Matian pulled Rukna’s hand and swept it over his body.
As their overlapped hands passed over the area near his heart, Matian stopped moving.
I wish I could engrave Rukna’s name here.
If I directly asked her to write her name, she would probably jump up and call me crazy.
Matian recalled how Rukna had meticulously taken care of her belongings during their academy days.
From a single pencil to a single notebook, even the places she stayed had her name written on them. So it would be nice if she could write her name on his heart that contained her.
At that moment, the damned sacred sword nagged, [If you say those words out loud, the probability of Rukna Clossett running away will skyrocket!], irritating him as usual today.
His heart rate quickened due to the surging emotions.
Rukna seemed to like it as she muttered in a small voice.
“Your heart is beating really fast.”
At first, it seemed like she would run away at any moment, but she gradually started to show interest in his body.
Look at this. Matian raised his eyebrows and lowered their overlapped hands further down.
Rukna’s eyes sparkled as she admired his firm, defined rectus abdominis muscles and asked if he still trained diligently.
“Did you develop your external obliques with side crunches? Swordsmanship training doesn’t do this.”
“……”
“I exercise even after becoming a priest, but the duties are so sedentary that the existing muscles are bound to disappear. My body was quite light when I trained with the sacred sword.”
How did your muscles get even bigger? Rukna marveled at Matian’s body and continued.
“There’s no one to exercise with here. Everyone just diligently prays and dislikes moving. So their bodies are all scrawny.”
“Have you seen it?”
“What?”
“The bodies of other priests. You said they’re scrawny.”
“You get to know everything when living together. Ah, the High Priest is really amazing? He gains weight quickly, but when there’s a big event, he loses it all through fasting prayers. Each time, his appearance changes……”
Rukna went on to explain about High Priest Nylon.
His body was made through dieting, so he had no strength; he became irritable during fasting prayers and felt like dying; he had no sense of responsibility and was thinking of retiring to farm, and so on.
However, Matian’s expression gradually hardened.
Did I say too many bad things? Rukna urgently concluded her words while observing his countenance.
“Sorry, I only said bad things, right? He’s someone with many respectable qualities.”
“Are you going to keep talking?”
“Are you angry?”
“While your hands are groping my body, you’re mentioning another man.”
As Matian pulled her hand down further, Rukna’s hand touched his belt buckle. She had no idea when he had unbuttoned his shirt this far.
“You really!”
Rukna trembled and finally let go of his hand. Matian looked at her with a regretful gaze.
“Why? Was it not good?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Didn’t you, Priest, take away an innocent man’s pure heart first and then pretended not to know? Since holding hands and kissing seemed like trivial acts, I was just contemplating how far we should go.”
“Are you originally this innocent? If someone tells you to undress, will you just do it?”
“If you tell me to, Priest.”
“What?”
“Should I undress now?”
Matian smiled gently and placed his hand on the belt buckle.
His expression was so bright that anyone who saw it would think he was just giving a greeting.
“Wh-what are you doing in this sacred prayer room!”
On the other hand, Rukna, who had turned bright red, was so flustered that she couldn’t even breathe, her complexion turning pale.
Calm down. Calm down. Rukna held her forehead and took several deep breaths before biting her lip.
Then she carefully buttoned his wide-open shirt one by one. Those who only studied often had a screw loose.
“Don’t carelessly do this anywhere.”
Rukna said while buttoning Matian’s unbuttoned shirt from the top.
“Why can’t I do it?”
At the returning question, Rukna clenched her teeth and looked up at Matian. Should she call him innocent or crazy? Her hand holding the button tightened.
“Do you really not know?”
Rukna stepped back after buttoning his last shirt button.
“No. I wanted to confirm. If you still like me.”
Matian answered with an indifferent face while adjusting his jacket cuffs.
At the sudden bombshell declaration, Rukna rapidly blinked her eyes.
Did I mishear? No. What she heard just now was definitely not ‘I like you’ but ‘You like me, don’t you?’
‘There are guys like that?’
She wanted to immediately refute it, but she couldn’t find a suitable excuse. Matian slightly bowed his upper body toward Rukna, who had lost her words.
“Don’t try to make excuses, Priest. I’m quite good at reading expressions.”
“On what basis are you saying that?”
“I often look in the mirror, don’t I?”
“Because you’re handsome, I will like you, is that what you mean?”
“No. I mean I’m quite good at reading expressions.”
Matian, who had been checking his expressions whenever he had a chance since childhood, knew best what kind of expressions he made when he was angry or in a good mood. It was the same when he fell in love.
‘What does my face look like for him to say such things?’
Rukna slightly turned her head to check her reflection in the small window.
Due to the strong sunlight, her reflection was barely visible as a silhouette. Then, her eyes met Matian’s reflected in the window.
Although her reflection was blurry, that guy’s eyes were truly distinct.
