A Shadow Cast in Paradise (23 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 2
The knights waiting for the duke, who had departed for the forest, were left speechless.
It was because of the woman dangling from Shade Lester’s shoulder like a slain deer—brought back after he’d gone hunting at the sound of beastly cries.
“My lord! Just who in the world is that woman…?!”
“…Hunting prey.”
“What? A—a person?!”
If anyone else had said it, it might have sounded like a joke—but because it came from Shade Lester, the knights couldn’t dismiss it as mere jest.
Whether or not he noticed their bewilderment, Shade Lester placed the woman he’d hunted down in the forest onto the cart.
The small woman, dressed in bloodstained clothes, trembled, curled tightly into herself.
Seeing this, the knights thought to themselves:
‘At least he didn’t kill his prey.’
That was a relief.
Yet that didn’t necessarily mean this situation was fortunate for her.
The stains of fresh blood on her clothing were starkly vivid…
“Duke Lester! Don’t tell me—you actually shot a real person while hunting?!”
A knight’s eyes bulged as he spotted the woman’s calf.
He’d wondered where the blood soaking her clothes had come from—but now it was clear it was coming from her leg.
Though her wound was obscured by gore, it was evident the bleeding hadn’t stopped yet.
“No matter how recently you returned from the battlefield, this is just…”
“Sir Hedric.”
At Shade’s sharp glance, the knight immediately snapped his mouth shut.
He didn’t know what had happened, but clearly his lord was in a foul mood.
“Medicine.”
Shade issued the brief command.
Knight Hedric immediately dashed off to fetch some.
While the knight was gone, Shade turned his eyes back toward Liana.
As he crouched down and reached for her injured leg, her small frame flinched and scrambled backward.
It was almost laughable—trying to flee when there was nowhere to run.
“You’d do well to stay still.”
Shade ruthlessly seized her frightened leg.
Without the slightest regard for her modesty, he ripped off her long tights that covered her knee and pulled them off in one motion.
“Ugh…”
The cloth covering her wound tore away, and she grimaced.
Deep fang marks from a beast were gouged into her calf.
“…Luise.”
“Liana.”
When he spoke her name, she corrected him.
“Liana Serpens…”
She gripped the hem of her dirty maid’s dress tightly with tiny fists, her face trembling with fear.
Stubborn terror gleamed in her green eyes.
“…Fine. It makes no difference what name you go by anyway.”
Shade tore the hem of his white shirt and twisted it into a strip.
As he firmly tied the cloth above her bloodied knee, Liana instinctively jerked her body backward in resistance.
“It’s alright…”
Liana shook her head, trying to pull away from his hands.
She didn’t want him treating her—or rather, more accurately, she didn’t want any entanglement with him. He was a remnant of the past she’d barely escaped.
She’d rather be chased by hunting hounds.
Then, beneath his long lashes, his violet eyes lifted and fixed upon her.
Just the meeting of their gazes made her heart sink.
“…Right. You look fine enough. With proper care, maybe we can avoid amputating your leg.”
His flat tone made it impossible for Liana to tell whether he was mocking her or not.
Shade rose indifferently and took the water canteen hanging from the side of the cart.
Then, once again, his large hand grasped her ankle.
“Bear it.”
After that short warning, clean water poured over her wound.
The pain was so intense it stole her breath—Liana curled in on herself and bit down hard on her lip.
“Ugh…!”
As the water seeped into the wound, the agony doubled.
Liana squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed a small whimper through clenched teeth.
Now that the blood was washed away, the beast’s deep fang marks stood out even more starkly against her pale calf.
Perhaps she should be grateful the flesh hadn’t been torn away entirely?
It was the kind of wound that would make even a trained knight cry out in pain—but Liana didn’t utter a single scream.
Shade stopped pouring water and stared at her again.
Blood was seeping from her lip, bitten raw in her effort to endure the pain.
“…Still biting your lip, I see.”
His low voice sent her heart plummeting.
He remembered a habit she herself hadn’t even realized she still had.
“You should break that habit—unless you expect me to treat your lips every time as well.”
There was an odd hint of annoyance in the tone of his voice.
Just then, Hedric returned, carrying a box of medical supplies.
“I’ve brought it, my lord. Shall I handle the treatment…?”
“I’ll do it myself.”
When Shade held out his hand, Hedric hesitated for a moment before obediently handing over the kit.
It was a box filled with medicine and bandages prepared for their long journey.
Shade dismissed the knight and knelt on one knee.
Then he pulled Liana’s injured leg onto his own knee.
Because her wound hadn’t yet stopped bleeding, his trousers became stained with blood.
Unbothered, Shade began applying ointment to the torn flesh.
The instant his ointment-slicked fingertips touched her leg, Liana’s body jerked violently in reflex.
“Ugh…!”
“I told you not to bite your lip.”
He frowned as he saw her once again biting down on her lip out of habit.
Liana hated that he’d caught her in this unconscious habit of hers.
But she hated even more the thought of sounding like she was whining in pain in front of him.
