“So Gellevan is waking up.”
“It’s not certain, but we can’t leave the castle empty.”
“I understand.”
“…Would it be alright for you to go to Paradel?”
He asked once again.
Now he knows why she had tried so hard to run away from Paradel.
So he couldn’t force her anymore.
Louise didn’t answer right away, just staring blankly at the sunlight falling on the table.
She couldn’t say it was completely fine.
There are still many painful memories in Paradel, and Dietrich is there too, so there will certainly be uncomfortable points.
But.
“It’s alright.”
She nodded once with a determined face.
A place she had already revisited once, there was no reason she couldn’t go.
If Giselle comes, it won’t be safe here either…
“When Gellevan wakes up, a harsh winter will come. We’ll definitely need to prepare.”
Louise spoke, picturing Ideana’s winter.
Ideana, with its mild climate, rarely gets snow even in the dead of winter.
Even if it does snow, it only covers lightly and melts quickly.
But when Gellevan wakes up, heavy snow falls.
Louise remembered snow piling up to her ankles from when she was very young.
Though it may be a laughable amount of snowfall for people from cold northern countries, it was a disaster for the people of Ideana who rarely experienced snow.
Frost spreading like vines on windows, white breath rising from trembling lips, icicles hanging like needles from the eaves – all unfamiliar sights in Ideana.
That year, people, animals, and plants froze to death in the unexpected cold.
The roads were so frozen that carriages couldn’t pass, making it difficult to distribute aid supplies.
Literally, a white and silent landscape as if the whole world had frozen.
“We’ll need to prepare a lot of firewood. And tools to clear snow from roofs and roads…”
Louise naturally recalled the preparations a lord would have to make.
Warm clothes and shoes, thick cotton blankets and woolen blankets, ample oil and wood.
Weatherproofing houses is also essential.
“And to catch the dragon, we’ll need a Swordmaster…”
Louise’s gaze unconsciously turned to Sched before quickly looking away.
‘He said he can no longer use Aura…’
What she heard from Carlyle and confirmed in the newspaper article.
The reason he lost the strong power called Aura was because of the heretic… Parmen’s curse.
Whenever the thorns of sin suddenly sprouted, Louise simply couldn’t meet Sched’s eyes.
It felt like it was all her fault.
“Even without Aura, I can do as much as a Swordmaster. Isn’t that when Lupus blood is useful?”
Sched said nonchalantly, noticing her unease.
He had faced off against Swordmasters without hesitation in the war with Blancas.
There were crises, but he ultimately won, so losing Aura was no big deal.
But to Louise, hearing that Lupus blood was useful sounded painful.
As if his blood was only useful for throwing his body into danger.
Sched saw the gloomy light that settled on Louise’s face.
The eyes that had been quite enthusiastic when recalling winter preparations just moments ago now sank as if doused with cold water when the conversation returned to him.
“…You always make that face when talking about anything related to me.”
A low voice crumbled at the corner of his lips.
He knows. The reason she remains here is to protect Eve.
That she’s just forcibly tied here because she can’t let the secret be exposed.
But humans are always foolish, and greed arises again.
He shamelessly wishes for her to walk into his arms of her own accord.
Louise, who hadn’t heard his fleeting wish, fiddled with the hem of her skirt before belatedly opening her mouth.
“Your Excellency… Is your body really alright?”
Sched’s hand, which had been slowly rubbing the armrest, paused.
“What do you mean?”
His sharp eyes narrowed.
A faint blush spread across her pale face.
“I was just worried…”
“What are you worried about? The Aura? Or… the mating season?”
Sched tilted his head indifferently.
At his nonchalant question, heat rose in Louise’s chest.
Well, she had wanted to keep asking about the mating season every time she saw him.
Whether he still had symptoms, if the sedatives worked.
Or… if he had spent nights with other women.
But her question just now was about his health and condition after the curse, not that.
“I’ve already explained about the Aura… so are you curious about the mating season?”
“No. That’s not what I meant…”
She had intended to just bury her questions about the mating season…
Sched let out a faint laugh as he looked at Louise’s reddened face.
It was a laugh that could have been either derision or self-mockery.
“You don’t have to worry about that either.”
Sched reassured her in a flat voice.
He understood her concern about the mating season.
That night of uncontrollable bestial lust had left a great shock on Sched himself.
But fortunately or unfortunately, there were no more mating seasons after that night.
