Despite her beauty, her sharp, upturned eyes gave off an intimidating impression when she was expressionless.
But when the woman with delicate, doll-like features and pink eyes smiled, the atmosphere changed completely.
“My sister is pretty, right?”
Startled, the young man noticed a child, barely reaching his thigh, had quietly approached. He hadn’t sensed the child’s approach, sending a chill down his spine.
“Ah, um, yes.”
Trying not to show his surprise, the young man responded as he gazed mesmerized at Diana.
“I don’t like that man. You think so too, right, brother?”
Ah, so the Captain is ‘that man’, and he’s the ‘brother’. The young man’s mood improved at the child’s informal address and he scratched his cheek.
Despite the Captain’s infamous reputation for being bloodthirsty, he was paradoxically the pride of the North.
He had consistently participated in wars that neither the Imperial family nor the central nobles would intervene in.
With the Captain at the helm, the North was safe.
The Düberk Knights, despite being a band of ruffians, were a coveted position for any knight in the North.
The young man was pondering whether to share some good stories about the Captain when the child spoke again.
“After we drain him, we’ll tear him apart for my sister.”
What? That kid is scary. The child’s red eyes flashed as he muttered that his sister should meet the coolest man in the world.
No one seemed to hear the child’s voice, or perhaps they chose to ignore it, and each went about their business.
“Noel, come here.”
Noel scurried over, looking like any other child.
The search party’s march was smooth. With the forest full of monsters, the knights had to travel on foot, unable to bring horses.
Although everyone was concerned about having a child and a woman in the group, they soon dismissed their worries.
Despite the challenge of keeping up with the large men’s strides, Diana managed to follow them well. They didn’t slow down or adjust their pace for her, respecting her request not to be treated specially.
It was noteworthy, though, that she occasionally clung affectionately to Roderick.
Even if Diana stuck close to Roderick, the knights no longer seemed surprised, only sighing with envy.
“Roderick.”
Ignoring the knights’ glances, Diana approached Roderick.
Since things had come to this, she had to pretend to be in love.
She had even told Roderick:
‘Let’s say I fell for you at first sight.’
‘What?’
‘That way, it won’t seem weird when I touch you.’
‘Are you aware you’re strange?’
‘I do have some shame, you know?’
‘…….’
Roderick looked incredulous at her words.
Yep, she definitely seemed to be labeled a peculiar woman.
Interestingly, the knights seemed to believe it wasn’t just one-sided love but that Roderick reciprocated her feelings.
Without any reason to correct them, she let it be. Regardless, she needed to maintain contact with her quality ‘treatment’.
Especially when reading magical energy, she felt drained. She spoke, staring into space.
“It looks like a crow is coming, Roderick.”
Soon after, as she said, a crow’s cawing was heard, and something shiny dropped above them.
“Captain! This looks like the young master’s earring!”
The search party resumed marching, following the crow. As they ventured deeper, the path grew rougher, and the monsters’ hostility intensified.
At their destination, logs were haphazardly strewn around, but there was no trace of the male lead.
How many days had it been? Diana roughly pushed back her sweat-soaked hair.
Ugh, where is this darn male lead?!
After days without securing water for bathing, they were all grubby. But they couldn’t afford to use precious drinking water for cleaning.
Frankly, she thought she could quickly find the male lead by reading magical energy.
But she had overlooked something crucial: this was a forest teeming with monsters.
According to Noel:
“The magical energies are clashing here. They accumulate and clash, forming magic stones and monsters. This place is weird. The energies ebb and flow chaotically, making it hard for you to read them.”
What was more shocking was his following remark:
“This forest is poisonous to those cursed. The high purity of magical energy here might drive you insane.”
Therefore, she needed to absorb Roderick’s curse even more urgently.
If he went mad, it would be troublesome. She had no intention of hastening death.
While she might not have been helpful in finding the missing person, at least she was useful in subduing Roderick’s madness, thus salvaging a bit of conscience.
“We’ll stop here for toda—”
Thump. Thump.
The forest vibrated. Trees were uprooted, and the entire forest trembled. Roderick drew his sword even before finishing his sentence.
A hill seemed to rise in the Black Forest, and then a menacing reptile appeared. It was a subspecies of dragon.
With no warning, the reptile spewed fire.
“Everyone, form up!”
The well-trained knights quickly formed a protective circle around Diana and Noel.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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