Walking towards a place with a roof, the rain intensified, penetrating through the clothes.
“Achoo!”
Having sneezed loudly, I looked around a bit awkwardly. Something hefty fell onto my head. It was the cloak that Giovanni had draped over himself.
“Bribery.”
Without realizing it, I burst into laughter, which quickly subsided. Laughing itself was challenging due to fatigue.
My stamina was gradually diminishing.
Everywhere was rain, rain, and more rain.
‘Is the kingdom really going to flood at this rate?’
“The rain is coming down too much.”
I couldn’t respond. My head was muddled.
After a few steps, abruptly, I stopped.
“I need to go to the Viscount’s mansion.”
“In this rain? You’re exhausted. You’ll collapse if you walk in the rain.”
“Just get a horse and ride. I saw one at the inn we passed by.”
“It doesn’t seem like a wise choice. Resting for a day and moving tomorrow would be better.”
“We can’t just wait for the rain to stop like this.”
“It’s something the heavens are doing. It’s not something you can rush.”
I turned my head and exchanged a frustrated gaze with him.
“If my will reaches the heavens.”
“……”
“I have to go back to the mansion. I need to stop this rain.”
Giovanni’s eyes first widened and then narrowed. I felt an intense tension, as if my heart would stop.
I breathed slowly and met his gaze.
“Your body will collapse.”
“But I won’t die from that.”
“Are you naturally this stubborn?”
I shrugged. There was no time to argue.
The moment I tried to take a step, my body surged with pain.
Without realizing it, I screamed and instinctively grabbed onto his sturdy shoulders.
I found myself sitting on Giovanni’s arm. With one arm supporting me, he frowned at my scream.
“You’ll collapse even if you don’t die.”
“At least excuse yourself in advance.”
I spoke as calmly as possible.
“I’ll collapse before I die from it.”
“Is it okay to excuse myself?”
I almost burst into laughter at his docile response but held it back.
“All right. From next time, please tell me before you act.”
He smirked.
“Sure thing.”
I almost said, “Just like that?” Wasn’t there a bit more room for a retort or resistance?
Well, it was no time to sprawl and stretch my legs.
“I hope you can control that intimidating gaze a bit. It’s not a topic for a former warrior. When you feel fear, your body freezes.”
Quoting his words, I expressed my dissatisfaction timidly.
To that, Giovanni said,
“Stared at me fiercely?”
I was perplexed.
“Were you scared?”
I was left speechless. Did he not know what his own gaze was like?
“You weren’t doing that on purpose, were you?”
“I was just looking.”
“……”
The corners of his mouth trembled.
‘Just looking.’ Right. Even with an ordinary gaze, I felt scared, huh.
Despite playing at the top of the head of many criminals, this was something.
Giovanni had long legs, and unlike me, he didn’t seem tired, so we quickly arrived at the stable after a short while.
However, it wasn’t until the owner showed us the horse that I realized an unexpected problem.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know how to ride.”
“A horse?”
I nodded vaguely.
When I was a maid, I either walked or rode a baggage cart, and after entering the Lorenstga, I rode carriages. It was the same in Amteine, of course.
As a result, I had never straddled a living horse.
“It can’t be helped.”
As I flinched, he nodded belatedly.
“Ah, excuse me.”
Somehow, it seemed like he would laugh, but he spoke elegantly like a lady.
“I’ll take care of it.”
His lips curled up. In a moment when I was unexpectedly captivated by the unexpected smile, Giovanni lifted me onto the horse’s back and climbed on behind me.
A horse’s back untouched by rain was, of course, completely different from a carriage. It felt like I could feel the muscles, and it was firm and even warm.
Giovanni’s body temperature behind me enveloped me. With no space to spare, the slightly close posture bothered me a bit.
Except for Hubert, it was the first time I had been so close to another man.
“Relax.”
His voice slipped into my ear. I almost shivered involuntarily but held it back. My body tensed on its own.
‘Too close.’
“If you’re so tense, your whole body will cramp later.”
“……”
“Horses aren’t scary. If you feel like you’re going to fall, I’ll catch you.”
Well, it wasn’t about that.
But since he thought that way, it was a hundred times better for me. So, I quietly shut my mouth and just nodded my head. Still, it wasn’t easy to relax, and I heard a sound of tongue-clicking from behind.
“I don’t know. He leaps into perilous situations with ease but gets scared of something like this.”
‘No, it’s because you’re too close.’
When Kayna Chwei, who was my colleague in Amteine, would see this, I felt like it would be a scene that I would be teased about for a lifetime.
“Excuse me.”
He embraced me with one arm. His thick and muscular arm wrapped around my waist, and my back naturally stuck to his chest.
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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