After Linking the Villainess and Male Lead (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 36
It was Crayton Castle.
Upon arriving at the castle gates, a knight verified the family crest on our carriage and opened the gate for us.
Thanks to that, the carriage carrying me swiftly entered the grounds.
Shortly afterward, the carriage halted in front of the mansion at the address Adelia had given me.
No sooner had the carriage stopped than the mansion’s closed door swung wide open, and someone rushed out.
“Helena!”
She was my long-missed, deeply longed-for friend.
I quickly rose from my seat and stepped out of the carriage.
“Adelia!”
And in one swift motion, I embraced her—the same Helena, unchanged since we last parted.
“I missed you so much!”
“I missed you terribly too!”
For a while, we clung to each other, repeatedly murmuring how much we’d missed one another.
“Helena.”
“Adelia.”
After sharing the joy of our heartfelt reunion, we stood facing each other properly.
“You haven’t changed at all.”
“Neither have you, Adelia.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You’re exactly as I remember you.”
My friend—so beautiful, sparkling with radiance—was truly standing right before my eyes.
“Helena, you must have had a hard journey getting here.”
“Not really. It was bearable.”
“That can’t be. I struggled so much just coming here myself. Anyway, I was shocked to hear you were coming. Nothing’s wrong, is it?”
“Huh? No, not at all. I just missed you and decided to come.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Oh, Helena, I’d like you to meet someone.”
Adelia brought Calix before me and spoke.
“Viscount Crayton. It’s been a while.”
“Lady Rosentia. Welcome.”
“Wait, hold on. You two aren’t seriously going to keep addressing each other like that, are you?”
Adelia looked back and forth between Calix and me, her expression stunned.
“Of course not. We should use proper titles now. This isn’t the academy anymore.”
“Lady Rosentia is absolutely right.”
Calix agreed with my words and wrapped an arm around Adelia’s shoulders.
“You two still match perfectly.”
“Really?”
“Yes, truly.”
At my words, Adelia smiled brightly at Calix.
Calix, too, offered her a gentle smile.
Seeing them filled me with warmth and quiet contentment.
“We shouldn’t stay out in the cold wind too long. Let’s go inside quickly.”
“Come on, Helena. Let’s go in. I’ve prepared so many things for you—I can’t wait to show you.”
“Really? I’m excited!”
“Just follow me.”
I followed the two of them into the mansion.
A massive chandelier hung from the ceiling of the hall, studded with gemstones glittering one by one.
That single chandelier alone was enough to gauge the extent of House Crayton’s wealth.
Calix briefly left to attend to some remaining matters in his study.
I followed Adelia upstairs as we chatted.
We stopped in front of a particular door.
“This will be your room while you stay here, Helena.”
As the door opened, my eyes fell upon a room filled entirely with exquisite furnishings, carpets, and other beautiful things.
“Wow. It’s lovely.”
“Right? I took such care preparing it since I knew you were coming. Come this way, Helena.”
Adelia took my hand and led me toward the window.
“Do you know why I chose this room?”
“No. Why?”
“Look.”
Adelia pointed outside the window with her finger.
Following her gesture, I turned toward the view beyond the glass.
A beautiful garden filled my entire field of vision.
“Wow. It’s truly beautiful.”
“Now do you understand why I picked this room for you, Helena?”
I nodded with a smile.
She’d remembered how much I loved flowers and gardens.
“I love it. Thank you, Adelia.”
“Don’t mention it. This is the least I can do for my friend. Helena, are you hungry?”
“Hmm… a little?”
“I expected as much, so I arranged a meal to be ready just as you arrived. Let’s eat first, since you’re hungry.”
“Alright.”
We went straight down to the dining room and shared a meal together after so long.
Afterward, I exchanged a few brief words with Adelia before returning alone to my room.
I wanted to talk longer, but exhaustion from the long journey overwhelmed me.
I would have more time with Adelia tomorrow and the day after that.
There was no need to rush, so I drifted off to sleep, truly happy for the first time in a long while.
