The Duke of Legacy was not yet a man who should die.
Entangled with Summer, he deviated from the original story’s trajectory, was abandoned by the world and cast out.
Summer cannot die from mere threats of knights or the Duke of Legacy anyway. Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, I’m not sure.
The world quickly erased any wounds if Summer got even a scratch.
Summer lowered her gaze to look at her white, delicate hands. They were hands that contrasted with Russell’s.
Her unmarked hands seemed to point accusingly that she was a foreign substance, an outsider.
Leave no trace in this world.
You should just exist as the precious daughter of the cute Lindsey family, then be discarded when no longer needed.
How dare a puppet of the play try to move with its own will.
It felt as if God was punishing her.
“When I return to the original world, I’ll make you experience the same thing first.”
Summer exhaled cynically. Whoever the author was, she’d have to find them and grab them by the collar.
“…Summer.”
A faint voice was heard from behind. Summer quickly turned around to see Russell staggering, barely supporting himself with his sword stabbed into the ground.
“Russell!”
Summer hurriedly ran over to support Russell. Russell breathed heavily.
Russell’s condition was strange. Around them lay fallen knights who had perished, while Russell was precariously standing on two feet among them.
Sensing something amiss, Summer lowered her gaze.
A warm sensation under her hand.
“Ru-Russell, blood…”
“I heard you needed me.”
Blood continued to seep from Russell’s abdomen. Summer pressed tightly on the wound with trembling hands and quickly laid Russell down.
Pale face. Rapid breathing. The seeping red sensation. All of these spoke of approaching death.
This shouldn’t be happening. Why is Russell dying?
Russell is the protagonist. Essential to the world.
But something strange was happening. The wound showed no signs of healing at all. Why?
What was God thinking, erasing the scratch on Summer’s neck while not tending to even one of Russell’s wounds?
“Summer. I’m fine. Hurry and do what you wish…”
Russell spoke in a calm voice, even as he exhaled breaths that seemed about to break at any moment.
“Russell, just a moment. First, let’s get you treated by a doctor, and then…”
Summer was completely flustered and panicking. What should she do, how could she keep him from dying?
She couldn’t escape the shock of why Russell made such a choice.
Even when falling off the cliff, she was surprised but didn’t think he would die. She was scared, but had the conviction that the world wouldn’t abandon him.
After all, if Ian and Julian were driving the romance, Russell was the one driving the incidents.
“When after that. You weren’t planning to tell me.”
“That, that’s…”
“Who exactly were you going to ask?”
“…”
Well. At least it wasn’t Russell. Summer wanted Russell to live on. Holding her memories, occasionally looking back on them. Like that.
“Go back.”
“Russell.”
“To that world you wanted, go back.”
“…”
How could these words hurt so much? She should be happy, but tears kept forcing their way out and wetting her cheeks.
Russell’s complexion grew paler and paler. Summer held him in her arms, repeatedly wiping his cheeks and covering his wound.
Her mind went blank. A person was dying before her eyes. Moreover, he was the one Summer had given her heart to the most in this world. The most.
Emotions that couldn’t be confessed because they were parting, that had to be buried in one corner, burst forth.
Making her realize.
“If that’s what you wish, I want to be the one who fulfills that wish.”
“Why are you doing this much for me?”
At the tearful question, Russell smiled faintly and wiped away the tears wetting Summer’s cheeks.
“I don’t know. The world is trying to hold onto you, but it seems my body is rejecting God.”
The world, and God, prevented Summer from returning. But only Russell was betraying God and telling Summer to go back.
But Summer couldn’t control her tears. Her body trembled uncontrollably. How could this be? How could a person give even their last breath out of mere compassion?
Still, she could not love this world. She would never love this terrible, grotesque, beautiful, strange world for eternity.
“Russell. This is.”
Russell took out a small brown bottle from his pocket and handed it over.
Summer received the bottle with wide eyes.
“It’s poison. Leads to death within about ten minutes.”
“…”
It was cruel. It felt like large shards of glass were tearing through her heart.
At the same time, a tingling sensation enveloped her whole body. It felt like being electrocuted.
“Summer.”
“Russell, to me of all… No, why now… I just…”
I loved you.
Only now confessing in such a wretched state.
I loved Russell. Daringly. While thinking of leaving.
“Summer, you just need to feed that to me.”
“This can’t be. Surely… there must be another way, this really doesn’t seem right…”
Summer completely broke down. Her sobs were now close to wailing.
Russell’s hand cupped Summer’s cheek. At his limit too, his fingertips trembled.
