The pupils in the blue eyes dilated.
The red lips parted slightly, and a shallow sigh flowed out belatedly.
“Don’t tease me, Litania.”
“I wasn’t particularly teasing.”
She was curious. By Orbis’s standards, even friends could sleep together.
Before getting close to Litania, he seemed like he would do much more if she only allowed it.
But now it’s different. Orbis was clearly shaken.
Litania felt a strange sense of elation seeing his pale face flush and his usually gentle expression slightly distort.
“You said my jokes were of poor quality, but you’re not in a position to talk either.”
“Haha. Is that so?”
Litania laughed and shrugged. She didn’t feel bad at all despite being criticized.
Rather, it felt a bit refreshing.
“Until now, I thought I was the only one conscious of you.”
“……”
“But now that I know that’s not the case, it feels good.”
In front of him, she always felt like a pebble plunging into a pond.
It leaves gentle ripples on the surface, but that’s all. The stone sinks deep into the water, never to resurface.
She thought only she was sinking into him.
But the stones that started piling up one by one were now peeking their heads out of the pond.
A pebble swallowed by the pond.
The pond whose course changed due to the overflowing pile of stones.
It wasn’t one-sided. They were both influencing each other.
Just like now.
“You used to be so relaxed. Why did you suddenly change?”
“You just stated the reason yourself.”
“Huh?”
“You said I used to be relaxed.”
It was literal. Back then, Orbis had composure. He had already repeated countless times over a long period, so he was used to waiting for Litania.
It didn’t matter if they didn’t hold hands or kiss today, if they didn’t make a promise to spend the night tomorrow. If he waited, that day would come.
So Orbis was always relaxed.
The two were destined to be husband and wife, so he could embrace her anytime.
It was close to a truth beyond certainty.
So there was no reason to be impatient or anxious.
But not now. They were no longer husband and wife, and as friends, there was a clear limit to how close they could get.
So it was all the more frustrating.
“Not knowing what comes next is quite anxiety-inducing.”
“Everyone lives with that kind of anxiety.”
Litania turned her back to Orbis and walked to the bed.
“Now Orbis has come one step closer to being human.”
“…Have I come closer to you as well?”
“That depends on what you do from now on.”
Next to the bed was a cylindrical console made by weaving bamboo like an accordion, and on top of it was a small liquor bottle shaped like a short-necked jar and a glass.
As Litania sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the bottle, Orbis tried to stop her.
“You’re not good with alcohol.”
“I heard Sermo’s liquor isn’t that strong.”
Thanks to the magic stone embedded in the console, the liquor was warm. Litania poured it into the glass and smelled it.
While the wine from the Dragon City had a strong grape scent, Sermo’s yellow liquor had a sweet peach fragrance and fresh floral scent.
Litania took a sip.
At first, it tasted like nothing, as if drinking plain water, but the moment it went down her throat, a sharp alcohol scent spread, giving the feeling of flowers blooming inside her throat.
Wow. Litania covered her nose and coughed softly.
“See?”
“No, it’s not because it’s strong. It’s just different from the alcohol I knew.”
It certainly wasn’t that high in alcohol content. Nightcaps were originally meant to warm the body just enough to fall asleep comfortably.
The problem was the scent. It was the first time she had encountered alcohol where the fragrance intensified after drinking rather than before. Her throat stung slightly, so Litania rubbed her neck with the back of her hand several times.
“I don’t think I can drink two sips.”
Litania tilted the glass slightly. The bright yellow liquor rippled gently in the transparent glass.
Orbis stared at her blankly, and when their eyes met, he suddenly spoke.
“Do you need a black knight?”
“Haha. You remember what I said back then?”
“I remember everything you’ve said. Everything.”
Orbis slowly approached and knelt down on one knee beside the bed.
Litania was sitting on the edge of the bed, so naturally, she ended up looking down at him.
“Shall I drink it for you?”
After that banquet, she had belatedly heard from Snow that Orbis disliked alcohol.
He had euphemistically said he didn’t enjoy it, but the fact that he had never once put alcohol to his lips meant it was closer to dislike.
