Raoul looked around in surprise. The antique patterned wallpaper and warm-colored furniture were all familiar to him.
‘It’s elaborate for a fabricated memory. It seems so real.’
He slowly moved his gaze and was startled by a sobbing sound, quickly crossing the room.
The woman crouched on the bed was definitely Diana.
Raoul climbed onto the bed, looking down at Diana and calling her name.
“Diana?”
Diana silently buried her head in her knees.
It wasn’t that she was pretending not to know, but that Raoul’s existence held no power in her memory.
He placed his hand on her bony shoulder and kissed the top of her head.
As her brittle hair flowed down, her sideways face was revealed.
This was a memory I didn’t have. And the Diana in this memory was so different from the one Raoul knew.
Her once glossy black hair was dull, and her arms and legs revealed under her chemise were as skinny as a skeleton.
The vitality he had last seen a year ago was nowhere to be found.
A startled Raoul looked at her with concern and stroked her thin back.
“What on earth happened? And why are your clothes so thin?”
Diana quietly muttered to herself, not noticing his presence.
“…He really left. He’s gone forever.”
Raoul looked around and asked.
“Who left?”
Diana answered with tears.
Someone very precious to me.
Raoul felt a pang in his chest.
Is there someone else you care about enough to cry over besides me?
If not, the person Diana was looking for was Raoul.
Either way, he didn’t like it. Diana mumbled, exhausted.
“I acted above my station until the very end. How much you must resent me…”
Raoul’s heart clenched at the sorrowful voice.
He stroked her thin back with a transparent hand, denying the repeated self-deprecation in her place.
How could a kind person like you be hated by anyone? That’s impossible.
He turned his head, looking for the person in the memory.
The real Raoul from the memory must be somewhere.
Where are you?
His heart grew more impatient each time Diana repeated her regretful words.
“I wanted to apologize to you one last time… Sob…”
His throat choked up and his chest ached, not knowing what to do.
He followed Diana’s gaze and turned his head towards the terrace.
There was no one beyond the white curtains. Only the gloomy dawn light.
At that moment, Diana, clutching the blanket tightly, let out a loud sob for the first time.
“Sob, waaah.”
“……”
“Goodbye, Raoul. Goodbye, waaah.”
As expected, that’s how it is.
Diana collapsed onto the bed, unleashing a suppressed cry.
“I’m sorry. Goodbye…”
Diana was wishing well for the man who had abandoned her and left.
Raoul stroked her unconscious body as if comforting her, then soon became angry and headed for the terrace.
The owner of this distorted memory was surely observing this situation.
‘…Ha.’
As expected, he saw himself leaning outside the terrace.
‘What are you doing?’
Raoul glared at the man as if urging him, but the large body didn’t budge.
‘Is this supposed to be me?’
He scrutinized the cold face. Raoul knew this expression well. It was the look of being upset about things not going his way. Getting angry at this situation?
This was clearly a manipulated memory. Otherwise, it would be an impossible situation.
The man, sighing deeply, leaped out of the terrace before long. And he dashed to the castle walls in an instant.
Startled by the sound, Diana fell off the bed with a thud!
Raoul hurriedly turned his head. Diana pulled her aching knees and staggered out to the terrace.
Raoul was surprised by her precarious attire, quickly covering her front and looking down at her. Her desperate eyes constantly darted around.
“Why did you come out barefoot?”
His chest felt stuffy. Not being able to hug the crying Diana, not being able to wipe away her tears, it all made him feel suffocated.
Raoul bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, holding back his anger.
“Go back inside. He’s already gone.”
“…It was just the wind.”
“You’ll catch a cold. What if you get sick doing this?”
“I thought you might still be waiting. But that can’t be.”
Just then, a cold wind swirled like a vortex over the terrace.
As the dried leaves danced in a spiral, Raoul frowned as he smelled a strong scent deeply permeating Diana’s body.
Sweet, bitter, and at the same time musty.
It can’t be.
Raoul’s pupils shook violently.
