The Princess Wants to Live (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 10
A far-too-brief remark slipped out between lips pressed by rough fingertips, and Olivia’s lashes fluttered faster than a butterfly’s wings tossed by a storm.
But even that lasted only a moment.
Olivia, who had casually wiped the corner of her own mouth, replied with utter indifference.
“It’ll be sweet. I made it to be eaten sweetly. Now that I’ve had something sweet, go ahead and tell me.”
Pausing briefly, Olivia picked up another pastry, chewed it thoughtfully, then asked,
“What were you thinking about? If what I heard before I died wasn’t a lie.”
“That I’m growing stronger.”
Cryer seized the tail end of her words.
Olivia, staring blankly at him with her mouth agape, stammered out another question.
“Growing… stronger? You?”
Cryer let out a soft chuckle—even without hearing the unspoken “How far more?” that hung in the air, he understood.
“I can’t say exactly what you’ve endured through four deaths…”
Before his sentence could finish, Olivia suddenly cried out,
“The castle! You shattered it! With a single swing of your sword, you destroyed the Imperial Palace’s walls!”
Faced with her utterly genuine, astonished exclamation, Cryer shook his head.
“Right now, destroying entire castle walls in one strike is impossible. Maybe interior walls between rooms—but that’s it.”
“What? You can only manage that much?”
Of course, whether it was castle walls or interior partitions, the mere fact that a single sword stroke could shatter them was anything but ordinary—in fact, so extraordinary that only a handful of the Empire’s most renowned knights could accomplish it. Yet neither seemed to care about that at all.
Seeing Cryer nod readily, Olivia finally spoke again after a long silence.
“How do you grow stronger?”
After all, she’d never seen him train like other knights or even draw his sword to swing it.
“Well… if I had to put it precisely,”
Cryer bared his teeth in a fierce grin.
“It feels like things I originally possessed are being unsealed, one by one.”
Olivia was once again rendered speechless.
Things he originally possessed? Strength powerful enough to single-handedly start a war, then end it just as alone by obliterating the Imperial Palace’s entire knight corps?
“Just… what exactly were you in your past?”
“If I knew that, maybe I’d find a clue to break this damn slave contract.”
Just as Olivia was about to speak—
– Knock knock.
A calm voice—Sebastian’s, the Emperor’s closest confidant—followed the second midnight knock.
“Your Highness, the Emperor requests your presence.”
Hours after the corpse of a knight, who’d been enjoying mischief with fire deep inside the Princess’s quarters, was dragged out,
at noon, under a sky sunlit so brightly it seemed to belie the night’s earlier overcast gloom,
several young noble ladies sat clustered around a table where dainty pastries rested on an intricately crafted plate.
“The new one that just appeared…”
“Recommended by the knight from the North…”
The noble ladies’ chatter shifted topics incessantly, sometimes laughing together over completely different stories.
As such trivial remarks tumbled out haphazardly and mingled with others, some time passed.
Then, a count’s daughter lowered her voice and whispered,
“That knight.”
Though she hadn’t specified which among countless knights, no one present asked who she meant.
After all, in the current Empire, when someone said “that” knight, only one man came to mind:
the nameless knight from the Kingdom of Norden, who’d captivated the Princess at first sight and entered the palace.
The noble lady who spoke paused for a long while, yet the others didn’t press her. They merely held their breath and pricked up their ears.
“He was near Her Highness’s bedroom at midnight.”
“Oh my!”
“Oh dear me—just as I thought!”
Scarcely had the hushed words left the noble lady’s lips when exclamations burst out around her.
Of course, it was true Cryer had been near Olivia’s chamber that night—though nothing resembling what people gossiped about had actually occurred.
But since the night’s truth remained largely unknown, imagination painted the scene in ever rosier hues.
“Ahh, he’s just so dashing!”
Sitting near the table’s center, a pink-haired count’s daughter continued with a dreamy, sparkling gaze.
“Love at first sight—between Her Highness and a nameless knight! A romance across ranks and borders!”
Truly, it sounded like a dramatic love story straight out of a play.
In truth, Olivia and Cryer’s relationship was far from love; if placed on a scale, the balance would tilt heavily toward Cryer.
Yet to those unaware of their circumstances, the pair appeared to be lovers defying immense social barriers.
“It really is too vast a gap in status—he’s not even a prince of Norden, just an ordinary knight…”
Before the noble lady could finish, the pink-haired girl—Ambre—clasped her hands together and cried out, still wearing that dreamy, distant expression.
