It is night. When he closes his eyes, it’s a night when Peon is overwhelmed by the hunger Kaella feels, her craving for food, and the pain from organs that began to break down when food was suddenly cut off.
Even so, he dares not say he fully understands the humiliation, disgrace, and misery Kaella must have felt. He hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep. Even when he did sleep, he was looking down at Kaella’s corpse even in his dreams.
Emaciated beyond belief, only bones and skin barely remained. Her once beautiful face was ruined, and her luscious platinum hair had all fallen out. Her frostbitten hands and feet were unbearable to look at.
The burial clothes for Kaella, who should always be the noblest, were just her tattered everyday clothes, with his blood-soaked cloak added. Unable to properly bury her in the frozen ground, her husband could only helplessly look down at her corpse every day.
‘Having seen this much, shouldn’t I be used to it by now?’
He had seen countless corpses die and be mutilated in all sorts of ways.
He had experienced brutal battles numerous times, and in the end, he too was beaten to death. He was accustomed to death, and as humans are creatures of adaptation, he should have become numb to scenes he saw over and over.
But Kaella’s death, her wretched corpse, just wouldn’t become familiar. Far from becoming familiar, it struck him with a strong shock every time he faced it, and grief and guilt swept through his entire body.
He begged to stop seeing it, tried to wake up instead. He couldn’t bear how her lifeless blue eyes seemed to keep staring at him.
No, when he tried to face her, liking that she was at least looking at him like that, she was suddenly collapsed on the floor, only staring at the door.
Every day he saw his dead wife without even being able to hold a funeral, and every day he saw his living wife only looking at death.
“Do you want me?”
The only thing clear amidst the unfamiliar death was that she was beautiful.
“Why?”
A normal Kaella would never be able to understand him in her lifetime.
The desire that kept growing even when castrated had already surpassed the range of normalcy. It must be creepily disgusting. He had nothing to say to the question she had already noticed and asked, even though he tried to hide it.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Peon smiled as he looked at Kaella, who pointed this out clearly in a small voice.
“Right, it’s not an answer. You always say clearly when something isn’t right, even when you’re scared.”
After saying this, he worried out of old habit if he had made a mistake, how did he know she was scared? Kaella flinched, clutching the blanket tightly.
“It’s one of the many reasons why I want you.”
Many reasons?
“You’re surprised. It’s not that surprising though.”
How did he know she was surprised? Kaella blinked. She was as indifferent as he had been for four years.
It was so obvious that Peon dared not feel hurt by it. He just wondered if Kaella had been like this, and felt sorry.
“I know I’m talking nonsense. It’s not even worth understanding to you.”
Because she’s not curious, and therefore still doesn’t ask. Because she’ll keep silent, ignore, and disregard throughout. Just as Peon did.
“When I was sick, on that night you came to see me, I didn’t mistake you for Beatrice.”
Even as he spoke, Peon dropped his head, disgusted with himself.
“At that time, for various reasons, my vision was clear and my judgment was accurate for a moment. It was only then, but I knew who you were.”
His voice was hoarse, scraping the floor.
“I thought it was a dream. Because there was no way you would come.”
“But you called me Beatrice.”
Kaella whispered in a small voice, frozen stiff clutching the bed sheet.
“Because you’re a woman, I thought she was the only woman who would come to me, so I checked. But it was you.”
Ah, it’s you.
That’s why he smiled.
“I was happy it was you.”
Because he was happy in that moment, Peon was truly a shameless human. Kaella was confused by words she couldn’t have imagined.
“I… I don’t understand why…”
“It’s because I was in this state. I’m sorry.”
The incompetent have no right to speak of love. So, saying anything more would be an excuse, and Peon closed his mouth.
“You thought it was a dream?”
When he first brought this up, Peon had also asked, “Wasn’t that a dream?” He simply nodded.
“Or a hallucination. Because I had taken a lot of medicine. I judged it was more likely a hallucination than a dream since it was too vivid, and I tried to forget it.”
“Why?”
Peon smiled, his face contorting.
