After Linking the Villainess and Male Lead (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 3
“What is it?”
Did I say something wrong?
I didn’t think I’d said anything that would upset Kaern….
I subtly averted my gaze from him and stared blankly into the air, carefully replaying every word I’d just spoken.
I simply couldn’t bear looking directly at his face—cold as a sheet of ice.
Yet, turning my eyes away too obviously might upset him even more, so this was the clever compromise I’d devised.
Anyway, I rapidly ran through everything that had just happened in my head, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out what I’d done wrong.
“I just don’t get it. Seriously, I have no idea.”
This wasn’t working.
Being alone with the person I secretly loved had been wonderful, but my thoughts had grown so tangled that my mind had been in complete chaos since earlier.
I figured it’d be best to leave this place first and sort things out afterward, so I gently shifted my eyes again.
The moment I did, my bewildered gaze met his piercing, silent eyes—he’d been watching me wordlessly the entire time.
“Your Grace, I think I should go now.”
I forced my voice to sound as casual as possible.
“…Already leaving?”
He frowned slightly at my words.
“Yes. Now that I think about it, I have a few things to sort out and tasks left undone.”
I hurriedly blurted out only what needed saying, determined not to get swept up again by his presence.
“Are those tasks so urgent that you must leave in such a hurry?”
Kaern was acting strangely today.
He wasn’t usually someone so persistent about prying into my affairs.
Whenever I’d mentioned leaving before, even while I was with Adelia, he’d always been the first to go….
“Well….”
I hadn’t expected him to press me like this, so I dragged out my words, frantically trying to think of chores waiting for me at home.
“Oh! I nearly forgot to give Adelia a gift. It’s important, so I want to send it as soon as possible. I’d feel awful if it didn’t arrive before she got to her new home.”
That wasn’t a lie.
I’d foolishly forgotten one of the wedding gifts I’d prepared for Adelia and planned to send it with a letter as soon as I got home.
“…I’ll take you.”
“What? No, really, you don’t have to… You must be busy. I can go alone.”
Thankfully, my quick thinking seemed to work—but when he offered to escort me all the way home, I declined with an awkward smile.
He merely glanced at me once, then ignored my words entirely and started walking.
*Sigh…*
I let out a deep sigh inwardly and reluctantly trailed quietly behind him.
The Lavellion family’s carriage was far roomier inside than my own family’s.
Thus, I could maintain a comfortable distance from Kaern.
We rode in complete silence the entire way to our destination.
To him—a naturally taciturn man who never spoke unnecessarily—it probably felt perfectly normal, but not to me.
I loved talking with people so much that this heavy quiet felt unbearably awkward.
Still, I clenched my teeth and held my tongue with all my might.
I feared that if I spoke another word, he might say something I simply couldn’t handle.
At least, thankfully, after we boarded the carriage, he buried himself in a book and never spoke to me first.
I stole glances at him as discreetly as I could.
“He really is incredibly handsome.”
Adelia was undeniably a breathtaking beauty—the kind anyone would look at twice—but Kaern, her older brother, was no less striking in appearance.
Anyone who saw the two Lavellion siblings standing side by side would surely gasp in awe.
Though their features were remarkably alike, subtle differences gave them entirely distinct auras.
Where Adelia had black hair tinged with light brown, Kaern’s was as dark as a starless night sky.
Adelia inherited her late father, the former Duke of Lavellion’s, blue eyes, while Kaern bore his late mother’s vivid red eyes.
Staring at him, so reminiscent of Adelia, made me miss my friend already—even though we’d only just parted.
“What am I going to do now….”
Though I’d steeled myself beforehand, waves of sorrow and loneliness crashed over me at the thought of living without Adelia, and I bowed my head helplessly.
I could feel my eyes growing damp from melancholy and had to squeeze them tightly shut to keep from crying.
If I cried here, I’d surely have to give Kaern some long, awkward explanation.
So, to distract myself, I rummaged through my thoughts—until a sudden idea struck me hard.
Wait a moment….