“That expression.”
Matian smiled satisfactorily and continued.
“The expressions I made whenever I thought of you, at some point, you started making them too whenever you looked at me. Just like now.”
With those words, Matian left the prayer room.
His footsteps, as powerful as his physique, gradually faded away beyond the door. Rukna stood there blankly, cooling her flushed cheeks with the back of her hand.
Her heart was pounding, and her chest felt stuffy as if she was experiencing claustrophobia after a long time. She flung the window open, but her insides wouldn’t calm down.
Through the window, she saw Matian’s back as he left the temple.
Rukna bent her body and curled up into a ball, as if sighing.
“I’ve been completely caught.”
She muttered in a small voice.
[This is the timeline separator]And the next day.
Rukna ran out of the temple at the time Matian was supposed to come.
If she walked south for about 30 minutes, a small market appeared.
There was a famous bakery there that had been operating for generations, and their scones were rumored to be delicious.
‘I’ll be scolded by Sir Jerome when I return.’
But it was better than facing Matian, so she decided to enjoy this time.
The market street had stalls sporadically lined up selling simple snacks or prayer supplies.
Children playing tag were running around, catching each other amidst the merchants diligently moving boxes.
One of the children dropped a paper doll made by folding a weekly magazine and passed by.
Rukna looked down at that doll. The elongated body part happened to have an article about Matian Wiegratz written on it.
Judging from the content about his activities in the frontier, it was an article that had been printed at least a month ago.
‘I didn’t expect to see you here too.’
Rukna snorted and raised her head again.
But the person mentioned in the weekly magazine magically appeared and was approaching her. Was she seeing things? Rukna blinked several times. It was indeed Matian.
‘Why is he here?’
He was wearing a white tunic and black pants, not clothes splattered with blood. It was a very ordinary outfit.
But perhaps because the material was high-quality linen or because the person wearing it was perfect, it had a considerable presence in itself.
“Wow, it’s the hero!”
“Really? It’s Sir Matian Wiegratz!”
“He’s the strongest knight in the empire!”
People’s gazes were drawn to him. The children’s reactions were especially great. Some who welcomed Matian with their whole bodies clung to him, bothering him.
“Please step aside for a moment.”
Matian kindly dismissed the children. But one mischievous child clung to his arm until the end.
The child made various demands, such as asking to be lifted up or showing the sacred sword, bothering him.
Matian stared at the child with a smile on his face.
The child, who got scared after seeing his terribly dry gaze, finally let go. Only then did his face, with only the corners of his mouth raised, wear a complete smile.
On the other hand, the child burst into tears.
“Wahhh!”
“Oh dear. If you cry like that anywhere, you can’t become a brave knight. Behave more dignified.”
It was uncertain whether he was comforting or threatening the child to stop crying, but it was definitely something he would say.
The child’s parents belatedly ran out and repeatedly bowed and apologized to Matian. He displayed the magnanimity of a great nobleman, saying it was alright.
‘Yes, that’s the true Matian Wiegratz.’
Witnessing his true nature, different from the awkward attitude he had shown in front of her recently, made her feel refreshed.
However, that joy didn’t last long.
“You broke your promise not to disappear without a word, Priest.”
Matian, who had approached right in front of her at some point, kissed the back of Rukna’s hand.
How could an innocent man’s hands be so fast? Rukna unconsciously bent her fingers as the back of her hand he touched felt ticklish.
“When did I disappear without a word? I just came out for a drink.”
As Rukna withdrew her hand, Matian willingly let go of it and smiled brightly.
“And it happened to be at the time I was supposed to arrive at the temple.”
Rukna, who had just arrived at the market, glanced at the clock tower.
1:05 PM. The guy who should have been stepping on the temple’s doorstep at exactly 1 o’clock was standing right in front of her. Did this situation make sense?
“Why are you here?”
“Because I thought you’d be here.”
“……”
As Rukna’s gaze was captured by curiosity, Matian kindly explained the reason he came here.
“I said those things yesterday. You would have felt uncomfortable seeing my face and thought of avoiding me right away. You would have planned to roughly spend time eating bread or something and then return to the temple. Am I wrong?”
Everything hit the mark. As Rukna widened her eyes, Matian burst into laughter, finding it cute.
“Your mind is obvious. That’s why I came straight here. I heard there was a quite famous bakery in the southern market of the temple, so I thought it would be here.”
“Amazing, really.”
She meant it. She had no idea he could see through her like this.
“It seemed like you could enter before 6 PM. The Head Priest does the evening roll call at that time.”
Matian, who finished speaking, held out his hand.
“Let’s go.”
Rukna stared at that hand, thinking it strange that he knew the temple’s schedule.
Was he telling her to return to the temple?
“Hurry and take it. There’s a place I want to go with you separately.”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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