Looking at Karaf’s pale face, Aesha slowly confessed everything.
All the past events and the tragic ending that followed. Not a single detail was omitted.
During the narration, Karaf’s face changed dramatically in shock.
He felt a strange sensation, as if he didn’t really exist in this space, and his mind went blank, leaving him unable to move.
Although it was an utterly unbelievable story for him, Aesha’s expression as she told the story was so composed that it even instilled fear in him.
When the story was over, his face turned ghostly pale. It was as if all the blood had drained out of him, leaving him with a ghostly appearance.
Everything inside him had collapsed.
It felt like a large thorn had flown into his chest.
It was a feeling as if, in childhood, the large nail that his mother had driven into his chest was now deeply embedded and could never be removed.
With a numbed body that no longer felt any sensation, he couldn’t be sure if he was alive at the moment.
Silence flowed between the two.
A cold breeze, like the winter wind through a small square window, passed between them.
It was a deep and dark silence that seemed like it would never end.
Karaf remained silent for a long time and then stumbled out of the prison, dragging his military boots, seemingly incoherent.
As soon as he disappeared from view, Aesha knelt down, burying her face in her hands.
In the end, nothing had changed. She couldn’t bear herself, feeling miserable and pathetic.
She had said harsh words to him, but originally, butterflies and flowers were closer than anyone.
Feeling as if she had spoken harshly to herself, her heart hurt so much. Aesha clenched her heart with both hands.
Karaf, who came out, didn’t know where he was going, wandering aimlessly, staggering.
Suddenly, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.
He sat on the floor with his head down, trying to organize his thoughts, but it was futile.
The words she had just spoken seemed to be pieces of a puzzle from a different picture, combining separately in his mind, making little sense.
But even though he clearly didn’t understand, what were these chills all over his body?
Confirming the goosebumps on his arms with a vacant expression, Karaf suddenly started breathing heavily as if a panic attack had come.
It was the limit now.
The body that had endured until the Enlightenment ceremony was now completely shattered along with his sanity.
Dragging his unresponsive body against his will, he returned to his room, swallowed more medicine than usual, and fainted.
As if returning to the past, he had a vivid dream.
Awakening under the sunlight, Karaf, who had been lying in bed, swept away his chest as he looked at the cloudless sky outside the window.
“Yeah. It was all lies, after all. Such things never happened.”
It was truly a long monsoon-like nightmare.
Shivering, Karaf shook his head to dispel the thoughts. He immediately headed for the Empress’s Palace.
He felt that he could only be truly relieved if he confirmed Aesha’s face right away.
He wanted to see her teasingly cover her mouth and laugh, saying, ‘Did you have another nightmare?’
As he thought of Aesha, his walking speed gradually increased, eventually turning into a run.
However, as he reached the Empress’s Palace and stood in front of the door, he suddenly stopped when he witnessed Aesha happily holding a bouquet of flowers.
He immediately hid behind a wall to peek at the scene.
Beside Aesha, Sonia, a maid, was also happily chattering, celebrating the vibrant scene.
[Violet Marquis asked me to give this flower to the Baroness! How can it have such a beautiful violet color?] [Indeed. It’s truly beautiful.]With a happy face, Aesha held a full bouquet of rich violet lobelia flowers, deeply inhaling the fragrance.
Karaf couldn’t understand why jealousy was boiling inside him as he watched that scene.
Was it because the violet flowers were similar to the color of the hyacinth bouquet she had chosen before?
No, that’s not it.
Karaf shook his head.
The damn nightmare was all fake. The man chosen by Bannetza wasn’t that guy; it was him.
But still, he couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling.
He was a man who could give her everything.
In this empire, he was the only one who didn’t care about money or honor and could always make her happy and prosperous.
If he went to the rose garden, there would be plenty of common lobelia flowers scattered everywhere.
Yet, he couldn’t bear the fact that she easily smiled with such genuine joy at the simple bouquet of flowers he gave her.
She, who used to look at him with a fearful and tense gaze, only checking his expression, now genuinely rejoiced at a gift from a man of the One-Mi family. This fact made him angry.
Aesha returned to her room and carefully placed the bouquet in a glass bottle filled with water.
With a subtle smile, she admired the flower vase illuminated by the sunlight. At that moment, someone appeared from behind and swiftly grabbed the vase.
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.”
