Sharti blinked her eyes with a face that didn’t understand the meaning of Ren’s words.
‘Weeds? Out of nowhere?’
Not understanding the situation, Sharti lightly pinched her cheek to regain her senses.
‘……Ouch.’
There was no need to pinch so hard.
As soon as she touched her cheek, a tingling pain dug into her nerves.
It felt like she was suddenly wide awake.
‘Come to think of it, did that man hit me?’
She recalled the memory of being caught by Dodint trying to take scissors from under the pillow last night and getting hit.
Sharti frowned as she cupped her cheek.
Surely the inside of her mouth must be torn.
‘It must have gotten worse since I left it without applying any medicine.’
If she looked in the mirror, her cheek would surely be swollen.
Being hit by a person was more painful than scratches or bumps.
If she were to exaggerate, it stung enough to almost bring tears to her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
While Sharti was enduring the pain, Ren apologized again in a gloomy voice.
‘Why does he keep apologizing?’
Sharti removed her hand from her cheek and gestured to Ren.
As if he had been waiting, Ren naturally reached out his hand.
However, Sharti wrote on her own palm instead of Ren’s.
Ren’s eyebrows twitched.
It was the expression he made whenever something displeased him.
“……I did my best.”
“That’s……”
Ren glanced at Sharti as he chose his words.
His sharp features that had looked stiff suddenly seemed docile.
“I was told that if I had picked the right herbs, your fever would have gone down.”
Sharti’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.
Ren rubbed the back of his neck as if feeling ashamed.
“I memorized it from a picture, but I couldn’t distinguish them well.”
Sharti paused her writing for a moment.
Due to her mild fever, her mind was dull and it took time to understand Ren’s words.
‘So, you went to pick herbs to bring down my fever? And you asked Tein to show you the picture? But… when Tein checked, they were all weeds?’
Pft. Sharti turned her head abruptly to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out.
It was nothing special.
It wasn’t even that funny.
Yet somehow, a ticklish laughter scratched at her chest.
As giggles leaked out, Sharti covered her mouth with the back of her hand.
‘Ah, I think the fever is rising in my head.’
Holding back her laughter made her dizzy.
When Sharti cleared her throat, Ren became flustered.
“What’s wrong? Are you in a lot of pain?”
Seeing Ren looking at her with a worried expression made her heart feel warm and fuzzy.
Maybe it was because of the fever in her head, but her wariness crumbled, and Ren’s kindness seeped into her vulnerable gaps.
“You mean the cold medicine you gave me yesterday? I gave that to you.”
“……?”
Then why did he go to pick herbs?
If he had gone outside and encountered villagers, things could have gotten complicated.
There was no guarantee that the lie about being a runaway slave would work on the villagers too.
Especially among the villagers who were wary of outsiders, a few had a strong sense of duty to report.
This time, Sharti wore a serious expression as she worried about Ren.
Last night, Ren had broken down the bedroom door, been attacked by Dodint, and gone after him for retribution.
If the wound that had been healing smoothly had reopened, it would be no different than if she were the cause.
As Sharti tried to get up, Ren gently placed his hand over hers on the bed.
Ren’s face came so close that Sharti was startled and leaned back.
“There’s no need for that. The little doctor found some ointment and applied it for me.”
Ren calmly laid Sharti back down.
Then he picked up the towel that had fallen under the pillow and placed it back on her forehead.
‘Then what were the herbs for?’
As her curiosity remained unsatisfied, Sharti shifted slightly.
Ren glanced at his hand covering Sharti’s.
Sharti, who thought he would pull away immediately, seemed unaware that he was holding her hand.
Trying not to show the strange tingling sensation, Ren focused on controlling his expression.
“The little doctor told me. That there are herbs good for energy.”
After giving Sharti the cold medicine, Tein, still not feeling at ease, had opened a book and shown Ren herbs for boosting the body.
[These will make the teacher’s body stronger.]It was natural that Ren, who had just asked Bireta what he could do for the sick Sharti, would be intrigued by Tein’s words.
“I didn’t know there were weeds that looked exactly the same but had different root shapes.”
Though he didn’t tell Sharti, Ren had been receiving disappointed looks from Tein all along for not being able to distinguish between herbs and weeds.
Now he really had become a patient uncle with only a bear-like body and nothing in his head.
Self-loathing was an added bonus.
“I wanted to do even that much.”
“……”
“Even if I couldn’t be relied upon, I wanted to do something for you.”
The words he added in a mumble at the end seemed to be Ren’s truest feelings.
Sharti recalled the words she had poured out to him last night.
Just remembering her own voice, which she wanted to forget, which was embarrassing and shameful, made Sharti furrow her brow.
After repeatedly clenching and unclenching her hand, which had been held by Ren for who knows how long, Sharti carefully revealed the sincerity she couldn’t convey that day.
Dodint, who had used her face as a weakness to threaten her, would surely have used the existence of the unidentified Ren as well.
He would have fabricated stories like discovering an unknown man and coming to the log cabin, or that Ren was actually the target of the search.
Recalling the lukewarm attitude of the soldiers when they found Dodint, whom they had been searching for so desperately last night, Sharti once again confirmed that her choice had been right.
