Rather than regretting, he just looked slightly surprised.
“But I just saved you from falling off a cliff.”
“Yes, thank you. I’ll leave first so as not to cause any more trouble.”
Litania turned around abruptly and walked with large strides. No matter how vast the forest, it was connected to the city, so following the valley to the square would not be difficult.
When she returned to the annex, Litania decided that this time she would hide as if dead.
But then.
“…Pfft.”
She heard Orbis laughing behind her. Glancing back, she saw him following her.
“Why are you following me?”
“I’m just walking. Trying to return to the clearing.”
“When a large man like you follows, a woman feels threatened, you know?”
“Since I’m not a gentleman, I don’t particularly feel the need to be considerate.”
Laughter seeped through Orbis’s voice as he countered using the words Litania had said. She frowned deeply.
‘This reptile isn’t an incomprehensible being that causes trouble, he’s clearly rotten from the start!’
Thinking it was best not to get close after all, Litania put as much distance between them as possible.
The setting sun cast a warm golden light over the narrow valley. The sound of two sets of footsteps stretched long like shadows.
[This is the timeline separator]The story goes back to a few days ago.
“Litania, to the hunting festival?”
“If it’s the Emperor’s order, she won’t be able to refuse.”
Even if it were a dragon’s order, she wouldn’t be able to refuse. The Emperor thought so but didn’t mention it.
“It doesn’t have to be the hunting festival. If the Divine Dragon wishes, we can arrange any meeting.”
“No. If we do that, Litania will feel burdened.”
Orbis shook his head slightly.
“She seeks natural encounters, so meeting by chance at the hunting festival would be less forced and better.”
The Emperor wanted to say that this request itself was already quite forced, but he kept his mouth shut once again.
“I suppose I was hasty. It’s difficult to gauge the appropriate pace for humans. No matter how many times I try.”
“If the Divine Dragon wishes to take Litania…”
“Oh my, ‘take’? That’s not an appropriate expression.”
As Orbis tapped the armrest with his white-gloved fingertips, a servant filled the empty cup with tea and stepped back. The tea poured into the Emperor’s cup opposite him hadn’t decreased by a single sip since it was filled.
“For now, I intend to take it step by step.”
“By steps, you mean?”
“Well, in human terms.”
A fond memory came to mind. Orbis stroked his empty left ring finger and smiled slightly.
“I believe it’s called ‘dating’.”
[This is the timeline separator]Recalling his conversation with the Emperor, Orbis narrowed his eyes slightly and gazed at Litania’s back.
She was walking desperately, as if she wanted to run quickly but had weights tied to her ankles.
‘If I had asked one more time, she would have agreed.’
Orbis could have taken her safely and quickly to the square.
For a dragon, moving a human was an easy task. He really intended to grant her request, until he thought how cute she looked, glancing up at him with an uneasy face, after having been wary of him all along.
‘I’ve never seen that expression before.’
He had only ever seen her face pale with fear. Litania’s flustered expression was quite lovely too.
They say humans with incomplete personalities feel elation when tormenting someone they like. He began to understand a little why such a strange thing happens.
Her face flushed as she criticized him for not being a gentleman – that expression really, it made his fingertips tingle with how much he liked it.
“Litania.”
When he called her name softly, her shoulders, which had been walking silently, visibly trembled.
“I had no intention of threatening you.”
“I know. Thank you for saving me.”
Litania answered formally and started walking again. More earnestly than before. If someone saw, they might think she was participating in a speed walking competition rather than a hunting festival.
In the distance, the sound of a horn and barking hunting dogs could be heard.
Sensing they were nearing the hunting grounds, Litania’s steps lightened.
She moved forward almost at a run. Orbis thought she might fall, but Litania moved her slender arms and legs and hopped over small rocks like a rabbit.
“Pfft.”
Orbis burst out laughing again. This time too, Litania turned and glanced at him.
“You are truly an excellent hunter, Litania.”
“…You are truly far from a gentleman, Orbis.”
