The clear sky in the morning became overcast in the afternoon and eventually scattered rain.
Ludmila, feeling the rainy season as heavy rain poured down, suddenly realized it was quiet downstairs.
The noise of Aden hammering and chopping until noon despite her dissuasion was no longer heard.
Ludmila’s hand hesitated as she reflexively turned to open the door.
What was she going to do out there? She had scolded Aden and even left the food he made untouched.
How must he have felt seeing that? Her heart ached thinking about it, but she had to remain calm.
This should be Aden’s last visit here.
It was grateful and joyful that he came out of concern for her, but she had left hoping he wouldn’t die.
If she intended to go back to square one, she would have stayed by his side. Ludmila sighed and ran her hand through her hair.
On a rainy weekend after the festival, Ludmila’s eyes sank into silence as she faced the end.
[This is the timeline separator]In the end, this was how the journey would conclude.
Aden’s eyes, gazing at the rainy scene outside the dark window, seemed blurred as if buried in the falling rain.
Meeting Ludmila and conversing with her, he had watched the sky gradually brighten in peaceful daily life.
At those times, the illusion that his future life would surely be no different from now washed over him.
But in the end, back to square one.
The sky clouded over again as if prophesying his fate, and soon poured rain.
“Bad luck till the last day, huh.” Aden let out a dry laugh.
He didn’t want to do anything particular with Ludmila, but he never imagined he’d be stuck in this house till the very end.
As Aden sighed and turned to gather his coat to return to his room, the sound of footsteps on the stairs rang out.
He stopped and looked up to see Ludmila, who had disappeared in the morning, revealing herself.
It seemed Aden wasn’t the only one who noticed Ludmila; she too paused while coming down.
She stared at Aden for a moment before stepping onto the first floor with a faint smile.
“What are you doing?”
It was a calm smile, as if saying the morning’s commotion was just a momentary incident.
Aden, who had been gazing at her intently, chuckled and nodded, matching her tone.
“Watching the rain. Want to join?”
“No, I’ve already done plenty of that upstairs. Rather…”
Ludmila politely shook her head to decline, then hesitated briefly, rolling her eyes.
Her gaze, which had briefly touched the empty dining table, clouded with confusion before regaining composure and fixing on Aden.
“I’m sorry about this morning. You showed kindness, but I think I overreacted. I apologize.”
Aden stared blankly at her bowing figure, then rolled his eyes to examine the table as Ludmila had done.
The empty table. This morning it had been filled with food he made, but now it was bare.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Pardon?”
Ludmila, slowly straightening up, widened her eyes at the unexpected response to her apology. Aden grinned and jerked his chin.
“You’ve been starving all day. You probably couldn’t even come down for water, worried about me being here.”
“That’s…”
“If you’d like, I’d love to prepare a meal to your fiancé’s taste this time. Would you give me that chance?”
Ludmila wore a blank expression for a moment at his uncharacteristically genial smile.
To think he could say such things in this situation.
Touched by his consideration in taking back the guilt about not eating the food, Ludmila hesitated briefly before nodding.
“Please do.”
“Thank you. Then, let’s begin right away.”
Ludmila burst out laughing as Aden skillfully put on an apron with his response.
[This is the timeline separator]The meal Aden prepared was neat and perfect. Ludmila had never imagined a man could cook this well.
She marveled anew as she ate the food he had prepared.
Come to think of it, Aden had always been like this. A man who could do almost anything. A perfect man with no obvious shortcomings.
What would it feel like to live with such a man? Though it had only been a week, she thought it might be nice to live with this man.
He would probably make a good husband.
Sometimes starting the day eating Aden’s cooking, then going out for peaceful picnics – a life where that would be happiness.
Just imagining it made her feel rich with happiness, but soon the realization that such ordinary life wasn’t allowed to her brought emptiness.
But since this was already an emotional change she had repeated dozens of times, Ludmila continued the conversation with him, quietly smiling without showing any sign.
As the darkness deepened, the sound of rain grew thicker, and as that sound filled the surroundings, their conversation gradually diminished.
Reflexively checking the clock, Ludmila saw the hour hand touching 9 o’clock and narrowed her eyes.
