Love Me Just Once (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 14
What finally came out of his mouth was the same thank-you he’d already said several times before.
“…Thank you.”
Ophelia immediately replied to him like this.
“Gratitude is what you express when someone has actually helped you.”
Only much later did Idren learn that this was an elegant way of drawing a clear line.
She was saying that she hadn’t helped him, nor expected anything in return—meaning there was nothing between them.
But by then, he had already grown so fond of Ophelia that he no longer cared about the hidden meaning behind her words, so Idren pretended not to understand and buried it. He pushed himself onto her, even though he knew she wouldn’t accept it.
And even as a child, he hadn’t been much different.
At that time, it wasn’t so much deliberate ignorance as simply not understanding her words properly.
“You did help me.”
“I told you, I didn’t help you.”
“But it’s true that thanks to you, I escaped trouble….”
And then Idren fell silent. For some unknown reason, his eyes stung. His face burned, and his voice trembled.
Ophelia surely noticed his change. She let out a small sigh and turned to look at him.
Her pupils, darkened slightly by the night, seemed as if they contained the whole sky. Idren lowered his eyes just a bit to avoid her gaze.
He kept staring at her whenever she wasn’t looking at him, but now that she actually looked his way, he was overwhelmed with shyness.
Frustrated by his awkwardness, Ophelia asked him,
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Idren Sigrasil.”
To be honest, the surname attached to his name still felt unfamiliar.
Ophelia replied to him.
“My name is Ophelia Mebasa.”
Idren didn’t tell her that he already knew.
He didn’t say that he whispered her name every time he saw the dawn, nor that he had come to this banquet solely because he wanted to meet her.
Unable to utter a word and only staring downward, Ophelia asked him again,
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“Same as me.”
Then she looked back up at the sky. She rested her arms on the balcony railing and leaned her chin on them.
“Your family seemed to treat you poorly.”
“….”
“It’s good that things seem better now.”
Unlike the Empress of Egelbamot, Ophelia seemed unaware that this was because he would soon be sent to the battlefield in their stead.
Though he was glad about her ignorance, Idren felt a touch of sadness. It pleased him that he appeared fine in Ophelia’s eyes, yet it hurt knowing he truly wasn’t.
At that moment, as he clenched his jaw and throat as if swallowing something hard, Ophelia asked him,
“When your family treats you that way, don’t you ever feel like running away?”
Running away?
Hearing those words, Idren was slightly surprised.
From the moment he first entered the castle until now, he had never once tried to run away.
Of course, he’d thought about it a few times. If this was how life was going to be, wouldn’t it be better to just leave far away and live alone? Wouldn’t it be better to hide in some unknown village?
But he’d never dared to actually try.
“I’ve thought about it.”
Hearing his answer, Ophelia tilted her head and blinked.
“Have you ever tried?”
“As you can see, my eyes are this color….”
And then Idren realized she wasn’t even looking at his eyes.
Just as he was about to be flustered by the contradiction in his own words—which he’d normally overlook—Ophelia let out a soft, mirthless laugh. Idren’s eyes widened; it was the first time he’d heard the girl laugh aloud.
“Well, I suppose you’re right. Your eyes are golden. Anyone would recognize you as a Sigrasil heir.”
And Ophelia herself unmistakably looked like the Princess of Reden.
Perhaps that was why Idren found himself asking her without even realizing.
“Have you ever had that thought yourself?”
“The thought of running away?”
Ophelia blinked again. Her long, thick silver eyelashes traced a gentle curve as they moved. Soon, she answered calmly.
“I’ve thought about it.”
“…Are you also on bad terms with your family?”
At this, Ophelia fell briefly silent. Idren quietly studied her face, still bearing traces of youthful innocence. She looked fair, delicate, soft, and fragile.
Completely different from him at his core.
Just as Idren began to feel awkward about the thickening silence, Ophelia spoke again.
“No. It’s just… I feel stifled.”
“….”
“You might not know this, but Reden is quite a small country.”
She added indifferently, “Especially the royal palace.”
“I want to visit many places outside Reden. I want to experience everything that can only be done there.”
It was a common wish among daughters raised in noble households, yet Ophelia that day somehow seemed strangely melancholic.