[This is the timeline separator]The next morning, I awoke feeling refreshed.
Rubbing my eyes, I looked out the window and saw the newly risen sun painting the surroundings in golden hues.
I got out of bed and walked straight to the window.
Quietly, I admired the view outside.
‘Beautiful.’
The garden I’d glimpsed upon arrival yesterday had already pleased me, but now, with dawn’s dew sparkling under the early light, it was too stunning to look away.
As the sun fully rose, its bright rays streamed through the window into the room.
Wrapping a thick shawl around myself, I left the room.
I intended to visit the garden.
As someone who adored flowers and gardens, I couldn’t stay still—not when I was so eager to see what new plants this garden held.
Stepping outside the mansion, I was greeted by the crisp morning air.
Still, it wasn’t so cold that I couldn’t take a stroll, so I wandered slowly through the garden.
Crayton Mansion’s garden brimmed with a variety of flowers I’d never seen before.
Just as I’d completed half a lap around the garden—
“Helena!”
I saw Adelia approaching, calling out to me.
“Adelia.”
“Aren’t you cold?”
“I’m fine. It’s not unbearable.”
“Even so, you’ll catch a cold—that’d be serious. Here, put this on.”
Adelia draped a cloak over my shoulders.
“Thank you, Adelia. But aren’t you cold?”
“No, I’m fine too. After living here for a while, I’ve gotten used to the cold.”
Seeing my worried expression, Adelia answered with a bright smile.
“By the way, what’s your impression of the garden up close?”
“It’s breathtaking. There are so many flowers I’ve never seen in the capital.”
“Right?”
“Yes. I suppose it’s because of the temperature difference between the capital and the north.”
“Helena, come this way. There’s a flower I absolutely must show you.”
With that, Adelia led me deeper into the garden.
“This one.”
Adelia pointed to a flower that resembled a white snowflake.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I know this flower. I’ve seen it before.”
“Really?”
“Yes. In the imperial palace gardens.”
I’d come across it by chance while strolling through the gardens with Lucas during a banquet long ago.
“Oh, right—Lucas mentioned then that you could only find it in the northern part of the continent.”
“Lucas? You mean Lucas Aiker?”
“Yes, Lucas Aiker.”
“The very same Lucas who confessed to you and ended up humiliated?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
“I thought he left the capital after graduating from the academy. That’s how I remembered it.”
“He said he came back recently.”
“You ran into him at the banquet after all this time?”
“Yes.”
As I nodded in reply, Adelia frowned slightly, as if something bothered her.
Her reaction struck me as odd.
Adelia had never shown any real interest in Lucas.
Yet now, she was asking unusually detailed questions about him.
“Did Lucas Aiker happen to say anything strange or foolish to you?”
“Huh?”
I flinched slightly, and Adelia narrowed her eyes, sensing something.
“What is it? Did something happen?”
“Well…”
I briefly hesitated, wondering whether to tell Adelia about what had transpired with him.
But my hesitation didn’t last long.
I didn’t want to keep even something this small a secret from Adelia.
That hadn’t changed, even now that we lived apart.
I told Adelia everything that had happened with Lucas, leaving nothing out.
I recounted in order: his confession at the banquet, his later visit to see me, and how he’d abruptly cut off all contact.
“Ha! A confession? That’s just ridiculous.”
“I was shocked too. Lucas always liked you, Adelia.”
“He didn’t.”
“Huh?”
“Because Lucas liked you, Helena—not me.”
“What?”
“Even back then, as utterly smitten as I was with Calix, I could still tell whether someone truly liked me or not. And Lucas never truly liked me.”
“He didn’t truly like you?”
“No. It was obvious just by looking at him. But with you, Helena—it wasn’t the same.”
Adelia spoke with the certainty of absolute conviction, not mere speculation.
“That can’t be…”
We’d experienced the same situation, seen the same person—yet Adelia’s recollection and mine differed so profoundly.
After his failed confession to Adelia, Lucas had seemed genuinely distressed.
And yet… that feeling hadn’t been real?
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male 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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