“Why are you hesitating? You didn’t hesitate in the face of your own death, did you?”
“That’s because I…”
Russell’s voice was calm. But pain could be read in that voice.
She had inflicted countless wounds on him. While loving him. Even though she loved him. And now she was going to kill him and try to turn back time.
“Don’t think lightly of your life. The weight of your life is no different from mine.”
“But how can I, to Russell, how!”
“It’s alright. Go back. To where you want.”
“But dying is not okay. That, I really never dared to think about Russell dying…”
“Summer. Forgetting what’s precious to me is the same as sentencing me to death.”
“…”
“Even if we part forever when you go back, as long as you can remember me, I want you to go your own way.”
Summer opened the bottle with trembling hands. Inside was a transparent green liquid swirling about.
Could she feed this to Russell?
Should she save him? Or kill him?
It was too frightening a choice for Summer. She had never even imagined Russell’s death.
He was one of the protagonists, someone who survived even falling off a cliff.
But for the first time, she was gripped by the fear that he might die.
Was this how Russell felt?
Was this why he looked at her with such a pained expression?
“At first I wanted to hold onto you and keep you locked up.”
“…”
“Even if it completely destroyed and broke my body and soul, just don’t leave. I thought of holding onto you like that.”
“Russell.”
Russell pulled up the corners of his mouth into a smile. It looked the most comfortable of all his expressions so far.
“But seeing your pain, I can’t do it. Being your unhappiness, I don’t think I could bear it.”
“Russell, please…”
“Hurry. There’s not much time.”
Summer held up the bottle with trembling hands. The green liquid flowed between Russell’s lips.
It was a terrible feeling. With her own hands, to the person she loved.
Summer was now in a complete state of panic. What on earth was she doing? It all felt unreal like a dream.
Russell reached out and pulled Summer close. Summer obediently leaned forward, guided by his hand.
Their lips met. They shared the poison between each other’s lips. It was a long kiss.
Summer didn’t know a kiss could be this painful, and sweet.
“Summer.”
“Yes, Russell. I’m listening…”
Summer responded in a tearful voice, sobbing. Russell kept trying to wipe away Summer’s tears, as if it pained him to see her cry.
“If, as you said, this world is a book, and Ian and Lady Dudley are the protagonists.”
“…”
“In the next world you create, I wish for you and I to be the protagonists.”
“…Russell.”
Ah. Only when about to lose him. I loved him. Still loved him.
It hurts. His fading breath hurts so terribly.
Summer took in Russell fully with her eyes. She didn’t want to forget a single thing.
“Become the protagonist of my world, Summer. And can you let me become the protagonist of your world?”
“You already are, you’re already the protagonist of my world, Russell.”
“…I’m glad.”
Russell exhaled a labored breath with a faint smile.
The flood of emotions poured over the collapsed dam. To the point where she could no longer hold back without speaking.
“I love you.”
“…”
“Russell, I love you.”
Summer smiled brightly. It was that expression Russell loved the most. More radiant than the blazing midsummer sun.
Russell slowly opened and closed his eyes repeatedly. The end was gradually approaching.
One regret was that he couldn’t keep her in his eyes for longer.
The shattering blonde hair, eyes bluer than a lake. And the lovely soul crying beneath them.
“I dared to…”
Russell’s pleasant baritone resonated softly.
“Hold you in my heart.”
One autumn night was terribly clear and beautiful. The star-studded sky shimmered with blue light, and below it, the village of people sparkled with lights.
“…”
The wind embraced the two. The grass swayed, and the moon disappeared behind clouds.
When the clouds passed and the wind ceased, Russell’s breath also ceased.
With a peaceful face. Like that.
“Ah, aah… Russell, please…”
Summer wailed as she embraced Russell. It can’t be undone.
Death could never be undone.
Regret and lingering attachment burst forth like a dam. Is this right? Is it right to sacrifice the one she loves to turn back time?
What will happen to him if time is turned back? Won’t he become an existence completely erased from this world?
The belated worries and regrets had already left her hands, long overdue.
Gradually, Summer’s breath also quickened. Her chest felt like it was burning.
“Aah, Russell, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“…”
“I love you. I love you, Russell…”
Summer’s tears gradually subsided. Summer leaned down and lightly kissed Russell’s pale lips.
That was Summer’s last breath in this world.
__________
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation (Female-dominant)
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.
Synopsis:
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.
He even had his eyes on another woman.
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.
Su Mu expressed her disdain.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
She also wanted to embrace Xie Yi, who had silently stayed by her side in her previous life and committed suicide by taking poison after her death.
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.”
[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.