How To Choose A Knight (28 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
Jade woke up coughing.
“Achoo! Oh, uh….”
Somehow, she was in a familiar place, under a familiar ceiling. It was the same spot she’d woken up in on the first day after hearing about the Athanase Forest and passing out.
She turned her head toward the fireplace, and something dropped onto her forehead with a soft thud.
“What, what is this…?”
Why am I here?
“You’re awake.”
Rolling her eyes at that flat voice, she saw Axel standing with his arms crossed. He tilted his head slightly, looking unusually tired.
“Do you remember?”
“Remember what?”
Bewildered, she tried to sit up but instantly felt dizzy.
Groaning, she clutched her forehead—only for Axel to stride over and shove her supporting arm aside. Jade’s head sank back onto the soft sofa with a thump.
“What’s wrong with you…! Is it morning? Have the roosters crowed yet?”
“Yes. They have.”
“No way. I’ve got things to do!”
She’d left a potion behind that degraded and lost potency when exposed to light. Since it wasn’t finished yet, she needed to work on it some more.
Jade tried to get up again, but this time her forehead was pushed back down, leaving her no choice but to lie still.
“What are you even doing!”
She let out a faint, irritated grumble, but Axel just gave her a look full of disdain.
“Jade.”
“Huh… what?”
Her mouth, ready to snap again, froze mid-sentence. Wait—did he just call me by my name?
“What did you say?”
“I’m the one who owns this house, so today you’ll do as I say. You had a high fever all night long. So stop rushing around like a fool and just relax by the fireplace. I’ve already fetched water this morning, and Oli said her place is free, so you’ve got nothing urgent to handle.”
“W-wait. Didn’t you just call me Jade?”
The man’s expression, calmly listing off reasons, made Jade wonder if her ears were playing tricks on her.
Despite having grown somewhat closer lately, he’d always referred to her as “hey,” “you,” “sorceress,” or similar—so hearing her actual name left her flustered.
What’s going on? Why does he say it so calmly, as if he’s never once used it before?
“Got a problem with it?”
“No, it’s not that….”
“Good. Just one thing: don’t go dashing around in the cold wind again.”
His glare was sharp, silently warning her that a frail sorceress like her shouldn’t act recklessly. Jade, who’d insisted rather loudly the day before that she was healthier than most other mages, now felt awkward.
“O-okay.”
Now she noticed the thing that had fallen on her forehead was a damp cloth, half-dried already. She vaguely recalled feeling feverish and exhausted right before falling asleep—it was clearly from pushing herself too hard lately.
He’d fetched her from the lakeside, rescued her from monsters, and now even nursed her through a fever?
She had no defense—no matter how many excuses she might make. Even if it was all part of adapting to the forest, this had to be the umpteenth misstep.
So Jade spoke sincerely.
“Thank you.”
Hmm… on second thought, she realized she shouldn’t miss this chance to be addressed by her name properly. She quickly added,
“Thank you, Axel. For staying up and taking care of me. Ever since I brought that useless lump into your house, your days have gotten awfully busy.”
Jade managed a weak smile with her still-thin face. Axel grumbled in reply.
“I didn’t stay up all night. You clearly got better by dawn.”
“Wouldn’t I have felt even more grateful if you’d just said you did?”
“That’s not needed. Just lie there uselessly for once, Jade Brown.”
His tone remained as blunt as ever, but his eyes were noticeably gentler than usual—holding a faint, barely perceptible trace of worry. For just a moment, Jade regretted not revealing her real name.
It would’ve been so much better if he’d called her Jade Broen.
She felt touched. She knew full well emotions weren’t always reciprocated—but since she’d been the one closing the distance, she never expected him to meet her halfway. She’d always sensed a deliberate line he’d drawn between them.
Yet, just overnight, that line had blurred—so much so that his voice calling her “Jade” now sounded completely ordinary.
While Jade was lost in her own emotions, Axel had already turned away. She called out to his retreating back once more.
“Thank you, Axel!”
“You don’t need to say that. Just laze around. If you get sick again, there’ll be no saving you this time.”
Jade smiled. She hadn’t seen his expression, but the fact that he hadn’t turned back in annoyance was enough.
Having exhausted all her energy just from waking up and talking with Axel, Jade drifted off to sleep again.
Sleeping on the sofa turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. The crackling of burning logs and the quiet clinking of someone moving about nearby lulled her into a strange sense of calm.
It felt like even if she had a nightmare, she’d wake up right away.
She wanted to ask if they’d go hunting today, but her body, sinking deeper into slumber, couldn’t even twitch a finger. She only felt the blanket, which she’d kicked off, gently settle back over her chest.
Jade woke again as dusk fell, fully recovered.
“I’m cured!”
Axel stared at her with a pitying look. No matter how brightly she declared it, her once softly rounded cheeks were now hollow again—only her eyes looked large.
“You sure?”
“Of course! Wait, has the sun already set? Anyway, I had the best dream—I saw a fairy in the Florencio Forest. Have you heard the old saying that meeting a fairy in a dream brings good luck?”
“Guess you’ll be stumbling upon some extraordinary weed tomorrow, then.”
“It’s not a weed!”
Suddenly remembering her potion pot, she scrambled toward the fireplace like she was rolling—only to find the pot bone-dry, its contents scorched black onto the metal surface.
“No!”
