Heaven, who had answered naturally, hastily stepped away from the door when he was surprised.
“Oh, you’ve come. Hwanghu Mama.”
“Yeah, thanks. You were watching over Leudelro, huh?”
“I felt like he might cry and run out… Um! It’s surprising.”
Heaven, who answered casually, seemed not to have realized how concentrated he was.
“Immediately, he seemed like he was about to cry and ran over. Rather than saying I protected him… Yes, well, I did protect him.”
Awkwardly scratching his head, Heaven smiled with that awkward expression.
“Then, from now on, Heaven will stay with Shasha?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll go see Leudelro. Heaven, watch over Shasha.”
“If I’m with Shasha, that’s fine, but…”
“Shasha is in another room with Heaven. Got it?”
Upon hearing that, Shasha pursed her lips.
“Why am I always left out? I want to go to Leudelro too.”
“Shasha, you don’t want to show your weak side to your friends. No, not just friends, but to others too.”
“…”
“And maybe Leudelro doesn’t want to show such things to others right now. So, let’s wait until Leudelro comes out on his own. Leudelro likes Shasha more than anyone else, so he wouldn’t want to be caught by Shasha, who is like that.”
However, Shasha vehemently shook her head.
“No. Leudelro likes Unni the most!”
“Hmm…? Really?”
“But… I understand what’s in Unni’s heart. Pigs have a strong sense of pride. I get it. I wouldn’t want my friends to see that either, or even other people.”
“Our Shasha has grown up.”
“Yeah! Then tell me. Say you want to see him quickly.”
Shasha, who had been pondering, nodded her head as if she had let go of her thoughts.
“Okay. Then Shasha will play with Heaven, alright?”
“Yeah! To relieve Heaven’s pig-like mood, I’ll pick some flowers and bring them!”
Shasha grabbed Heaven’s hand with a bright smile. Heaven’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden grab. The child’s face had turned red, as if embarrassed.
“Let’s go, Heaven.”
“Uh, yeah…!”
Heaven, who had hesitated for a moment, soon smiled brightly and followed Shasha, distancing themselves from this place. Watching that scene, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Leudelro, Mom. Can I come in?”
There was no reason to refuse to come in. Should I open the door hesitantly, or perhaps my actions like that would make Leudelro sadder, and I was contemplating this when I heard Leudelro’s unexpected easy answer.
“Yes… Come in.”
Surprisingly, Leudelro answered easily.
Without hesitation, my hand, which had been pondering whether to open the door or not, twisted the doorknob. Thanks to that, I could see Leudelro, who had been sitting by the window with his head deeply bowed.
“Leudelro.”
I wondered if he might be crying, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Instead, the child was looking at me with an awkward expression.
“I’m sorry. You were surprised because I suddenly came into the room.”
“No. You did well. It was good that you left that place. Really, really good.”
Closing the door and approaching Leudelro, I gently stroked the child’s head. A small smile appeared on Leudelro’s face with that gentle touch.
But that was all the child said. Although I wanted to ask many things, choosing carefully, Leudelro silently stared at me.
“You can ask. If there’s something you want to say, you can say it.”
As if waiting for those words, Leudelro slowly opened his mouth.
“Did you come to find me, by any chance…?”
“I found you. But that woman didn’t come looking for you, Leudelro.”
“I see… I’m relieved.”
It was indeed right to ask this. Leudelro showed a slightly bitter expression. Even though he said he was relieved, Leudelro’s heart seemed unsettled.
“Were you sad because your birth mother didn’t come looking for you?”
“No… I thought that woman wouldn’t come looking for me anyway.”
“So, are you sad?”
“No. It’s just… rather than being sad about that, I felt sorry for Empress Mama… thinking that I made things difficult for her.”
“I’m fine. Now that I think about it, both of us seem to share the same feelings. I… was worried that the woman might come and make things difficult for you.”
I sat down in front of Leudelro, making eye contact with the child.
“You… were worried about me?”
“Of course, you’re my son.”
“Ah…”
Tears glistened in Leudelro’s round eyes.
“Do you really think that way? Really… truly…?”
“I told you how I feel about you. If it doesn’t work out, I’d cherish and treasure you enough to run away with you and Shasha. That’s how much I like you. So, you don’t have to worry.”
“You… won’t abandon me…?”
“Is that what you’re afraid of?”
“Yes… since I’ve already been abandoned. Honestly, I might have had a tiny bit of hope. I said I knew she wouldn’t come looking for me, but… she might have had some circumstances for forcibly putting me here. Maybe she actually cared about me. Even though I knew the truth, I still had those expectations. I didn’t want to admit it. The fact of being abandoned.”
It hurt my heart. An child afraid of being abandoned. In the novel and even now, Leudelro was a child who had been abandoned. So, in the novel, Leudelro might have moved according to what Beatrix desired.
The fear of being abandoned again, such worries might have tied knots around his arms.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