That’s why Litania hadn’t offered Orbis a drink even though there were two glasses on the console.
But facing him kneeling before her and looking up at her like this, her face flushed and she felt oddly elated.
“Orbis. You haven’t been knighted.”
“I haven’t been knighted, but I have the authority to knight.”
That was true. A marquis had the authority to command a knighthood.
Orbis simply hadn’t felt the need to recruit private soldiers, but he could appoint as many of his own knights as he wanted.
So if necessary, he could even knight himself right now to act as a knight.
“You’re not thinking of giving yourself a knighthood, are you? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“It’s just unprecedented, not impossible.”
Pfft. Litania let out a laugh.
She wasn’t sure if it was because of Orbis’s brazen answer or if the alcohol had loosened her laughter.
“Litania, you must have it too.”
“Hm? What?”
“The empire law states that imperial descendants must have guard knights.”
“Legally, yes. But I’ve never exercised that authority.”
While other imperial descendants had at least dozens of guard knights following them, she, a despised princess, had no knights.
She had made Bain and the other knights under Ferus her guard knights to free them when she heard they were imprisoned, but that was all.
“A princess’s guard knights are noblemen without titles, second sons or lower. What princess has a marquis as her guard?”
“Again, that’s just unprecedented, not impossible.”
“Haha.”
Litania giggled again.
Orbis’s jokes had always been somewhat creepy and scary, but this was the first time they sounded so amusing.
It was even more so because he was speaking seriously.
“Friends are equals. If I appoint Orbis as my knight, wouldn’t we become a vertical relationship?”
“Strictly speaking, even a divine dragon and a princess aren’t equal.”
“Hmm… that’s true.”
In the empire, a divine dragon was even more noble than the emperor.
Litania, a mere princess, was inferior to the divine dragon in every aspect except for the right of imperial succession.
Moreover, as an adopted daughter, it was difficult to say she even had the right of imperial succession strictly speaking. It was an authority she couldn’t actually exercise.
“Then, to become equals, we need to take turns being above each other.”
Litania held out the wine glass towards Orbis.
They say knighting is done by lowering a sword on the shoulder, but this wasn’t the Veriverium Empire anyway, so there was no need to follow imperial law.
Long ago, people became sworn brothers by sharing a cup of wine under a peach tree, so what’s wrong with knighting with a wine glass?
‘The wine even has a peach scent, so it’s perfect.’
As Litania tilted the glass, Orbis’s eyes narrowed and his lips parted.
The red lips touched the rim of the glass and began to swallow the honey-colored liquor.
‘Somehow, this feeling…’
Looking down at a man kneeling before her and drinking the wine she poured was a truly strange feeling.
A mix of slight embarrassment and superiority, excitement and thrill stirred in her chest.
It was clearly a low-alcohol drink, but she felt as if she was getting drunk belatedly.
“I’ve finished.”
“……”
“Litania?”
When Orbis looked up at her and asked, Litania, startled back to her senses, put the empty glass back on the console.
The sweet and rich peach scent seemed to fill the bedroom.
“I’m going to bed now. Orbis, will you watch over me while I sleep?”
“Gladly.”
Litania lay down sideways on the bed and reached out her hand towards Orbis. His large hand grasped hers, and his lips touched the back of her hand.
The moist red lips exuded a sweet scent potent enough to intoxicate.
“Sweet dreams.”
[This is the timeline separator]After obtaining a promise from the King of Sermo to withdraw the troops stationed at the border, Litania and Orbis headed to Rumor.
The King of Sermo pleaded several times to provide an escort, but Litania refused him.
Instead, they received two camels and departed for their next destination riding the camels.
After passing through the desert and reaching the plateau, cliffs full of red rocks appeared.
They say Rumor has many copper mines, and indeed, the soil was generally red.
As they crossed the border facing the dry winter wind, a wall with small windows dug into the cliff like holes appeared.
A clear blue sky and white clouds even in midwinter. White walls surrounding the entire red mountain in terraces, and black roofs.
It was the castle of Rumor, called the Fortress of a Thousand.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
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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