My Insolent Shadow (22 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 10
I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet I felt as if I’d committed some sin.
That Young Master could make me feel so suffocated with just a single expression.
I tried hard to escape his slow, red gaze, but even that proved difficult.
After all, it was absurd to try avoiding eye contact once we’d already met eyes.
The longer we faced each other, the more my chest prickled painfully,
as if someone were poking the area around my heart with an awl.
I felt like a child caught chatting with another during class, or like someone discovered idling on the job by their master.
Cassian still smirked crookedly, clearly mocking me.
His expression resembled the time he’d arrogantly and absurdly claimed he’d summon the book’s author to rewrite it.
A long sigh slipped out of me.
It was because, for some reason, I sensed Cassian wouldn’t let things go easily tomorrow.
Though I didn’t know why, my conversation with Hael must have clearly offended him.
But why?
If I really thought about it, it was ridiculous and unfair.
Even having to entertain such thoughts made me hot with frustration.
Honestly, the strictly master-servant relationship between the Young Master and me ended the moment I stepped out of that room.
Of course, once tomorrow dawned, that relationship would resume—but not right now, at least.
Cassian’s red eyes pierced through me, as if reading my very thoughts and appearance.
His gaze clung to me as though he could see right through me.
While I bit hard on my innocent lips, Cassian slid his eyes away from me and shut the window with a snap.
Thunk—it sounded as if that sharp, crisp noise reached all the way to me.
Only after Cassian disappeared from view did Hael’s palm finally appear.
“Why do you look so dazed?”
Waving before me was a large hand.
Its owner slowly drifted into my field of vision a beat later.
Standing tall enough that I had to look up to meet his face, he smiled brightly at me.
He’d really grown a lot since last time.
Without breaking eye contact with me, Hael tilted his chin toward the window where Cassian had just vanished.
“Do you know him?”
His hand shielding my face from the glaring sunlight felt unusually gentle.
“Yeah.”
“How?”
I hadn’t wanted to bring up that Young Master in front of Hael, yet circumstances had steered us there anyway.
Was this what Cassian had wanted?
“He’s the one who hired me.”
Hael’s eyes gradually widened, as if puzzling something out.
“He hired you? That Young Master?”
Young Master? Ah, so Hael must know Cassian.
He’d spent a long time in the capital, and since he’d been selected as a scholarship student by Blanchet, he must have seen the young lord around there at least once.
So, I could understand Hael’s surprise.
After all, it was quite strange for a noble like Blanchet to keep someone as ordinary as me by his side.
Although Hael himself was also a commoner, his path was entirely different from mine.
Despite being exceptionally useful—so much so that he’d earned a scholarship—Hael’s entire role in this household was merely tending to horses.
Granted, calling it “merely” horses might be inaccurate in this estate, where horses were highly valued—but that’s how I saw it, at least.
However, Hael’s point of astonishment was far from what I’d expected.
“Why would that finicky Young Master keep someone beside him?”
Finicky?
“Was he finicky in the capital, too?”
“Yeah. That’s why I couldn’t even feed hay to Blanchet’s horses when they were his—because he didn’t like anyone else touching them.”
Ah… that was such a Cassian thing to do.
That fastidious Young Master must have strolled through the capital with his chin held high, looking down at the world with cold elegance.
“He’s always been so unlucky.”
Hael chuckled softly and continued talking about the Young Master he knew,
his voice filled with admiration, as if he’d forgotten he’d once been the village’s own top Young Master.
“But people praised him endlessly, didn’t they? Everyone in Alphonse talked about nothing but him.”
The moment Cassian summoned me flashed through my mind—
that narrow alleyway where I’d walked behind Butler Alphonse, drawing everyone’s attention.
By now, the price he’d paid for my service had surely spread through the entire village and beyond.
Hael looked slightly disappointed that the townspeople, who used to chatter about him alone, had suddenly changed the subject.
“You too. Meeting me again after all these years, and you’re already talking about another man.”
“No, it’s not like that…”
Caught off guard, my face flushed hot.
It almost seemed as if I’d been preoccupied with that Young Master.
Amused by my flustered expression, Hael burst into cheerful laughter.
“What are you so embarrassed about?”
“…”
“Everyone across the empire finds an unlucky boss annoying—that’s just how it is.”
Relaxing his previously serious face, Hael’s eyes softened warmly.
Only then did a quiet giggle escape me.
After all, he couldn’t possibly have been thinking about that Young Master.
He’d just been venting his frustration about an annoying superior.
Because it made no sense that someone so universally admired would treat only him this way.
After that, Hael told me stories from the capital.
It sounded like an entirely different world—far more advanced than this isolated island—something I’d only read about in books.
Scattered throughout his tales were occasional anecdotes about the Young Master in the capital.
