As they walked aimlessly, the surroundings were now filled with paulownia tree-lined paths. The paulownia flowers, painted in a delicate color, seemed to blush shyly in the light of the lanterns hanging here and there.
The late summer night, with a growing temperature difference, was chilly, and a cold night breeze blew. Now, when it was expected to wear layered clothes in the evening, Yeonwoo, who hadn’t brought an extra coat for the unexpected night walk, huddled her body.
Watching her quietly, Geon spoke.
“Is it too cold?”
“Yes. The night breeze is quite chilly now.”
At that moment, warmth enveloped Yeonwoo from behind. Unbeknownst to her, Geon spread the hem of his cloak, embraced Yeonwoo tightly, and wrapped her around like a blanket.
Perhaps due to the alcohol, Geon’s body was hotter than usual.
Embarrassed at the sight of Yeonwoo, who seemed flustered, trying to move, Geon firmly held her in his arms.
“Nari! What if someone sees us like this?”
“What if someone sees? Does it matter?”
As Yeonwoo tried to move, Geon tightly enclosed her in his arms.
“There could be unfavorable rumors about Nari!”
“I don’t care.”
No, when did Nari become such an unprepared person?
Lately, Geon’s actions were strange.
Even though Yeonwoo knew that she was not Yeonho, he kissed her and hugged her with a passionate embrace, saying she was his favorite.
Despite passing through the Jang Gapdol incident, Geon even assigned her a significant task.
Even though Yeonwoo knew she wasn’t Yeonho, she reciprocated the kiss and embraced Geon, revealing a hint of affection. Despite overcoming the Glove Stone incident, Geon went as far as assigning her a significant task. The thought that Geon might like her made her flutter with excitement, yet at the same time, a sense of bitterness crept in.
The person Geon likes is a man named Hong Yeonwoo. Since Yeonwoo wasn’t even a man, nothing could be realized between her and Geon. However, whenever Geon approached like this, her heart couldn’t help but beat faster.
As Yeonwoo tried to escape from Geon’s embrace, he pressed his head against her neck with a heavy sigh.
“Hu…”
When Geon’s warm breath reached Yeonwoo, it seemed to tickle her heart. Geon’s body temperature, pushing through her back, warmed Yeonwoo’s body that had cooled in the autumn breeze.
“I imagined for the first time that I could lose you.”
Although Geon was usually serious, today his voice carried an unusual weight.
“It was terrible.”
What happened to Yeonwoo today was also shocking to Geon. Now that Yeonwoo was someone he expected to be with, he couldn’t imagine a life without her. He wanted to catch those who tried to harm Yeonwoo and tear them apart limb from limb. But saving Yeonwoo and punishing those who put her in danger were all accomplished by Biyeong.
Therefore, even though Geon saw Yeonwoo in Biyeong’s arms and heard scolding from Biyeong, he couldn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be by your side.”
“Why are you apologizing, Nari? There’s no reason for you to apologize. You told me not to go alone, but I came out because of me…”
Yeonwoo hadn’t even imagined that Gapdol’s troops would come all the way to Gwangho’s unit. When she turned to say that it wasn’t his fault, Yeonwoo faltered in the face of Geon’s gaze.
In Geon’s black eyes, various emotions were tangled.
Agony, anger, sadness, and more. The whirlpool of complex emotions was an unfamiliar feeling that Geon had never seen in him before.
Just with those emotions, Yeonwoo, who felt choked up by Geon’s overwhelming appearance, spoke.
“Are you bothered by what Instructor Gworyun said?”
“…”
It was a silence that meant affirmative. Geon was truly a man who couldn’t lie.
“You don’t need to be concerned about what Instructor Gworyun said. He and I have known each other for a long time. He probably said that out of concern for me, thinking of me as family.”
At that remark, Geon let out a wry smile.
Would Biyeong really think of her as family? His thoughts seemed different.
Once again, Geon felt that Yeonwoo truly knew nothing.
“And… actually, it’s because of me.”
“Because of you?”
How could this be because of her?
Geon looked at Yeonwoo with a puzzled expression.
“If I had known how to sacrifice myself, today’s incident wouldn’t have happened. Then, both of you wouldn’t have had to worry about me or blush with concern for each other.”
Yeonwoo, considering recent incidents like the Glove Stone incident and the Kim Taeseok incident, believed that if she had been stronger, she could have prevented such events. Living as a soldier in Gwangho’s unit, she anticipated that dangerous situations would continue to arise in the future, but she couldn’t afford to cause worry to those precious to her each time.
To protect herself and avoid causing concern to those around her, Yeonwoo thought she needed to become stronger.
“So, this time, it’s purely because of my weakness…”
At that moment, Geon gently pressed his forehead against Yeonwoo’s.
Then, as if peering into Yeonwoo’s inner thoughts, he spoke in a tender voice.
“I will be the one to protect you. So…”
Through the touching foreheads, warmth was transmitted.
Yeonwoo’s body temperature seemed to rise along with it, and a tingling sensation spread throughout her body.
“Stay by my side.”
Along with Geon’s powerful voice, the sound of crickets crying echoed through the air.
“Do not be apart for even a moment. Do you understand?”
Geon’s deep, abyss-like eyes stared at Yeonwoo.
The confusing emotions from earlier vanished, leaving only a strong determination toward Yeonwoo.
“…Yes, I understand.”
As Yeonwoo responded, Geon tightened his embrace, holding her firmly in his arms.
Geon’s embrace felt like an impregnable fortress protecting Yeonwoo from anything in the world.
Feeling the warm body temperature through the embrace, even Yeonwoo’s heart felt relaxed.
The anxiety that had kept Yeonwoo awake all night had now flown away into the air.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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