Resentful lingering resentment toward the woman who pleaded as if she would let go of his hand anytime, as if it were a necessary task.
“We are together? No. Nothing has changed.”
Elisia’s face was brighter than ever.
“Nothing has changed. Do you even know why I chased after you?”
Urging the captain to go faster, shouting “faster” in the tremendous storm, they reached a point where they could no longer stand on the deck.
However, knowing that Elisia had left felt like dying, so in reality, if she didn’t return willingly, he planned to forcibly bring her back.
From the beginning, there was no intention of respecting Elisia’s wishes.
However.
He was ecstatic that Elisia had chosen him on her own.
“Why are you saying that? You’re trying to make an effort to be together now.”
The woman looking up at him with a troubled face was too vulgar.
“That’s right.”
Illeon wiped his forehead and took a short breath.
“I don’t want you to go to Hadumsha. I want to decide everything together and be together. I can’t bear for you to be in danger even more.”
He tried to speak slowly. Words filled with emotions would only arouse the other person’s resentment.
“There’s no safe way, Illeon.”
Elisia’s face grew paler than ever.
“That fire… Lona burned the chocolate wrapper she bought to give you.”
“What?”
“Next, Elisia burned the Palagara history book that she read to you before falling asleep.”
It was a story he had never heard before.
“The ribbon you tied me with became ashes.”
Elisia spoke calmly, but the horror she had experienced was vividly felt.
“I want to be with you too. But not yet.”
Ah, why do you smile so gently like someone who has put everything down, Elisia.
“So are you still going to go?”
Like Lona, smiling brightly as if it would illuminate even the curse-like darkness, a face he had never seen before, Illeon felt like a rag.
“Do as you please.”
“Illeon.”
Elisia called him, but he didn’t turn around. Everything was a mess.
Hadumsha was as still as if time had stopped.
It was chaotic when a lost lamb suddenly came to the sanctuary late at night, causing everyone to be surprised, cry, laugh, and go crazy.
“Do you know how surprised we were when you said you couldn’t remember us?”
“Yeah. Still, I’m relieved that you could come back like this.”
Those who had shared Elisia’s past life warmly welcomed her.
Although the empty seats of friends who lost their lives on the way to Glerosa were even more keenly felt when they returned to Hadumsha, Elisia tried not to show it.
“Elisia, Delma wants to see you.”
“Delma? Delma was still alive.”
“Yes. You told us about the uproar right after you came last time, and she regretted not being able to meet you.”
“Yeah. Last time you came, you told us about the incident right away, and Delma regretted not being able to meet you.”
According to Mariella, they must have all read the same text around the same time. The timing of possessing this world varied. Even those who had become the Five Deities a thousand years ago due to imperial power were possessors.
In the small and quiet room, there were no special furnishings. An elderly grandmother with white hair lay on the bed in the middle.
“Delma.”
The old woman, who seemed to be asleep, twitched and slowly opened her eyelids.
“Elisia.”
Her gentle voice carried warmth as she called her.
“To see you like this.”
Her wrinkled hands fumbled and grasped Elisia’s hand.
“I was worried because I heard you had an accident.”
“Yeah. I’m okay. I came back like this.”
“Thank goodness. I’m relieved.”
Many possessors often considered themselves the age of their past lives, regardless of the age of this world.
Delma had possessed at the age of twenty-seven, the same age as Won Yun-ji, and had been one of the people Elisia had spent time with, pretending to be her ‘mother.’
She had possessed fifty-five years earlier than Mariella but was now over ninety years old.
“I… Can’t I go back to the original world?”
And she was enduring her remaining life with terminal illness.
“No, we can all go back together.”
Actually, this statement did not apply to Elisia, who was not a possessor, but it was common here.
“Really? When the ending comes, can I send back those whose souls remain, like me?”
“I will take care of that.”
Delma smiled at the affectionate words.
“When we go back, remember that I promised to treat you to tteokbokki?”
“Yeah. The market food cart that Delma always talked about.”
“Do you remember?”
“Of course.”
Delma’s breath became shallower.
“Thank you, Elisia. You were… my daughter, my granddaughter, and a friend.”
While waiting for the day to return, there were those who did not make a family here. Within Hadumsha, where they knew who each other was.
“I’m glad I can see you before I go.”
Delma closed her eyes comfortably. Other priests who had been watching them shed tears.
“Delma has passed away.”
Elisia knelt with the posture of prayer and placed her knees on the ground.
When she returned after a while of Delma’s memorial prayer, it was already past midnight.
“Sorry, Delma.”
To see the predetermined ending and return to the original world, Elisia chose Illeon.
How should she compensate for what had been twisted because of that choice?
“I need to ask my mom again.”
When she returned to Hadumsha, she keenly felt what she had decided. Perhaps, if she had stayed here without causing any incidents, she could have betrayed the desires of so many people and held his hand.
Although she became a fake possessor and became a priest, Elisia felt a sense of connection with those she had spent a long time with. Ironically, even as a possessor, Mariella might not have felt such emotions.
“I want to send them all back to the original world happily, as they wish.”
It was a time when her heart felt heavy with various thoughts.
“Meow.”
Somewhere, a small crying sound was heard.
Elisia quickly approached the window and opened it.
Then, a small, white cat gracefully stepped into her room.
“Meow. Meow.”
With cute sky-blue eyes widening its pupils, the white cat extended its claws, clinging to the hem of Elisia’s priestly robe.
“Sho, have you been well?”
Sho was the cat that Elisia took care of in Hadumsha. From one day on, it roamed around her room, accepting milk and treats from her and grew up healthily.
“Who took care of you while I was away? I’m relieved.”
Elisia gently stroked the glossy and soft fur, and the white creature sprawled on her bed, showing its belly.
Lying down next to it, Elisia indulged the cat for a while, then sighed as if whispering.
“Sho, I made that person sad.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
