“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it sooner. If I have an excuse, I was too disoriented recovering my senses.”
Ophelia examined the significant bruise on Lu’s neck, looking deeply regretful.
“I understand what you’re saying. I feel the same. It’s okay. You saved me.”
Lu spoke softly, but Ophelia glanced at her with an expression that didn’t quite agree with the sentiment.
“It’s not okay.”
“I’m used to getting hurt.”
“Being used to it doesn’t make it okay. It’s not your fault you’re injured.”
Perhaps she wanted to say that last part. Ophelia, who had always felt at fault for her powerlessness, subtly turned away.
“Your Highness, excuse me for a moment.”
At the sound of Ophelia’s shaky voice, Hayden nodded. Touching her face, Ophelia quickly left the room.
Lu understood her. Having both been victimized by Carlos, Lu also wanted to say the same thing to Ophelia. It was nobody’s fault.
However, it was exceedingly difficult not to blame herself when something actually happened to her.
“…We’ll need to treat it with medicine. It will take some time to heal.”
Hayden mumbled as he cautiously examined Lu’s neck. Beside him was a bowl Rodrick had swiftly brought. Warm water sloshed inside it, filled with medicinal herbs.
As Hayden soaked a clean towel in the water and wrung it out, his face remained stern. He never scowled, but something seemed to have angered him.
“Did I overstep?”
“Not at all.”
He firmly shook his head.
“It’s your affair; it’s right for you to intervene.”
Yet Hayden still didn’t relax his expression.
He gently wiped Lu’s neck with the warm towel. Having been scolded by both Ophelia and Hayden for insisting on doing it herself, Lu surrendered and extended her neck.
The hands around her neck exerted no pressure. He treated her very delicately.
“You seem angry.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Looking up at the ceiling, Lu’s eyes met Hayden’s, who was staring straight at her.
“You’re hurt, and I was late.”
Sometimes there’s nothing to say before a too-clear emotion. Especially when that emotion can’t be dismissed as mere loyalty or affection toward a subordinate.
Is this okay?
Lu could confidently say no. Objectively, the man before her was complicated and had many responsibilities.
But right now, she couldn’t bring herself to say the truth. Because to Hayden, that wasn’t the point.
“It’s not your fault, Your Highness.”
It was all she could say.
“No, it is. You’re someone I should be protecting.”
By tomorrow, the dark bruise on her neck would likely turn into a vivid welt. It was clear that her throat was also injured. Hayden gently wiped away the wounds.
“I was targeting the core of the curse.”
“Yes, I felt it too.”
Lu began to nod but hesitated, feeling a sore pain in her neck.
“Don’t move. You’ll need to wear something around your neck for a while.”
After meticulously cleaning the wound, Hayden opened a jar of ointment. His robust chest inflated and deflated, causing his shirt to tighten and loosen repeatedly.
“Tilt your head back.”
Lu tilted her head back. Her long, brown hair fell around her neck.
Carefully brushing her hair aside, Hayden applied the ointment. The skin under his fingertips felt delicate and fragile. Despite being a knight accustomed to the sun and physical exertion, only bound by a curse, she felt that way to him.
“Say something if it hurts.”
“I’m fine.”
Speaking was painful for her throat, but Lu insisted she was fine. Her tone was that of a stern knight, her posture unwavering, her eyes steady. Yet, at the same time, marks on her neck and her slim but tense shoulders caught his eye.
“Be more careful from now on. Now that you’ve thrown your resignation letter in Emperor Kaleta’s face, he won’t leave you alone.”
“…I wish I could defend myself.”
“You will, eventually.”
Lu glanced down at Hayden briefly.
“You won’t get hurt again by just the mere thought of that guy, and if you ever meet him in person, you will be able to slit his throat.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Their gray eyes met.
“I’m not comforting you. It’s a fact.”
“On what basis?”
“The unyielding will of Rustica Gennes you just showed. That’s how you throw a resignation letter. Just so you know, I never want to receive a resignation letter like that from you. Actually, I never want to receive your resignation letter, ever.”
Lu chuckled.
“And I’m also included in that basis. I plan to break any curse on you, no matter what happens.”
Considering that the emperor who drove out Carlos said so, it sounded like a decisive fact.
“Ophelia somewhat lifted your curse, so you can also contribute more. However, it seems you can’t do it today.”
“I can endure it…”
“No. Emperor Kaleta has tampered with your vital points. You’ve had a long enough day.”
With a complicated expression, Hayden looked at the salve applied to her neck once more before standing up.
“You need to eat well and rest.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
Hayden, who was about to carry the basin out despite being the emperor, looked at Lu as if saying, ‘What do you mean?’
“It’s not just concern, Lu.”
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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