew was from what I had heard or seen before my regression.
Even the assassin incident that happened in this timeline was only briefly mentioned by Sun An, with no concrete evidence.
In this situation, I couldn’t even open my mouth about the Sun family yet. Instead, I quickly bowed my head and said.
“Your Majesty. Sun An is a chaste friend who always disapproved whenever I pretended to be licentious. He has never even touched a woman’s fingertip, so how could there be a pregnancy?”
“Who knows about that. Who knows what he does when the foreign envoy isn’t around!”
“Sun An and I are almost always together, Your Majesty. That uptight friend didn’t even have time to meet other women without me knowing. But as Your Majesty said, this is just my own thoughts, so I’ll set it aside. However, it’s strange that the woman’s claims and actions don’t match.”
I paused and glanced at the Emperor.
Fortunately, the Emperor seemed willing to listen at least, gesturing for me to continue.
Blood kept flowing from my forehead, pooling in my eyelashes, but I couldn’t wipe it away, so I just lowered my eyes and continued speaking.
“That woman said she brought the child hoping Sun An would raise it even as an illegitimate child. But if that were the case, she should have talked to Sun An first. She would know that Sun An’s life would be in danger if such a thing happened while marriage talks were ongoing with the Princess. However, that woman didn’t meet Sun An from the start, and made her appearance as ostentatious as possible when she came. Sun An asked to speak with the woman, but she refuses to even see him, saying she’ll weaken if she sees Sun An. Your Majesty, if that woman came seeking revenge against Sun An with a grudge, her current actions would be appropriate. But now, her words don’t add up.”
I felt nauseous, as if I had hit my head wrong.
My vision kept turning red from the blood pooled in my eyelashes and flowing down the side of my eye, and my head was so dizzy that the floor seemed to be spinning in circles.
But I couldn’t just slip away with an “I didn’t know” after involving Sun An in the Ninth Princess’s affair.
How long was I like that? A cold voice settled over my head.
“As you say, that woman might be saying she wants the child raised, but in reality came for revenge! Isn’t that so?”
My heart sank, but I tried my best not to waver as I cried out.
“Please give me a chance to prove my friend’s innocence, Your Majesty. I’m certain someone envied Sun An for gaining the honor of marrying the Ninth Princess and plotted this. There must be someone behind this, trying to take advantage by using a poor woman driven into a corner.”
“Anyone can say such things.”
“I will stake my life to prove his innocence. If I cannot uncover the truth, this is all due to my judgment, so please punish me!”
I stayed in that position with my head bowed, waiting for the Emperor to say anything.
How long was I like that? My mind was starting to get a bit hazy, and I couldn’t tell if I was about to faint or fall asleep.
“Very well.”
Words that jolted me awake rang out above my head.
I was startled and quickly raised my head, but my vision truly spun and I momentarily lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes, unexpectedly, an Emperor who looked exactly like the Thirteenth Prince was right in front of me, and I was leaning on the Emperor’s arm. What is this uncomfortable close proximity!
“!”
I hurriedly pulled away to distance myself from the Emperor and bowed my head. Then I slightly raised my head to see the Emperor sighing as he stood up.
Judging by the position, it seemed the Emperor had personally come down from the throne to catch me when I collapsed.
So this is what they mean by giving medicine after causing illness.
But since the Emperor personally supported me, I thought I should at least pretend to be grateful, so I acted as remorseful as possible.
Perhaps that was effective. The Emperor, who had been staring at me intently, finally gave me a chance.
“I’ll give you an opportunity. Prove that your words are true!”
“Yes, yes! Your Majesty!”
[This is the timeline separator]“What do you think?”
After Yo Yohwa left, the Emperor gestured to bring the fallen inkstone while asking.
Song Taegam, who had been standing in a corner like a dead mouse, quickly picked up the inkstone and said as he brought it over.
“How would this lowly one know? When I hear Your Majesty’s words, Your Majesty seems right, and when I hear Lord Yo’s words, his words also seem plausible. I’m swayed back and forth without a firm stance like this.”
Song Taegam thoroughly wiped the blood off the inkstone before placing it on the Emperor’s desk.
The Emperor looked down with indifferent eyes at the parts where the blood had already dried and wasn’t wiping off well.
Song Taegam keenly observed the Emperor.
In fact, Song Taegam had deliberately not unconditionally agreed with the Emperor just now, but slightly defended Yo Yohwa. Just enough to quickly retract if the Emperor got angry.
It was to judge how angry the Emperor was at Yo Yohwa.
However, the Emperor said nothing about that part and was just looking at the inkstone. His anger must have subsided considerably compared to when he threw the inkstone.
Well. That’s why he suddenly rushed to support Yo Yohwa when she collapsed.
‘Is he taking care of her as a future daughter-in-law?’
Song Taegam thought dubiously, but thinking he wouldn’t have thrown the inkstone if that were the case, he erased that possibility.
Then Song Taegam noticed the Emperor’s lips curling up slightly.
Why is he smiling? Is there something to smile about?