“What if… I just moved near where Adelia lives and quietly tended a garden?”
It dawned on me: instead of living apart like this, why not simply move close to her and carry on as we always had?
“No.”
No, that wouldn’t do at all.
I quickly pulled myself together and snapped out of it.
Adelia now had someone to spend her life with.
No matter how much I missed her, I couldn’t possibly intrude on the newlyweds’ fresh start.
We’d always been inseparable before—so much so that it felt natural—but now, we each had to live our own lives.
“My life.”
Come to think of it, I’d never seriously considered what I’d do after graduating from the academy.
I’d always assumed that whatever my future held, Adelia would be right there with me.
But that wasn’t the case anymore.
So then… what about my future?
I unconsciously found myself staring at Kaern—then quickly looked away.
Worried our eyes might meet, I was relieved to see he was still deeply absorbed in his book.
Feeling safe, I resumed my thoughts.
Truthfully, for a noble lady like me, there was only one typical path for the future:
marry a man from another noble house and bear an heir.
To others, my future probably looked exactly like that.
After all, I had a fiancé anyone would envy—handsome and admirable.
But our engagement wasn’t ordinary.
It wasn’t a political alliance or a contractual arrangement—it existed solely due to his kindness.
Therefore, in the future I sometimes imagined… he was never there.
No, he couldn’t be.
My one-sided love, born of his goodwill, ended precisely there.
*Sigh…*
As heartbreaking as this unrequited affection was, if his feelings didn’t match mine—no matter how wonderful it felt—I knew I had to let go.
Though it would hurt, I genuinely wished for him to find a good woman.
And to help that happen, I planned to ask him for an annulment.
I knew he’d never propose breaking off the engagement himself, so this was the only kindness I could offer the man who’d protected me by becoming my fiancé.
We’d become engaged when I was fourteen and Kaern was twenty.
Right after I turned fourteen, I lost my parents in a carriage accident.
I’d been in that carriage too—but while both my parents died, I survived miraculously,
thanks to my mother shielding me as the carriage overturned.
But losing my parents wasn’t the only burden I inherited.
Along with our noble title, I also inherited crushing debts—far more than a mere viscount’s household could bear.
My relatives, terrified those debts might fall to them, became desperate to marry me off to any wealthy household possible.
They even considered making me a concubine to an elderly marquess known for his vast fortune.
Fortunately, that plan never came to pass—but it was clear more such threats would keep coming.
One day, while I was trembling with anxiety over what to do, Kaern and Adelia came to see me.
At the time, the two siblings had also recently lost their parents and were left entirely alone.
Despite being only twenty, Kaern already led the Lavellion ducal house so impressively that no other nobles dared look down on him.
I still remember that day they visited me as clearly as if it happened yesterday.
It’s a day I must never forget—no matter who threatens me with a sword and demands I erase it from my memory.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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MANGA DISCUSSION
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Chapter Comments (9)
What a way to overcomplicate things! I mean, you could tell he wanted to go with her, and the female lead just loves getting into trouble for the sake of it hahaha. Poor Kaern
Well, the female lead made a huge mess of things, and on top of that, Kaern wasn’t even aware of it. He was just jealous that she had mentioned another man and told him he didn’t need to accompany her hahaha. This woman is seriously missing a few lightbulbs.
I don’t know why she has so many theories, when the only and simplest one is that Kaern likes her, and that’s the exact one that doesn’t even cross her mind. I feel like hitting her with a chair.
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Rahzel Everlasting
Ugh, Helena is already starting to drive me crazy. I mean, I get that it might not be so obvious that Kaern is in love with her and all that, but she’s already starting with this whole breaking the engagement nonsense. And without even having a backup plan! Because if she has debts, it’s not like she’s going to pay them out of thin air hahaha.
Zaacna
“It’s a day I must never forget—no matter who threatens me with a sword and demands I erase it from my memory.”
What an odd sentence. Maybe it’s just me, but it just feels out of place, ike a foreshadowing moment. If I don’t see someone threaten her with a sword and demand that, I will be disappointed.