She spotted Axel—the clear culprit—pretending not to hear, but she couldn’t scold him. He’d obviously turned up the fire because she’d been shivering with fever.
He just hadn’t taken the pot off in time.
“Ugh….”
As she lamented, pounding the floor, Oli arrived with both hands full.
“Oh dear, weren’t you supposed to be resting?”
“Yes. I had a bit of a fever—I guess I underestimated the forest’s chill.”
“After coming by every day and then suddenly disappearing, I started feeling oddly lonely. Even the chickens must’ve missed you. Here, I’ve brought stew. I also brought wheat bread kept cool, and this joint medicine—just as thanks!”
The three of them sat around the table, chatting idly and pointlessly through dinner.
Oli kept the conversation lively with small topics, while Axel, though expressionless, chimed in reliably, leaving no moment of silence.
“It’s strange—you hate everything so much, yet you still cook.”
“Better than recklessly running around with too much passion and ending up sick, right, Jade?”
“Are you mocking me right now…?”
“You’re awfully sharp.”
Though there were only three of them, the room felt unusually bustling.
Jade hadn’t enjoyed such a peaceful, warm dinner in a very, very long time—so she laughed more freely than ever before.
That night, no nightmare dared disturb her sleep.
[This is the timeline separator]“Oh, my goodness.”
In a secluded room of Broen Manor, Bernard cried out, tugging at his long, unkempt beard.
“What on earth is going on!”
Mori sighed and tossed a scrap of paper at him.
“It hasn’t even been two months yet, and they’re already talking about funerals? I’m certain this is Felix Broen’s doing.”
“No one here is unaware of that. But for someone within the family to side with him—don’t they feel any shame at all?”
“Probably some fool angry about losing the bribes he got thanks to Lady Jade. After searching for two months, he might think they’ve saved enough face already.”
“Two months? It’s only been a month and a half.”
Bernard muttered a pointless objection and slumped to the floor. Only bleak silence filled the room. Mori blew a few stray strands of hair off his forehead.
After a long silence, Bernard adjusted his greasy hair and muttered,
“We should contact Countess Snowden first.”
“Spread rumors, you mean?”
“Yes. The family’s sole heir has vanished, yet no proper search has been conducted. The mage who transported Lady Jade suddenly died too.”
“That sounds awfully suspicious just hearing it.”
“Exactly. If Countess Snowden—who dominates noble society—speaks up, rumors will spread, and their recklessness will stand out plainly. She’s always held Lady Jade in high regard, so she’ll surely help.”
“Guess the Broen family’s disgrace will become public. But well… Lady Jade would just laugh it off as the truth. And then?”
“I heard the third son of the Milton family was appointed as one of His Majesty’s attendants. The eldest, Sage Milton, used to exchange letters with Lady Jade about magical studies and even visited her a few times for conversation.”
Mori frowned slightly.
“Bernard, I see what you’re after. But do you really think His Majesty will aid Lady Jade?”
Mori Abbers, the Broen family’s financial officer, liked to quantify human relationships in numbers—but no matter how he calculated it, this situation defied accounting.
The king and the Broen heir. Jade Broen had clearly been a valuable chess piece to the king—but now, possibly dead, would he still honor that bond?
Bernard sighed.
“I don’t know either. But Felix Broen, despite his violent behavior, is dreadfully cowardly—he’ll panic over even a meaningless word from His Majesty. That’s the only opening we have.”
“Fair enough. It won’t hurt to try—even if Felix tries to kill us.”
“We can handle that much… for Lady Jade’s sake.”
At that look which asked, “Isn’t that right?” Mori chuckled quietly.
“Of course.”
Those whom Jade had personally saved and trained with her own money were always ready to act for her.
“Alright, first I’ll send Marieen—”
“Excuse me.”
At the sudden voice, both men jumped in alarm, knocking over documents and chairs—their enthusiasm had dulled their caution.
“W-who’s there?”
Turning around in clumsy haste, they saw a slender young woman squeezing hastily through the doorway, staring at them.
Bernard murmured with a sigh.
“Miss Ascela.”
It was Ascela Broen, Felix Broen’s daughter. Her face was pale, and today her eyes were unusually wide.
Naturally someone they should distrust, so Mori rose gently and forced a smile.
“What brings you here? I was just visiting Bernard briefly about accounting matters—nothing else—”
“T-the teleportation mage. Find the teleportation mage.”
Her words spilled out abruptly, without context—but Bernard and Mori understood immediately.
They exchanged a brief glance. Then Bernard replied softly to Ascela,
“You must mean the mage who transported Lady Jade? That mage was already found dead.”
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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Chapter Comments (13)
Inline Comments (64)
If only I’d had the chance to say a proper goodbye—to tidy things up—would it ha
I have a feeling in this chapter, he too will realize his feelings- or come to be mad at Jade
Before those behind could stop him, the young man gulped down the plain water fr
Hhahahah your brother must love you a lot~~ he’s probably gonna reunite you with Jade
“A handsome man with a good body.”
Hahah looks like someone is getting an entertaining sister in law hehheh
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I feel like Axel must of royal bloodline. Jade is so cute! They are gonna be so cute together
How come the comments are showing up every chapter? I thought the comment would only show up on the chapter you commented on?
How come the comments are showing up every chapter? I thought the comment would only show up on the chapter you commented on?