After Linking the Villainess and Male Lead (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 10
“That… Adelia recently married Calix Crayton—didn’t you hear the news?”
“Of course I heard that Adelia got married.”
“Oh, really?”
Lucas, who I expected to be shocked, answered plainly as if it were nothing.
“Yeah. Oh, the Crayton family’s domain is quite far from here, right? So you couldn’t attend the banquet?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I won’t be able to come to the capital for a while. I wish you could’ve come to the wedding, Lucas.”
“I know. It couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t just quit my knight training halfway if I wanted to attend today’s banquet for sure.”
“Oh, so that’s why you couldn’t come.”
“Honestly, it would’ve been ridiculous for someone like me, who caused that whole mess, to show up at the wedding. I might’ve even been a burden to Adelia.”
Lucas said with an awkward smile.
“No, not at all. The more people who come to celebrate, the better. Everyone would’ve welcomed you warmly, Lucas.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yeah. Besides… it’s all just memories from the past, isn’t it?”
“Helena! Please don’t bring up that incident.”
“Huh?”
When I mentioned the confession incident, Lucas stopped me with a horrified expression.
“Even now, just thinking about that day makes me want to slap myself.”
As he spoke, Lucas covered his head as if in pain.
“We were just kids back then. Don’t beat yourself up over it too much.”
I smiled faintly as I comforted him.
“It’s hardest knowing that you, of all people, are aware of what happened. Sigh… I must’ve truly been out of my mind.”
“Huh?”
When I looked up at Lucas, who was saying something I couldn’t quite understand, he just gave a soft chuckle and said nothing more.
“Hey… Helena.”
Instead, he suddenly lowered his voice and called my name.
“What is it?”
“Would you like to step outside for some fresh air?”
“Fresh air?”
“Yeah. I also have something I want to say to you…”
“Oh?”
I didn’t know what he wanted to say, but it actually worked out well for me.
I kept feeling as though someone’s gaze was pinning me in place while I talked with Lucas.
Because of that, I also wanted to get away from here.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
I walked toward the door with Lucas.
And only when we stepped outside the banquet hall did that feeling of someone staring at me persistently finally fade away.
‘Phew.’
The chilly breeze finally cleared the suffocating tightness in my chest.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief inwardly and took a deep breath of the outside air.
“Shall we go to the garden? I heard there’s one nearby full of rare flowers.”
“Rare flowers? Sure, let’s go there.”
As someone who’s always loved flowers, I had no reason to refuse.
I nodded at Lucas’s suggestion and started walking.
The garden wasn’t far from the banquet hall.
As we drew closer, a delicate floral fragrance drifted over on the breeze.
“The scent is lovely.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I’m glad we came out.”
My mood lifted as the fragrance grew stronger.
“I’m glad too. Let’s go a bit further in.”
“Okay.”
We entered the garden filled with floral scents.
Just as Lucas said, inside bloomed flowers I’d never seen before.
“Wow, what kind of flower is this? It looks so strangely beautiful.”
I was so captivated by the beautiful flowers I busied myself admiring them.
“I’ve never seen these before.”
Though I prided myself on knowing quite a bit about flowers, these were all completely unfamiliar to me.
“Where do flowers like these bloom?”
Among them, one with clusters of blossoms resembling white snow especially caught my eye.
“I heard you can see them in the north of the continent.”
“The north? It must be much colder than the capital there. It’s a resilient flower, blooming so vibrantly even in the cold.”
“That’s exactly it. It reminds me so much of you, Helena.”
“Huh?”
“It’s pure and white, yet radiates such strong vitality—just like you.”
Lucas repeated the same words for emphasis.
Embarrassed by the unexpected praise, I just stared at Lucas, unable to say anything.
“Helena. I told you I had something to say, right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
The relaxed atmosphere suddenly turned serious.
Lucas pressed his lips together tightly, as if deep in thought.
With a dazed look, I waited silently for him to speak again.
After a while, as if finally gathering his thoughts, Lucas opened his mouth.
“I like you.”
And I couldn’t hide my shock at his completely unexpected confession.
“…What?”
