#34
Yes, if it was Griselda, it would have been fortunate. I was rather more terrified that Winfrid’s little rat might be someone other than her. The black shadows with their faces cut off, them with only red mouths open. The guards? The maids? Johannes’s knights I had seen from afar coming and going?
No, perhaps everyone except Johannes and me.
Those who might have whispered behind my back, in places I wasn’t, places I didn’t know, seemed almost within reach, visible to these eyes.
Oh, what to do, what to do…! Just how many people know, how much do they know…! There were too many things that made my back tingle, and I couldn’t even estimate the scale and scope of the rumors. I couldn’t even control it.
But I declare that I wasn’t afraid of the humiliation of being on others’ lips. Just, what if it reached Father’s ears? I was so afraid that all my plans would come to nothing that I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t help but heave my whole body.
“…Sister doesn’t need to know.”
At that moment, I heard a small, awkward mumble unlike Winfrid. His gaze half-fallen downwards, as if lost in thought for a moment. Soon returning, with a creak, Winfrid’s head tilted to the side, and a look of contempt for me slowly blossomed.
“So, sister, since when?”
Freezing then burning, then freezing stiff again. My lips that had been so frantic parted suddenly.
“I asked first.”
I asked back, suppressing my trembling insides. But Winfrid ignored me.
“Was it just a momentary attraction?”
“Who… told you?”
“Just playing around for fun? Curiosity or something?”
“Winfrid.”
“You haven’t already pressed bellies, have you?”
My whole face burned bright red. In an instant, I recalled Johannes’s body. It was as if Winfrid had been standing right next to us that night when we were moaning feverishly. I felt like I was going mad, wanting to scrape away even the air.
“…Answer me.”
“What are you trying to do between siblings?”
“Please.”
“Surely not….”
“Win…!”
“Are you planning to run away somewhere?”
My breath stopped. Gasp. Gasp. My severed exhales came out in broken pieces. I could hear Johannes’s breath whispering in my ear as if it were ringing. ‘It won’t be long now’, he said. Ah, that voice that whispered to me in secret. That clear voice that could barely hide its swollen expectations. No.
“…Well, well?”
I hate this.
“What? This reaction?”
Stop it.
“Were you trying to run away…? Really?”
Please, don’t dig this up.
“…What a sight.”
I tried not to avoid Winfrid’s gaze. But my waterlogged vision shook uncontrollably. I felt like tears were about to burst out.
I could see Winfrid furrowing his brow. His gaze, not hiding his disgust as if watching a bug stuck to filth, soon pierced my throat like an unswallowed thorn. Deep inside, behind my breastbone.
I just wanted to run away from Winfrid. I wanted to raise my hands and cover my ears right away. I didn’t want to ask anything more, nor did I want to hear anything. To me like this, Winfrid asked.
“As expected. You did it? Shared a bed.”
I shook my head while keeping my gaze fixed on Winfrid.
“…No. That’s not true. No.”
“You did, you did…. Oh my.”
Winfrid shuddered violently and glanced at me. The cold certainty he was showing was gripping my throat. I finally clutched at my collar. I felt like my body, my heart couldn’t endure without holding onto something.
“How can siblings feel that way. It’s disgustingly filthy, damn…”
Winfrid trailed off and spat out a short curse.
And at that moment, an intense emotion surged up through my veins.
“You…. When you don’t know anything…! Please know something before you speak. Don’t condemn people carelessly! Have you ever once cherished anyone? Johannes, he loves me. And I feel the same!”
I think I took a step forward. I remember my vision narrowing suddenly, with only Winfrid’s face filling it densely. Really ridiculously, an indignant and resentful feeling welled up in a mess.
Who are you to call us filthy? No, even if we are inevitably filthy before God, is this relationship some kind of plague? What have we, to ‘you all’, done so wrong?
“What did you do wrong? Why should you be punished?”
Ah, Johannes said that to me.
“Ha.”
Winfrid snorted briefly as if it were laughable. He showed no sign of backing down. He asked coldly again.
“Are you confident?”
“About what.”
I retorted as if about to pounce. Winfrid clicked his tongue and continued.
“Since our sister seems offended, let’s put aside for now that you two have a dirty, filthy, creepy relationship that betrays heavenly principles.”