Though it was clearly meant as a compliment, she frowned and blushed as if she had received some great insult, then ran towards the hunting grounds.
“The best hunt is one where the prey is caught without even realizing it.”
Orbis lightly bit the tip of his white glove with his lips.
“You’ve made an excellent hunt, Litania.”
[This is the timeline separator]“Damn it!”
Crown Prince Perus cursed roughly and threw down his quiver.
“Still haven’t found her?”
“Don’t lose your temper. Why the fuss when it’s you who lost her, brother?”
Princess Herna replied indifferently as she loosened her hunting gear. Prince Vapor looked back and forth between his brother and sister with restless eyes.
The hunt was a failure. No, the entire hunting festival had become a mess.
The Crown Prince accidentally letting the black panther escape was a minor issue. However, hearing Litania’s scream from where the black panther had fled was not a minor issue.
When they found the exhausted black panther collapsed at the edge of the cliff, Perus’s heart sank.
He feared the black panther might have eaten her. So they cut open its belly, but fortunately there was nothing inside.
Then thinking she might have fallen from the cliff, they next sent people to search below the cliff, but again found nothing.
“If she was swept away by the water and we can’t even find the body…”
“It’s not that unusual for someone to die in an accident at a hunting festival. Why all this fuss over the death of one lowborn?”
“She came on His Majesty’s orders. Of course it’s a big deal if she dies!”
Prince Vapor rebutted with wide eyes at his sister’s insensitive attitude.
A lowborn princess being disrespected and dying were entirely different matters.
The former was natural in the aristocratic society with its class system, but the latter was perfect for criticizing the imperial family for failing to protect even an adopted daughter they had taken in.
Moreover, what if the black panther that the Crown Prince had let escape had harmed an adopted daughter sent directly by the Emperor?
The moment they were misunderstood as the Crown Prince intentionally letting the prey escape to kill the adopted daughter, the entire imperial family would suffer great shame.
“But they say they couldn’t find her even after searching the entire Black Forest. It’s elder brother’s fault for not taking care of the black panther, so why should we bear that burden together?”
“Elder sister, who’s at fault isn’t important right now…”
“In fact, elder brother wasn’t that eager to search either, was he? If we asked Divine Dragon Orbis, finding a corpse would be quick.”
“Don’t even mention that cursed monster’s name!”
As Orbis’s name was brought up, Perus shouted irritably and stormed out of the tent.
The princess, relieved that it was finally quiet, took off her hat and placed it on the map spread on the table. She was displeased seeing the numerous X marks on the map.
Prince Vapor, hesitating whether to scold his sister or chase after his brother who had left, anxiously stared at the tent entrance with a nervous face.
“Huh?”
Through the fluttering fabric in the wind, a familiar figure was briefly visible. Dressed in all-black riding clothes unsuited for the hunting grounds. The prince rushed to throw open the tent flap.
“You! You…!”
“Yes?”
“You’re not dead?”
Litania was a bit surprised to see the prince suddenly burst out of the tent pointing at her, but she frowned at his following words.
‘Isn’t that crossing the line? His etiquette education was wasted.’
However, Litania was too tired to point out the prince’s tone.
In any case, it seemed they knew about her disappearance from the hunting grounds, so she had to answer.
She sighed and averted her eyes.
“I got lost and wandered around, then had a bit of an accident.”
“Weren’t you bitten by the black panther? How are you so unscathed?”
“I wasn’t bitten. I fell off a cliff, but fortunately…”
Litania, feeling she should inform the siblings of her safety, lifted the tent flap and entered, but she clamped her mouth shut upon seeing Princess Herna resting obliquely on a cot beside the table.
She had a feeling that mentioning Divine Dragon Orbis’s name here would lead to more tiresome events. She quickly glossed over her words.
“…I was lucky.”
“We thought we were going to have a heart attack.”
It wasn’t out of concern for Litania, but anxiety over the Emperor’s wrath, yet the prince understood the gravity of the situation and kept his words brief.
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
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.”
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