A Fallen Holy Knight Is Obsessed With Me (12 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
Lion stretched his hand past the armrest of his chair toward the side table, veins bulging in his neck. Fumbling inside the drawer, he hastily pulled out a cigar.
Then, with hurried motions, he snipped the end and placed it between his lips.
Hiss.
Striking a match, he lit the tip of the cigar and took a deep drag. The violet irises reflected in the matchlight were as dark as the depths of a cavern.
Kasha felt guilt tightening around her heart.
She was undoubtedly responsible for this man’s misfortune.
‘I will uncover the mastermind behind all of this. Once I do, you’ll be free from that suffering.’
Suuup.
As he drew in a deep breath of smoke, the sound of the cigar’s tip slowly burning away crackled faintly.
Seemingly eased, if only slightly, by the smoke filling his lungs, he blinked lazily.
That decadent gesture—so utterly at odds with his title of Holy Knight—fit him perfectly.
Exhaling a long stream of smoke, Lion rubbed his forehead and continued.
“If you went to my father’s political rival and merely hinted at his vulnerabilities, you could have anything you desired. Yet, you came to me. What exactly do you want from me, Kasha Lyuschno?”
Amid the heavy aroma of cigar smoke permeating the study, Kasha opened her mouth.
“You.”
“…?”
Cigar still between his lips, Lion tilted his head. His damp platinum hair fell over his forehead.
“What did you just say?”
“I want you, Lion Miloyonif Aranias.”
His smooth brow furrowed.
“What nonsense is this?”
“I want… to enter into a contract relationship with you.”
“A contract… relationship?”
He exhaled a puff of smoke, as though amused by such an absurd suggestion.
Watching that strangely alluring expression, Kasha replied calmly.
“Exactly as it sounds—a relationship formed by mutual need… through a contract.”
“Mutual need.”
“I can… help you break free from the curse.”
“How?”
“There must be… a medium of the curse around you. We just need to find it.”
“Ah. You said the same thing at the ball. But is it really that simple?”
“I have… a way.”
“…Then what do you gain in return?”
“I… urgently need someone to play the role of my lover. Someone who can act as a shield… preventing others from approaching me. Someone strong, powerful…”
Kasha locked eyes firmly with Lion.
“Someone so undeniably, irresistibly attractive… that no one could possibly question why they’d be drawn to him.”
Ha.
Lion let out a dry chuckle, then took another deep drag from his cigar, staring into Kasha’s earnest eyes.
“Who is this ‘someone’ you’re referring to?”
“…….”
“The person you want to keep away—the one who threatens you so gravely that you need a dangerous shield like me. Who is it?”
Kasha blinked.
“…You’ll find out… in due time.”
Lion gave a faint, mocking smile.
“You’re far too secretive for someone proposing a deal.”
Kasha quickly added,
“This arrangement won’t harm you in any way, either.”
“Why not?”
Lion asked, exhaling another stream of smoke.
Kasha hesitated briefly.
Objectively speaking, he—the Empire’s most eligible bachelor—could never realistically be matched with someone like her, Kasha Lyuschno.
‘But if things continue like this, you’ll soon…’
After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke again.
“Lord Lion… are you planning to marry Princess Odette?”
Taken aback by the unexpected question, he removed the cigar from his mouth.
“…What on earth are you talking about now?”
“Grand Duke Oscillote is surely already negotiating… a marriage alliance with House Tyroite.”
Lion’s handsome brow narrowed further.
“…I’d like to know how you’re aware of a betrothal I myself know nothing about.”
Well, because I heard it directly from you.
Kasha lowered her gaze.
Before her return, in the ruins of the temple, he’d briefly mentioned his disastrous marriage—so briefly, as if even remembering it pained him—but what little he’d shared had been horrifying and cruel.
She’d already disliked Odette before, but after hearing Lion’s story, her hatred for the woman had grown fiercely, uncontrollably.
‘You really do keep getting entangled with utterly vile women.’
With bitter self-mockery, Kasha replied,
“You… surely aren’t completely oblivious to it, Lord Lion.”
Caught off guard by her unexpected accusation, Lion hesitated.
Truthfully, since turning nineteen, his father had persistently pushed for his marriage. At twenty-four, it wasn’t an unreasonable age, and his father had indeed mentioned House Tyroite to him several times recently.
House Tyroite truly was an impeccable choice. Considering his father’s current position within the Imperial Court, his urgency made perfect sense.
‘But Princess Tyroite…’
Lion took another deep drag from his cigar.