Winfrid drawled out his words, sneering to the fullest. Then he fell silent for a moment. I watched him, feeling unbearable anger and anxiety simultaneously. Because I couldn’t guess what he would say next. Soon I saw Winfrid’s lips part.
My chest.
“Even so… you say brother loves sister?”
Started heaving again.
“How can you believe that so surely? How can you be so certain of an emotion that’s no different from an illusion, neither visible nor tangible?”
“Of course, that’s…!”
“Are you really confident? Is there any guarantee that someday, when you’ve thrown everything away and only the two of you are left, brother won’t realize his mistake and regret it?”
“Yes, I’m confident. I believe in Johannes….”
“Men straying outside, that’s just a matter of time, sister. Even those who say they’d die without someone change their hearts, you think brother would be any different?”
“How can you say such things? Johannes isn’t that kind of person.”
“Not that kind…. Ah, right. Sister is correct. Brother is a solid and upright person, so he’ll probably take responsibility to the end. That’s possible.”
“It’s not about responsibility! Johannes loves me…!”
“Ha! Love!”
Winfrid, who had been biting out each syllable until then, suddenly shouted. My heart leaped at that force. I was so startled I nearly bit the inside of my mouth.
“Love, she says! Love! No, how can you be this stupid. You’re so ignorant of the world, stubborn to the end!”
Winfrid, who had raised his voice to the fullest, shut his mouth tightly. He glared at me, overwhelmed by the coldly rising momentum. The passing seconds seemed to pierce my skin. We faced off like that for a long while.
I couldn’t move and just breathed heavily, but Winfrid gradually loosened his hardened face. Before long, Winfrid, who had become like an emotionless statue, abruptly took a step back.
He left me alone and looked down for a moment, then stretched out one foot forward. He started to circle widely around me, dragging it back in a backward step.
“…As you know, sister.”
The slowly continued voice was almost like talking to himself.
“There are taboos…. Taboos are… repressions that are rightly necessary for all people in the world to live in order… but once you peek around them, they can be… quite tempting at times…. The more you’re told not to look, the more you want to see, the more you’re told not to do, the more you want to do it…. Hmm…. Haven’t you ever felt that way, sister? You can’t say you never have, can you? The truth is… wherever you go, there are always one or two such people….”
Those particularly sensitive to the line….
Those who are drawn particularly strongly. It’s a longing for an object that can’t be possessed, a lust that shouldn’t be indulged, rather because they perceive it more intensely, their eyes burn up in an instant like moths to a flame.
Moths.
The flames I had vomited alone long ago one summer suddenly came to mind. My throat, which had been locked up for some time, began to hurt as if it would tear.
“…Someone like brother would be even more so. Since he’s used to holding back and suppressing everything, sometimes the reins come loose in the wrong direction…. I don’t know well what happened between you two for things to have flowed to this point, but at least for brother, it was probably just that he had a hard time withdrawing the curiosity he happened to develop?”
Winfrid’s voice faded and drew near as he moved away and came closer. Winfrid’s gait circling around me was like a viper. The sound of dragging feet was like sandpaper. As if it would scrape away all my skin.
A deflated snicker came from behind me.
“When a lacking sister is sitting at the top of the tower, and she even happens to be pretty…. Yes, even I would….”
The gaze I could clearly feel without seeing seemed to smear my flesh as it swept over my whole body. I looked down, unable to turn around.
The dust lightly piled on the milky stone floor split along Winfrid’s steps to form a path, and the ends of those thin lines interlocked to enclose me. As if.
Like my tower.
Inside it, for some reason, I couldn’t move at all. Startled by Winfrid’s sudden presence in front of me, I raised my gaze to see a grinning face.
“Even those bastards who were said to be the sub-priest’s parents were like that. There must have been a trigger that made them conscious of the line. Otherwise, how could someone who looks just like their own flesh and blood catch their eye when half the world is men and women? Is that love then? Wouldn’t it be much more agreeable to say they enjoyed the tension or thrill instead?”
Winfrid approached me.
“Do you understand, sister? What I’m saying is that the decisive factor that moved brother wasn’t you, but the line itself….”
Clearly calculated steps. He stepped exactly outside the line that enclosed me. With that, he snatched and pulled my arm. Dragged out with an ‘Ah!’, I took a step to support my body. Beneath me….
The line was trampled.
“How about you, sister? Now that you’ve crossed it.”
Winfrid pressed close to my left side. He brought his face close, as if to rest it on my shoulder.
