“Are you okay?”
Jaeho asked.
“Wow, I was so nervous thinking Yoon Dajeong might faint.”
He let out a sigh, taking a deep breath.
As if he had been focusing all his attention on confronting the fire, her heart pounded. The man’s emotions didn’t seem fake at all.
“Phew.”
The relaxed atmosphere softened their hearts.
“You did well. Thanks for overcoming it. But if it’s still scary, let me know.”
“It’s not as bad as I thought.”
Nodding, he suddenly got up and disappeared into a corner of the yard. A while later, he returned holding something in both hands. It was pinecones.
He tossed a few well-dried pinecones into the fire.
“This way, the fire will smell like pine.”
“Oh.”
“To distance yourself from fear.”
Jaeho squeezed some pinecones into Dajeong’s palm.
“Try throwing them. If you can.”
“…”
“Don’t force yourself.”
She wanted to try. Dajeong nodded quite determinedly. However, it took great courage to reach directly into the fire. Clutching her hand until it was sweaty, she finally threw the first pinecone, which couldn’t enter the fire and fell to the ground.
“Oh.”
“It’s okay. There are plenty.”
After some time passed, Dajeong threw again, and this time she succeeded. What a thrill, she genuinely laughed.
“You did well, Yoon Dajeong. You’re braver than I thought.”
“It was scary.”
“But still, you’re better than me. I also had a fear of fire, just like you, Yoon Dajeong.”
Tuk, tuk.
The man started talking calmly, throwing pinecones. Dajeong’s eyes widened a bit.
“When I was young, there was an accident. Fortunately, I managed to avoid it, but it left me with trauma. Fire… was really scary. But eventually, I overcame it. Like this.”
“An accident? Fire? There was a fire? When? You weren’t hurt?”
Surprised, Dajeong bombarded him with questions. Jaeho awkwardly smiled.
“Just… a memory I want to let lie.”
“Ah… I’m sorry. My mistake. I won’t ask.”
She knew how much it hurt to stir up old wounds. Dajeong closed her mouth.
“Okay.”
Jaeho tossed a few more pieces of firewood. The man, reflected in the flickering shadows of the fire, looked somewhat lonely. He quietly spoke again.
“I’m quite an unlucky person, Yoon Dajeong.”
“…”
“It might look like I’m quite lucky from a distance, but it’s only on the surface. Still, now that I have Yoon Dajeong, life has become quite decent.”
Each word pierced her heart.
“So, stay by my side. I live just because of Yoon Dajeong. I became an actor to meet Yoon Dajeong.”
She understood that it was just a metaphor.
In any case, now that he has become a celebrity, he can plan such diversions.
Could it be that he really became a celebrity to meet me? It’s neither believable nor trustworthy, just a joke that shouldn’t be trusted, but it scratched somewhere in her heart.
So Dajeong also mustered courage because the trapped flames were unusually beautiful.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a campfire. Experiencing this first… being with Mr. Lee Jaeho makes it nice. I won’t forget today. I’ll remember it for a very long time.”
“We have many days ahead of us. There will be countless camping trips in the future. So, there’s no need to remember just today.”
“Still, because it’s the first time, I want to remember.”
The man smiled.
Dajeong, as if possessed, opened her mouth.
“What kind of relationship are we in?”
The man slightly raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, seeming to try to understand the intention behind the question.
“What will happen between us in the future? What kind of relationship will we have…”
As she spoke, Dajeong felt her words become too abstract, and she hesitated unnecessarily at the end of her sentence. It seemed foolish to keep asking questions that kept flipping him without being able to ask directly.
“No, let’s just pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Dajeong laughed, clapping her hands.
The man’s gaze, revisiting the question, intensified. How should he answer to let go of farewell? If he declared marriage, it would look burdensome, and he would suffocate with an expression that seemed to say it would be too much.
Now that the journey is coming to an end, pushing forcefully was not a good method. Jaeho was afraid of hitting Dajeong with a restraining rope.
For now, it was important for them to gradually blend into each other without any worries.
The man who threw all the pinecones into the fire shook off his hands and straightened his back. With a serious look, he slowly opened his mouth.
“We’re not anything.”
Dajeong’s expression clouded at his words. The temperature of the autumn night dropped suddenly.
The passing wind was chilly, cooling her heart, even though she was in front of the fire.
“We won’t make any promises.”
Dajeong shook off his chilling hand. It felt like tears might come, so she blinked her eyes several times.
“Just being together. No need to be bound by obligations. Let’s think of it simply.”
The man, with flickering flames reflected in his eyes, grinned while looking at Dajeong.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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