The Duke Stole Everything (1 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
The more he mulled over the recent situation, the more uneasy he felt about the squad leader’s words and actions among the soldiers.
‘A reason to search at night. That means capturing us isn’t their goal? This search must be worth as much as several lives.’
He anxiously bit his lip, hoping desperately that he himself wasn’t the sole reason for that search.
‘Useless.’
All he could do was carry the physically frail woman as he ran.
He knew nothing. He possessed neither knowledge nor common sense—only flowery words.
‘Damn it.’
He despised his own incompetence.
“…….”
Tap tap. Sharti’s cautious index finger gently touched the man’s chin.
Startled out of his thoughts, he turned to look at her.
Sharti spread her palm and waved it before his eyes.
Strangely enough, the tightness in his chest eased slightly as he read the words written on her small palm.
“I have something to ask you.”
“…….”
“……yeah?”
Sharti nodded.
The man frowned, avoiding her gaze.
“If those bears hadn’t happened to appear right then… what would you have done? ……yeah?”
The wind blew.
His damp bangs, soaked with body heat, fluttered.
Sharti lightly slapped his shoulder, still avoiding eye contact.
“…….”
He shook his head.
Beneath her hood, Sharti’s lips curled into a faint smile.
“What?”
The man stopped walking in surprise.
He didn’t know it, but this was one of the herbs Sharti always carried whenever she ventured deep into the mountains.
“But then……”
“…….”
The man was speechless. He couldn’t decide whether to admire her thorough preparedness or sigh at her reckless boldness.
Yet again, his reaction remained the same.
“How did you even gather such an herb? ……yeah? Wouldn’t it have been dangerous for you, Doctor? ……yeah?”
“…….”
His scowl made him look momentarily fierce.
After a brief hesitation, she quickly shook her head.
His lips twitched, but he said nothing. After all, it felt presumptuous for him—who owed his life and protection to her—to say anything at all.
He simply urged his steps forward once more in silence.
He adjusted his hold slightly, supporting Sharti’s light and petite frame more securely.
‘……So it’s only people she fears.’
Sharti, who seemed fearless, had shown unease toward people—and only people—so far.
He hadn’t forgotten her reaction the moment her hood slipped off and her face was exposed.
‘This distance between us is probably just right.’
With his keen night vision, the man quickened his pace, following the direction Sharti pointed.
Finally, an old log cabin came into view.
“Is this it? ……yeah?”
He set Sharti down.
Just as Sharti, relieved they’d arrived safely, was about to lead him inside—
“Someone’s in the house.”
At that moment, a shadow appeared beyond the light inside the cabin.
Sharti immediately halted and, flustered, turned with the man.
She hastily flung open the door to a long, narrow shed near the log cabin. The man grimaced the instant the door opened.
Soon, he turned to Sharti with a look of disbelief.
“…….”
Sharti squeezed her eyes shut and moved exactly as he’d anticipated.
“W-wait a moment……!”
She shoved the man alone into the shed.
Shh. Sharti urgently pressed a finger to her lips and shut the shed door behind her.
Left alone in the darkness with a loud thud, the man’s facial muscles gradually stiffened.
“Hmm? You’re back, Sha. Where did you go off to so late?”
Sharti slowly turned her back to the shed, her face tense.
Bireta, with her bent back and wrinkled face, emerged from her house.
“Why the fermentation shed? Didn’t I tell you it still needs more time to mature?”
Sharti gave an awkward smile.
Only then did she realize the state of the herbs she’d stored inside the shed.
“…….”
The man, unintentionally locked inside the fermentation shed, summoned his patience once more.
Sadly, his sense of smell—the one he’d doubted—remained perfectly intact.
He had to endure a far longer and more agonizing wait than when he’d hidden behind the rock.
‘But there was nowhere else to hide!’
He belatedly shouted this explanation inwardly, knowing it would never reach her.
Sharti approached Bireta, hiding her impatience.
She couldn’t let Bireta get too close to the shed.
The old woman clicked her tongue.
“The moment I told you soldiers were coming, Sha, you suddenly ran out of the house—I was worried.”
In truth, it was Bireta who’d informed Sharti about the soldiers searching the mountain.
Had Bireta not arrived just as Sharti returned home to pack her robe, neither the cave nor the man would have been hidden in time.
“Yes. You went because of that cave, right? When I passed by earlier, it had completely collapsed.”
Bireta patted her bent back.
Relieved the man’s presence hadn’t been discovered, Sharti gave another awkward smile.
“But Sha, dear… what’s with that look? Did you run into the soldiers?”
Worried despite her rough tone, Sharti waved her hands.
Bireta carefully observed Sharti’s condition.
“Hmm… your breathing isn’t disturbed. Of course—at this hour, there’s no way those soldiers could’ve found you, Sha.”
Affectionately, Bireta patted Sharti’s head beneath her hood. Sharti smiled bashfully from under it.
