“Please call me Cassandra. And… yes. I love my husband. There’s no man as strong as him. I love his strength.”
“What if he becomes weak?”
“Then I wouldn’t love him. I don’t love him, but his strength. It’s important to understand that distinction.”
Cassandra answered with a bright smile.
I too smiled warmly at her.
She’s true to her desires, strong in her instinct to protect what’s hers.
Therefore, she must have vehemently rejected Meruem.
Such is human nature.
A person isn’t just one thing.
Humans are multifaceted, and while someone can be good to one person, they can be bad to another.
I even came to love that aspect of humans when I fell in love with Enrique.
“Thank you for getting angry on my behalf. But it’s okay. I don’t love my husband. Our marriage is just a political arrangement.”
“Hmm.”
Cassandra made a subtle noise.
Then she turned to me and whispered softly.
“It doesn’t seem to be the case for the Emperor.”
“……What?”
“That he’s interested in you.”
Enrique? Interested in me?
I blinked in confusion.
It was like reading a sentence with completely wrong syntax.
“Didn’t you know? Today, the Emperor of Nyx didn’t look at that woman even once. He was only looking at you, as if searching for something.”
I hadn’t noticed.
There was too much for me to take care of today.
Ensuring the banquet was going well, checking for any issues, making sure the food wasn’t getting cold, and dealing with the guests from Kwan.
On top of that, the blazing energy of the sun was disorienting me, and then there was the test thrown at me by my sisters.
I was too busy to notice whether Enrique was looking at me or not.
“Maybe… he’s finally come to his senses and decided to distance himself from his concubine.”
Enrique distancing himself from Helene?
That was hard to imagine.
If that really happens, I’d be so furious I wouldn’t be able to breathe.
Because he killed me with such a changeable heart.
In fact, that was precisely the reason I could never forgive Enrique.
“Meruem. I hope the Grand Emperor’s dashi brings comfort to the Empress.”
Cassandra, who had stopped, turned to me, revealing a hint of her true feelings.
“It was really a headache, you see. But somehow the gods knew and helped Calic.”
“I really don’t know why the gods of the desert sent him to me, but… I do hope the Desert of Death ceases to expand.”
“Thank you for your blessed words.”
The conversation that followed lacked substance.
Feeling my body temperature dropping, I decided to return to the banquet hall without delay.
‘Ah, I’m tired.’
This was certainly the most I had spoken since inhabiting this body. And the longest I had stood.
‘I’m starting to feel dizzy…’
My head felt hot, probably a sign of a slight fever.
‘But I just need to hold on a little longer.’
I took a deep breath and entered the banquet hall.
“Ugh!”
“My goodness. Call a doctor! It’s poison!”
“Guard the Grand Emperor!!!”
“How dare they!!!”
But what had happened?
The banquet hall, which I had left for a walk, was now in complete chaos.
Some of the desert people were retching and gasping.
Those who were fine had formed a protective circle around Calic, and as soon as some warriors spotted Cassandra, they quickly surrounded her in an orderly fashion.
Trying to find Derek out of habit, I realized he couldn’t attend this event and bit my lip.
Ah, I need to lean on something…
That’s when it happened.
Strong arms wrapped around my waist, helping me stand upright. Leaning against a firm chest and body, I slowly reopened my half-closed eyes.
A slightly blurred vision of a boy appeared before me.
His face looked somewhat embarrassed.
“…You were staggering.”
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.
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