He Who Covets the Abandoned Bride (10 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 12
A neat and upright back figure.
When we fled together, we crossed the royal palace, yet unlike me, he still appeared not a single bit disheveled.
Millay, seemingly engaged in some serious conversation with Rilvan, had not yet noticed that Laila had appeared.
However, since they were not yet on close enough terms for her to gladly call out his name, she hesitated, but then Maeve spoke first from beside her.
“Your Excellency, have you returned?”
Only then did Millay and Rilvan turn toward Laila at the same time. Upon spotting her, Rilvan quietly bowed his head and withdrew from the spot.
“I shall return and rest.”
“Very well.”
At the stiff greeting between the two, Laila unconsciously recalled the thought she had just moments ago.
‘Could they have fought because of me?’
Perhaps Rilvan had been insisting that she must be sent back to the palace immediately.
As the heart that had lightened while talking with Maeve was about to grow heavy again, Millay stepped forward and lightly expressed his thanks to Maeve.
“Thank you for looking after things.”
“Not at all, Your Excellency. Shall I take my leave now as well?”
“Do so.”
Maeve led the servants who had been standing at attention behind Rilvan and Millay and headed upstairs.
Laila felt awkward at the thought of being left alone with Millay and watched them disappear. But when Millay spoke, she had no choice but to turn her attention back immediately.
“Shall we go to the room now? Princess.”
As he extended his hand, Laila nodded and placed her own upon it.
A fireplace burned on one side, and thanks to the well-lit lamps throughout the room, the interior was bright.
Millay seemed to have something urgent to discuss; he closed the door, entered, and first seated Laila at the table in the center of the room. Yet it was Laila who spoke first.
“Did your business conclude well?”
She had asked out of worry that something might have gone wrong because of her, and Millay gave a small, reassuring smile.
“Of course. It would not be an exaggeration to say that half of what I needed to accomplish in this country has already progressed.”
Then, as if intentionally trying to keep distance from Laila, he pulled his chair far back before sitting.
Laila interpreted it not as awkwardness but as a signal to put her at ease. With only a man and a woman left in the room, perhaps he was being considerate of that.
“The matter you were handling, could it be…….”
“I was trying to sell the Seventh Prince some very expensive scrap metal that is of little use to me. Of course, that is not the entirety of my plan.”
“I see.”
Even Laila could roughly guess that they were talking about ships.
But what was this additional plan he mentioned?
She was curious, yet she also knew it was not a topic she should inquire about. Millay’s manner of speaking was clearly defensive.
And in truth, there was something far more important they needed to discuss. Laila, extremely nervous about how Millay might react, brought it up.
“I think I must return to the palace now.”
“Why is that?”
Millay replied instantly, without even time to think. Laila met his eyes. For some reason, his attitude suggested that her presence here was not such a big deal.
Having thought there was no need to explain the reason, Laila was slightly flustered when Millay demanded one.
“Tomorrow is the engagement ceremony…… People at the palace will probably be looking for me. Don’t worry, I won’t say that the Marquis brought me out.”
While she spoke, Millay gazed steadily at Laila. It felt somewhat burdensome.
“If I say I ran away in fear and accidentally ended up outside the palace…….”
“Then you plan to go back having taken off your shoes again and completely undone all the laces of your dress?”
She flinched at the sudden question. She had indeed been considering doing exactly as Millay said, so she felt caught.
Seeing Laila lower her gaze and unable to answer, Millay immediately understood what it meant.
“So that was it.”
“Sir Millay, but still.”
She had been about to say that realistically, running away was far too difficult for her, when the sound of a chair being pushed back rang out, and Laila looked up.
Millay, who had been keeping his distance, approached her and extended his hand. Not understanding the meaning of the gesture, Laila blinked, then placed her hand in his.
Millay slowly stepped back, naturally helping Laila to her feet.
“You need not worry; I intended to escort you to the palace tomorrow for the engagement ceremony anyway.”
“Tomorrow?”