He remembered it well—the ball at House Tyroite, which he’d attended reluctantly due to his father’s incessant pressure.
That was where he’d first met this woman, Kasha.
He also remembered the confrontation between Princess Odette and her. And furthermore…
‘A woman with an absolutely revolting stench.’
Like most people gathered there, but Odette had been especially unbearable.
After speaking with Kasha, his symptoms had worsened so severely that he’d tried to leave the hall in a hurry—only for the princess to approach him with a radiant smile.
Her eager gesture, trying to hold him back.
But the overpowering stench emanating from her had intensified his nausea so much that he’d fled the scene immediately, unable to endure it any longer.
The ghastly reek of an open sewer.
He clearly remembered the princess’s blue eyes flashing with humiliation and fury the moment he hastily bade her farewell—her haughty, twisted expression radiating an unsettling, ominous feeling.
As if pulling him back from his thoughts, Kasha spoke.
“If the princess isn’t particularly to your liking… a contract relationship with me might… delay that betrothal.”
“…….”
“If, at any time, a lady you truly favor appears… the contract can be terminated. Of course, through our agreed-upon procedures.”
Lion quietly reconsidered her proposal.
So, in exchange for lifting the lust curse upon him, she wanted him to become her fake lover.
Finally raising his head from his deep contemplation, he said,
“Is that truly all? It feels unbalanced, like a scale with unequal weights.”
Anyone would see it as an unfairly skewed deal—lifting a curse that threatened both his life and his house’s future, in exchange merely for pretending to be her lover.
As if waiting for this moment, Kasha spoke again.
“There is… one more thing I want.”
“What is it?”
“I’m currently researching… how to power a magical artifact using holy energy. I’d like you to assist me with that research.”
Huuuh.
He exhaled smoke as he listened to her.
In the thick haze, Kasha began to feel a slight sting in her throat.
Cough.
She couldn’t suppress a small cough.
Hearing it, Lion stared at her blankly for a moment—then suddenly stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray.
With a wry, self-deprecating twist of his lips, he murmured,
“I simply can’t understand you. What are you thinking?”
“……..”
“But tell me—will you really be alright with this?”
“With what, exactly?”
He suddenly let out a deep sigh, then slowly rose from his seat.
Kasha instinctively stood up as well.
He blinked slowly toward her.
Then, with that dark, heavy gaze, he slowly swept his eyes over her body.
From head to toe.
Kasha felt his eyes lingering on her exposed earlobes, her pointed chin, the swell of her chest above the round neckline, her slender arms, and the hidden curves beneath her dress.
Though she felt like a gazelle before a lion, she felt no fear.
She already knew.
No matter how extreme the circumstances, he would never force himself upon her.
Even in that desolate ruin—at the world’s end, with no one else around—he had refused to succumb to the curse.
A foolishly, stubbornly upright man who simply didn’t know how to act selfishly.
Amused by her bold gaze, Lion looked down at her, then slowly opened his mouth.
“You’re saying you want to become the lover of a man cursed with lust. Do you even understand what that means?”
Kasha fell silent.
He was asking whether she truly dared walk willingly into the lion’s maw.
His threatening stare felt suffocating.
After a brief hesitation, she steeled her resolve.
“That’s… one of the reasons you need this contract.”
“…What do you mean?”
“No desire… can be resolved by mere suppression.”
“So?”
“Like this.”
Without warning, Kasha suddenly reached out and grasped Lion’s hand.
It was as bold and unhesitating as at the ball.
Startled, Lion tried to pull away—but Kasha held on tightly.
“I’ll… endure your curse with you.”
Lion’s eyes flared, as if ready to burst with anger.
He seemed poised to coldly rebuke her audacity and wrench his hand away immediately.
Yet, ever so gradually, the intensity in his eyes began to fade.
His tightly sealed lips and clenched jaw—refusing to admit anything—trembled with inner turmoil.
This strong, noble man, as if sculpted by divine hands, was crumbling within her grasp.
He looked like a beast ensnared in a trap,
held fast by wrists so slender they seemed as if they might snap at a mere touch, utterly at a loss.
Watching his transformation, Kasha whispered,
“I know… you’ve been lonely.”
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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It’s cute that he is taking care of her, also confused what to do next.
The father is very disappointing. I wondered if he had married his wife out of obligation, as she was a saintess, and now that she is gone, he is going down a spiral.
This chapter was just frustrating, only enemies trying to scheme against our couple