As he was observing the Emperor curiously, unexpectedly, the Emperor said something strange.
“Yo Yohwa had a younger sister, didn’t she.”
“Pardon? Yes, Your Majesty.”
Why suddenly ask about a sister? Song Taegam looked at the Emperor in bewilderment.
Then the Emperor asked another strange question.
“You visited the Yo family not long ago. I heard she has a sister not much younger. Did the sister resemble Yo Yohwa?”
The eunuch replied in confusion.
“I believe there’s a one-year age difference. But I didn’t see the young lady of that house, Your Majesty.”
“Is that so.”
The Emperor spoke as if disappointed and then sat back in his chair.
“It would be nice if she resembled Yo Yohwa.”
At the subtle remark, a chill ran down the eunuch’s spine. What does he mean…?
[This is the timeline separator]“How dare they match such a man with a princess!”
Despite the chilly late autumn weather, the Empress was fanning herself to suppress the heat of anger.
Go Sanggung, the Empress’s close aide, tried to comfort her while slowly fanning her.
“Please don’t worry too much, Your Majesty. It’s still before the marriage. Besides, this is clearly Sun An’s fault, so if he’s severely punished, there will be no damage to the Princess’s reputation.”
“Isn’t it outrageous! After how well I treated him. How dare he cause trouble like this?”
“Yo Yohwa probably didn’t know either. There’s nothing good for Yo Yohwa if Sun An did such a thing, so why would he have known and done it?”
“Hmph. That’s true.”
The Empress also rationally knew that Yo Yohwa hadn’t deliberately introduced such a friend.
Since the Emperor had sternly warned Yo Yohwa, Yo Yohwa must have found a suitable friend to escape the crisis in his own way.
Moreover, that friend was truly a fine young man, so the Ninth Princess immediately changed her mind upon seeing Sun An and said she would marry him.
The Empress knew the Ninth Princess had an unusual temperament, but to think she would be like this even with such an important matter as marriage, she hurried to arrange the engagement.
The Empress also separately investigated this Sun An and quite liked him. But who would have thought he would cause trouble like this.
“But it’s a shame. If the Thirteenth Prince and Yo Yohwa were married now, we could have completely eliminated the Thirteenth Prince using this incident.”
“Haha, since the Thirteenth Prince is younger than our Ninth Princess, he’ll probably have his wedding later. There’s no chance of that happening.”
Go Sanggung deliberately spoke brightly in a joking tone.
The Empress finally snorted.
Then, as the eunuch she had sent to learn about the Emperor and Sun An’s conversation entered, the Empress signaled that she no longer needed fanning and gestured.
“So. What did His Majesty do to Yo Yohwa?”
“Foreign Envoy Yo said there seems to be a group trying to prevent the marriage between the Ninth Princess and Young Master Sun An, and asked for a chance to prove it’s a false accusation.”
The Empress frowned.
“And His Majesty? Did he listen to those words?”
“Yes. Song Gonggong hinted that when Foreign Envoy Yo volunteered to take punishment in his friend’s place if he couldn’t clear his name, His Majesty was quite moved.”
The Empress rested her chin on the table and snorted.
Since Yo Yohwa hadn’t married the Thirteenth Prince yet, they couldn’t harm the Thirteenth Prince with this incident.
So while the Empress was angry, it would be better if Yo Yohwa resolved this well.
That way, the Ninth Princess wouldn’t become a laughingstock and could safely get engaged, and they could use Yo Yohwa’s male disguise to completely drive the Thirteenth Prince from the position of heir.
“He has a sense of responsibility, I see.”
[This is the timeline separator]The place where the Emperor hit me hurts too much. I don’t think I can possibly teach today.
But if I just leave like this, I don’t know how the Thirteenth Prince will react, so I decided to at least show my face to my student to prove how injured I am before going home.
But because my head was dizzy, the path to Wolmugung felt even longer than usual.
Still, when I finally arrived at Wolmugung and entered the study where my student was, I couldn’t help but sigh.
My student was reading a book as before, but lowered it when I entered.
“I pay my respects to the Thirteenth Prince.”
Then my student saw me and, forgetting his usual languid movements, came right up to me in the blink of an eye and touched near my injured forehead.
As I swayed at his touch due to the lack of strength in my head, my student let go of my forehead and asked.
“You were hit by an inkstone. Who did this?”
Your father.
“His Majesty was a bit angry. He threw it to the side in a fit of anger, but I ended up getting hit.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say the Emperor had thrown it directly at me, so I glossed over it a bit.
However, my student, true to being the unfilial son who deposed his father with his own hands and imprisoned him underground before my regression, immediately had a chilling expression and said.
“That man again!”
The Emperor’s inkstone throwing must be habitual.
“And you just let yourself get hit?”
…Then what? Should I throw it back?
__________
My Clingy Little Husband (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
Introduction:
One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.
One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.
As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.
From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.
But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.
Mini scene 1:
One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.
Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”
Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”
Mini scene 2:
After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.
Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”
Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.
[Reading Guide]
1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.