Diana’s retreating back looked painful and miserable.
Rough words spilled out from between his stiffened lips.
That son of a bitch.
The tear stains dried on her cheeks were not from this morning.
It was the result of being tormented all night.
At that moment when Raoul opened his mouth in shock, click! The door behind him opened, revealing an endless world of unconsciousness.
He resisted the pulling force and reached out his hand towards Diana.
Even if this was a nightmare, he couldn’t leave the unhappy Diana behind.
“Come here! Diana!”
But Diana didn’t move an inch. She only chased the remaining warmth on the bed with her half-closed, dry eyes.
“You can’t stay here. Don’t be alone in such an unhappy memory!”
He tried to resist, but it was futile. He sank into the abyss along with the crumbling world. And it was a very long time before he opened his eyes again.
[This is the timeline separator]Ayla was lying on the same bed as the now grown man, sharing her warmth.
“Now that I’m here, don’t worry.”
She had gained the ability to heal Raoul’s wounds and curse when she became a saint this time last year. It was truly fortunate.
The hand that descended over his bare chest reached his firm abdomen. The bumpy scar ran from next to his navel up to his ribs.
She focused on healing with her eyes closed. Of course, there was a bit of a personal motive mixed in.
“I wanted, to see you again. And I wanted to break your curse.”
She looked up at his handsome face, hiding her flushed cheeks under the shared blanket.
His distinctly chiseled jawline was so masculine that her heart kept fluttering uncontrollably.
“You have no idea how much I missed you.”
Her delicate, long fingers touched the sleeping Raoul’s facial features.
Eyes, nose, mouth. She could indulge as much as she wanted under the guise of treatment, but their heartfelt reunion could wait until after Raoul woke up.
“When I left you injured in the snowy mountains, I thought how nice it would be if I gained the ability to heal people.”
She rested her cheek on his firm arm and buried her face deeper into his large embrace, saying,
“So I guess that’s why I became a saint. To save you, just as you saved me.”
Feeling happy with the leisurely beating heart sound, her pretty eyes curved gently.
Perhaps she was much happier now than when she was praised as the hero of the rebels.
Feeling the long-yearned warmth, she wrapped her arms behind his back.
“You’ve been through a lot. I’ll protect you now.”
Ayla, whispering near his heart, closed her eyes comfortably.
It was her first love that she had finally reclaimed.
[This is the timeline separator]Raoul opened his eyes early in the morning after completing his final awakening. At first, he thought this was also part of his memories.
What is it this time?
He saw a wide tent made by weaving animal hides.
And he also felt the hand placed on his chest and the sensation of something wriggling, stuck close to his side.
It was truly strange to feel something.
He had been plagued by terrible memories. Raoul’s misdeeds in those memories didn’t stop there.
Each time a new door opened, a younger and more ruthless Raoul appeared.
The most shocking scene was on a day when the mansion caught fire.
Raoul glared at the soot-blackened Diana and spouted nonsense.
“A-are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Is it okay as long as I’m fine?”
“Huh?”
“Are you saying it’s okay if the girl trapped in the prison dies?”
Diana was startled and made excuses.
“I, I didn’t know there was a girl there. I, I really mean it! I only said that out of spite because you kept avoiding me. I never told on you, and I never chased after you since you got angry. Today, I just heard there was a fire, so I was just worried… I wanted to make sure you were safe…”
“Move, I’ve heard enough.”
The boy coldly rejected her and walked out, pushing her frail shoulders.
Even as Diana fell from the recoil and dragged her aching knees to chase after him, he didn’t look back even once.
Perhaps sensing the atmosphere, Diana just moved her lips without managing to call his name even once and gave up.
As the distance between them grew, Diana’s steps slowed. The child gave up on chasing and mumbled dejectedly.
“I must have made him angry again.”
Raoul wanted to hug the young Diana. But he couldn’t do anything.
He thought this was also an extension of the nightmare.
That this woman squirming in his arms was also part of the nightmare.
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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