“I was determined that I shouldn’t do that.”
Over Peon’s words, which she couldn’t understand at all, Beatrice’s words, which had been enveloped in the slowly approaching death, overlapped naturally.
The innocent Kaella de Chasser must die for the noble and righteous Grand Duke Lysenford to become a sinner. She’s been my slave since childhood. That’s how we brainwashed her. So she could never escape.
Ah. Kaella squeezed her eyes shut. Once again, she involuntarily learned something she didn’t want to know.
“You mean that black thing clouding your eyes, right?”
Peon silently nodded.
“Is it a spell?”
“A kind of.”
“Are you still under it?”
“Does it look like it?”
Instead of answering, Peon asked back while staring at her. His eyes, reflected in the pale blue moonlight, were so clear, almost painfully clear that they seemed to have lost focus, as if deviating from their normal orbit.
“No. But it seems you’ve become more dangerous.”
“You have good intuition.”
He smiled. Even that smile seemed chilling, like that of a predator. But, strangely, it wasn’t frightening.
Perhaps because they were of the same kind, having to lick their wounds alone after receiving the same injury. Of course, he was a predator, and Kaella was a being worse than a herbivore that should run away at the sight of him.
“Is it bad that I have good intuition?”
“No, of course not.”
She’s so smart that she can figure out the big picture with just a few clues, especially regarding Peon’s affairs, which is why she had kept her mouth shut and eyes covered, trying not to know even a single clue. Of course, now she had no choice but to know.
“You’re perfect just as you are now.”
It was infuriatingly perfect how Peon looked at such a Kaella with his pure gaze, felt her, and wasted four years without even attempting to speak to her once.
“I’m sorry. You must be uncomfortable.”
But in the end, this was the only conclusion left for him, so he just had to turn away.
His heart was too hideous and disgusting to show in front of the precious young lady who had barely survived. He thought he could at least distinguish that much, no matter how crazy he was.
“I’m not uncomfortable.”
He only moved his eyes to look back at her mumbling softly to herself, hearing every word.
“Not anymore. …Strangely.”
“Really?”
At the gentle inquiry, Kaella, who had been curled up hugging her knees, flinched and raised her head. The man, tilting his head back, was looking at her languidly. The distance was the same, but somehow she felt as if she had already been caught by him.
“Then, are you scared?”
The man looking at her now, no, targeting her, was clearly not human. It was just his instinct seizing an opportunity and showing a bit of its force, but that was enough to exude a dangerous aura beyond human.
“I’m not scared.”
Kaella retorted, putting strength in her eyes.
“Don’t provoke me, Kaella. Because right now, I want to beg you to buy my body.”
Does he not know why the young lady, who always remained silent, is specifically saying she’s not uncomfortable in this situation?
Peon, knowing Kaella too well, deliberately relaxed all his muscles even more. His nerves were instantly scraped raw by the clumsy provocation, his mouth going dry.
“I don’t want to remain in such a pathetic state in front of you anymore. Please just tell me to get lost.”
Ah, it’s dangerous. His dragon brain was already rolling in a dangerous direction, arbitrarily rationalizing that maybe she too had developed even a little desire, or just curiosity.
Peon, unable to move an inch without Kaella’s permission, rubbed his face dry, hoping for an order to leave. He had no confidence in enduring any more than this.
“How much? I have a lot of money this time.”
So you shouldn’t say such things in a voice so calm it seems tinged with sorrow.
Peon covered his mouth, steadied his breath, then turned and instantly closed the distance that had been far. As if sliding, he smoothly reached her and bowed politely and gently.
“For the first night, pay as much as you’re satisfied, and the next night is free. I’m cheap, you know.”
The slender arm that had been hesitating and faltering barely stretched out to wrap around his neck. Peon willingly fell downward.
*
A long illness wears people out. Of course, in the case of the Empress, the patient never complained or expressed pain, but for the Emperor who had only ever walked on red carpets, it was exhausting enough.
