Surprised by her own impulsive denial, her cheek throbbed.
“…He’s good to me. But why does Miss hesitate~? It must be because you’re not sure about your decision~ I’ll listen, no pressure~”
The old man adjusted the tone of the questions, allowing Charty to bring up her inner thoughts comfortably.
Being quick-witted and catching on to the situation, the old man encouraged Charty to speak.
‘This conversation is not likely to leak out from here.’
Charty took a deep breath.
“Good things have been happening lately.”
She began with a whisper-like small voice.
“Meeting good people, experiencing positive changes, and receiving good treatment. It seems like only good things have been happening to me.”
Charty clasped her hands. As she cautiously revealed her inner thoughts one by one, her heart trembled. It felt ticklish, as if she had become a roadside girl.
“And it all started with a man.”
At first, he was just a patient. A patient she had to take care of. That was all.
But when she gave him the name ‘Ren,’ the stopped clock in Charty’s heart began to tick again.
“Knowing that I should be cautious and alert with him, I kept letting my guard down, and gradually, I got caught more often. Unlike the initial anxiety, I’ve come to trust him without realizing it.”
Slowly and cautiously, Charty revealed the feelings she had received from Ren so far. The false hope she had told Birena, the emotions she had awkwardly handed over to Bereta, all flowed naturally in front of the old man.
“He’s someone who will eventually leave, so, even though I consciously try not to give my heart, it keeps flowing to him.”
So, she admitted it. Let it flow as it may. It was an unstoppable feeling.
Yet, even so, until the very end, Charty had built a wall. She wanted to protect herself, to keep her hidden feelings from getting hurt or experiencing disappointment.
“I thought I knew my limits well, so I thought I could stop it on my own.”
She was arrogant. The vow was meaningless, and she found herself being swept away in the face of an unfamiliar attraction.
It was an emotion she had never felt before, a feeling she had never experienced. It wasn’t something she could control at will.
“But he keeps grabbing me as I try to stop.”
A bitter smile spread across Charty’s lips.
Ren knows. That ‘Sha’ is a precious person.
And she realized it herself. That ‘Charty’ is just an ordinary person.
“Holding hands by my side, pushing my back from behind, and always protecting me from the front.”
As the distance with Ren got closer, his face and voice would come to mind unexpectedly. The familiar presence of Ren had unconsciously engraved itself in her mind and heart.
“During our time together, I started laughing more, thinking more, and gained confidence. …So, I feel anxious and worried.”
As she felt happiness, she became frightened of the inevitable future unhappiness.
It wasn’t a matter of trusting or not trusting Ren. The decision to hold someone in her heart was never easy for Charty.
“With just one of my secrets being overwhelming, I don’t know if I can handle the undisclosed secrets of that person…”
“It looks exactly the same.”
“What?”
At the old man’s muttering, Charty suddenly raised her head.
The old man, who had placed his arm on the crystal ball and rested his chin on it, smirked.
His face somehow seemed familiar.
“You don’t need to ask the stars. It’s something like this.”
“What…”
“You already like that man, so what are you hesitating for?”
Sharp and pointed, the old man’s remark left Charty speechless.
“Is the lady spending her time on unnecessary worries?”
Even though she couldn’t see in front of her, it felt like the old man’s sharp gaze pierced through Charty.
Turning his gaze away from the frozen Charty, the old man continued with a more casual tone.
“Lady, time is precious. You should use it wisely. You might regret it later.”
Returning to his original tone, the old man wiped the crystal ball with his sleeve.
The light from the crystal ball moved following the old man’s gesture.
“Lady, you have a strong sense of responsibility. The problem is trying to take responsibility for even unnecessary things.”
“…….”
“Why worry about something that hasn’t happened, about future unhappiness that hasn’t come yet?”
Charty bit her lip.
“…That person can’t remember the past. The person I know is just a part, and confessing to liking, liking based on just that part is impossible.”
“Lady, don’t be delusional.”
As the old man covered the crystal ball with his sleeve, the darkness that had been lurking inside the tent suddenly took over the sight.
Charty, frozen in place, took a shallow breath at the blame that penetrated the darkness.
“Fearing unhappiness, you avoid happiness? Fearing the unknown unhappiness, rejecting the current happiness – what kind of nonsense is that? No, what kind of selfish talk is that?”
The scolding tone seemed to rejuvenate the old man’s voice.
“Lady, if you only think about yourself, no one will stay by your side for a lifetime. Pain is not something only you will experience.”
Before Charty could sense the oddity, the old man, quickly returning to his original tone, cleared away the darkness with the light from the crystal ball.
Charty frowned at the excessively bright light from the crystal ball, almost blinding her.
“Lady, live in the present. Why cling to the past and only look at the future?”
“…….”
“The man by the lady’s side is holding onto only the lady and looking at only the lady.”
Frustration seeped through at the end of the words.
Charty momentarily struggled with a rebuttal that surged from the depths of her heart but couldn’t bring herself to swallow it. She closed her eyes, holding back the emotion that welled up.
“That person might have someone they love.”
“…….”
For the first time, the old man seemed unable to counter the surprise.
The area under the old man’s eyes, frozen for a moment, trembled.
“…L- love? That man, en- engaged, a rela- tionship with a woman? Was that what made him uneasy? Worrying about such a thing…? Concerns about that ‘man’?”
And soon after, the old man burst into laughter, tearing his mouth wide open.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
Link to read
