The sense of reality fades away.
“Am I dreaming?”
A pain surged in my fingers as Johann woke me up. Johann, as if trying to comfort the pain, kissed my fingers again.
The itching sensation confirmed that this was reality.
“Why the ring all of a sudden?”
“I noticed you weren’t wearing it, the one I gave you when I proposed.”
The engagement ring from Duke Johann that I tried to put on but felt a sense of unease for some reason.
“It bothers me.”
“Does Johann care about such things?”
“I care about everything.”
Johann stood up and hugged me.
“Probably more than you can imagine.”
“…”
“What else are you curious about?”
Johann whispered a soft laugh in my ear.
I felt his warm breath in my ear. I was confused by the sudden turn of events as soon as I woke up.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“Not long. About half a day?”
That was almost equivalent to sleeping and waking up.
“Thank goodness. Was there anything else major?”
“There was.”
Johann answered slowly as he left the room.
“I was worried because you suddenly collapsed. I thought I was going crazy with worry.”
“That… that’s a major issue.”
“Yes, it is. So, it was tough for me.”
While I was rolling my eyes, unsure of how to respond, Johann naturally left the room and went down the stairs.
“I didn’t go back to the Grand Manor; I stayed at the villa.”
It was dark outside, almost as if it was appropriate for waking up after half a day.
“It feels like I just woke up after sleeping.”
I asked Johann with absurd thoughts in my mind.
“Where are we going now?”
“How was it?”
“Huh?”
Johann held my waist, bringing me face to face. I felt the strength in his firm hands.
“I confessed.”
Desire surged in his red eyes. His intense gaze swept over my tense face, making it more nerve-wracking than usual.
“I’m curious about how you feel.”
“…”
“Do you not want to answer?”
My heart thumped loudly.
“I wanted to say it as soon as I woke up, I love you.”
“I love you, now saying it, I’m sorry.”
Johann bit the fourth finger he had been kissing, leaving a mark. Satisfied, he pressed his lips again.
“Now, if I go around without the ring I gave you, I’ll leave my mark instead of the ring.”
Honestly, to be frank, I felt so good to the point where every sensation in my body became vivid.
“Yohan loves me.”
Though his gaze seemed a bit different from usual, Yohan was different from the original, who never explicitly declared his love.
So, it’s completely different from that dreadful original now.
But at the moment when I should feel perfect liberation and stability, I felt strangely uneasy.
“Yohan did what I wished for. Why am I still anxious?”
I raised my hand and cupped Yohan’s cheek. Yohan raised one eyebrow and smiled again.
“How about you?”
As the confession I had been waiting for returned to me, I began to feel a strange pressure.
“Do I love Yohan?”
I wanted to keep confirming Yohan’s feelings, and contrary to what I feared, I wasn’t sure about my own feelings.
“Yohan was so honest about everything.”
At times like this, there’s no fixed answer.
“It’s okay, Estelle.”
At that moment, Yohan pulled me close. Then he gently brushed his cheek near my forehead.
“You don’t have to say it right away.”
Yohan’s voice, gently settling, reached my heart.
“I’ll make it so you can give me the same answer.”
Imperial Alhyeonsil.
The saint who had just arrived in the Holy Empire walked gracefully with the escort of a knight to the front of the throne.
In the splendid Alhyeonsil, the saint’s dress of pure white looked like a handful of white flowers. Stella slightly wet the white veil covering her face and smiled sweetly.
“Hello, Your Majesty. I am Stella, the saint of the Holy Empire.”
And she elegantly demonstrated the imperial etiquette.
“It is an honor to meet the glorious Emperor, the light and future of the Empire.”
Having received the greeting from the saint, the Emperor raised one corner of his lips.
“This saint is a bit different.”
Usually, the most important thing for a saint is the deity Atea, worshipped in the Holy Empire.
So, until now, all the saints have never performed the imperial greeting in front of the emperor.
However, there was no sign of any worries or fears in Saint Stella.
“Saint Stella seems to be able to become quite close with me.”
Stella innocently widened her eyes at the emperor’s words. A radiant vitality danced on her pure face.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. I am also very pleased that Your Majesty, the radiant and glorious sun of the Empire, has not forgotten the Holy Empire. We will surely become even closer.”
Stella shyly lowered her long eyelashes while holding the emperor’s hands.
“If the saint does well, that could happen.”
The emperor carefully scanned the saint’s appearance.
‘Everything feels different, even from the appearance.’
Unlike the previous saints who were always modest, this saint, from the beginning, wore a beautiful dress like a noble lady with dazzling jewels.
‘Come to think of it, she’s different from the beginning.’
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.”