Once, a gardener nearly lost his position for poorly tending to the wisteria—the pride of House Blanchet—but the Young Master had simply cut the whole thing down himself.
Even after being scolded harshly by the Duke, he never confessed the truth.
He’d even granted his wet nurse’s daughter a vacation to recuperate far away on the day she passed away.
.
.
.
Just three years ago—before his terminal diagnosis—he’d swept every fencing tournament, as befitted a scion of a noble house. The young lords envied him, and the young ladies adored him.
Grand courting spectacles unfolded before him, though he hadn’t even reached marriageable age yet.
Everyone dreamed of taking him as their cavalier at their upcoming debutante ball.
Yet whenever that happened, the Young Master would merely smirk dismissively, showing no interest whatsoever in women.
Among all those countless tales, there was no trace of the teasing, irksome Young Master who treated me that way.
Only the image of a gentlemanly, perfect heir of House Blanchet remained.
So, was that Young Master only cruel and frightening to me?
Mockingly testing me by forcing me to read a book in Rubruese,
or glaring as if personally offended, then slamming the window shut with a loud thud—none of that existed in anyone else’s stories.
It made me feel as if I were the only strange one for seeing him that way.
Now, I couldn’t even tell whether it was truly him being harsh, or if he treated only me differently.
Suddenly, again, that hollow, lonely look in his eyes passed through my mind.
“Did he become so sharp-tempered only after receiving his terminal diagnosis?”
Thinking that made me feel genuinely guilty.
He was still far too young to die—it was understandable if he threw a tantrum now and then. Maybe I’d misjudged him.
Besides, I had no right to complain—I was the one living under a false identity, deceiving everyone.
Hael abruptly stopped his stories about the Young Master and locked eyes with me.
“But how did you end up working here?”
“Well… it just happened.”
I tried brushing it off vaguely, but under Hael’s persistent gaze, I finally confessed the truth.
“Aunt Mary recommended me. I guess I was the only one who could last long beside that Young Master.”
“You probably are the best at it.”
Well, truthfully, it was more that no one else could handle that Young Master—but I didn’t feel like arguing the point.
“Thank you. For saying that.”
“Is the work bearable? How’s the Young Master?”
Young Master. Just recalling him—despite having suspected moments ago that maybe I’d misjudged him—made my breath catch in my throat.
It felt as though his red eyes were still glaring at me through the air.
Only after checking that the window remained closed could I finally exhale deeply from the depths of my lungs.
“Just… as unlucky and aloof as any noble Young Master, I guess.”
Maybe Hael heard my sigh, because his voice fell silent.
Turning my head, I found his clear blue eyes—resembling a cloudless sky—glancing at me as if checking on me.
“You’ve changed.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Hael turned his face away with a sulk.
“You used to tell me, ‘You’re the unluckiest kid I’ve ever met. Do you really think you’re some noble Young Master?’”
Ah. I had indeed said those words to him.
Back in that distant past when he was still the biggest thing in my world.
“Weren’t you the only Young Master like that to me?”
“…”
Jealous over being called unlucky? Hael truly was incorrigible.
“I’d be disappointed if you said otherwise, Miss.”
Hearing him call me “Miss” sent that now-distant past rushing by.
In truth, an elderly lady from Alphonse might scoff that a child whose blood hadn’t even settled was reminiscing about ancient times.
Yet, that’s exactly how distant it all felt.
The days when Hael and I had chatted so easily, sharing words without hesitation.
Since then, I’d been buried under countless burdens, too busy to linger in the past.
Thus, while time had made me clearer to Hael, it had made him fade from my memory.
As always, even identical moments could hold different meanings for different people.
Still, admitting before Hael’s very eyes that I’d changed in ways unlike him would surely wound him.
“People always change.”
“I haven’t changed.”
“You have. Your voice changed, you’ve grown much taller, and also…”
Before I could search for more differences, Hael leaned his face right into my view.
“I did get more handsome, though.”
His wide grin was undeniably bright. After seeing only that crooked Young Master’s smile, this one felt so pure it cleansed my heart.
If good and evil truly existed, this kid was good—and that sickly Young Master was evil.
Ah, it was probably rude to think of that Young Master while looking at Hael. Thankfully, there was no magical artifact that could read others’ thoughts.
In a flash, Hael’s face suddenly closed the distance once more.
“But my heart hasn’t changed. That’s what really matters, right?”
This sudden closeness sent a gentle warmth rippling quietly through my heart,
just like long ago.
A dangerous change. And a feeling I never wanted to have again.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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Damnnnnn why is this so interesting am I a masochist for liking this haha
I feel like the young master is probably going to get her back one way
I feel bad for Hael, he likes her so much but I feel like it’s hard for the FL to return that type of love