He’s not sure when to pinpoint that moment.
Whether all desire was resolved after the night spent with Louise, or if the heretic’s curse took away the Lupus mating season along with the Aura.
Anyway, there had been no more mating seasons since the night with her.
However.
— Mate imprinting
That one phrase nagged at his mind.
The symptom where a Lupus in heat stabilizes after obtaining a mate.
If they lose their mate, they can even lose the will to live…
Sched gazed blankly at the woman sitting across from him.
‘That can’t be.’
Three conditions were needed for mate imprinting.
First, enter the mating season.
Second, deeply bite and taste the blood of the partner while in heat.
Third, truly love and care for the partner.
But his first mating season itself was only 4 years ago.
Mate imprinting itself was impossible.
However, if, just if what he was worried about was real, if some kind of mate imprinting had occurred without him knowing…
Sched stared intently at Louise, mulling over his long-held doubts.
He wasn’t sure himself.
Sched silently stood up from his seat.
He went to his study desk and opened the top drawer.
He picked up an object from the drawer and approached her.
Louise’s eyes widened as she saw the object in his hand.
A small dagger about a hand span long.
Beautiful silver work adorned the sheath covering the blade.
Louise froze as she saw the pattern engraved in silver.
An unforgettable pattern.
The Ideana family crest with a lemon tree drawn inside a round circle.
The Ideana dagger gleamed in the sunlight on his hand.
“That’s…”
It must be one of the family heirlooms left in the fallen Ideana lands.
It seemed that a family treasure discovered while rebuilding the Ideana territory had fallen into Sched’s hands.
Sched quietly held out the Ideana dagger to Louise.
“If that situation ever comes again…”
If I lose my mind and desire you.
“Then use this dagger to stab me and run away.”
Gentle ripples spread in the lime-colored eyes that met Sched’s.
“But…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t reveal your and the child’s secret to the world just because you ran away like that.”
Sched promised with a bitter smile.
That much was necessary to subdue a beast raging with lust.
No, he wished Louise would do just that.
The beast in heat was just as terrible for him.
“Even if not for me, it would be good to carry one for self-defense since you have a child.”
The beautiful silver-crafted dagger quietly waited for Louise.
The hands clasped on her thighs hesitated.
Stab him? How could she…
But those deep purple eyes gestured to her once more.
For his sake, and for Eve’s sake, that dagger should go to Louise.
Louise couldn’t ignore his gaze that pierced deep into her.
In the end, her white hand, tinged with hesitation, picked up the Ideana dagger.
Her fingertips brushed Sched’s palm as she grasped the dagger.
In that fleeting moment of contact, Sched suddenly thought.
If death were to come, it would be alright to lose his life to that dagger.
[This is the timeline separator]It took a full day to travel from Lecherdam to Paradel.
By the time the Duke’s party reached Paradel, the short autumn sun had already set and darkness had fallen.
But Paradel, which had regained its vitality in recent years, had lights brightly lit on the streets.
The protective barrier surrounding Paradel was still intact, illuminating the sky like an aurora, and even at this late hour, people were bustling about buying and selling goods, chatting, and eating and drinking.
The air in Paradel was more excited than usual.
Straw decorations hung on the doors of every house caught the eye.
Louise recalled an old custom of Ideana.
As a child, before the harvest festival, they used to weave straw into bird-shaped decorations.
It was a straw bird to thank the gods for abundance and ask for blessings for the coming year.
‘For years, I had forgotten such things even existed.’
Feeling a deep nostalgia at the familiar sight, Riana unpacked in a small room at the Duke’s residence in Paradel.
The mansion, which she was returning to after several years, welcomed her with yet another new appearance.
The shabby, desolate look was completely gone, and now it had a classic appearance befitting a noble’s residence.
Due to renovation of the mansion and construction of the exterior and interior, much of the familiar appearance where Louise Ideana had lived was erased.
So it felt like a completely different house, but then traces of the old look would suddenly pop up in unexpected corners.
“Mom, are we living here again?”
Eve asked in a voice mixed with yawns, seemingly tired from the long journey.
“For the time being.”
“For the time being?”
Eve said the phrase “for the time being” was difficult.
Because she couldn’t gauge how long or short a time it meant.
Louise laughed at the child’s words.
The child was right.
She too couldn’t accurately gauge the length of that “time being.”
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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