He meant they would go once dawn broke. Wouldn’t that be too late?
As she worried about that, Millay nodded and this time lightly tugged at Laila’s hand.
It seemed to ask whether she could not come closer, so when Laila took one more step forward, he smiled with his eyes. It was an exceedingly charming smile.
“That is why I came to help with the engagement preparations. Otherwise, why would I be standing in front of a lady’s room at night?”
“Preparations for the engagement ceremony…….”
The moment Laila let her words trail off, Millay moved to her side and raised the hand he was holding, as though escorting her.
“How fast we should walk when entering together.”
Then he took one step forward, so Laila, taken by surprise, also stepped forward and asked in shock.
“Together, entering?”
Millay gently met the rounded eyes of Laila with affectionate ones of his own.
“Running away is originally something you do from the front, not from behind, because that troubles the other party far more.”
“Pardon? What does that.”
Millay spoke so calmly that if one misheard, it might sound like nothing at all. Yet no matter how one looked at it, it was not nothing.
Unable to continue speaking, Laila simply stared up at him, silently asking what on earth he was thinking.
“I shall return the princess to Wessex.”
Hearing Millay’s words, Laila froze with her mouth agape. In a single sentence, it was no different from saying he would break off the engagement for her.
With his power.
‘Just what is this man’s true identity?’
A mere marquis could not possibly say such a thing so casually.
To break the marriage between a princess and prince of a third nation. Could he be some powerful figure of the empire that I do not know?
Even so, that still exceeds what one could imagine from the position of marquis. If he interfered clumsily, it would undoubtedly escalate into an interstate dispute.
Yet the one who told me he was a marquis was none other than Reynald. Reynald had no reason to lie about this.
Then it might be something he has even hidden from Reynald.
“……Who exactly are you? Could you perhaps be a prince of another country?”
A prince of some great nation. For example, of Fitzroy?
However, the man before her clearly looked different from the First Prince of that place and possessed every characteristic of someone from the Harkin Empire.
Of course, if even that were disguise magic, there would be nothing more to say.
“Did you not hear from the Seventh Prince? I am a marquis of Harkin.”
“…….”
Expecting he would not give a meaningful answer, Laila changed the question.
“Then was the proposal just now out of pity for me?”
“……Pity, you say.”
Millay narrowed his eyes, savoring the word she had chosen. The gaze he directed down at Laila suddenly deepened.
Discovering that the focus of his blue eyes had blurred, Laila felt she somewhat understood what emotion it was.
Longing.
She was not sure toward whom, but just as she occasionally saw Adrian overlapping with him, it seemed he too was overlapping someone onto her.
Otherwise, the situation and his expression made no sense.
Yet Millay’s lips calmly recited a lie.
“Unfortunately, I am not so idle as to feel pity watching someone else cry.”
“Then are you perhaps seeing someone else in me?”
“That could never be. How could I dare compare the princess to anyone. I am merely…….”
While speaking, Millay pulled Laila’s slender waist toward him and embraced it. In an instant, the distance between them vanished.
“Perhaps I simply wished to practice dancing.”
“Sir…….”
In a serious situation, it was a humorless joke.
Laila even felt deflated, but the other party apparently did not. Moreover, Millay pretended to be perfectly serious.
“If we enter the engagement hall together in front of everyone and I then take the princess’s hand and run away, people might even applaud the scandal unfolding before their eyes.”
“I dislike such lowbrow jokes. As expected, this is not where I should be, so please let me go now.”
Before something bigger happens.
In truth, Laila did not want him to get hurt and entangled because of her.
Yet Millay instead brought his face even closer and gently seized Laila’s chin with a strong hand, pulling it toward himself.
“What if it is not a joke? If I could truly make you escape.”
“…….”
“Would you trust me and follow?”
As their breathing began to overlap, Laila’s pupils shook greatly. His face was too, truly excessively…… close.
“You, just what kind of person…….”
The words she tried to say in place of an answer were cut off.
By a strong force, Laila’s body was abruptly pulled forward.
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
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