“Yeona was there, where I didn’t know. Laughing warmly, chatting, being loved.”
She was smiling brightly even without him.
The sight ignited a fire in his heart. It was as if a giant was beating his own body into pieces with his fists.
I have nothing but Yeona. Without Yeona, I can’t sleep, and the water won’t go down my throat, but this child is living so cheerfully.
“Is Yeona kind to everyone? Like that, always?”
The kindness and affection he was clutching as his only lifeline, could it actually be like sunlight shining on everyone?
Thinking so, it felt like his heart was tearing into shreds.
Danmokbi looked at Yeona’s face, who was softly sleeping.
No matter how betrayed or hurt he felt, Danmokbi could not hate Yeona.
So naturally, the resentment was directed at those who had taken Yeona away from him.
Once again, Danmokbi brushed Yeona’s cheek and got up.
[This is the time separator]Today, in the dark sky, even the thin moon that looked like an eyebrow was hidden behind the clouds, concealing its traces.
“Oh my, I’m dead.”
The steward, who had suffered all day from the return of the lord and the elder master, walked, pounding his own shoulder with his fist. It was not only exhausting to suddenly have to serve the lord so intensely, but his head was full of thoughts about Yeona and Danmokbi.
“The lord commanded me to kill that child before his return…”
Though it wasn’t as if he had committed a crime, he was sentenced to death merely for serving Danmokbi. The steward, who had already taken the lead in doing all kinds of dirty work for Danmokbi’s sake, found this task more repellent than any other.
The troubled steward habitually reached for a cigarette but couldn’t bring himself to light it and put it down.
“Oh, why has the cigarette become so bitter all of a sudden?”
It was impossible to swallow it. Perhaps it was truly time to quit smoking. As he thought this, and was about to put the cigarette back in his pocket, he felt something.
“Hmm?”
His keen senses detected someone approaching.
“Who is it? Inside the house.”
Who would dare to charge like this?
The steward identified it as a threat and prepared to grab the intruder and slam him to the ground when—
As he was about to reach out, the thin moon revealed the intruder’s face, and the steward pulled back his hand in shock.
“Ah! You, Young Master.”
The intruder was none other than Danmokbi. Without preamble, Danmokbi spat out:
“Who is it?”
“What?”
“Who took Yeona away, that cursed one?”
“That, that is!”
It was alarming that the second young master, who had never gone out on his own, had come out twice because of Yeona.
The first time was a fuss due to surprise, but the second time felt ominous. The steward quickly bowed his head.
“A, apparently there has been a mistake! Young Master, please don’t worry and rest…”
“You should have left Yeona alone if you didn’t want me to worry.”
Dark, foreboding energy flowed from Danmokbi’s black eyes. His twisted lips spat out venomous words.
“You locked me up and fed me white porridge, turning me into an idiot. I even forgot how to talk. So I thought I couldn’t go over that wall like an idiot, until Yeona came to find me.”
It wasn’t a lie. Everyone said he would die soon, cursed, not to meet others, so he believed it.
But after meeting Yeona, Danmokbi knew. The wall confining him was very low, the door was always open, and people didn’t die from his touch.
Yeona taught him all of that.
“Do you think I’m a helpless child locked inside that wall like before?”
Since Yeona had come, the meaning of his place changed. From a prison that confined him, to a peaceful home where only Yeona and he could stay.
Danmokbi now could not forgive anyone trying to break that.
Feeling something ominous from Danmokbi, the steward bowed his head. The more he faced him, the clearer it became.
‘The second young master is strong.’
Alone in that place, how he had mastered it was unknown, but within his body, a formidable power was writhing.
“If the ruler sees this.”
There was no knowing what could happen.
“……I understand what you mean, my lord. I will surely settle the dispute over taking Yeona away. Please return to your place at once.”
“General.”
“Please. This is not the time for you to be here.”
“…….”
It was when Danmokbi, sensing something else in the general’s stern attitude, stepped back. A dense and heavy voice resounded through the garden.
“My house is very noisy tonight.”
The moment he heard it, his body’s hairs seemed to bristle. Danmokbi turned his head with a frozen face.
Above the high stairs, a man with his hair tied high was looking down at him.
“Who are you?”
Before the dry gaze that looked down on him like an object, Danmokbi bit his lip. Even if it was a face he saw for the first time, a voice he heard for the first time, Danmokbi recognized who he was at a glance.
Danmoksu.
It was his father.
I dreamed. I don’t know why I had such a dream, but in the dream, I was an adult.
‘Wow, I made it to adulthood safely.’
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.”
