Valentin’s beautiful face lost its color.
His pale face seemed almost like a plaster statue, close to a sculpture.
It was rather fortunate that there was no trace of humanity, making it easy not to need to consider his pain, and the questions that might hurt him were not difficult.
“The ‘foreign substance’ you mentioned a while ago, what is it?”
“…”
“Even if not right now, will you tell me someday?”
“…”
“Do you… cherish me?”
“Y-yes. Mo-more than anything else. Adel. That is… Don’t doubt, please…”
As if exhaling the blocked breath, he poured out words incoherently.
The characteristic arrogance was nowhere to be found, and his beautiful face was entirely covered in sorrow.
How could I not cherish you, he wondered. Tears dropped from his beautiful eyes, distorted as if begging.
“Uh, I-I’m sorry. It must be unpleasant to see…”
The abandoned child-like eyes stabbed the heart painfully. It was more miserable.
Even while vomiting such a sorrowful cry to the question of whether he cherishes me, he won’t share anything in the end.
The more he leans into affection, the more it will forever distance her eyes from him.
Later, she might think that’s enough…
“Adel, please… I won’t do it again, I promise…”
This relationship was not good.
Not because he was a monster and she was human, but because they were like parallel lines that could never understand each other.
Wiping away the tears overflowing from her cheeks with her palm, she got off the bed.
He was surprised and hastily followed her to the floor.
“Adel, no, don’t…”
He hurriedly blocked Adel’s way.
The hand that was about to grab her easily stopped in mid-air without daring to catch her.
Adel recoiled at the sight of his hand and shrank her shoulders. He slowly retracted his hand.
Adel coldly turned her face away from him, taking a step aside. He immediately followed and blocked her way.
“Please move aside.”
“Just, just for a moment… If you answer this…”
Even by saying so, his face turned pale as if he had done something impossible.
His tightly clenched fist trembled with an unknown emotion. Adel calmly observed everything.
“Tell me if I, if I… seem pitiful to you…”
“…”
“If I, if you feel sorry for me…”
Ah. She spat out a short bitter laugh.
Even as tears streamed down her face like a broken dam, it was too funny, so funny that she couldn’t help but laugh.
She opened her eyes. Her face might be a mess just like his, but she no longer cared how it looked to him.
“Even though Your Highness doesn’t answer anything for me, you still expect an answer from me.”
“……Please……”
“Why do you find it so difficult to answer that question? I’ll answer it for you.”
Desperation shone in Valentin’s eyes. Adel looked straight into them and opened her mouth.
“I don’t pity you.”
If he had asked whether she loved him, she might have said she didn’t know. But to the question of whether she pitied him…
There might not be a more ridiculous question than this in the current situation.
Unless she treated all of this as some kind of amusement, how could he do this to her…
“Truly, not at all.”
Moreover, what was the meaning of that statement, and why was he making a face as if the whole world had collapsed?
Adel, seeing Valentin who seemed to have no intention of holding her anymore, passed by him and quickly left the room.
Aha. There you were.
Did you enjoy it? Did you taste the special joy? Sitting on top of the head of a mere foreign substance topic, did you feel like anything?
You seem pitiful. If you dared to peer into the abyss, you should have been prepared to be swallowed by it.
Don’t come closer? Remember that you wished for Adel’s soul? Ah, right. That’s right. My wife made such a request to me. I almost made a mistake.
But what to do…
I’ve already swallowed your head.
The seasons passed quickly.
The eyes that seemed like they would never melt suddenly melted, and the biting wind that felt like scraping off flesh subsided.
The tips of bizarre winter branches began to show a tint of green.
The trees in the garden, which were thickly covered with frost, melted cleanly, as did the frozen river.
The fireplace regained its vitality, newborn lambs and calves filled the stable, and the wooden panels added to the windows hid their traces.
And as winter passed, and spring came, Adel did not seek Valentin. Valentin was the same.
It was a day when spring rain fell sporadically.
Since the sudden funeral at the palace a few days ago, Ansgar Castle had been in chaos for several days, preparing to move.
From Janik to Herman, they rushed into the castle, packed two carriages full of luggage, and even ordered a new carriage.
It was because there was a schedule to stay in the capital for at least a month, including victory celebrations, commemorative hunting events, and a martial arts tournament.
“What about this cloak? It will look splendid on you during the hunting event.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
