“How can I trust you?” Yuvan asked, pressing down his flushed eyes with a somewhat broken momentum in Hilé’s explanation.
Hilé stood up abruptly, grasping Yuvan’s arms and pleading, “Entering the mansion was with impure intentions, but… I have never once forgotten that I am a doctor. How could I easily accept an order to kill someone? I received the same order not just for that side but for others too.”
Seeing Yuvan’s eyes filled with suspicion and resentment, Hilé clasped her hands together.
“Serve thinking that others’ pain is your own pain. If you hurt others with impure intentions, you will surely pay the price for it.”
“…Those who willingly embrace others’ pain will find solace, and those who step on others’ pain and do good will ultimately wander in eternal suffering.”
“You know it. A passage from , the first chapter. I always found it amusing, thinking it’s like a curse directed at anyone. Ironically.”
“…”
“But aren’t these sentences good guides in such dire and special circumstances?”
“…”
“The moment I found out that Lord Kompani is Prince Bollonico’s man. I realized everything was Prince Bollonico’s scheme. I’ve been monitoring His Highness all this time and trying to kill him whenever I could find a chance. Once I leave, someone else will take this place and target His Highness again.”
“…”
“The business profits I gained through Madam’s consideration far exceeded my debts. I’ve paid off all the debts, and I no longer need to step on others’ pain.”
Hilé’s eyes sparkled with earnestness. It was the same benevolent face that Yuvan always smiled at, sharing stories about medicine and making jokes.
He rummaged through his pouch, pulled out a vial, and handed it over to Yuvan.
Taking a whiff, Yuvan recognized a scent very similar to the medicine the palace physician had forced into Clad’s mouth earlier.
Just that scent was enough for Yuvan to realize that Hilé had been putting that medicine in the painkillers all along, whether they made it together or she made it alone and offered it to Clad.
“I won’t forgive you. I’ll keep watching you-.”
Suddenly.
Yuvan’s heart, which had absorbed some of Clad’s pain while wandering through his perspective, began to ache as if tearing apart.
Yuvan clutched his chest and bent over, and Hilé, with widened eyes, approached even closer.
Stepping back, Hilé exhaled deeply.
The immaculate violet carpet, not a speck of dust on it, began to spin around.
“Madam!”
Just as the sensation of someone tightly gripping his heart and then the thought that the blood in his heart was flowing backward occurred, Yuvan’s lips, hastily sealed, allowed a thin stream of blood to escape.
“Madam! Madam!! Madam!!!”
Hilé’s voice repeated the cycle of getting distant and then closer.
Yuvan, determined not to rely on Hilé who kept getting closer, hurriedly pressed against the wall, feeling the cold surface against one side of his cheek.
Yuvan’s body collapsed, leaning against the wall.
Yuvan’s time unconscious wasn’t long, but it was enough for his stocky uncle to rush over upon hearing about Clad’s worsening condition and still have plenty of time left.
“Yuvan! Yuvan!! Are you awake?”
“…Is it a nightmare.”
It wasn’t a nightmare.
The unpleasant sweat smell clinging to him and the heat of the excited flushed face were enough to confirm visually.
Though it wasn’t the first time he had seen someone collapse, his uncle, who had been idling by the window, quickly approached as if flying when she got up, abandoning the thought that she needed to stabilize as a patient.
Yuvan thought he should warn Hilé not to associate him and his uncle with Feliese anymore.
His uncle, uncharacteristically, tried to help Yuvan but realizing his body was heavier, he awkwardly stood by the bed, stuck against it.
“Have you thought about what I said? It’s perfect. Attempted poisoning. In this dignified palace! The Emperor himself has seen how dangerous it is for you to be with that monster. If I tell him I’ll divorce you, he’ll probably pretend to listen!”
“Are you still saying such things? I won’t go. And I need to stabilize, so please leave.”
His uncle’s face contorted like an evil spirit.
“Can’t you see your husband vomiting blood in front of you?”
“I’m aware. That’s why I’m like this.”
“Even if you die?”
When Yuvan glared silently at him, his uncle stared back with bloodshot eyes.
“Are you afraid of such a weak poison? Even if it’s an antidote, it’ll burn in Feliese! You urgently need treatment, dying within a limited time! How are you going to manage your treatment in a place where the only one aiming for your husband’s life is you? It’s a miracle that a person with no resistance like you hasn’t been poisoned so far!”
Ignoring Yuvan’s stubborn silence, the viscount suddenly grabbed her pale arm.
“Would you be relieved if only your husband’s life was at stake? I’m aiming for your life too. Huh?”
Helplessly yielding his exhausted body to him, Yuvan was soon dragged into some unknown room and confined to a space like a wardrobe.
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.”
