“I’ve eaten well, ma’am.”
“You’re welcome, Marianne. Go up and rest.”
“Yes.”
As Marianne went up the stairs, she couldn’t shake off an uncomfortable feeling. Somehow, she kept feeling a pull at the back of her head. As if to dispel the ominous thought, she consciously shook her head.
“……Surely, nothing bad happened.”
Her face, sitting at the desk, was once again shrouded in worry. This time, her gaze fell on the yellowed paper. It was a halfwritten report.
The case was closed, and there was no room for doubt. The criminal was clear, and all she had to do was finish the report.
But for some reason, Marianne could no longer write the report. A pair of innocent eyes that stared at her came to mind, and so did a face that burst into tears in fear.
An innocent child.
Is it fair to blame a child that is far from ordinary? No, before that, was the child really the culprit? Had something been overlooked?
She wracked her brains to find the answers to the questions, but still, there was no answer. Maybe there was no right answer.
Even when studying law, Marianne thought the world was divided into black and white. Good people receive rewards, and bad people are punished. Righteousness over evil, that was Marianne’s world.
But the crimes she encountered in the field had a grey area. Guilty or innocent, somewhere in between, a dim grey area.
As her contemplation deepened.
“Marianne!”
Mrs. List called her from downstairs. Marianne put down the cheap pen she was holding and walked to the door.
“Come down for a moment!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her mind was in turmoil, but her pride was not so great as to ignore Mrs. List’s call.
The woman who raised three sons was a woman of steel who acted more than she spoke. If something went wrong, she could be slapped.
“What’s the matter…….”
Marianne, who was about to ask, stood still in her place. Mrs. List was talking to a man standing at the entrance, and when she felt his presence, she looked back at her.
“A guest has come. So the name is……. ”
“Christoph.”
The name came from Marianne’s mouth, not Mrs. List’s. Mrs. List clapped her hands and smiled brightly.
“That’s right, Christoph.”
Christoph, who had been treating her politely, turned his head toward Marianne. Mrs. List had already been smitten by him.
“Oh my, you look just like our house’s young master when he was young. When I saw you last night, I thought our young master was opening the door and walking in. I was so surprised, thinking he had come from the other world to take me.”
“Last night…… sir?”
Marianne frowned and asked in a suspicious voice. The ominous premonition reared its head again. Mrs. List answered nonchalantly.
“Don’t you remember? This gentleman carried drunken Marianne home last night.”
Ah.
Marianne inadvertently closed her eyes tightly. Why did the ominous premonition never miss? Shame and guilt welled up.
“What are you doing here?”
Marianne noticed that her voice was colder than she thought and was secretly taken aback. She seemed to have reacted excessively in trying to hide her embarrassment.
“…….”
For a moment, Christoph’s eyes seemed to have been wounded. Eyes like a boundless night sea. His black eyes seemed to ripple in the wind.
Marianne was taken aback again.
Christoph wounded? No way.
She just clenched her innocent dress, trying not to show her emotions. Soon, he who had returned to his usual indifferent expression held out his hand from behind.
“Mother.”
Mrs. List let out a soft exclamation. In his hand was a bouquet. It was a cute blue flower that formed a flock.
“It’s for you.”
“!”
At those words, Marianne forgot to put on her mask and widened her eyes. She asked in surprise.
“Could it be Christoph, you…… bought it?”
Christoph lightly raised his eyebrows. As if to say, who else would have bought it?
Choosing flowers turned out to be more difficult than he thought. He needed to know what flowers she liked.
Yes, it was a very unfamiliar experience for him. All the while choosing the flowers, he thought of Marianne and hoped she would like them.
Only then did he realize how thoughtless the gifts he had given her so far had been. Flowers and jewels hastily chosen by Oliver.
He recalled Marianne’s face, smiling bitterly as she accepted them. At the time, he thought she didn’t like flowers. Or perhaps, she didn’t like the jewels.
But that wasn’t it. She knew that the gifts had been chosen by Oliver.
“…It’s the ‘flower language’.”
Marianne moistened her lips slightly. Her calm voice flowed out. Christoph stared at her in wonder, then finally nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what it was called.”
Marianne slowly lifted her eyes. Her gaze met Christoph’s. As if to ask why he hadn’t taken the bouquet yet, she extended her arm further.
“Come back to me.”
The words flowed from her mouth, the meaning of the flower.
Christoph’s one eyebrow twitched. He looked awkward, as if caught off guard, and Christoph, who usually didn’t shy away, averted his gaze.
“Don’t you like the ‘flower language’?”
“….”
“It has a better meaning than the buttercup.”
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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