But before Idren could study the sadness on her small face any further, Ophelia quickly changed the subject.
“But it’ll be different once I marry, so it’s fine.”
Then Ophelia stood up and smoothed her dress.
Seeing her bow slightly, revealing her cascading silver hair adorned with flowers and jewels, Idren found himself wishing he were someone with far greater means.
If he had possessed more, he could have granted her wishes instantly.
But at that time, he couldn’t even control his own body, so he remained silent.
While Idren stayed quiet, Ophelia finished adjusting her appearance and looked at him. Her expression was now perfectly composed as she gave a small bow.
“I’ll head back now. I hope we can meet again next year.”
[This is the timeline separator]Yet Idren couldn’t fulfill her wish.
The very next year, he was sent to the borderlands. And for five years, he endured in freezing air so harsh it felt as though one of his limbs might fall off.
After five years passed and he turned twenty-one, Idren could no longer bear staying there.
It wasn’t so much a mental issue as simply the fact that the situation had become truly unbearable. Supplies for the front lines had run out for three months straight.
He had thought there was nothing he could change on his own, but when backed into a corner, even he had to change.
When he came to his senses, Idren already had a knife pressed to his father’s throat. He had made peace with Ragal, with whom he’d fought fiercely enough to kill each other for the past five years.
Idren killed the Grand Duke and hanged the three princes. It wasn’t driven by personal resentment, but a necessary choice—he couldn’t afford to let them live. Had he spared them, it would have been his neck on the noose.
After killing his family, he ascended the throne—not because he desired it, but because he had no idea how else to manage the situation.
People often assumed a child killed their royal parent purely for the throne, but having done it himself, Idren realized such betrayal was less a decision of the mind and more an act of the heart. It wasn’t driven by a firm goal like the crown, but by being swept along by circumstances.
Politics, begun in a life suddenly turned upside down, felt like walking on thin ice. There was much to do, even more that must not be done, and far more still that simply couldn’t be done.
Idren dealt with the tasks before him without even fully grasping what he was doing. The more he learned about politics, the more he felt fortunate not to be a scholar—if he’d made studying his profession, he surely would have died long ago.
On nights when daytime duties spilled over and sleep became impossible, he sometimes wondered if he’d killed the late king for no good reason.
Whether it was the necks of Ragal’s soldiers or his own family, each had only one—and after cutting the latter, every direction turned against him.
The Council of Elders, Tesendot—the late king’s maternal clan—and even Brinwell, the homeland of the former queen, all sharpened their blades toward him.
“Still, isn’t it better now that you possess so much?”
Whenever Idren muttered he might die at this rate, Salode would say this. Then Idren would gaze blankly at his financial advisor, who always appeared at just the right moment to guide him toward the best choice.
Indeed, Salode was right. Though Idren now worried daily whether someone might invade tomorrow, he believed things were better now that his family was dead than when they had lived.
And that belief grew even firmer after meeting Prince Mahanas of Reden.
After his rebellion, negotiations had effectively halted, as Luntalis and the previous Aglante dynasty had been close allies.
Egelbamot couldn’t possibly look kindly upon him after he’d exterminated every Sigrasil royal except himself.
But the dead were dead, and the living sat on the throne, weren’t they? The Crown Prince of Egelbamot, known for his peaceful nature, invited him once more to negotiations.
Thus, Idren returned to Egelbamot’s summer palace—the same place he’d last visited seven years prior.
Perhaps because so much time had passed, Ophelia wasn’t there. The only Reden royal present was Prince Mahanas.
Idren asked the prince about Ophelia. The prince, as if he’d been waiting for this, told him she still wasn’t married—not even engaged.
How his heart raced upon hearing that.
Idren remembered every word Ophelia had spoken on their last night together at the summer palace. He had never forgotten a single moment of it.
“But it’ll be different once I marry, so it’s fine.”
Now, he possessed enough to bring her the change she desired.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
Cowardice? Bitch you barely even look at him or speak to him 😦😡
Finally! Put her in her place!!! She should treat you better 😡😡😡
That caught him by surprise 😭🥺🤣 that he almost choked