Belion remained silent at Grace’s words. Smiling, Grace continued.
“To be honest, I was always curious since I saw you in the palace.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You were always alone and didn’t interact with other kids. So, I wanted to talk to you once.”
The Duke’s title played a role, but perhaps due to Belion’s unique atmosphere, not many kids approached him. However, Grace approached Belion.
“Of course, Estelle and Edwin were the same. Everyone had an interest in you. Then, when Estelle suggested going to the Duke’s mansion, I just followed along.”
“…….,”
“Honestly, the journey here was tough, but meeting you like this makes it all worthwhile. I’m really glad.”
Grace brightly smiled. Belion stared blankly at Grace’s face for a moment and then placed his hand over his chest. With a rather complicated expression, he asked, “Do you smile like this in front of others too?”
“Huh?”
“Do you smile to warm up people?”
“?”
In response to Belion’s incomprehensible words, Grace chuckled. At that moment, Estelle’s voice came from below.
“Hey, you two up there! Instead of just staying on the slide, let’s play hide-and-seek! I’ll be the seeker first! Hurry up and hide!”
“Got it! Just a moment!”
Upon Estelle’s shout, Grace stood up from her spot. Then, she took Belion’s hand and gestured with her eyes.
“Come on, let’s hide.”
“…….,”
“Hurry.”
In fact, Belion could have easily shrugged her off. However, he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Belion gazed intently at Grace’s hand holding his and at her back as she ran ahead.
They intended to return as soon as the rain stopped, but the heavy rain didn’t let up, so the three of them had to stay at the Duke’s mansion for a few days.
During this time, Belion naturally ended up playing with the kids.
Initially, Belion stood idly by, but later, he woke up early in the morning and watched over the children’s room. Seeing this, Marion tried to suppress her laughter.
“Ah, we have to leave now.”
However, it didn’t continue raining. After a few days, they gazed at the sky, which had cleared up. Estelle clicked her tongue.
“I wonder how much trouble I’ll get into with father for the mask again.”
“Why are you worried about getting scolded by father all of a sudden?”
Edwin asked, surprised.
“He’s definitely going to ban me from the lab! I hate that more than getting scolded!”
As if imagining something unpleasant, Estelle asked Edwin.
“What about you? Are you okay? Won’t the Marquis scold you?”
“Well, I might get scolded a bit, but if I say I visited the Duke’s mansion, he might actually be pleased.”
“I guess. That makes sense.”
Finally, with the weather clearing up, the four people came out to the garden. Under the warm sunlight, the sight of children gathering together made the passing servants occasionally smile secretly.
“What about you, Grace? Won’t you get scolded?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I already wrote a letter in advance.”
“Well, it probably won’t be a problem that can be solved by writing a letter… Well, the Queen will probably like you a lot.”
Seeming to understand, Estelle shrugged her shoulders and continued.
“Still, it was so much fun for us, right? Coming to the Duke’s mansion, meeting Belion like this. Right?”
“…….,”
“Belion, you shouldn’t ignore us when we meet later. Got it?”
In response to Estelle’s words, Belion nodded slightly. In agreement, Grace also clapped her hands lightly.
“Yeah, right. Now Belion is our friend.”
Edwin joined in.
“Yeah, before that, should we start with the friendship fee? It’s 100 gold.”
“Edwin, you again…!”
“Just kidding.”
When Estelle glared at him, Edwin shrugged his shoulders. Belion silently sat amidst the noisy atmosphere.
However, as if being with them wasn’t so bad, Belion earnestly watched the children, leaning in to listen to the conversation.
“Then, let’s meet again later and play like this.”
Grace clapped her hands as if everything went very well.
“In fact, I borrowed the Duke’s kitchen and made some soup. Let’s commemorate our gathering by eating this.”
“You, Grace? Cooking?”
“Yeah, I like cooking, so I actually made it occasionally even at the palace.”
At the sight of Grace’s cooking for the first time, the three people silently stared at the bowls. After a while, Edwin muttered.
“…The color of the soup is quite unusual.”
Belion, instinctively feeling something dangerous, shrugged his shoulders slightly but didn’t say anything more. Grace then spoke up.
“The color is a bit odd, right? It’s a soup I newly developed. But the taste is fine. Try it once.”
“Yeah! What if the color is a bit strange? This is the first dish Grace made for us. Let’s all eat together.”
Estelle held up her spoon boldly and shouted. Then, Edwin and Belion slowly raised their spoons too.
“Alright, let’s eat to commemorate the day we met Belion! Cheers!”
With Estelle’s words, the garden was filled with the children’s fake retching sounds and screams. The first gathering of the four kids, truly unforgettable, was passing like that.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
Link to read
