“I’d really flee to another country if you did that.”
“That’s too harsh of a threat.”
Ian said, with a defeated look. His pitiful expression, crafted with his handsome face, was enough to move anyone’s heart. But I steeled myself against it.
Ian, now 23, had grown up splendidly, no longer showing any signs of his boyishness, except when he was with me, where he still acted childishly.
Perhaps due to his lack of peers of the same age, his expressions varied a lot when talking to me, often appearing pitiful or disappointed. It seemed like he had learned that showing such expressions often led me to relent.
“It’s no use making that face.”
Although I wasn’t serious about leaving, it seemed Ian believed I had no attachment to the Calobanian Empire after my grandfather’s passing.
I had stayed in the empire for too long. When I lived with my grandfather, we often moved from one country to another.
But I was different from him. The process of settling in a new place and being treated as a foreigner wasn’t enjoyable. Plus, I had only recently finished paying off the loan for my current pharmacy, so leaving everything behind would be a waste.
“Alright, stop with the scary talk and sit down.”
He pushed me into a seat. I complied, albeit reluctantly.
In truth, leaving wouldn’t be difficult. I had crossed borders even as a child with my blind grandfather, so traveling to another country as an adult would be easy.
Still, I had lived in the Calobanian Empire for over 17 years and still hadn’t quite felt settled.
Yet, the main reason I had stayed so long in one place was because of Ian.
How could I leave without a second thought when his life would be in danger without me? Even if Ian’s condition was completely cured and he no longer needed the medicine I concocted, I wouldn’t be able to leave easily.
“I’ve prepared your favorite pickers too. It’s not the season for them, but there were some left in the ice caves.”
True to his word, the table was laden with dishes made from pickers. A smile softened my lips involuntarily.
‘Damn, pickers…’
Pickers were pink fruits with soft white fuzz resembling a baby’s skin. They were about the size of two fists put together, and peeling off their thin, tough skin revealed a juicy interior.
Some people preferred eating them with the skin, while others peeled them. The sweetness intensified when heated, so they were often used in bread and desserts.
Their sweet taste and aroma made them my favorite fruit. So much so that if I had to eat only one food for the rest of my life, I would choose pickers without a second thought.
Seeing his confident smile, knowing he had tempted me with such a powerful lure, was frustrating, but I couldn’t resist.
“That’s low! How can I ignore this sweet aroma… The Crown Prince knows too much about me; it’s infuriating.”
“What do I know?”
He feigned ignorance with a slight smile. Handsome but annoying.
“Enough with the smiling.”
Ian laughed even louder. Tch! Ignoring him, I decided to indulge in the pickers.
With a reverent attitude, I picked up a neatly sliced piece with my fork and placed it in my mouth. The crisp flesh burst with sweet juice as I gently pressed it with my teeth.
‘If he offers pickers every day, coming to the palace might not be so bad… No! What am I thinking?’
I quickly shook my head. If Ian really proposed ‘constant supply of pickers’ as a negotiation term, I might quit being a pharmacist and become a lazy bum, gorging on pickers in the palace. That just wouldn’t do.
“Tasty?”
“I’m eating because it seems like the Crown Prince would be disappointed if I didn’t.”
“What an honor.”
Though I verbally claimed to eat out of obligation, I diligently emptied the dishes on the table.
Especially the drink made from crushed pickers with ice and honey was heavenly. I wanted to gulp it down, but it was too precious, so I savored it sip by sip.
‘The palace is really something else. To have a drink filled with pickers, even when it’s not the season.’
Ian took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from my forehead. The white handkerchief, embroidered with the luxurious royal emblem in golden threads, highlighted our status difference.
I don’t usually carry a handkerchief, but I use a gauze one when necessary, especially for staunching blood during emergency treatments. It’s practical but humble compared to his silk handkerchief embroidered with gold thread.
The Crown Prince Ian, and me, a commoner. Considering our status difference, it’s surprising we even know each other.
“You’re daydreaming now, aren’t you? What are you thinking about in front of me?”
Even though I had only drifted into thought for a moment, Ian asked with a face full of complaints. Despite his grumbling, he kept fanning me continuously.
The weather was winter, but it was muggy after the rain, and I had sweated while walking, so his fanning was welcome.
“The same motion can be tiring for the arms, yet he maintained a steady rhythm, like the pendulum of a grandfather clock.”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
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