“You can resent me. Hate me. You can pay me back for all the cruel things I’ve done to you. But do it while staying by my side. Don’t go anywhere, just stay by my side. I’ll spend my life making it up to you.”

Seo Ah hugged Ha Joon even tighter. She had not realized he cared for and liked her to this extent.

Then, a thought suddenly struck her, and she pulled away.

“Sob. Oppa, then… even six years ago, on Valentine’s Day…”

Seo Ah hesitated, realizing she might have said too much as Yeonsook had asked her not to tell Ha Joon.

“That was actually… I heard it from your aunt. Please don’t tell her. I asked her, and she had to tell me.”

“I knew about it. The lost one.”

Seo Ah nodded, sobbing.

“That’s when the rivalry began. I was…”

Ha Joon dropped his gaze and continued with difficulty.

“I was incompetent, and it got lost. I’m sorry.”

“You were young back then, Oppa. How could you have done anything when the adults had decided to do it?”

Ha Joon met her eyes again.

What Seok-hoon always said felt different coming from Seo Ah herself.

Still, he wished he could have kept the chocolate she gave him; she would have been happier.

“Was there more rivalry I didn’t know about? How much of a burden have you been carrying alone, Oppa? You’re only twenty-seven…”

As thick tears ran down Seo Ah’s cheeks, Ha Joon cupped her face with his large hands and wiped them away.

“You don’t need to worry about that. Just live happily doing what you want by my side. I’ll make sure of it.”

Seo Ah shook her head vigorously.

Her brimming eyes spilled tears.

“I hate seeing you suffer alone, Oppa. Please tell me. What has been happening all this time?”

Every time a tear fell from her clear eyes, Ha Joon’s heart crumbled.

“I’m not suffering. I’m so happy right now. Because you’re here with me.”

Seo Ah hugged his neck and started crying profusely again.

“You’ve suffered a lot because of me. I’m sorry for speaking up too late.”

As Ha Joon hugged her tightly and stroked her back, Seo Ah struggled to control her surging emotions, her lips quivering.

“Sob, no. It’s true I was lacking. If you hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t have grown this much. I would have just embarrassed myself at the alumni night, or maybe even harbored bad feelings because I was too scared to stand proudly by your side.”

Ha Joon’s eyes also moistened. Instead of blaming him, she was acknowledging that he was right.

Perhaps she had become stronger than he thought. Maybe she was always a strong woman.
“I’m so happy right now to be by your side, Oppa. I was so delighted when you rushed the marriage, feeling like you truly recognized me. Watching you change little by little after the marriage brought me joy. And when you told me you liked me at the amusement park, I was so happy, it felt like a dream. But today… since you were thirteen… it’s hard to believe. I’m scared it’s all just a dream.”

“Don’t be afraid. It’s not a dream. I’ll make you even happier in the future.”

Ha Joon held back his words. He couldn’t tell her about Young-ju being a dangerous person and that worse things might happen in the future.

It was all on him to stop. Now that the outline of the situation was clear, only delving deeper was left.

[Star Icon]

At that time, Young-ju lay on her bed, her heart lightened after finding a way to pull strings without dirtying her hands.

There seemed to be nothing money couldn’t do. That’s why she had no choice but to chase it.

Thinking too much, she quickly fell asleep.

And she dreamt.

It was the day she first met Seo Ah.

When Seo Ah visited her while she was recovering in the VIP room after surgery.

[Dash] Hi, unnie. I’m Han Seo Ah.

[Dash] ……Hello.

[Dash] Thank you. For saving me. It must have hurt a lot. Don’t worry, my parents will make sure you don’t suffer. I’ll stay by your side so you won’t be lonely.

After that, Seo Ah visited the hospital room every day.

Each time she came, she brought something with her – snacks, cute accessories, dolls, and more.

To Seo Ah, they were small gifts, but to Young-ju, an orphan, they were treasures she’d never had before.

It was amazing and enviable that a fifteen-year-old girl could buy anything.

It must be nice to be born into a good home with loving parents.

At first, Young-ju felt inferior, but gradually, she was drawn to the pure and innocent Seo Ah.

Many from wealthy families came to the orphanage for volunteer work, but most seemed insincere.

In reality, they were kind upfront but complained and cursed when unseen.

But Seo Ah was different. She was the same person through and through.

Despite being well-dressed, she was just a normal fifteen-year-old girl, not much different from the other kids at the orphanage.

Even her appearance wasn’t that flashy compared to other wealthy children.

[Dash] Unnie, when will you call me Seo Ah?

[Dash] ……Later. I’m comfortable this way.

[Dash] Tsk… Promise you’ll call me that later, okay?

Seo Ah smiled brightly, extending her arm with a cute little pinky finger.

As Young-ju hesitated and then reached out her hand,

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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