He Who Covets the Abandoned Bride - Chapter 16

Afterwards, Layla and Millay shared their plans for tomorrow and practiced what to do. When they danced together in the room, seemingly intending to take a short break, Layla felt her face burning with embarrassment.

The thick, strong arms supporting her waist and the hands gently clasping hers so as not to hurt. After turning while softly humming a tune nonchalantly, they awkwardly smiled at each other.

During this time, Layla became increasingly curious about his true identity.

And she also wondered if this might be a dream. It was truly like a fairy tale unfolding. Why, wasn’t it common in old stories? A gallant knight or prince rescuing a princess in distress.

Millay felt like such a person.

The ‘savior’ she had thought of when she first saw him.

‘Everything feels like a fantasy.’

Layla, who had returned to her assigned room after a few hours, lay on the bed unable to close her eyes, her mind filled with such thoughts.

As they danced together, taking steps in front of the crackling fireplace, she even had the illusion that her reality of being engaged to Reynold was a dream, and that Millay might actually be the prince she would spend her life with.

The room’s temperature was as warm as her mother’s embrace, and the pillow she rested on was so soft.

Moreover, whether it was her imagination or not, there was a pleasant scent from the bed. It seemed to be the lingering scent of someone who had used this room.

She had been told that the room was hastily vacated for her. This meant that until just a few hours ago, someone else had been using this room.

‘Then they must have been driven out because of me…’

A belated feeling of guilt washed over her, but Layla, who had had an unusually long day, couldn’t get out of bed again.

She would be leaving this place tomorrow anyway.

Just one day should be fine.

If everything really happens as Millay said tomorrow, tonight might be remembered as the most fantastic night.

So if all this was a dream, an illusion, she vaguely thought it would be fine if she never woke up from it.

Afterwards, Layla gradually fell into real sleep, and a nightmare that weighed heavily on her body came to her.

It was as expected. Not long after Layla returned to her room, Lilburn, who was thought to be resting, barged into Adrian’s study as if he had been waiting.

“So this was your intention from the beginning?”

A sharp voice from behind. Rarely, there was even a hint of anger in it. His irritation had started from the moment Layla appeared in front of this mansion in a carriage without any warning.

Adrian, who was in the middle of taking off his uncomfortable clothes to prepare for bed, glanced at him and initially made a distracting comment to scatter his attention.

“I thought I’d have to sleep like this, but you came at a good time. My body feels stiff, so remove this transformation spell.”

“…”

“What are you doing?”

When Lilburn remained motionless with his brows deeply furrowed, Adrian added another word to urge him. Only then did Lilburn approach Adrian, who was lying askew on the sofa, and remove the traces of transformation on his body.

Adrian’s true appearance, with vivid purple eyes, returned. Lilburn, looking down at Adrian, who looked so handsome it was chilling even to another man’s eyes, let out a small sigh.

“Now answer me, Your Highness.”

Adrian then gestured towards the door with his chin and said one thing.

“You’re careless, Lilburn. The door isn’t properly closed, what if Layla comes in and sees?”

“What? I’m sure I closed it properly…”

Lilburn turned around in surprise, only to find the door tightly closed.

“…”

Lilburn realized he had fallen for one of his lies again, which he did almost as naturally as breathing, and his expression cooled.

It was a trick Adrian played routinely whenever he thought Lilburn might have forgotten, but it irritated him to feel like a fool for falling for it every time.

Feeling heat bubbling up in his forehead, he sat down opposite Adrian.

“You seemed to enjoy dancing with the Wessex princess, I hope you’re not planning to say this wasn’t your intention all along?”

“You even peeped at that?”

“You seem to have forgotten that my room is right below Your Highness’s study.”

“I remember. You must have had trouble sleeping because of the footsteps.”

Every single word lacked sincerity. Watching Adrian respond indifferently, Lilburn sighed and continued in a serious tone.

“So, why did you give up your own room?”

