How long has it been since I’ve had such a peaceful morning?
‘It’s so bright…’
“Ah, my lady! You’re awake!”
Apple, who was drawing the curtains, squealed as she saw me waking up and approached the bed.
“My lady, really! How could you fall asleep like that there yesterday? Do you remember collapsing while standing?”
“Rose… Ah, what happened to Rose?”
“Don’t worry. Miss Rose has regained her strength now. It’s all thanks to you, my lady!”
Ahem, Apple put her hands on her hips as if she had done the treatment herself. Well, Apple did suffer together all day yesterday, so I suppose she can be a little proud.
As I got up, I reflexively looked at the empty side of the bed and was surprised by my own habit. Today, Darius wasn’t here with me.
“Yesterday, you left His Grace the Grand Duke and went straight to Miss Rose, didn’t you?”
Apple chuckled.
“He woke up earlier today, afraid you might leave him behind and go somewhere again if he slept late.”
Apple lowered her voice and said, “Ahem.”
“‘It would be good for her to know how it feels to be left alone. It’s quite lonely, you know.'”
“Don’t lie. There’s no way His Grace the Grand Duke would say such a thing.”
“No, it’s true!”
Apple widened her eyes, protesting her innocence.
“Yesterday, His Grace the Grand Duke carried you to your room in his arms.”
“What? The Grand Duke carried me?”
“Well, who else would dare to touch your body if not His Grace? Ah, all the maids in the castle who witnessed that scene yesterday were talking about it, you know?”
Surely he didn’t carry me like a sack of goods over his shoulder. Surely it wasn’t the classic princess carry from romance novels.
‘Aaagh, why am I blushing over something like this?’
I thought the thickness of my face’s steel plate was quite substantial, but I was wrong. My face turned into a burning tomato over the cheesy act I had unknowingly committed.
“I can’t live with this…”
“Oh my, you’re newlyweds, what’s wrong with that!”
It’s because my husband isn’t my legal husband.
He’s a rented item with a time limit.
“Lady Temery has requested an audience to thank you for saving Miss Rose’s life. She said she’d drag Lord Lucian and her husband, Lord Temery, by their collars. She mentioned something about slamming those two idiots who can’t see an inch ahead of them to the ground to make them apologize, but it’s not urgent, so you don’t need to meet them right away. She said she’d come when you’ve recovered, my lady.”
Collars? Slam?
I think I heard some strange words in between, but that kind-looking lady couldn’t possibly do that. It must be just an exaggerated way of speaking.
“For now, I want to see Rose first.”
* * *
Long blonde hair and blue eyes. White skin with rosy cheeks. Rose Temery, who had regained her health, was a beautiful young lady.
“Hello, Rose. I’m glad to greet you again like this.”
“Are you truly happy to greet me?”
Rose Temery was still cold and willful.
“Seeing you speak like that, it seems you’re very healthy. I’m glad to see you don’t seem to have any discomfort.”
As Anette covered her mouth, genuinely moved, Rose burst out angrily.
“Don’t tell me you came all the way here expecting to receive words of gratitude from me, Grand Duchess?”
Rose Temery didn’t know why things had turned out this way. Her last memory was of getting lost in the ash forest while searching for treasure.
However, no matter how much she wandered through the forest, no familiar place appeared, and eventually, it grew dark. With nowhere to go and nowhere to return to, she finally collapsed from exhaustion.
There was a voice desperately shouting that she shouldn’t let go of the thread of life.
In her hazy memory, she was gasping with fever, and someone was comforting her.
Even in that anxious and painful moment, hearing that voice somehow made her feel at ease. It felt like she really wouldn’t be in pain anymore. And just as those words said, Rose recovered.
What awaited Rose, who had returned after teetering on the brink of death for two days, was a storm of scolding.
Lady Temery, who had been keeping watch by Rose’s bedside, scolded her incessantly. When Lady Temery finished, her father, Lord Temery, took over, and when Lord Temery left, Lord Lucian continued the admonishment without pause.