Unable to mask my expression, I repeated the question to Lucas.
“I know it probably seems strange. But… I’ve always wanted to tell you how I feel someday.”
“Wait, hold on, Lucas.”
We haven’t seen each other in ages, and now you’re suddenly saying this?
I was so flustered I wanted to check if he’d been drinking.
But I couldn’t bring myself to ask, ‘Have you been drinking? I’m not Adelia,’ so I quickly called his name instead.
Yet even my call didn’t stop him—perhaps too nervous in this situation, Lucas began pouring out his confession like a bombardier.
“I tried to let go of these feelings. After all, you’re Adelia’s closest friend… and you have a fiancé.”
‘So he’s not drunk after all—his mind seems clear.’
When he mentioned the word ‘fiancé,’ Lucas bit his lip tightly as if disapproving.
Seeing that, I raised my hand to stop him, but Lucas didn’t halt his words.
“But it wasn’t easy at all. My heart was already completely set on you. Of course, it wasn’t like that from the start—I did have feelings for Adelia. But after that incident, when everyone avoided me, you were the only one who cared.”
I’d only done that because I knew what it was like to suffer from unrequited love myself.
Yet because of that kindness, this is what happened.
I didn’t have any feelings for Lucas to begin with, and I hadn’t yet sorted out my feelings for Kaern, so I couldn’t possibly respond to his emotions.
“Only then did I realize—I’d never felt my heart race for anyone before, so I never truly understood the difference between mere liking and real love.”
What is this…
After making such a scene over Adelia and confessing to her, he’s saying it was just liking, not love?
‘Sigh.’
It had been a day full of bewildering incidents, so I just shook my head and sighed inwardly.
“Lucas, that’s…”
“Helena, could you please just hear me out? I gathered a lot of courage this time, and I want to say everything I have inside.”
It was already absurd enough that he confessed his feelings—but now he was forcing me to listen? This was really too much.
“I’ve trained hard just so I could stand proudly in front of you. I haven’t joined the Imperial Guard yet, but I’m more confident than anyone. So…”
“Wait, hold on—Lucas, wait.”
I knew the longer this dragged on, the harder it would be to respond, so I hardened my expression and cut him off.
“I have so many questions, but regarding your confession just now—sorry, but I can’t accept your feelings.”
“Helena, just hear me out a little more…”
“No. And as you yourself said, I’m engaged. I’m not in a position to receive a confession like this. Even if I weren’t, I’ve never seen you as anything more than a close friend.”
“…A friend?”
“Yes. So after not seeing each other for so long, it’s a bit startling to have you suddenly declare your feelings like this, Lucas.”
I drew a clear line, labeling him a friend, and flatly rejected his confession.
Unrequited love…
I knew from experience how painful it was to have your feelings unreturned by the one you liked.
But when there was absolutely no way to reciprocate, it was kinder to be firm than to give false hope.
“I’m sorry, Helena. I guess I rushed things because I didn’t have much time, and I only thought about my own feelings. I can see how confusing this must be for you. But Helena… could you at least think a little more about my confession? It’s a political engagement—there’s been no progress between you and your fiancé for years because neither of you has real feelings.”
Despite my strong rejection, Lucas didn’t back down.
Worse still, he started pressuring me to reconsider my feelings.
His behavior left me speechless—and slowly, anger began to rise within me.
Truthfully, I’d always felt guilty toward Lucas because of what happened with Adelia.
So when he confessed, I’d tried my best to reject him gently.
But when he trivialized my relationship with Kaern, a sharp pang of sadness and resistance flared up inside me.
Still, I couldn’t argue back against his words.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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If there is a person checking these comments. Can you please add a word/letter count to the bottom. Also sometimes the comments don’t stay within the chapter you read but throughout the whole book, please fix that glitch. Another, per book- hour limited to how many comments can earn cookies – it’s better you write that somewhere or give a notification to the commenter about that. The notification about the 3/3 free reads glitch too, sometimes it says 3/1,1/3,1/1 or not work. The cookies glitch sometimes too, id have 10 but when I try to unlock chapter it keeps saying I have none. Love yalls work!
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