“…….”
I breathed out evenly to calm myself.
“I don’t want to introduce to my children an uncle who is not honorable due to having dealt with dirty money.”
“Lieselotte…?”
I’m not trying to forgive him. Nor am I saying he’s a good person.
“Settle it before summer comes. Even if you become penniless as a result, even if you face retaliation, if there’s no lie in your words that you care for me and still consider me family…”
I just wanted to advise him to make his stance clear.
“You’ll need to show me your determination to go back to the beginning.”
Only then can I be certain whether he’s on my side or not and decide my attitude.
It’s difficult to mend a relationship that has been broken once.
…Wait a moment.
‘What is this?’
It was when I had just finished talking with Nergal and was leaning deeply into the cushion to start the carriage.
With a rustling sound, a piece of paper crumpled in my hand.
Since when had I been holding something in my hand?
Only when I opened my palm did I finally understand what had happened.
‘Lord Joseph’s handwriting…’
There was no way I couldn’t recognize it. Finally, the person who had been avoiding me for days had taken action.
A sigh of relief poured out. I had been worried about it all this time anyway.
So…
‘He wants to talk this evening?’
Filled only with thoughts of relief, I didn’t anticipate at all at that moment.
What kind of trouble Lord Joseph was planning to cause by sending such a meaningful note.
[This is the timeline separator]Joseph’s condition was quite poor due to not having had physical contact with Lieselotte for several days.
It was because of the headache.
Of course, for Joseph, who had been suffering from Chronomancy’s headaches continuously for thousands of years, this level of pain wasn’t something to make a fuss about.
Especially with still about two years left until thirty. Objectively, it wasn’t enough for the pain to turn into madness.
But perhaps because the period of stability had been long recently?
Even slight pain irritated Joseph.
‘If only I could turn off the sensation, it would be good.’
This damned pain of Chronomancy seemed as if it was engraved on the soul.
No matter what magic was used, it could never be erased.
‘Ah, really just for a moment…’
If only he could touch Lieselotte for just a very brief moment.
‘Then I could forget this pain for a while.’
It was still during the time when he was staying at Landgritz Castle.
Since that day, Joseph had been standing nailed in front of Lieselotte’s room every night.
The image of Lieselotte sleeping flickered before his eyes.
Especially because he knew that when she was asleep, he could suppress this terrible pain by rubbing his face against her body temperature without anyone knowing…
‘…What am I thinking.’
However, over the past few days, Joseph’s reason made him turn back his steps right in front of Lieselotte’s room.
It’s not difficult to intrude into her room while she’s sleeping. But dealing with the aftermath is not an easy task.
First of all, there was the point of becoming a scoundrel who invades a sleeping lady’s room.
‘It seems odd to be so concerned about such things at a time like this, but.’
It is precisely at times like this that one can maintain one’s own morality. Because reason is still functioning.
Moreover, now the time that such light contact could suppress the pain was not very long.
About half a day perhaps?
In other words, it’s not efficient enough to give up one’s principles and take risks.
But the most important thing wasn’t that aspect.
What Joseph was worried about was the situation where he might end up having a conversation with her.
‘What if Lieselotte tries to persuade me, saying she wants to marry Lord Sergei…?’
What if she says she wants to officially marry Sergei and give me a separate cottage to keep as a lover?
“……”
Just thinking about it froze his head with a chill starting from somewhere in his heart that he couldn’t pinpoint.
What he disliked most was that Joseph had no right to object to Lieselotte’s decision.
Hadn’t he told her from the beginning? That he didn’t want a love game.
Yes. What Joseph wanted was just the right to kiss her body while being by Lieselotte’s side.
Marriage was just a means for that. After all, she had no intention of marrying someone else.
But the situation had changed.
Another person appeared who could sit next to her without coveting the duke’s position.
Moreover, someone who deeply loved her and could give the same affection to her children.
‘…He’s also someone who willingly sacrificed himself for the children.’
That was the reason Lieselotte had been paying attention to Sergei recently.
Trying to get the magic ointment, caring about Sergei’s lost left eye.
Of course, it was Joseph who rescued the children from that fire scene. But come to think of it, he had something to rely on at that time.
He was a magician, and if necessary, he could use Chronomancy.
He had nothing to lose. He was confident of success. He thought he would gain Lieselotte’s trust in return.
But Sergei wasn’t like that.
He genuinely thought and acted as if he should save Kardiel even if it cost him his life.
As a result, he lost his left eye, but not once did he show despair over what he had lost.
In fact, he didn’t seem to feel very resentful about it.
He was just grateful that he could save Kardiel at the cost of his left eye.
His sacrifice stemmed from noble love, and he didn’t expect any reward for it.
When considered coldly, the person who could make Lieselotte happy is…
‘Lord Sergei is right.’
But that’s that, and this is this.
No matter how logical the reasons given, the current Joseph could not accept Lieselotte marrying someone other than himself.
What can he do? He already needed her not just as a means of survival as the successor of Chronomancy, but for survival in a different sense.
A lover?
No, that’s ridiculous.
Becoming a lover meant that he would forever be someone’s substitute.
It also meant having to share the woman he loves with another man.
Just imagining it made him want to kill Sergei right away.
If he used magic, he could assassinate him without leaving any evidence, without anyone knowing…
‘No, let’s not lose reason to that extent.’
Joseph sighed and interlaced his anxious fingers.
What was fortunate was Lieselotte’s consideration.
When he avoided the two of them for a while, she had Loretta leave a letter in his room.
Nothing will be resolved by avoiding us. But I understand that Lord Joseph also needs some time to organize his thoughts.
I will prepare a separate carriage for your return, so please let me know when you’re ready. But if the pain gets severe, you can come find me anytime, regardless of that.
I still remember our vow.
The promise that she would never abandon Joseph no matter what happened.
That short letter was quite comforting. But conversely, it could also be read as meaning she would take him as a lover.
He wanted to live, and he wanted to have her.
He wanted to live while having her.
Because she was his everything.
‘Isn’t there a way?’
To make her look only at him…
It was then that one ingenious idea occurred to Joseph after much deliberation.
[This is the timeline separator]The legacy of Landgritz… no, the legacy of the Mage Emperor was truly a treasure more valuable than gold.
At least to Sergei.
Recently, with Lieselotte’s permission, he had been diligently moving his pen while thoroughly reading the records of the Chronos dynasty.
And such work continued even now as he rode in the carriage.
It wasn’t that he was translating.
The language of the Mage era was already as familiar to him as his mother tongue, so it was closer to transcribing only the phrases he thought were important.
Even with just that, an enormous amount of transcripts had already been completed.
At this rate, they might need to get another cart of luggage during the fortnight’s journey to Daiern.
‘This is really an interesting part. To think the Chronos dynasty valued family bonds more than biological lineage.’
In particular, the records of the Chronos dynasty were of quite high quality.
They were full of information that even Sergei, who had majored in Mage studies for 10 years at the Tower of Honor, was encountering for the first time.
Especially the secrets of the Mage Emperor and the Chronos dynasty that had been shrouded in mystery.
‘But even if they couldn’t inherit Chronomancy, the direct line of the Chronos dynasty could handle time magic?’
What could that mean?
Such curiosity-stimulating records made Sergei’s scholar’s heart swell with excitement.
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.
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