“Why did you save me?”
An unfamiliar question floated above the familiar aroma of rosemary tea.
Why was he suddenly curious about that?
Clodel lifted her head slightly to look at Kain.
Under his disheveled black hair, his clear red eyes seemed to urge her to speak.
Why does he always look angry?
Even now, his expression was cold, as if he had something to confront her about, despite having praised her as his savior.
“Just because.”
“Just because?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t save him with any significant meaning in mind.
Worries about not recovering were for those who had been healthy before.
Having been at the end of her life in this reincarnation, Clodel had become indifferent to treatment or her physical condition.
“I would have saved anyone in such danger.”
“Anyone?”
It wasn’t because he was a distinguished duke that she saved him.
Had it been Hanna, a nameless castle gatekeeper, or anyone else, she would have preferred to be the one bitten, considering she was closer to death than them, who had their whole lives ahead.
But her response seemed to chill Kain’s face further.
“A duchess, yet thinking so carelessly. You should have avoided danger.”
His sudden reprimand left Clodel speechless.
‘You would have been bitten then.’
But she didn’t say it, feeling it wouldn’t make a difference.
“The most precious woman in this territory, yet so unaware.”
Wasn’t he grateful for being saved?
Why was she being scolded? Clodel couldn’t understand.
“The tea doesn’t even taste good. I’m leaving.”
Kain abruptly stood up, leaving with a cold air.
Clodel sighed in relief as the tension dissipated.
As she drew a long breath.
“Cough. Cough, cough.”
A coughing fit seized her, prompting Clodel to quickly cover her mouth with a napkin.
“Cough.”
After a while, when the coughing subsided, something uncomfortably surged up her throat.
“Ugh.”
Finally, after spitting out a small clot of blood, Clodel managed to calm down.
The end of life.
Clodel had vaguely imagined a normal passing.
Surrounded by loving family.
A husband with white hair or grown-up children whispering love and goodbyes as they let her go.
No one is unafraid of death.
Waiting for it alone, convincing herself she was okay, she felt immensely scared and lonely.
Losing her parents had taught her that even a normal death is not granted to everyone.
Yet…
Still…
The only comfort for the rising sadness in her heart was the pain she had become too accustomed to enduring.
Since then, Kain hadn’t visited Clodel for several days.
A change from his previous behavior of visiting her room several times a day to check on her, share tea, or have meals together after she saved him and injured her leg.
“Anyone would have saved him?”
He had lived a life forged as a shield to protect others, a sword to be wielded in their defense.
He had never been protected himself, so perhaps he had attached too much significance to her saving him.
But the warm memory of realizing she had saved him, which had made his heart flutter, now seemed trivial.
“Just because? That’s it?”
He was irked, not understanding why he felt so annoyed when there was no right answer to begin with.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
His butler spoke.
“My lord, the jeweler has finished repairing the gem you entrusted. He’s here; what should we do?”
“Let him in.”
The jeweler, his face beaming with the prospect of good sales, entered and bowed.
“I have repaired the ring you entrusted.”
A jewelry box with a hint of blue was placed on his desk. Previously, he had only handed over the ring, but now Kain wondered what had become of the box it came in. It would have contained the certificate of authenticity from the ring’s original maker.
Shaking off his persistent thoughts, Kain picked up the ring from the box.
“The gemstone is large, but my lady’s fingers are very slender. So I tried to make the ring as light as possible…”
The jeweler explained eagerly, but Kain only half-listened, already satisfied that the ring now looked as good as new.
The thinned band made the ring appear more refined. It hardly felt like the same item.
Seeing the reborn blue diamond ring, Kain momentarily felt pleased.
He didn’t want to give Clodel an item associated with such an unpleasant incident and one that was damaged when retrieved from Antoinette.
This felt like a completely different item, one he wouldn’t mind presenting to her.
As soon as the jeweler left, Kain returned to his brooding state.
Clodel was a complicated woman.
What could possibly be going on in her small head?
The problem was, once a distance like this emerged, it became harder to bridge it again.
Did all other nobles also struggle this much in arranged marriages?
Living under the same roof?
Kain found it baffling, but he didn’t have many friends to ask.
Many male nobles of his age had perished in the war.
Nobles used to host each other for networking, hunting trips, and social gatherings.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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