When she first collapsed, he was so affectionate and pitiful that he was always by her side, but now the Emperor was gradually reducing the number of visits to the bedroom where the Empress slept.
Still, he visited more than three times a day, but he often looked away, not looking directly at the Empress. Every time he looked at the Empress and in the mirror, he felt more and more self-loathing.
The Empress seemed like a glory the Emperor could never attain, making him both miserable and angry. So the Emperor kept seeking others. The Emperor’s bedroom was crowded and messy.
Young women who flattered him, saying he was still young and handsome, came and went. Sometimes delicate men also entered, where he could vent his anger and feel masculine superiority.
“Your Majesty?”
The Emperor, whose mood was thoroughly ruined as he now needed the help of medicine, suddenly stood up staggering, and today’s partner, with a swollen face, carefully called out to the Emperor.
He was afraid the Emperor might hit him again, but the Emperor just casually gestured as if to say don’t bother him and staggered out.
The door quietly opened, and even when the Emperor appeared in an extremely disheveled state, reeking of alcohol and drugs, the knights and servants guarding the door showed no reaction.
The Emperor walked towards where the Empress slept, dragging his robe, with steps so unsteady it made onlookers anxious.
With a thud, he opened the door and, leaning against the wall, staggered inside and yanked open the curtain covering the bed so hard it almost tore. The Empress’s face, with closed eyes, was barely visible.
“You… you vulgar wench…”
The Emperor grabbed the curtain while staggering. There was a ripping sound as the curtain tore a little.
“How dare you lie there protesting while your husband is wide awake…”
His slurred voice rambled on, repeating the same things he always said.
“What can you do by doing this? Always thinking of chasing after other men at every chance, leaving your husband behind…”
Making a strange sound that could have been either laughter or breathlessness, the Emperor mumbled.
“Serves you right. You’re going to die here no matter what. Who do you think you are? You’ll end up here no matter where you go.”
His usual dignified tone of speech was all gone, and his face, half-naked, was flushed red as he giggled.
“Don’t lie there so arrogantly, get up right now. Before I strangle your son’s neck. Even that brat is crawling flat and licking my feet, who do you think you are… Ah, not getting up?”
His voice, hoarse with phlegm, shouted loudly.
“How dare you not obey your heaven-like Emperor for 29 years straight with your head held high! This is nothing short of treason, treason! You dare not age using the wicked magic learned from beasts, only thinking of defiling your body in such a lewd manner, you whore…!”
The Emperor, who had been spewing all sorts of curses and insults with flying spit, gasped in surprise. The Empress’s bright face, lying quietly no matter what he said, faintly faded. Like a ghost becoming transparent, it started to disappear, flickering like light.
“Uh, ugh…!”
It was an impossible sight.
The Emperor’s eyes bulged as he reached out to touch the Empress’s face, but when his hand passed right through her face unable to grasp it, he was shocked almost to the point of fainting. The Empress flickered like light on the bed, gradually becoming transparent.
“He-hey! Someone come in here! Right now!”
Shouting loudly while fumbling at the bed, cold sweat ran down the Emperor’s forehead. Nothing could be grasped, and the Empress was no longer visible. The door opened and servants rushed in.
“Your Majesty, did you call?”
“The, the Empress has disappeared! The Empress has disappeared!”
“Pardon?”
“Call the magicians! Bring Beatrice to the palace! Find the Empress!”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please calm down.”
The Emperor, who was causing a commotion with foam at his mouth, not in his right mind, blinked his bloodshot eyes.
“Calm down? The Empress is missing, I tell you!”
“Your Majesty, the Empress is lying right there. Please look.”
“That’s why I’m saying she disappeared from the bed! Can’t you see?”
“Right now, Your Majesty is holding onto the Empress.”
At the servant’s polite words, the Emperor turned his eyes again. The Empress was lying there normally as usual. The Emperor felt the Empress’s shoulder. It could be touched. She was back in his hands somehow.
“Em-Empress, Empress! Evelyn! Evelyn!”
Whether it was drunken raving or a hallucination from drugs, the Emperor kept calling the Empress’s name.
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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