“Why…?”
The murmurs of the surrounding noblewomen grew louder. However, Riandro remained oblivious to the reactions around him.
“Estelle, why do you call yourself a villain?”
“Do I need a reason to be a villain?”
Estelle smiled brightly.
“Simply because I am a villain. Just like you, right?”
The more Riandro heard the word “villain,” the more his chest stung. He recalled the moment he recklessly blamed her without considering her side.
“No, it’s different.”
Riandro exclaimed with emotion.
“I didn’t blame you because I wanted to be like you. I just wanted to trust my surroundings more…”
“Riandro! Stop it!”
Lady Felcis could no longer endure and tried to restrain him. Though she attempted to pull him away, her strength alone couldn’t force a knight away.
“Mother, please stay quiet. Isn’t all of this your fault?”
Riandro glared at his mother with disdain. The sudden actions and accusatory gaze of her son made Lady Felcis turn pale, as if she might faint.
“I… I did it for your future, Riandro…”
“Even if it was for my future, you shouldn’t have manipulated it maliciously.”
However, Riandro’s anger pierced Lady Felcis sharply.
“If it weren’t for Mother, I would…”
“What would you do?”
Estelle interjected between the two, sounding puzzled.
“By the way, why are you acting so strangely? Is there something you want from me?”
Riandro swallowed hard.
“What I want from you…”
At first, Riandro wanted to save the villainous Estelle. Despite being a villain, she seemed pitiful, especially in the hands of the villainous Johann.
“But…”
Now, his actions went far beyond mere sympathy or his duties as a knight.
“I just…”
Riandro recalled the moment he first met Estelle.
That day was the day Riandro was knighted as the youngest in history. However, on that day, there was something more important to Riandro than the knighthood ceremony.
Meeting his first love, Estella.
“Estella, I’m going.”
While Riandro and Estella were engaged in their youth, their memories were not abundant.
When they were young, Estella often fell ill. As they grew a little older, Riandro had to study abroad in the allied kingdom for swordsmanship training.
However, Estella remained Riandro’s trembling first love.
“No, Riandro is excellent. You can see how hard Riandro is working just by looking at these hands.”
A girl who tried to comfort Riandro’s wounds from their awkward first meeting.
“I’m glad you, like Sir Riandro, are a wonderful person and my fiancé. However, I’m not in good health… Sir Riandro may find a better fiancée,”
Estella, who shone as brightly as the summer sun, was the first to give Riandro a goal, contrary to his parents’ expectations.
“I will become your knight.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I will stay by your side for a lifetime, becoming an excellent knight who can overcome any illness. So please wait a little longer.”
It was a bold statement.
“Then I’ll become an excellent knight and wait for Sir Riandro to return.”
But Estella sincerely believed in his oath, and that oath became the boy’s life.
To keep his oath, Riandro devoted himself desperately to training. Even the loneliness and hardships that struck unexpectedly were willingly endured if they were for Estella.
In this way, Riandro became the youngest knight, and his anticipation of meeting Estella swelled.
“How much has Estella grown?”
The time had passed since the young boy’s first meeting until he could discern male features.
Riandro, proudly carrying a red rose for the lady in his conquest of knighthood, visited the Libertan Duchy.
However, the reaction of the knight guarding the Libertan Duchy was bewildering.
“Aren’t you Sir Felcis’s son? What brings you to Libertan all of a sudden?”
“I came to meet my fiancée.”
The Duke of Libertan was extremely flustered by the abrupt visit.
“Please come inside first. Since the young lady seems to be in the garden, I’ll arrange for you to meet her.”
So, as his guest waited in the reception room, difficult to show patience on that day, Riandro went to find Estella, who was said to be in the garden.
It was a sunny summer day.
The day Riandro last saw Estella was also warm and clear. In his yearning, Riandro found a girl in the beautiful pink rose garden.
“Estella?”
Although only the back was visible, Riandro was sure of the girl’s identity.
From the moment he realized the girl’s presence, Riandro’s heart raced uncontrollably.
“Butterfly?”
A yellow butterfly that flew in landed gently around the girl’s shoulder. As the girl turned her head, the butterfly gracefully settled on her index finger.
“Is it growing up like back then?”
It was a bit different from what Riandro had imagined, but the girl was still his first love.
For some reason, she appeared slightly slimmer, with platinum hair that had turned into a dazzling white, and delicate features that were stunningly beautiful.
It was like a pleasant dream as Riandro approached the girl.
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.”