“…Did it feel good?”
I felt like I was going to retch. Though goosebumps rose at the sound of clothes rustling, I still couldn’t move at all. What love…. Winfrid whispered.
“Even in the midst of playing with fire… if that thrilling line were just erased… as if it had never existed in the first place, instantly fading away… for such a petty emotion to be called love…. Really, is this innocence or stupidity?”
“It’s not like that.”
I couldn’t even pull my arm free from Winfrid’s grasp. I just desperately denied it.
“It’s not like playing with fire. Johannes, Johannes loves me, and I feel the same. We…!”
“If you’re thinking of bringing up some foolish talk about how you two made vows or did something, please spare me in advance. You shouldn’t even dare to make vows, that would be normal. Especially you, sister.”
Male lead Asks for a Divorce Every Day
It’s not often you come across a plot like this in the female-dominant genre — make sure to check it out!
This is a novel I’m planning to reread as well.
The male lead is strong, skilled in martial arts, and not the usual fragile type you often see in matriarchal novels.
Meanwhile, the female lead is a scientist—rational and logical. Even when she falls for the male lead, she doesn’t let her emotions cloud her decisions.
If you push through the first few chapters, you’ll gradually find the story really intriguing.
It has a mix of mystery, detective elements, and romance.
The author’s writing style is like crafting a puzzle—except they deliberately leave out a few pieces, making it hard to predict what happens next, yet keeping you hooked.
In the end, everything will come together and be explained.
One-sentence summary: Wife, stop playing with beakers and look at me!
In a laboratory accident, research scientist Zhu Wansheng accidentally travels to a matriarchal world. The original owner of the body is an eighteen-year-old only daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant, already married with a handsome young man.
Zhu Wansheng grins: Nice! She always said she was heaven’s favorite granddaughter. After a life of toil in her previous life, she can enjoy blessings in this one.
However, her joy lasts no more than three seconds as bad news arrives: the original owner’s family is about to go bankrupt, and her husband wants a divorce.
Even worse, she’s stuck with a research system full of restrictions.
Zhu Wansheng: ? Is this the destiny of a research dog?
——
Faced with this mess, Zhu Wansheng pours herself a bowl of wine to drown her sorrows. In her drunken haze, her husband arrives.
His figure is imposing, holding a long sword, with a dignified air that captivates Zhu Wansheng.
Gu Yingqing, however, looks at the alcohol-reeking Zhu Wansheng with undisguised disgust and coldly asks, “Divorce or not?” The intoxicated Zhu Wansheng mumbles vaguely, “I think… it’s not… it’s not… impossible!”
——
The next day, after sobering up, Zhu Wansheng is full of energy, rolling up her sleeves ready to make a big move. As for yesterday? She has no memory of it.
Zhu Wansheng is ambitious; a research dog fears nothing!
Upgrading rouge, extracting fragrances, producing perfumes, researching lipsticks… all shall bow to the power of modern technology!
The original owner’s dying rouge shop is revitalized. Her mother is pleased and with a wave of her hand, passes on the family business to her. As she takes control and her experimental results gain popularity, it’s the pinnacle of her life…
——
But there are always those who can’t stand to see her doing well. Jealousy, scheming, assassination attempts – they want nothing less than her life.
The person who has always kept his distance from her suddenly holds her tightly in his arms, eyes full of concern.
She is unharmed, but he falls into a pool of blood…
Zhu Wansheng feels guilty, “I can grant you one wish.”
Gu Yingqing tentatively circles his arms around her, carefully resting his head in the crook of her neck, pleading softly, “I regret it. Can we not divorce?”
Zhu Wansheng: ? When did I agree to a divorce?
[Small Theater]
The newly developed rouge is beautifully packaged, and Zhu Wansheng is eager to try it.
Gu Yingqing suddenly appears: “My lady, may I apply it for you?”
Cool fingertips lightly brush her lips. His Adam’s apple bobs as he leans in for a light bite.
Zhu Wansheng: ?
Gu Yingqing: It smells so good, I wanted to taste it…
On a warm spring day, Zhu Wansheng tries a new perfume: “Spring Night.” Gu Yingqing corners her against a wall.
Warm breath lingers on her neck.
“My lady, from now on, may I test the fragrances for you?”
[Humorous female scientist vs scheming live-in son-in-law male lead]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