Though Bireta’s hands were rough and calloused, her touch remained gentle.
“…….”
Then Bireta glanced sideways toward the fermentation shed, avoiding Sharti’s eyes.
Just as Bireta’s eyes narrowed, Sharti diverted her gaze.
“Aye. Went well. Those rascals dragged this old woman all the way out there, so I made sure to squeeze a hefty fee from them. Was the bread tasty?>
“Oh, alright. Alright.”
Bireta chuckled, brushing off Sharti’s nagging lightly.
“Oh, by the way—on my way down the mountain, I stopped by that remote mountain village. If anyone comes looking for you there and asks for help, you must flatly refuse.”
“…….”
“Those shameless louts haggle the price down! Make you work your bones off! Hand you half-finished jobs! And talk endlessly! Ugh! They’re so brazen I could fry them alive!”
Bireta’s wrinkled face grew even fiercer.
Sharti looked troubled. As the village’s rare physician, she often received requests to visit other villages.
The problem was that, unlike Bireta’s village, other mountain villages weren’t welcoming to outsiders.
“Sha, don’t you dare go. Understand? Those ungrateful ones won’t appreciate kindness—they need to suffer a bit to come to their senses!”
Clearly harboring long-standing grievances, Bireta’s temper flared.
Sharti quickly nodded.
The longer the conversation dragged on, the more she felt the man’s gaze from inside the shed.
“Yes, yes. If anyone comes looking for you there, tell them to come to me. Got it?”
At Sharti’s prompt reply, Bireta subtly stared toward the shed.
“Alright. I’ll head back now.”
When Sharti moved to see her off, Bireta shook her head.
“What danger could an old woman like me possibly face on a mountain path my own grandson climbs?”
Refusing to be treated like a frail elder, Bireta briskly walked away.
The moment Bireta disappeared from sight, Sharti immediately opened the shed door.
“…….”
“…….”
As soon as the door opened and fresh air rushed in, the man—who’d turned pale and rigid—staggered.
Sharti hurriedly stepped forward to support him.
Their eyes met—his weary teal gaze locking onto hers.
“……I, Dan…… in, inside……”
Though he seemed to have much to say, exhaustion weighed heavily on him.
He’d endured solitude in the dark cave alone, held his breath behind a rock to avoid reacting to Sharti’s touch—but the potent scent of her special fermented herbs had finally broken him.
“…….”
Sharti did her best to help the man toward the house.
Creeeak……. As they entered the log cabin, a cozy warmth instantly enveloped them.
Sharti pointed to a small, single-seat sofa.
The sofa, covered with a blanket, looked soft and inviting.
“It’ll leave a smell.”
The man hesitated to sit, conscious of the mud and the overpowering stench of fermented herbs clinging to his body.
Seeing the cozy interior—so unlike the cave—he didn’t want to dirty it.
Unfazed by the strong odor emanating from him, Sharti calmly wrote her reply.
“……I prefer the floor.”
Stubbornly, the man settled onto the bare floor, avoiding the carpeted area.
Sharti left him to his preference and headed to the bathroom.
Alone, the man turned his head, taking in the cabin’s interior.
“I can tell whose house this is right away.”
Medicinal herb bundles, papers with blending formulas, medical books, and medicine bottles were scattered everywhere.
It was cluttered—more like a workshop than a home—yet simple and unpretentious.
“…….”
He carefully adjusted his posture to avoid transferring his dirt. Still, his large frame made it futile.
While filling the tub, Sharti washed her hands and, catching sight of him, couldn’t help but smile slightly.
‘Good thing I bought mana stones.’
She retrieved the two-week supply of mana stones she’d successfully purchased and inserted them into the tub’s frame.
The mana stones gradually warmed, heating the tub. Sharti dissolved several herbs and a fragrant herbal powder into the water.
Once the water reached a comfortable warmth, she removed the mana stones and gestured to the man.
She communicated via a note on paper.
Now that they were home, using paper and pencil was only natural.
“……Alright.”
The man, who’d instinctively extended his palm, withdrew his hand and nodded, hiding his disappointment.
Thud. Once Sharti left, the man inspected the tub—filled with herbal water emitting a faint grassy scent.
He hurriedly peeled off his mud-caked robe. Just as he began to remove his trousers—
Knock knock.
“……!”
The knock made him freeze in shock.
“Why…… did you come back in?”
Frowning, he swallowed his embarrassment as Sharti re-entered the bathroom.
Reading the note, his expression turned subtly sour.
“……So you’ll check and then leave?”
Sharti nodded calmly.
The man pressed a hand to his forehead.
He felt conflicted—how could he make this innocent woman more cautious?
In Sharti’s eyes, he was still nothing more than a mere patient.
“My arm isn’t injured, so it’s unnecessary. Nothing’s torn open, and I can wash myself just fine.”
Hiding his flustered feelings, he quickly refused and turned his back to her entirely.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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