Her head thumped, rolling around, her body floundering in a bottomless pit, passing through ornate curtains, landing on a grand bed.
Even after being beheaded dozens of times on the guillotine, waking up beside Eugene was the only dream she had.
That was all it was, yet it was everything. The only thing she was allowed to see in the world that unfolded before her eyes.
This was her life, she was told.
“The execution of Helena Evergail will now commence.”
Execution. To execute. Execution begins. To start. Begins…
The executioner’s voice echoed in her ears. She felt trapped in an endless abyss.
Desperately fighting back, the execution ground flipped over. Instead, a young boy, coughing incessantly, took its place.
‘Basile…? Basile! Basile!’
Helena ran towards him, calling his name almost like a scream. In her dream, she could only see her beloved brother. Reacting to her voice, he slowly turned around.
His eyes were wide open.
“Big sister. Big sister. Why did you do it?”
With eyes as black as the surrounding darkness, he asked her.
“Why didn’t you come to see me? Did you enjoy being alone? Did you like living alone in a big castle? Sister, sister, sister. Why did you do it?”
Helena wanted to cry out that she was sorry, but her voice wouldn’t come out. Her lips seemed sewn shut, refusing to part.
Basile, who kept calling out for his sister, rapidly decayed and melted away, leaving only his skull.
Shouts to kill the witch appeared, grabbing her ankles and dragging her down. A furious giant grabbed her, smashing her down. She rolled back onto the execution platform.
Helpless, there was no escape for her. She was surrounded by enemies, all waiting for her death.
In the midst of this, Helena scraped the floor until her nails came off, praying for the next blade to strike her neck.
She desperately wished for this pain to end, even if it meant death.
But the next thing that struck her wasn’t the glinting blade.
“Helena!”
It was a voice she longed for.
“Helene!”
A voice she missed and yearned to cling to like a lifeline.
“Helena!”
So, she grasped onto it.
Then, as if a book was closed, her vision flipped. Everything that had been surrounding her crumbled down.
Everything.
“Haack, huk…!”
Helena sat up abruptly, gasping for air.
Her heart pounded wildly, her vision was a blur.
The heavy sensation on her body, no longer a dream, made it hard to regain her senses.
She could only grasp at anything she could reach and wail.
No, no, I’m sorry, I did wrong, I did wrong…
Unable to open her eyes, pressed down by fear of what she might see, only gasping breaths laced with screams passed her lips.
Please, I want to die, please, please, I want to die.
In the face of the horrific nightmare, Helena broke down helplessly.
The monster inside her seemed to break through her flesh, tear through her ribs, and burst out, only to devour her alive again. Crunching and chewing.
Stop, it hurts, it hurts so much, it hurts…
All she felt was a piercing pain in her neck, as if someone was stabbing her. Helena grabbed her neck, scratching desperately as if to remove an embedded blade.
Then, someone’s firm hand caught hers.
The large hand pulled her scratching arms away, wrapped around her neck, and finally embraced her tightly, suffocatingly.
Gasping for air and struggling, the arms that held her didn’t budge. Instead, the now-familiar scent enveloped her.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here, Helen.”
He held her tightly, stroking her back like comforting a crying child, repeatedly, many times.
“Nothing can harm you. It’s just a dream that will vanish when you open your eyes. Your reality is here. You are safe.”
His voice was gentle enough to cover that terrible nightmare. He repeatedly kissed her forehead, whispering.
“It’s all okay.”
His low breath poured over her head. The words echoing in her ears felt strange.
What’s okay?
Everything was a mess, so what exactly was okay?
But she was crying. So, she just kept crying, unable to stop as usual.
The tears wouldn’t stop.
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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