It resembled the smile she had seen in the hunting grounds. A smile he seemed to make without even realizing he was smiling.
It was fine for him to laugh while looking at the sugar-coated peanuts she brought, but the problem was that it seemed like he was not just looking at sugar-coated peanuts.
Melissa couldn’t accurately explain how, but she could feel that he was smiling while thinking of someone or something else.
Kai’s smile, as if one layer of the mask had been removed, felt very unfamiliar. A serene smile, reaching even the beautiful eyes unprepared, was truly a rarity.
Seeing him smile so unfamiliarly, as if he might fly away somewhere, Melissa suddenly felt scared.
“Is there something interesting?”
Suppressing her uneasy feelings, Melissa asked with her usual courage and vigor.
“No.”
With Melissa’s question, the faint smile that had appeared on his face vanished instantly.
It became certain that the smile was not because of her. The ice beneath her feet seemed to make a creaking sound as if it were cracking.
A few days later, a strange rumor began circulating among those who had eaten sugar-coated peanuts. The rumor was that eating just one sugar-coated peanut would make you feel full all day, even if you didn’t eat any other food.
At first, it was dismissed as a fabricated story, but as time passed, the rumor only grew. There were even people claiming that they spent ten days perfectly fine with just ten sugar-coated peanuts.
Although it could have been dismissed as a baseless rumor, Kai immediately called for a meeting. There was no memory of him preparing and eating other food on the day he had sugar-coated peanuts.
Interest in sugar-coated peanuts wasn’t exclusive to Kai. It was considered the ultimate combat ration if one could endure a day with just one peanut. The success or failure of a war depended on how well the food supply was secured.
Although peace was currently maintained through the formidable power of the Credion Empire, the future remained uncertain, and monsters continued to appear throughout the empire. The spacious conference room was filled with tables, and every chair was occupied. Some even stood or brought additional seats to sit. Such was the immense interest of the nobles in sugar-coated peanuts.
As the nobles gathered in the conference room, they exchanged greetings, bowing to each other when their eyes met, and inquiring about each other’s well-being.
“By the way, who is that young man?”
During the exchange of greetings, one noble noticed a young man standing alone on one side of the conference room. It was a face that had never been seen in the numerous noble meetings held before.
“Ian Blake, the Top Lord of the Red Bat Upper District,” the young man introduced himself.
“Well, why is a merchant showing up at a noble meeting?”
“He’s said to be the one with exclusive rights to sugar-coated peanuts.”
At someone’s explanation, the gazes of the nobles, who had been looking at Ian Blake, changed in an instant. From being just a mere merchant, he suddenly became an important person they needed to align with.
The first to approach Ian with a smile was Duke Dawnell.
“It’s a pleasure to meet like this. I am…”
“Your Grace, Duke Dawnell, I presume.”
However, before Dawnell could finish introducing himself, Ian casually revealed that he already knew about him.
“Do you know me?”
“In the Credion Empire, it would be more unusual not to know Duke Dawnell. Especially, for a mere merchant like me, a duke who owns a diamond mine seems as magnificent as a star in the sky. I am Ian Blake, the Top Lord of the Red Bat Upper District. It’s an honor to meet you, Your Grace.”
Ian, with a handsome face, confidently presented a polite bow to the duke while wearing a self-assured smile.
Even amidst the tremendous nobility, who could easily bring down a bird in the sky with a single word, Dawnell didn’t feel intimidated and, with certainty, believed that Ian was not an ordinary person.
He probably also holds the exclusive rights to sugar-coated peanuts.
Dawnell wished to have more conversations with Ian, but as the Emperor entered the conference room, there was no longer time for personal discussions with Ian.
Putting aside his disappointment, Dawnell returned to his seat, realizing that not only he but also other nobles were eagerly awaiting an opportunity to converse with Ian.
Considering that at least he managed to have a brief introduction, Dawnell considered himself lucky.
The content of the meeting was not much. Most of the questions were directed at Ian, focusing on the cultivation of sugar-coated peanuts, and how many more sugar-coated peanuts could be obtained in the future.
Nobles, who had high expectations and bombarded him with questions, couldn’t hide their disappointment at the answers Ian provided.
“The person who sold sugar-coated peanuts to me was a young farmer. It’s true that I traded with them at the Conpayo Market, but I’m not sure if they live near Conpayo. I just gave them a good value and bought the crops.”
“Do you not know where they live?”
“Yes, I don’t know. The days they appear in the market are not fixed. Sometimes they come out every day, and other times they come out once every three days. However, considering that they haven’t been seen at all these days, there is a possibility that they moved to a different area.”
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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