At this, Adrian, who had been half-hearted throughout, unexpectedly stared at Lilburn. But Lilburn, undeterred by his deep gaze, merely raised an eyebrow once to urge him on. Finally, Adrian admitted frankly.

“…Because the empty rooms are cold, and I couldn’t leave a fragile person alone in such a place.”

As he answered, Adrian recalled a scene that flashed through his mind. The image of young Layla, trying hard to hold back her tears but eventually letting them fall.

Seeing her cheeks wet with tears and flushed with fever, Adrian had resolved never to make her cry.

Of course, now he thought that such a resolution had been terribly wrong. He realized that such a passive and complacent attitude couldn’t protect Layla.

As Adrian’s mood plummeted sharply, he secretly took a deep breath, but the tactless Lilburn brought up a sensitive topic.

“So what do you plan to do with that princess?”

“…Send her back to Wessex. And then formally submit a marriage proposal.”

That had been the plan so far, at least.

However, with Isabella unexpectedly involving Wessex in the process of usurping the Fitzroy throne, the situation was likely to become much more complicated than he had anticipated.

He might need to adjust his plans slightly depending on the timing, but with the current lack of information at hand, it was difficult to modify the plan yet.

But unaware of these complex inner thoughts, Lilburn brought up the issue that had been subtly poking at Adrian’s mind.

“A marriage proposal? Do you think His Majesty will so readily allow that?”

Faced with this spot-on question, Adrian fell silent for a moment.

That was, indeed, the case.

To Hankin, Wessex was a nation of traitors. Even after becoming independent as a kingdom from being one of the empire’s five ducal families leading a duchy, they did many things to disregard Hankin.

To be honest, for the past few years, there were quite a few instances where it wouldn’t have seemed strange if Hankin suddenly invaded and occupied them one day.

Until now, it was Adrian himself who had been preventing that, and because of this, he was subjected to ridiculous treatments like studying abroad and such from the emperor every time.

Still, considering it as a ‘punishment’ for defying his father, it was quite a cute one, so Adrian willingly endured it.

But Adrian knew well. That the emperor of Hankin was a man who would die for his son.

Since there was no one more suitable as the next emperor candidate than himself anyway, the situation had now come to where his father would have to back down if he insisted. He too had grown quite old, unable to overcome the power of time.

“If he doesn’t permit it, I’ll pretend to be sick and dying. Then he’ll have no choice but to allow it, won’t he? It’s true that I need ‘Wessex’ now.”

It would be better if Layla awakens as a mediator by then, but even if she doesn’t, Adrian was thinking of pushing through this time.

But suddenly, Lilburn tightly closed his mouth and looked at Adrian with a displeased expression.

Feeling uncomfortable with the gaze directed at him, Adrian slightly furrowed his brow.

“Lilburn, why are you making that face?”

“…Just a moment.”

Instead of answering the question, Lilburn suddenly stood up and picked up the lamp placed on the office desk and brought it over.

As he brightly illuminated the face of Adrian, who was lying casually on the sofa, Adrian frowned.

“What insolent behavior is this?”

Narrowing his eyes and looking at him, Lilburn blurted out a word.

“Excuse me, Your Highness.”

And then he did something to Adrian that was only possible because he was his aide. His large, rough hand pressed down on Adrian’s stomach as he lay there.

“Hiss…!”

Adrian, who was already barely holding on, felt a pain as if being sliced by a knife from the pressure he applied, and let out a groan between his teeth.

Although the action itself was rude, in fact, Lilburn’s hand didn’t press that strongly. Perhaps if it had been the usual Adrian, that is, if his body had been even a little better, he would have endured it lightly.

But not now. Unable to bear the pain, Adrian soon gasped, scratching the back of the sofa with his hand.

Confirming this alarming reaction, Lilburn’s expression froze coldly.

Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.

The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…

Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.

Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.

The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”

When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…

The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced