After Linking the Villainess and Male Lead (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 16
“I’m sorry, my lady. The mood grew somber because of me.”
I apologized softly to Countess Melison.
“No, not at all. You did well.”
Instead, the countess encouraged me, saying I had done well.
The tea party, which had been enveloped in brief silence, regained its liveliness as Countess Melison introduced a new topic of conversation.
I had no choice but to stay in my seat, trying hard not to show my dampened spirits, and after the tea party ended, I returned home with the countess’s encouragement and a gift.
[This is the timeline separator]My mind had been deeply unsettled ever since attending the tea party.
So, hoping to calm my restless heart even a little, I decided to go out.
Outside the carriage window, the scenery changed rapidly, moment by moment.
Watching it, thoughts of time’s passage led me to think of Kaern.
And once Kaern came to mind, curiosity and worry began to well up inside me.
‘When will he return?’
Surely he hasn’t gone somewhere dangerous.
No, it’ll be fine.
It’s Kaern, after all.
No matter where he goes or what he does, he’ll be all right.
Thinking this, I deliberately tried to recall happy memories to ease my anxious heart.
As I was unknowingly smiling, lost in thoughts of the past, Amy spoke to me.
“What’s so amusing, miss?”
“Just reminiscing about old times.”
“Old times?”
“Yeah.”
“You must have been thinking about the times you spent with Lady Adelia. I saw that same smile on your face just now.”
“Oh? Really?”
Actually, I’d been thinking of Kaern, not Adelia.
Amy must have assumed that because she didn’t know I liked Kaern.
“Yes. I wonder how Lady Adelia is doing these days?”
“Of course. She’s probably spending happy moments with the one she loves.”
“You must miss Lady Adelia a great deal, don’t you?”
“I do. Very much.”
After becoming friends with Adelia, we spent so much time apart from each other.
We were always together—when playing, eating, studying, or resting.
Though now a man she loves stands by her side, we remain each other’s one and only friend.
Soon after, the carriage, which had been moving steadily, came to a stop.
“Lady Helena, we’ve arrived.”
Hardly had the coachman finished speaking when I leapt out of the carriage.
“Wow, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been here.”
Seeing the academy building made of white marble stirred fresh emotions within me.
Glancing around and recalling the memories tied to this place, I soon stepped forward.
I had come to the academy today to find a memory stored in the library.
I felt that if I could find traces of that memory, my unsettled heart might ease somewhat.
“Amy, it’s cold outside—wait for me in the carriage.”
When I reached the building’s entrance, I turned back and said to Amy.
“Yes, miss. Please be careful.”
“I will. I won’t be long.”
With that, I walked inside.
‘Nothing has changed at all.’
It had only been about a year since I graduated, so the academy looked exactly as it did in my memories.
It wasn’t the kind of place easily forgotten.
Except in unavoidable cases—such as receiving private tutoring or studying abroad—most of the empire’s nobles spent the majority of their childhood here at the academy.
That period lasted eight years, from age twelve until just before turning nineteen.
Adelia, Kaern, and I were all academy alumni.
However, while we two graduated like everyone else at nineteen, Kaern was a prodigy who graduated at a much younger age.
Though his intellect was exceptionally sharp, it was also because the Late Duke and Duchess of Lavellion had perished in an accident, leaving Kaern to inherit the family’s responsibilities.
Of course, there had been the option of entrusting the ducal duties to relatives or retainers until Kaern came of age, but he chose not to.
He completed in one year what others took three years to finish, and began managing the ducal household’s affairs even before reaching adulthood.
Moreover, Kaern was outstanding in swordsmanship and always returned from war with honors.
“He truly is remarkable.”
Once again thinking of Kaern as if it were routine, I walked down the familiar hallway toward the library.
The library was located at the far left end of the building, yet not a single student crossed my path the whole way.
‘Well, there are no classes at this time—of course no one should be at the academy.’