Anette appeared constantly in the scolding. It was said that Anette had found her unconscious in the forest and even saved Rose’s life with proper treatment.
Anette, Anette!
Who on earth is that woman!
Following Brother Lucian, now even her father and mother had completely fallen for that woman.
She had set out to establish her own merits, but the only reputation that had risen was that woman’s.
“You saved my life? Do you think I’ll believe that?”
Rose, emerging from her recollection, asked sharply like a cat with its claws out.
“Miss Rose, the lady went through so much trouble yesterday nursing you…”
“No, just leave it.”
Anette stopped Apple, who was getting worked up. Despite Rose’s rude words, she was still smiling.
‘Thank goodness. Her temper hasn’t died.’
Rose, who should have died, is breathing, speaking, and walking.
That alone was like a miracle to Anette.
Anette was so happy to have broken the death flag set by the original work that she couldn’t get angry no matter what Rose said.
‘If she had to completely change her personality to survive, I would have been in trouble instead.’
If the arrogant Rose had changed to a humble and shy personality instead of changing the death predicted in the original work, Anette wouldn’t have been able to bear the cringe.
“Why do you keep smiling!”
“Because I’m happy you survived.”
Anette was happy. Seeing Rose shouting at her with a face full of vitality gave her hope that she too could survive.
“You were getting cold in my arms. You were shaking as if you were about to die. And when we got here, you were running an extremely high fever and talking nonsense.”
On that night when she felt powerless, Anette made a vow. That she would save Rose. To Rose, to Anette herself, continuously.
And Anette kept that promise. This smile was a reward Anette was giving to herself.
“I don’t remember any of that.”
“It’s okay if you don’t remember. I kept praying for just one thing. For you to be safe. That such a terrible thing as the death of the girl I held in my arms would not happen.”
Anette tucked Rose’s fallen hair behind her ear.
“Rose, live long from now on. Healthily, get married too. Have children.”
Do many, many things you want to do. Write your story anew. A story that wasn’t in the original work.
“What are you saying to an unmarried maiden!”
“I’m saying good things to you. In other words, it’s called a blessing.”
Rose’s face turned bright red. Unlike Rose, who was still an unmarried maiden, Anette, already a married woman, brazenly offered her well-wishes.
“I’ve stayed too long. I’ll be going now.”
“I, I…”
As Anette smiled and was about to leave the room, Rose hesitantly opened and closed her mouth.
Everyone said that Rose owed Anette. They said she should thank her, that she should apologize with her head touching the ground.
But Rose didn’t want to apologize to that woman. She absolutely didn’t want to say thank you.
There’s no way that woman saved me. If it were me, I would never have helped. Even if I did help, I would have made a big show of it. So that woman might try to use this to push me away from Brother Darius’s side. Is she hoping I’ll do as she wants?
She thought she would be scolded.
She thought she would be treated like a pathetic, childish kid.
It wasn’t like that. Anette was genuinely caring for Rose.
She said she was happy that Rose was healthy again, that she could continue to see her. She told her to live well.
“Th-thank you!”
Rose barely managed to grab the edge of Anette’s clothes and bowed her head deeply.
“So, for saving me! And for not getting angry at me and treating me kindly! I’m saying thank you.”
Anette stared at Rose. The tips of Rose’s fingers holding onto the clothes were fidgeting, not knowing what to do.
Anette took those embarrassed hands in hers. Rose’s ears turned bright red.
“Rose, as you know, I didn’t grow up well in our house. I grew up being cautious under my stepmother. So when I see young girls, I hope they become happier than I was. Because I couldn’t enjoy my childhood.”
“…You think of that when you look at me?”
That gentle, comforting touch of Anette reminded Rose of a certain touch in her memory.
Ah, I remember now.
“Of course. I hope your days ahead are even more brilliant.”
That bright smile.
It was the smile of the angel who had nursed her when she was down with a fever.
Rose Temery learned that day that it was possible to fall in love with a woman too.
It took only a moment for Rose’s pure love, which had been devoted solely to Darius for 10 years, to change direction.
__________
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
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