Adel reflexively checked Valentin’s shadow. If he were a ‘dragon’, his shadow would be alive and moving differently from a human.
But Valentin’s shadow was ordinary, not breathing or moving differently, just an unremarkable, normal shadow.
Relief washed over her. ‘He can’t be inhuman. Look, he bleeds. Grita was just overreacting…’
“Adel.”
He grasped her chin, lifting her face. As his hand approached, Adel smelled blood. Now she noticed his palm was entirely bloodstained.
‘Was it from breaking the window?’
She was lost in thought when…
“…”
Valentin gazed at her silently. Adel quickly realized he was unusually flustered.
“…”
He rubbed her cheek and chin forcefully with his thumb, as if trying to wipe something off. Frustrated by his inability to clean it, he repeated the action several times.
Only after looking in the half-broken mirror did Adel realize her cheek was smeared with blood from Valentin’s handprints. His attempts to clean it only made it messier.
Adel gently pushed his arm away, saying, “I’ll do it. Rubbing like that will hurt.”
“…”
“If you continue, it’ll just spread. If I use a wet cloth, it will…”
Adel couldn’t finish her sentence. Valentin leaned in, his face drawing closer. Stunned, she just blinked, not understanding his intention. Suddenly…
His lips touched Adel’s chin. Her eyes widened as a soft tongue delicately licked the bloodstain.
Goodness.
Adel’s cheeks instantly flushed a ripe tomato red. Trembling under his surprisingly gentle and moist touch, she said, “Stop, please…”
“Ah, pretty… one… My Adel.”
Valentin released a suppressed laugh onto Adel’s skin where they touched. She pressed her hand to her chest, her heart racing excessively fast.
‘He’ gazed at the pitiable woman before him.
Her white, pure cheeks, summer-like eyes, hair damply clinging to her fingers, and slender, willow-like shoulders. Just looking at her stirred a dark desire within him.
While the whole of the north rejoiced in the man’s return, toasting in celebration, a shadow of doubt lingered on Adelheit’s face. It was tenacious, refusing to fade no matter what ‘he’ did.
‘He’ was troubled.
What was missing? Did he seem too ignorant for a human? Or did he overdo the pitiable act?
His tongue, still not sated with greed, licked his lips discreetly. ‘He’ narrowed his eyes when Adel couldn’t see.
So, how could he break down those defenses like before?
Kisses trailed from her chin to her cheek and back to her chin again. Initially, there was the pretext of cleaning blood, but later Valentin seemed to relish the act itself. Every time he kissed, Adel flinched, which he seemed to enjoy.
She, looking utterly distressed, pushed his robust shoulders away with desperation. Satisfied, Valentin finally straightened his stooped back.
“First, let’s treat the wounds.”
Adel, her cheeks flushed, placed the tray brought by the maid on her lap. Whether the man before her was truly her husband or a beast in human guise, he was bleeding.
Ignoring such wounds could lead to severe complications later. Adel, feigning concern, warned as she tightly grasped the cloth.
“It might sting a bit.”
She unfolded Valentin’s large palm upwards and gently wiped the wound with the alcohol-soaked cloth.
“…”
Every time the cloth touched him, his solid shoulder twitched. It seemed less about pain and more about the unfamiliar sensation. His face, observing his own skin, echoed that sentiment.
Adel liberally applied yarrow on the bruised palm and wrapped it tightly with a bandage.
“Does it hurt? Is it too tight or uncomfortable?”
Valentin tilted his head, as if questioning her intention or finding the question incomprehensible.
Adel’s ears turned slightly red. She timidly changed the subject.
“It’s good the other hand is less injured, but we should check your feet since you stepped on glass. If there are more injuries, please show me. Before calling a healer, it’s best to stop the bleeding…”
She couldn’t finish her sentence. Valentin crossed his arms and casually ripped off his tunic, already tattered at the front.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