In our days, everyone went traveling during holidays.
Adelia especially loved exploring new places and always wanted me to come along.
Thanks to her, I visited many places I otherwise wouldn’t have seen alone.
There was one time I missed my brother, who hadn’t returned to the capital in a long while, so I went to where he was.
I’d already liked Kaern by then, so I couldn’t contain my joy when Adelia said she was going to see him.
The whole journey was filled with excitement and overwhelming happiness.
And when I finally met Kaern, though I pretended to be calm, inside I felt as if the whole world belonged to me.
Though Kaern did give me a strange look for coming with Adelia.
It was the first time I realized he could make that kind of expression—
a curious mix of surprise and something I couldn’t quite understand, which I still couldn’t decipher even now.
Of course, since he was always in places ravaged by war, I got scolded the entire time I stayed there for coming to such a dangerous place.
‘Even so, it was a meaningful experience. If I’d been alone, I never would have gone somewhere that risky—I’d have known war only through books.’
I always enjoyed new experiences whenever I was with Adelia.
But what pleased me most was occasionally seeing sides of Kaern I’d never seen before.
Ah, wait.
Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve recently seen that same expression again.
When was it?
At Adelia’s wedding, perhaps…?
It seemed like he made that face while looking at me.
“Or maybe not.”
Why would Kaern do that?
I quickly pushed thoughts of Kaern out of my mind and kept walking forward.
Soon, I arrived before a large door made of light brown wood.
As I pushed it open, a creaking sound echoed, and the scent of books rushed toward me.
The distinct smell found only in libraries somehow soothed my heart.
Inside, aside from the caretaker, no one else was using the library—just like the academy itself.
I strolled slowly between the bookshelves, browsing the titles.
“Ah, this is a book I read before.”
I remembered struggling terribly to finish this book, forced to read it for an assignment despite how dreadfully boring it was.
“And this one was somewhat enjoyable, I think…”
As I retraced memories, flipping through book after book, I happened to find the very one I’d been looking for.
“There you are!”
I quickly pulled the book from the shelf.
It had been sitting on the bottom shelf, covered in dust as if no one had touched it.
After brushing off the dust lightly, I quietly lingered on the title.
“On the Value of History and Culture.”
True to its title, it was exactly the kind of subject no one would care about.
‘Which is precisely why I chose it.’
I opened the book, skimmed its contents briefly, then immediately shifted my gaze to the spine.
I hadn’t come here just to reread the book.
I’d hidden something within it—something only Adelia and I knew about.
Because the cover was hardbound, a tiny gap existed between the spine and the cover when the book was opened.
I slipped my fingers inside and pulled something out.
“Found it.”
It was a small note.
I promptly returned the now-useless book to its place on the shelf, carefully tucked the note into my inner pocket, and left the library.
I planned to read the note carefully once I got home.
But just then—
as I stepped out of the library with a smile, feeling uplifted,
the door suddenly swung open, and someone walked in.
‘Huh?’
Isn’t that Evelyn?
“Evelyn?”
“Helena?”
Evelyn recognized me too and approached.
“Helena, what brings you here?”
“What about you, Evelyn? What are you doing at the academy?”
Meeting unexpectedly in this unlikely place, we both fired questions at each other out of curiosity.
“Me? I came to see a professor.”
“Oh, I see.”
“And you, Helena?”
“I suddenly wanted to see a certain book, so I dropped by the library.”
“So you’ve finished reading it?”
“Yeah. I was just about to leave. And you? Did you meet your professor?”
“Yes. After visiting, I was on my way out when I remembered a book I wanted to see—just like you. Meeting you here is such a pleasant surprise.”
“Tell me about it. I’m really glad too.”
“Do you have time? Would you like to sit on a bench and chat for a bit?”
“Sure. Let’s do that.”
I sat down with Evelyn on a bench near the fountain inside the academy grounds.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
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!
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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