Valentin was forcefully held by the shoulders by the knights. It appeared that six robust men had just managed to subdue him after a violent struggle. The signs of a recent scuffle were evident.
His hands and feet were covered in blood, his clothes were tattered, and his neck was pressed down by crossed swords.
Every part of his body showed wounds from glass fragments. To prevent self-harm, a soft cloth was stuffed between Valentin’s lips.
Adel’s face drained of color at this horrific sight. Not even an animal would be treated this way.
“What on earth… How could you show such disrespect to His Grace?”
The captain of the knights, Gunter, with a face weary from fatigue, held Valentin’s right shoulder.
“My apologies. It may look brutal to you, but it was the best measure for the Duke’s safety.”
“…What do you mean?”
Gunter hesitated slightly.
“He was… harming himself…”
Self-harm? Adel was shocked and speechless for a moment before regaining her composure.
“Even so. Treating the master of Ansburg like an animal…”
“My apologies.”
“Could someone please bring some water-soaked cloth and medicine? Captain Gunter, you may dismiss the knights. It seems the Duke has calmed down now.”
At Herman the steward’s signal, a maid quickly made her way through the crowd and left the room. Gunter still looked worried.
“However, my lady. Even six robust men struggled to contain the Duke’s strength.”
“I’m aware. It seems the Duke recognizes me.”
Gunter’s expression momentarily clouded. Indeed, strangely, it was so…
“Please release His Grace.”
At Adel’s firm request, Gunter gestured to his men. The knights cautiously released their hold on the Duke.
As soon as the spears restraining his neck were removed, Valentin shook them off as if ridding himself of an annoyance. The sturdy knights scattered like grains of ripe wheat. He spat out the piece of cloth in his mouth.
Then he got up without anyone’s help. His previously frenzied demeanor had completely subsided, as if it had all been a lie.
“…”
Valentin’s persistent gaze landed on Adel’s face. He immediately walked towards her. The people in the room held their breath as they alternately looked at them.
“Um… My lady. I have brought the wet cloth and the medicine…”
Just then, the maid returned, cautiously interrupting them with a tray. On the tray were a water-soaked cloth, medicine, and clean bandages. The maid shivered under Valentin’s cold gaze.
Adel quickly took the tray from her.
“Thank you. Now, everyone please clear the room.”
“But…”
The old steward frowned, interjecting. Adel shook her head.
“The Duke has just calmed down. I’ll try to… do something.”
Herman looked worriedly at his master and Adel, then gestured to the people to leave. Soon, the sound of the door closing was heard behind her. Herman had successfully cleared the room.
Now only the two of them remained in the candle-lit room.
“…”
Adel was the first to break the suffocating silence.
“Your Grace.”
At the sound of her voice, Valentin’s ears twitched. His eyes held an inexplicably ominous glint. The shimmering golden eyes seemed to swallow her whole.
In truth, his gaze had not wavered an inch since she entered the room. It was filled with desire, anger, or perhaps some other poignant sentiment – it was hard to tell.
“I’ll look at your wounds.”
Adel cautiously met Valentin’s gaze and pointed to the couch near the fireplace. For some reason, today, he felt more alien than ever.
The moment Adel met Valentin’s gaze head-on, she immediately realized why he felt so unfamiliar. His pupils, reflecting the light, were… different from usual. They were slit vertically, like those of a reptile, not a human.
‘What?’
As she blinked in surprise, Valentin’s pupils returned to their normal, human-like round shape.
‘Was it my imagination? If it was real, what did I just see?’
The surroundings were eerily quiet. The cries of horses, chickens, and dogs that had previously filled the air had vanished as if washed away.
An ominous voice from an old tale echoed in her mind: “The dragon of Vichelleben is cunning, malicious, and enchanting…”
Adel swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth. The fear she had absorbed from Grita slowly raised its head like a cobra, hissing in her ears.
‘It manipulates shadows, hides among people, imitates human behavior, but…’
“Adel.”
A chill ran down her neck. As Adel stepped back hesitantly, Valentin’s eyebrows twitched, and his forearms tensed up.
He quickly closed the distance Adel had created.
Crunch. Glass fragments on the floor crunched under his bare feet, but he showed no sign of pain, as if he couldn’t feel it. He grasped Adel’s wrist.
“Ah.”
Adel gasped in surprise. Expecting the grip on her forearm to be painful, she found Valentin’s hold firm but not painful.
“Adelheit.”
His accent was perfectly aristocratic, elegant, profound. He couldn’t speak a single other word properly, yet he pronounced her name nearly perfectly.
‘Is he really imitating someone?’
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.]