She tried to endure the pain without biting her lip—but every brush of his fingers against her leg threatened to force a pained moan from her throat.
Each time she suppressed a whimper, her trembling lips curled inward tightly.
Then, long fingers gently brushed against her blood-reddened lips.
Contrary to his blunt, cold manner of speaking, his touch was careful as it grazed her sensitive skin.
“Huh…”
A hot breath escaped through her parted lips.
Startled by the sound she herself had made, Liana hastily turned her head away, avoiding his touch on her lips.
His hand, suspended briefly in midair, then dropped downward.
As if nothing had happened at all.
Liana pressed the back of her hand firmly against her lips where his fingers had just been.
Meanwhile, Shade finished the treatment and skillfully wrapped her leg in bandages.
His touch left her confused.
Even as she chewed on hatred, her heart ached at his gentle hands.
“Enough….”
Liana uttered in a trembling voice—and Shade’s hands, tying the bandage, stilled.
Seizing the moment, Liana pushed herself up from where she’d been sitting on the cart.
“Then I’ll be off now.”
As she turned to flee, a cold voice stopped her.
“You must pay the price for being saved.”
Her limping steps halted as if caught by the jaw.
He’d saved her from the hunting hounds and even treated her wounds.
Naturally, showing gratitude would be proper etiquette.
“…Thank you. Truly.”
She fished out a crumpled banknote from her pocket and offered it to Shade.
She wanted to sever all ties with him—even if it meant paying him off.
Shade scoffed at the wrinkled note she held out.
“Just three dellars?”
He stood up and looked down at her.
He was so tall—taller even than she remembered—that his very presence felt oppressive.
“What exactly do you think you can settle with that kind of money?”
He sneered at her offering, an amount not even worth a single meal for him.
He was a grand noble of the empire, owner of a vast territory.
Liana’s face flushed with shame.
Three dellars was all she had left in the world.
Helplessly, she realized she had no means to repay Shade Lester.
“But…”
“Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t take payment.”
He cut off Liana’s attempt to explain and tossed the remaining bandage carelessly into the medical box.
“I intend to collect it properly.”
He wasn’t the sort of man to treat someone without a plan.
[This is the timeline separator]Shade pulled a locket pendant from inside his jacket.
Click—he opened it, revealing an old, folded scrap of newspaper inside.
Years had passed, and the ink had flaked away in patches.
Though the letters were faded, he could still read the headline he’d stared at countless times until it was worn thin:
— The Annihilation of House Ideana: Executed for Heresy!
Beneath the bold headline was a woodcut portrait of the Ideana family.
In the center was a young girl with an impassive expression, staring straight ahead.
Beneath her portrait, in tiny print, was a name:
— Luise Ideana
‘Just as I thought… she doesn’t resemble her at all.’
Ever since the newspaper article had come out years ago, he’d thought the woodcut crude and poorly made.
The corners of his dry lips lifted faintly.
Click—the locket snapped shut under his fingertips.
Among things known as truth, falsehoods are sometimes mixed in.
Shade had believed that falsehood for a very long time.
[This is the timeline separator]Luise Ideana—or rather, Liana—was loaded onto the cart like baggage.
Because the cart’s canopy was fully drawn, she couldn’t see outside.
All she knew was the ceaseless, jolting vibration of the wheels rolling onward.
Liana huddled her small frame and clutched her collar with trembling hands.
‘…Why did it have to be him, of all people, there?’
She’d always been uneasy about how close it was to the Lester dukedom.
That was why she’d planned to leave as soon as she found what she was looking for.
But fate, as if mocking her efforts, dragged her straight before him and offered her up like a sacrifice.
Liana wrapped her arms tightly around herself, curling inward.
Just then, the carriage stopped.
“Come out.”
As the canopy at the entrance was pulled aside, a large silhouette backlit by sunlight appeared.
Within that shadow, violet eyes gleamed as they watched her.
Behind him stood a familiar mansion.
The estate of Baron Godwin.
The very mansion of the former head librarian of the Dunames Library—the largest cathedral library in the world—and the reality from which she’d been cast out.
‘We’ve come to the baron’s estate…?’
Just as strange relief, eerie suspicion, and inexplicable anxiety overwhelmed her, Liana’s body suddenly floated upward.
Her worn-out shoe, only half on, slipped off and dropped to the ground.
“P-put me down…!”
Liana dangled helplessly over Shade’s shoulder.
“You can hardly walk in with that leg, can you?”
“I can walk…!”
But Shade ignored her protests and strode forward.
Carrying her over his shoulder like a sack of grain, he headed straight for the main gate of Baron Godwin’s estate.
A guard stationed at the baron’s estate immediately stepped forward to stop him.
“Who are you?”
The guard, his expression naive, asked tensely—because the imposing aura emanating from this unfamiliar visitor was extraordinary. At a glance, he was clearly no ordinary man.
Though the color of his eyes was…
“I have something to deliver to Baron Godwin.”
“To the master himself?”
“Tell him Duke Shade Lester has come to visit.”
At the mention of his name, the guard’s eyes widened as if about to burst from their sockets.
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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