Illeon, who echoed Elysia’s words, turned his body seriously and placed his hand on her waist.
“You can only smile like this.”
“Oh! Please don’t.”
As Illeon tickled her sides, Elysia tried to get up and escape.
“Nowhere. I might miss it….”
“Sob. Sob.”
Illeon, who had playfully pulled Elysia as she defensively crouched her body, suddenly froze.
“Elysia? Are you crying?”
Illeon didn’t know what to do when he faced Elysia’s eyes, filled with tears like amethysts.
“Sorry. I didn’t know you would hate it that much.”
“I told you not to do it. Sob.”
“I was wrong. Does it hurt?”
Illeon hugged her tightly and patted her back, trying to comfort her.
“It’s painful…”
“Yeah. I will never do something you hate again. Please forgive me just this once.”
Illeon continued to speak with a remorseful tone.
“I promised to do anything when you opened your eyes. I tried to make you smile since you didn’t do it naturally. I didn’t know it would be so difficult for you.”
“I’m sorry.”
As Elysia muttered softly, Illeon exaggeratedly jumped.
“Don’t say such unreasonable things. You didn’t have to apologize. It was my excessive behavior.”
“…I’m sorry.”
At her words, Illeon made a wry face, then closed his mouth and wiped away her tears with his fingertips.
“I don’t feel like eating anything. You should rest more.”
When Elysia nodded, Illeon helped her lie down on the bed after closing the bedroom door and disappearing.
As Illeon left, Elysia sat up on the bed, burying her head between her knees. After a long sigh, she murmured, “What should I do?”
Tears welled up quickly.
She remembered Illeon, who looked at her, trying to find similarities and differences between her and Rona when he saw her.
Many moments felt like the only hope for Elysia.
It felt heavy in her heart when he said he liked ‘Rona’ from when she lost her memory, not the current her.
“I’m not Rona.”
It was just a part of her mom’s past life memories, familiar enough to be mistaken for herself, but it wasn’t even Yoonji’s. Even hearing it, it couldn’t completely represent someone’s personality.
“In the end, I made a wrong choice.”
When Illeon didn’t even know she existed, Elysia knew him and already liked him.
Like when children cherish the princess and prince as protagonists while reading a fairy tale.
So, she thought she had made a mistake being born, and if she went out of the original work, Illeon could live happily.
“I don’t even know who I am.”
“I know.”
“It might not be the woman you like.”
“I don’t care.”
He had said he didn’t care.
“Don’t keep finding excuses to run away. Do you want to see me go crazy?”
I was so happy when he said that.
But it didn’t happen. Even though Illeon said he didn’t care, Elysia was overly concerned.
She worried about when he would be sure that she wasn’t Rona.
“There might not be an easy solution.”
The parents, who were planning to leave the empire to save her, decided to change all the plans. Illeon and even the princess, Leve, were supposed to help.
Externally, it was scheduled to be a union of two houses, causing confusion between families.
All of this was based on Illeon’s love for Elysia, willing to endure and do anything for her.
“If he doesn’t want me…”
Illeon didn’t need to go through such hardships.
If possible, she wished she could get hit on the head somewhere, faint, and forget about her worries, anxieties, and depressed self as before.
“Sigh.”
Elysia remained hunched over for a long time without moving.
“I can’t stay like this.”
Anyway, the die had already been cast.
When she jumped off the ship heading to Verbe and grabbed Illeon’s hand, it became irreversible.
“Like Rona. Because I asked you to be like Rona.”
She had to do her best.
Elysia tightly clenched her fists and took a deep breath.
“Elysia.”
While Illeon was busy, Elysia was staying in the Duke’s room.
“You came?”
Elysia put down the book she was reading on the wide windowsill.
“I missed you.”
Illeon lightly kissed the back of her small, fair hand.
“Did you really do well? Wait a moment.”
Elysia said disdainfully, fixing his slightly disheveled bangs.
“Huh.”
Illeon paused at her touch, then soon brightened.
“Was it messy?”
“A little.”
Watching Illeon touching his ear awkwardly, Elysia sighed inwardly.
‘Is it really true? Look at how much he likes it when I do things like Rona.’
When Illeon took care of him, it became a habit to touch his hair and clothes. The tone of speech almost became that of a nagging elder. She dared to interfere with the wrong places, things he shouldn’t do, etc., as she had to intervene because she had to, being the owner.
Illeon was so fond of it that he even tried to sleep in pajamas he hadn’t worn before because of her.
Wasn’t it a good idea to take care of him like Rona did? She had thought.
Seeing Illeon reacting as expected, she felt more bittersweet than glad.
“Why are you standing like that? Sit here. I’ll make you some tea.”
Illeon went to her side as she gestured and sat down.
“Well, um. It would have been nice if we went to the study together. There was no need to rush and finish the work.”
“That sounds like you’re saying I rushed and handled it carelessly.”
She tried to catch his speech like Rona.
Like Rona.
“There’s no way. Even like this, I’m quite a good lord.”
Illeon spoke as if enchanted.
“Today, we have spearmint tea and daisy flower tea, personally picked and dried by Olivier. What would you like to have?”
“It has a sweet scent.”
“The spearmint tea is steeped in sugar syrup. It’s a tea that has been infused.”
“Then, I’d like a cup of mint tea, please.”
As she spooned the sticky tea into the teacup, Elysia smiled.
“Illeon doesn’t really like sweet things.”
As warm water was poured, a sweet and refreshing aroma spread around.
“I thought you were going to drink daisy tea.”
“Really?”
“Because you don’t like sweet things.”
In response to Elysia’s words, Illeon raised one corner of his mouth and grinned mischievously.
“There’s a reason for everything when doing things I don’t usually do.”
“What are you thinking? You seem quite… like a kitten with an adorable face.”
Lately, without realizing it, Elysia found herself tense at Illeon’s trivial lip movements and eyebrow twitches. She didn’t notice it before, but whenever Illeon made such expressions, Elysia would unknowingly bite him somewhere on his body, like a hunting instinct.
“Put the cup down.”
“Why? No, I don’t want to.”
Illeon took the teacup from Elysia’s hand, which she hadn’t put down even after finishing the tea, and placed it on the table.
“Oops.”
As she was being pulled into him and embraced, her lips parted as if she was overwhelmed.
“Hmm.”
With each exhale of Illeon’s breath, a sweet mint flavor could be felt on the tip of her tongue.
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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