“This one was a North-born orphan whom we took in and raised. We have no idea why a stable boy would poison the Duke’s food. When we found him, his tongue had already been cut off! Could there be any relationship between you Northerners and this child?!”
A relationship?
Sighing at Medea’s continued plea, the Red Caterpillar expressed his frustration.
“Presumptuous Northerners, our lady is pleading so sadly, and you won’t even come out to see?”
So that’s how Medea appears to ordinary people.
A frail duchess, pleading sadly, doing her best to solve a problem.
But to me, her words are clear provocations aimed at the North.
Asking if the North knows the Yellow Caterpillar she claims is a poisoner.
Soon after, the entrance to the Blue Star Castle opened.
It was Arcadia who emerged, his platinum hair gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
From Nougents’ lips came a chilly voice.
“What do you mean by asking if we have any relationship with this person?”
“Aah, Lord Nougents. Such intentions? It’s a grave situation with the Duke being critical. We need to investigate every possibility, don’t we? We couldn’t understand this boy’s intentions, which is why we asked. Please don’t misunderstand.”
Medea cried out, her voice filled with sorrow.
A misunderstanding.
The bitterness was so strong, I could taste blood in my mouth. Unconsciously, I clenched my fists.
“This boy has always longed for the North, praying for the Northern Knights in their battles against the barbarians.”
“If he was such a friend who longed for the North, why didn’t you send him back?”
Arcadia’s indifferent reply was laced with rising anger.
Ah, no, Arcadia. If you get angry, you’ll get entangled in her web.
Medea didn’t miss Arcadia’s fury.
“We would have liked to, but he was too frail for the long journey. And at this time, when the Northern Knights are here, he commits such an act. We thoroughly investigated and confirmed he is the culprit, but we couldn’t understand why. So, we are asking the North.”
“……”
Arcadia was speechless. Medea continued.
“But even asking this might be rude, isn’t it? What we ask is not to doubt our Southern friendship towards the North because of this. It’s our negligence that caused this. So, we will take the punishment.”
Medea raised her frail wrist towards the sky. Next to the Yellow Caterpillar, a man plunged a sword into the boy’s back.
I covered my mouth with my hands.
Ah…
Cruel you, Medea.
‘We will take the punishment.’
The one who lost their life wasn’t you but the Yellow Caterpillar.
The boy died without even screaming his death throes.
The Black Caterpillar spoke.
“Remember this. The fate of those who do not show loyalty.”
The only time I saw the Yellow Caterpillar defend the North was during an argument with the Red Caterpillar at the training ground, the day before the victory ceremony.
The Red Caterpillar was criticizing the Northern Duke’s demand for a ceremony as shameless, and the Yellow Caterpillar simply said how much the North had endured.
[If you don’t know, keep quiet! You don’t even know how far it is from the North to the Southern border!]Those few words.
[It’s going to be the shabbiest victory ceremony ever seen. I heard it from a maid who serves food. I don’t like that.]It was just those few words to me.
And this person who said such things is the poisoner who tried to assassinate the Northern Duke?
Even if no one else knows, I knew. The Yellow Caterpillar must have been unknowingly entangled in this matter, possibly caught in an unfortunate situation.
The caterpillar’s body was moved to the outskirts of Rahel Forest.
On a pitch-dark night, with even the moonlight obscured by clouds, I went to where he had been discarded.
This was the first death I’d witnessed since my return. I wanted to at least lay a flower on his body.
As I walked, my conviction grew clearer: the Yellow Caterpillar wasn’t the culprit.
If he were, there would be no need to cut his tongue. He couldn’t speak to declare his innocence.
Lying face down in the grass, the caterpillar was abandoned carelessly.
Approaching him, I felt the Southern winter night’s chill. But the daytime is as warm as spring elsewhere. Left like this, the boy’s body wouldn’t last long before returning to nature.
I wanted to bury him. So, I touched his body.
‘!’
Something was off.
His back was cold, but not rigid like a corpse.
Examining him further, I realized, ‘He’s alive, barely breathing!’
My hand found the sword wound.
‘The sword pierced near the heart, but at an angle.’
It had narrowly missed the heart, tearing through tissues between the heart and lungs.
He was alive; what more reason did I need?
I carried the Yellow Caterpillar back.
Bringing him to my quarters was more demanding than sneaking into the Duke’s chamber through the secret passage.
Soaked in sweat, I laid him on a hay pile, disinfected his wound, and started crushing herbs.
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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