After Linking the Villainess and Male Lead (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 40
“I’m glad. You’ve been growing up well even without me.”
After taking a walk around the garden, breathing in the fresh floral scent, and finding nothing particularly unusual, I returned to my room.
Then, after soaking thoroughly in hot water, I stepped out and enjoyed a delicious dinner.
“Phew.”
Lying on my bed for the first time in a while, I gazed at the ceiling and reminisced about the memories I shared with Adelia.
Overcome by drowsiness, my eyes soon closed, and I drifted off to sleep.
[This is the timeline separator]The next day, I began preparing to go out as soon as I woke up early in the morning.
As soon as I finished getting ready, I immediately boarded a carriage and headed straight for the square.
Upon arriving at the square, where the homecoming ceremony was being held, I saw it already densely packed with crowds who, like me, had come early.
I found a suitable spot and waited for Kaern and the army to arrive.
“Young Lady! They say the army has just passed through the city gates!”
“Really?”
“Yes. They should reach the square any moment now.”
I would soon see Kaern.
The thought of seeing him again so soon filled me with both excitement and nervous tension.
“He’ll surely be at the front, right?”
Just as I fixed my eyes intently on the square’s entrance with that thought—
Puuuuh.
A deep, resonant horn blast echoed through the air, and at last, the army appeared in grand, imposing formation.
“Woooaahh!”
Thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd the instant they caught sight of the soldiers.
“Long live the Loyden Empire! Long live the Duke of Lavellion!”
The people continued roaring Kaern’s name, celebrating the victory he had led them to in war.
I spotted Kaern entering the square first, leading countless knights.
“Kaern!”
Overjoyed, I was about to wave at him when I suddenly noticed his expression was subtly different from usual.
“What’s wrong?”
Though it was hard to see clearly from a distance, I grew certain as he drew nearer.
Despite his usual impassive demeanor, for brief moments he winced slightly, as if forcibly enduring something.
Could he be injured?
Worry for him instantly replaced any earlier excitement I’d felt.
Throughout the Emperor’s speech, I remained uneasy and kept my eyes solely on Kaern, unable to look anywhere else.
Something was definitely wrong with him—that much was clear.
As soon as the homecoming ceremony ended, Kaern left immediately.
I followed him back to the Lavellion Ducal residence.
Upon arrival, I noticed the mansion was surrounded by unusually tight security.
Puzzled, I stepped down from the carriage and attempted to enter the estate.
But before I could, the butler swiftly blocked my path.
“The Duke has returned, hasn’t he? I must see him.”
“That is… he has indeed returned, but he strictly ordered that no one be allowed inside.”
“The Duke himself said that?”
“Yes. I’m truly sorry, Young Lady, but you’ll have to return for today.”
Though I’d visited countless times before, this was the first time such a thing had happened.
“Please tell the Duke that I absolutely must see him. I have a letter from Adelia that I must deliver to him personally.”
“But…”
“Just once—please relay my request.”
“…Very well. Please wait a moment.”
I nodded, and the butler hurried inside the mansion.
After an anxious wait of about ten minutes, the butler returned and spoke.
“The Duke says you may come in.”
I’d been worried he might refuse again, so I was relieved.
I followed the butler into the mansion.
Just as outside, the interior, too, had heightened security.
“Has something happened?”
“I’m afraid I cannot answer that, no matter how much you ask. I apologize.”
Unable to contain my curiosity, I questioned the butler, but received no useful reply.
Moments later, I stopped before a certain door.
“This is…”
Realizing where I was, I stared at the butler with a bewildered expression.
A place no one could enter without the master’s permission—
The one room I’d never set foot in until now: Kaern’s own chamber.
“Your Grace, I’ve brought Lady Helena.”
“Let her in.”
“Yes, Your Grace. Young Lady, please go ahead.”
The butler opened the door, and I stepped inside.
Before I could even take in the room’s interior, I spotted Kaern seated against the large headboard of his bed.
“Kaern!”
So startled was I that I failed to notice others present in the room, rushing straight toward him.
Kaern sat bare-chested, his shoulders and chest wrapped in bandages.
“Kaern, are you hurt?”
“Helena.”
“Were you injured in battle?”
Seeing him wounded turned my mind completely blank.
I began speaking frantically, eyes scanning his injuries without even realizing what I was saying.
“I never heard you’d been hurt…”
At that moment, Kaern gently took my trembling hands in his.
Instantly, as if by magic, the shaking stopped.
“Helena, calm down for a moment.”
His soft yet low voice gently soothed me.
“I am hurt, but I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.”
Frowning, I pointed with my free hand to the bandages covering his shoulders and chest.
“You’re clearly not fine.”
“It’s not that serious.”
“…Really?”
Kaern nodded gently, offering a reassuring smile.
“Phew.”
Only then did I finally exhale in relief and regain my composure.
At the same time, I became aware that the room held not just Kaern and me, but several other people as well.
The Lavellion household’s physician and a few of Kaern’s adjutants stood nearby.
“Oh.”
In an instant, all my actions since entering the room flashed through my mind like a rapid panorama.
Mortified at having displayed such embarrassing behavior in front of strangers, my face flushed crimson.
Wishing I could vanish into a mouse hole, I fidgeted awkwardly and tried to pull my hand from Kaern’s grasp.
But Kaern refused to let go.
“Kaern—no, Your Grace…”
“Kaern.”
When I tried addressing him formally instead of by name, Kaern furrowed his brow and corrected me again.
“But there are people here…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about them.”
As if to prove he truly didn’t care, he pulled me even closer.
Unlike him, however, I remained painfully aware of their presence.
Unable to hide my discomfort, I stood stiffly—until Kaern spoke.
“Everyone, leave.”
At his command, those in the room swiftly departed like receding tide, as if they’d been waiting for the order.
When the door closed, only Kaern and I remained.
“Is this better?”
“Huh? Oh—there was no need to send them away…”
I almost added that he could’ve just let go of my hand, but I bit my tongue and stayed silent.
For a long while, we simply stared at each other without speaking.
Then, catching sight of blood-stained bandages, I remembered the unanswered question from earlier.
“How did you get hurt? I never heard anything about your injury—were you hurt in battle?”
“No, not in battle.”
“Then what happened?”
“I fell from my horse while crossing the mountains on our way back to the capital.”
“You fell off your horse?”
His reason for injury was so unexpected that I gasped in surprise.
As far as I knew, his horsemanship was unparalleled.
For someone like him to suffer a fall—it was unthinkable.
“How on earth did that happen…?”
While I stood bewildered by this oddity, Kaern stared at me intently and abruptly changed the subject.
“By the way, I heard you visited Adelia.”
“Huh? How did you know?”
Stammering in shock, I asked him—after all, I hadn’t told anyone.
“Surely you didn’t have someone follow me?”
“That’s absurd. Though I won’t lie and say I never wanted to.”
“Then how…? Oh! Did Adelia tell you?”
“I receive occasional reports from the knights assigned to protect Adelia, so I know how she’s doing.”
Ah, so that’s how he knew.
I nodded in understanding.
“But why did you go see Adelia?”
“Well… I was curious how she was doing, and also… I went to tell her I’d be going abroad to study.”
I carefully omitted the real reason—that I’d gone because of our broken engagement—and gave a vague answer instead.
“How is Adelia doing? Is she well?”
“Yes, she’s doing very well. Oh!”
Suddenly remembering, I quickly pulled out the letter Adelia had given me from my pocket.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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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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