“Now I finally feel alive.”
“Ah…”
Claudel abruptly stood up and reached out her hand towards the man who had dived into the water, only to fall back, trembling, as she saw Kaiyan surface.
Noticing her pale face, Kaiyan swam towards the shore.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was… startled.”
He looked utterly clueless as to why she was frightened.
“Can’t you swim?”
“Water is dangerous.”
“It’s not dangerous. People naturally float.”
“The lakes in Balmond freeze over. If the ice breaks and someone falls in, they can’t be saved.”
Claudel stuttered in a trembling voice, to which Kaiyan sighed.
“In Rowen, it’s warm and the water isn’t too cold. It’s basic to play in the water from a very young age.”
“From a young age?”
“Since I could walk?”
“That’s a lie.”
Claudel chuckled softly.
“Come here.”
Kaiyan reached out his hand.
“Come in with me.”
“No, I’m scared.”
“It’s okay. It’s not scary, and it’s not too deep.”
“It is deep!”
The water came up to Kaiyan’s chest, indicating that if Claudel entered, she would have to tiptoe to keep the water just below her neck.
“You seemed quite brave when you were sick, but you’re a coward.”
“What did you say?”
Despite his usual stern look, his eyes looked somewhat cheerful today.
“I’ll teach you to swim.”
But Claudel couldn’t be swayed by such a challenge.
She shook her head vigorously.
“Do I need to come and get you?”
“I don’t need to learn to swim…”
“What if I decide to pull you in? You’ll have to walk through the castle soaking wet.”
Claudel looked dismayed.
“Lying in the water and looking up at the sky is amazing. Don’t you want to try?”
Kaiyan, changing his tactic to entice her, let go of her arm and swam towards the middle of the lake.
“Wow.”
Watching him, his smooth body cutting through the water looked like a large fish.
Effortlessly swimming to a spacious spot, Kaiyan relaxed his body and lay floating on the water.
“…It’s incredible.”
Could it really be true that human bodies float in water?
Above him was the blue sky and white clouds reflected on the calm water, and Kaiyan lay with his arms stretched out, looking as if he was lying on a cloud.
Claudel watched, mesmerized.
In Balmond, where the land is frozen for over half the year and the chilling waters are too cold even in short summers, swimming is unimaginable. Falling into the water means not drowning but losing consciousness rapidly due to hypothermia. The water in the lake is so cold it comes from melting snow and ice on the mountains.
It was natural for her, raised in the North, to panic seeing Kaiyan dive into the lake.
“He looks so relaxed.”
The effect of showing rather than convincing with words was significant.
Gradually, curiosity crept in, and Claudel started wondering if she too could float in the water.
Noticing this, Kaiyan swam back towards the shore.
His arms and shoulders moved sequentially as he swam towards her, making him seem like a different creature in the water.
Like a merman, perhaps, with a tail instead of legs under the unseen water.
His movements were so natural, it was evident that his claim of playing in the water from a very young age wasn’t a lie.
“Have you decided to come in now?” Claudel hesitated before asking.
“You have to hold me so I won’t sink.”
“Of course. Don’t you trust me? The person who even saved your life?”
“Don’t play around. If you do, I might never enter the water again.”
“Alright.”
Kaiyan readily agreed, prompting Claudel to sigh and start untying her dress.
She was apprehensive since dresses in Rowen were thin, and getting them wet would reveal her figure. She had been uneasy since Kaiyan first suggested diving in.
She loosened the wraparound skirt and slipped off her light white dress, leaving her in a thin undergarment and bloomers.
Hesitantly, Claudel approached the water in that attire.
“Sit down and dip your feet first.”
Doing as he instructed, she was surprised to find the water pleasantly lukewarm.
“It’s not cold, right?”
“No.”
“Here in Rowen, the sun warms the water. It’s not as cold as the North. Even at night, it’s lukewarm.”
Despite being lake water, it felt refreshing and crisp around her feet.
“Come in.”
Claudel took his outstretched hand and cautiously slid into the water.
“It’s deep.”
Where her toes barely touched the bottom, the water reached just below her neck, making her anxious.
“I’m holding you. It’s not deep enough to drown.”
While Claudel hesitated, Kaiyan swiftly pulled her away from the shore.
“Stop. Let’s go back.”
“Coward.”
She should have told him not to tease her too.
Claudel sighed, wondering how many times he would call her a coward before they left the water.
“Lie back on the water. Backwards.”
“I can’t.”
“Relax your neck. Water won’t get in your ears. Lie back more.”
“Ugh.”
“If you tense up, you won’t float.”
He supported her body like a log, continuously nagging.
“I’ve lived fine without swimming until now.”
“You’re a Temnes, not a Balmond. You can’t call yourself a Temnes if you can’t do this.”
Surprisingly, hearing him acknowledge her as a Temnes made Claudel relax.
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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