Chapter 13. If I Were a Woman, I’d Run Away
2023.10.13.
Clade pressed hard on the dark shadows beneath his eyes and pulled the blanket over his head.
It was because of an uninvited guest who had barged in since morning.
A cheerful voice poured down onto his back as he turned away.
“Your under-eye circles are pitch black. Did you have a nightmare or something?”
Yes. He did.
Damn it, a nightmare.
Clade raked his fingers through his disheveled golden hair and turned his back even deeper into the pillow.
“This is troublesome. You knew I was visiting today, didn’t you?”
“Get lost.”
The blanket that had granted him a brief nap was snatched away in an instant.
Clade, who had kept his eyes shut with a frown, suddenly snapped them open.
“…Lancelot Rev.”
“What, Clade Euphris? What kind of attitude is this after calling someone here?”
Lancelot, the second son of Marquis Rev and Clade’s cousin, grinned with his usual sly expression.
Clade glared at Lancelot with irritation in his eyes.
He had always wanted to punch that smug face, but after a sleepless night tormented by nightmares, seeing it now made him want to land two more blows.
“I didn’t call you. Don’t come and go as you please without permission.”
“If you’re bringing in a new wife, you should’ve known Eddie would send me. I always handle your messes, don’t I?”
Lancelot rolled up the blanket he’d taken from Clade and tossed it onto the chaise longue, then half-lay down on it.
Propping his long arms behind his head, Lancelot began explaining as he recalled the events.
“Father wasn’t too pleased. He said she looked even weaker than the eighth wife. Eddie didn’t even need to say anything.”
“So what if he’s not pleased?”
As always, an indifferent reaction.
Unfazed by Clade’s prickly attitude, Lancelot shrugged.
“They even suggested that starting from the tenth imperial consort, the imperial family should look among our Marquis Rev family instead of outside. So I came to ask your opinion, but look at this—your ninth wife is still firmly planted in this mansion?”
“You keep calling her my wife.”
Clade muttered coldly as he got up and sat on the rocking chair.
His cousin watched him with sharp eyes, observing the motionless, lifeless way he moved.
“Besides, I took a quick peek through the crack in the door—she’s stunningly beautiful. How should I interpret this?”
“I just didn’t want to see someone die in my house. I saved her when she was nearly dead and shoved her into some corner. I’ll kick her out soon.”
“What? That’s a waste. I should’ve tried to charm her before you laid eyes on her.”
Lancelot grinned, one dimple deepening, testing Clade’s reaction. Clade, still with his eyes closed, let out a faint chuckle.
“A waste? Take her then. She’s just a sickly crow of a woman.”
“Seriously?”
Lancelot raised his eyebrows and smiled broadly.
“Should I?”
“You’ll be dead before that happens.”
“….”
“You’ll die. Again. In my house.”
“She’s still alive, though. She hasn’t run away. The servants seem oddly cheerful, like they’re finally doing real work for once. Eddie, on the other hand, is worried sick.”
Lancelot shivered slightly, recalling how his elder brother Eddie had become tense upon hearing that Clade had personally brought a woman home.
Clade snorted.
“What does he have to worry about?”
“The current woman—isn’t she the younger sister? The younger sister of the eighth wife. The next sacrificial offering after her dead elder sister. Do you really think she could stay here willingly? Seems like the Pelliese family didn’t want to send the younger sister this time, unlike the elder one who was readily shipped off. Apparently, they threw a tantrum and even lied about not sending her. No wonder Eddie is worried.”
“Then tell them to take her back.”
“From what I’ve heard, they’re already grinding their teeth, waiting for any chance to take her home. Isn’t that awkward? The imperial family is desperate to attach a woman to you, and Garret Pelliese, the go-between, is throwing a fit refusing to let her go… Though honestly, the House of Count Pelliese could’ve made a decent match in the capital. How much must your wife have dreaded marrying you? Even a dog wouldn’t be treated this poorly by someone like you.”
An unfiltered barrage of criticism, directed at Clade, who still hadn’t opened his eyes and merely rocked gently on the chair.
“If I were a woman, I’d run away.”
Every word struck true, yet Clade’s lips twisted bitterly.
With his eyes still closed, he frowned, recalling the day he brought the woman home.
“Dread marrying me? She clung and begged not to be sent back to her family. Don’t talk nonsense.”
“What? So the rumor that she didn’t run away even after seeing you is true? Then the rumor that you personally went outside to fetch her and brought her in is also completely accurate?”
“If you’re going to make weird assumptions, get out. Better yet, just vanish from my house along with that woman. She’s the type to stubbornly resist until death just to avoid going home—perfect for you to take.”
“How cold-hearted!”
Lancelot scolded, yet wore a faint smile as he surrendered.