‘Even if they seem like good people, in the end, they’re imperial soldiers.’
It was common in the New Eden Empire for situations to be manipulated according to hierarchy and status.
Indeed, Bireta’s teachings needed to be engraved in her bones.
“So, not calling me, trying to hide me, was that it?”
It was a crooked voice.
Sharti waved her hand. Right now, she wanted to use gentle expressions to beat around the bush with him.
“……”
“……”
When Ren showed no reaction, Sharti stopped writing.
While she was stretching her arm out to him and writing on her palm, he had been tilting his head with an expressionless face.
It looked as if nothing had gotten through to him at all.
Sure enough, Ren shrugged his shoulders.
“I can’t read it very well.”
“……?”
Sharti looked up at Ren with a face that said ‘What are you talking about?’
Ren, on the contrary, looked at her palm intently with a brazen face.
“Maybe because your palm is small, the letters aren’t readable properly.”
Ren spread his palm to compare it with Sharti’s hand.
Her hand was so small it could be completely covered by his large hand.
“The room is dark too.”
Sharti made an expression of disbelief.
Even though her hand was small, she had been writing slowly enough that Ren’s words lacked credibility.
Moreover, Ren’s eyes were good enough to find mountain paths at night.
‘He read even longer and more difficult sentences just fine before…’
Besides, hadn’t he just been reading her writing properly?
Sharti’s eyes narrowed as she gave him a suspicious look.
Feeling relieved that she had been embarrassed, Sharti pouted her lips.
‘If he can’t see well, there’s no need for me to write.’
Sharti lowered her hand and hid it under the blanket.
It was a sulky appearance.
Seeing this uncommon sight, Ren unconsciously pulled down the corners of his mouth that had risen.
Before her mood could worsen further, Ren cleared his throat with a cough.
“So, I have a suggestion.”
At his tone, which seemed as if he had caught an opportunity, Sharti glanced at him.
“How about… talking to me verbally?”
“……!”
Sharti, who hesitated for a moment, turned her head to the opposite side as if she didn’t need to hear any more.
Despite her firm attitude, Ren didn’t back down.
“It’s not that writing is inconvenient, but I feel sorry. As small as your hand is, I should be able to focus and read it, but I can’t even do that.”
“……”
Sharti’s jaw twitched.
Hiding his ulterior motives, Ren recalled Bireta’s proposal.
[Decide by three days from now. Whether you’ll stay here as a stray dog, or come with me.]Three days from now, he might leave the old log cabin following Bireta.
Before that, he wanted to hear Sharti’s voice.
He wanted to have a conversation with her, even if just a little.
For this, Ren squeezed out a self-reproachful voice that Sharti was weak to.
“I don’t want to trouble you, and I don’t like feeling sorry for not being able to read properly. When you wrote on my palm, I could understand everything, but… my palm is rough, so you probably don’t want to touch it anymore.”
As he added exaggerated expressions, Sharti showed signs of hesitation.
Ren deliberately relaxed his voice.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to speak to me? Of course, this isn’t asking you to rely on me. It’s just that my head is broken, so I have no prejudice, and really, truly, sincerely, I had no particular feeling about your voice, I just thought it was a bit unique, so I think I’m sufficient as a practice partner.”
His persuasive tone was desperate, bordering on frantic.
As if there would be no other chance if not now.
“You said you snapped sensitively, but I didn’t hear it that way at all. Your voice sounding bad to yourself might be because it sounded awkward from not using your throat often. So how about continuing to use writing when other people are around, and practicing getting used to your voice when you’re with me?”
“……”
“You have a lot to do with your hands, and if you have to write long messages because of me, isn’t it too much work? Your hands need time to rest too.”
As if his sincerity had gotten through, Sharti turned her head towards Ren.
For a moment, Ren swallowed dryly as if he had made eye contact with Sharti’s eyes hidden under the hood.
“So what I’m saying is……”
“Liar.”
“……!”
Ren’s mouth snapped shut.
“You said you couldn’t see well, but you saw everything just fine.”
“……”
Well, that’s that.
Sharti even let out a weak snort.
‘Does he think he’s good at lying?’
Sharti grumbled inwardly, not realizing that Ren had deliberately quoted her writing.
“Hmm, I’ve been caught.”
Ren smiled faintly.
Sharti made a sour face as he remained brazen even after being caught in a lie.
“Sha-.”
A low, resonant bass called out to her.
Having opened her mouth through lies, it was now time to honestly draw out a conversation with her.
Ren put on the most nonchalant expression he could manage.
“I received a proposal.”
Ren confessed honestly.
‘Grandmother knew about Ren’s existence? And she even offered to take him in?’
Sharti, who had been prepared to be scolded by Bireta, was genuinely surprised.
And she reflected.
She engraved in her mind how foolish and naive it had been to try to deceive Bireta’s eyes.
‘Then Ren……’
It was reassuring that Bireta, who was more reliable than anyone, would take care of Ren.
Moreover, for Ren to find his memories, the free-spirited Bireta was a better choice than the introverted Sharti.
But Sharti couldn’t bring herself to say that it was good news.
‘……Is he leaving soon?’
Sharti looked at Ren with a tense face.
The Male Lead’s Obsessive (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Synopsis:
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Summary:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
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