The day was already coming to an end.
Realizing this fact, regret suddenly washed over her.
Knowing it was the last day, yet ruining the start and not being able to do anything.
While reproaching herself and thinking she shouldn’t have done that, she also judged that this might have been better.
Unable to make a definite decision, Ludmila felt frustrated with herself, but still her lips moved calmly, focusing on exchanging conversation with Aden.
“Come to think of it, it’s tomorrow.”
Aden muttered slowly, holding a glass of after-dinner wine, and chuckled.
The red wine swirling in his hand wasn’t particularly expensive, but was it because Aden was holding it?
Even that wine looked luxurious.
“Tell me your thoughts.”
“My thoughts?”
Aden nodded briefly towards Ludmila, who opened her eyes and asked back.
“Your thoughts on this week-long fake engagement. Don’t you think the week passed rather smoothly, unlike when you said you couldn’t do it with distaste?”
“That’s…”
Embarrassingly, it was an undeniable fact.
However, the credit for that belonged not so much to Aden as to the rain still pouring outside, which played a major part.
“…It wasn’t bad. Rather, it was quite good.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I was worried I might receive a harsh evaluation.”
“Is that why you cooked and repaired the fence?”
Instead of answering, Aden just gave a grin.
Ludmila, smiling at his response, grasped her glass as if to wet her bitter mouth.
Meanwhile, Aden, having emptied his wine glass, picked up the bottle.
“What are you going to do from now on?”
“What do you mean?”
Ludmila tilted her head at Aden’s words as he filled her glass with wine.
Aden, who had briefly glanced up at Ludmila, pushed up the corners of his mouth.
“Are you planning to keep living here? It doesn’t seem like a very welcome thought.”
“It’s not a bad place.”
“But it’s not a good place either.”
Blinking her eyes and pondering Aden’s words, Ludmila realized the intention behind what he was trying to say.
Probably, he was worried about the aftermath when others found out that her fiancé who left wouldn’t be coming back.
Ludmila wet her lips with wine while taking a moment to consider.
“I’m thinking of staying for about another year. I want to leave after harvesting the crops I’ve planted.”
“Ludmila the farmer. I wanted to see that, but it’s a shame I’ll have to leave without seeing it.”
“Don’t worry. Later, when I harvest…”
Ludmila, who had been responding to Aden’s comment with a slight laugh, stopped mid-sentence.
When I harvest, and then? Aden silently observed her confused expression before lifting his filled glass and taking a sip.
“Send me some when you harvest. That would make me happy.”
At this calm confession, Ludmila just nodded quietly, biting her lip.
The awkwardly cut-off conversation didn’t easily resume. The silence deepened, and within it, they just repeatedly tilted their glasses.
Eventually, when Aden had emptied his glass.
“Well then, I’ll go to bed first, so you should go rest too.”
Aden, who got up first pushing his chair back, signaled the end of this conversation and meeting.
Ludmila, hastily raising her gaze, stared blankly at his receding back. This time too.
Yes, this is the answer.
The only way for you to live happily without getting hurt.
Though she clearly knew this was the answer, Ludmila couldn’t understand why she felt so confused.
If this was the answer, what meaning did this conversation and meeting have?
To the man who came to her side as if on borrowed time.
In the frustration of time passing meaninglessly, Ludmila stood up abruptly from her seat.
As the chair made a harsh scraping sound, Aden stopped and turned his head.
As his golden eyes filling her vision sparkled in the light, Ludmila slowly stepped forward towards Aden.
“Lu…”
Just as his lips parted, Ludmila’s lips swallowed Aden’s voice.
Along with her name that he couldn’t fully utter, Aden’s eyes wavered at the overlapping lips.
Ludmila now realized why she had kissed Aden, what she wanted from him.
No, she had actually known. She had just denied it, hoping that answer was false.
I hope you don’t get hurt.
When she removed the veil cast by that foolish wish, what she saw was her own clear emotion.
On a night when quiet stillness flowed down.
Ludmila, who had denied the answer before her eyes for a week, tore down with her own hands the tower she had built up.
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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