He knew his words were spiteful—Clade wouldn’t even open his eyes to glance at him, after all.
“Well, anyway. If you look at it positively, isn’t it better than your current groaning personal physician? I see it as a good thing. At the very least, you finally went outside after so long. Eddie is anxious, suspecting the imperial family sent the Pelliese woman under the excuse that you need someone to take care of you.”
Clade had been replacing his personal physician every few months. For the past ten years, continuously.
Naturally, he neither trusted nor wanted to trust those sent by the imperial family.
He wouldn’t let them witness the agony he endured each night, how he writhed in pain, how wretched and pitiful he looked.
And in the process, all competent physicians nearby had either fled or vanished.
“What makes her any different from those imperial physicians?”
She was, after all, someone handpicked and sent by the imperial family.
One more person who would report every last detail of his miserable, repulsive state to the Emperor.
“I don’t know.”
“But still, she’s different from before. The others, even if sent by the imperial family, either ran away or died. She faced you from day one and stayed. She hasn’t died yet.”
Lancelot spoke in a bright tone, as if to lighten the mood.
“Eddie tends to worry unnecessarily—that’s the problem. I’ll try exactly what Eddie said this morning.”
His half-joking voice finally made Clade open his eyes.
Lancelot grinned widely at the irritated purple eyes staring back.
‘The murderer of my elder sister,’ or something like that—I don’t even know she’s here for revenge! What fate! Don’t go treating her kindly for nothing! She’ll just run away the moment things get slightly scary anyway!”
Lancelot mimicked his elder brother Eddie, who would one day become the next Marquis Rev.
Clade gave no reply.
Not entirely wrong.
Whether by suicide or assassination, his former wife on paper was still his wife—and thus, dead because of him.
“Revenge?”
If it were revenge, he’d already suffered it.
Clade sneered faintly, curling his lips sideways.
Because of that crow-like woman, Clade had been having the same nightmare for days.
Because of the words spoken by that pale, lifeless crow, clutching his sleeve as if it were her lifeline:
‘Please don’t abandon me.’
A splitting headache suddenly pierced his skull.
Seeing Clade’s forehead crumple violently, Lancelot instinctively dashed to the console and handed him medicine.
Clade ignored the proffered glass of water, instead shoving several days’ worth of pills into his mouth and chewing them down in one go.
Because of that insignificant phrase, he was being tormented nightly by pain and nightmares.
So if this crow locked away in the corner was seeking revenge, this was already more than enough.
Damn it, that nightmare.
Clade clenched his throbbing head and forced his eyes shut.
Beyond Lancelot’s chattering voice, the servants’ voices—lively and chirping with a different warmth than before—brushed against Clade’s ears.
Voices slightly excited.
Voices anticipating a new wind blowing through the mansion.
‘How ridiculous.’
It was all useless.
Eddie Rev’s excessive worry.
Lancelot Rev’s overexcitement.
The servants’ hope.
Clade covered his eyes with his arm and smiled bitterly.
All he needed was peace.
Peace without pain or expectation.
A tranquil night.
A night denied to him.
***
The mansion’s personal physician, Hille, was quite skilled.
Yuan was able to move without assistance just one day after arriving at the mansion, and by the second night, she only needed treatment for scattered bruises and injuries.
Her fatigue would take a little more time to recover, but Yuan had already begun to enjoy a certain sense of calm after several nights passed without major pain.
Compared to the days when, each winter, firewood was sparingly used just for her, and she had to prepare her own meals despite exhaustion, this was nothing short of paradise.
Butler Gustav informed her that Louise’s coffin had been temporarily placed in a small chapel beyond the white forest.
Bury Louise somewhere sunny, not in the Pelliese mansion.
And herself—living quietly in a corner room of this mansion, surrounded by kind people, in modest peace…
Since Clade rarely left his bedroom and seldom sought anyone out, perhaps they could simply live as if the other didn’t exist, each in their own room?
It was the third day since she entered the mansion.
Clade hadn’t shown a single trace of himself—he was as good as absent.
‘It’d be nice if I could keep living like this.’
Yuan rolled her eyes around as she inhaled the scent of the ointment carefully prepared by Hille.
Aside from Hena, only one or two maids came and went here.
Even looking outside, apart from the butler, there were barely two or three servants.
In short, the staff was severely understaffed for such a massive mansion.
‘I should do something.’
In her childhood.
When Yuan was overwhelmed with shock due to her uncle’s family’s outrageous behavior, her elder sister Louise had whispered firmly into her ear—like a flash of lightning across her mind.
Male lead is a clingy little husband
One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
Introduction:
One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.
One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.
As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.
From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.
But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.
Mini scene 1:
One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.
Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”
Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”
Mini scene 2:
After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.
Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”
Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.
[Reading Guide]
1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.
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