“That’s precisely why it’s true love!”
The others, who’d been about to speak, closed their mouths one by one, and for a long while afterward, only Ambre’s chattering filled the table.
“…you see! Haaaah.”
When she finally fell silent after releasing a sigh that was neither pure exclamation nor pure lament, another noble lady, unconsciously grimacing, raised her teacup to hide her face.
As if by unspoken agreement, the others followed suit, lifting their own teacups to their faces without a word.
From beginning to end, Ambre’s ceaseless chatter revolved solely around Olivia and Cryer’s fated meeting and mysterious romance.
And perhaps it was remarkable that, despite all her words, not even a speck of mention was made about how the Princess’s scandal might affect politics or diplomacy.
“And also…”
Just as Ambre opened her mouth again after sipping tea and catching her breath like the others—
“Good heavens!”
“How long has it been!”
“My goodness—it really has been ages!”
The noble ladies welcomed her wholeheartedly now that she’d finally reappeared at such a gathering, yet none asked why she’d been absent so long.
Most present already knew her family had fallen into ruin—so severely that recovery seemed impossible.
The hostess quickly prepared an extra seat, and soon she was seated near the table’s center.
“I’m so glad you came.”
The noble lady sitting beside her—who’d been quite close to her—squeezed her hand reassuringly beneath the table.
But warmed by that touch, she could only offer a bitter smile.
“Congratulations!”
A cheerful voice cut through her thoughts. Ambre beamed as she added,
“I heard everything’s been settled, right?”
Faced with Ambre’s sunny, certain question, she reluctantly spoke.
“Yes… it’s… been settled.”
Her voice lacked strength, and her smile even more so—but it was an answer confirming resolution, nonetheless.
Yet since she didn’t appear genuinely happy, those about to congratulate her exchanged uneasy glances and hesitated.
But exceptions always exist. Ambre beamed widely and clasped her hand, shaking it vigorously.
“That’s wonderful! What a relief!”
“Yes…”
Forcing an awkward smile, she gently—yet as naturally as possible—pulled her hand from Ambre’s. Inside, her feelings were too tangled for words.
Part of her wanted to wipe away the spot Ambre’s impossibly soft hand had touched; another part longed to grasp it tightly once more.
Yes—this was how it had always been.
Her relationship with Ambre Taren had been a continuous chain of coincidences and confusion from start to present.
“I’ll help you.”
Having overheard her plight by chance, Ambre truly gave everything without reservation to aid her, pulling her family out of the mire.
Since money had caused the trouble, money resolved it.
Had the Taren family not been among the continent’s—if not the Empire’s—wealthiest, her family would have gone bankrupt long ago.
But human greed knows no bounds.
Her parents, who’d indulged in reckless extravagance and pleasure until their house stood on the brink of ruin, now pressured her to squeeze even more money from the Tarens by any means.
She’d fled her family to attend this gathering—never expecting to meet Ambre here…
“Now that I’ve checked you’re alright, I’ll leave first.”
She waved back at Ambre, who departed with a genuinely cheerful smile and a fluttering wave.
Once Ambre’s pink hair disappeared entirely from view—
“Whew…”
A sigh escaped someone, triggering a wave of weary sighs from all around.
Then, in a voice tinged with weariness, someone remarked,
“What a noble lady truly sincere in love.”
At that, lips opened and closed again.
Calling the heir of the mighty Taren family “sincere only in love” bordered on gossip.
Yet perhaps that unspoken thought had been everyone’s genuine feeling.
After a while, someone offered a carefully softened remark with an ambiguous smile.
“Yes… she truly is a pure-hearted young lady.”
Someone gently asked the girl, who stared blankly at Ambre’s empty seat,
“Are you really alright?”
Even seeing the sincere concern on the face of the noble lady who’d been close to her, she couldn’t bring herself to say she was fine.
Her silence brought the room back into stillness.
Ordinarily, silence might imply assent—but looking at her shadowed expression, no one could nod and say she was alright.
“I… don’t know. The immediate crisis is resolved, but…”
She paused as if choking, catching her breath before continuing.
“Another problem will probably arise soon… because we’ve discovered such an easy path.”
Perhaps, deep down, she already sensed it.
That even if this problem was solved this time, the same issue would inevitably recur like a loop—and soon.
And next time, it wouldn’t be resolved so easily.
No one’s kindness lasts forever.
Especially not pure kindness that expects nothing in return.
Even if, as her parents urged, she somehow persuaded Lady Taren to obtain more of the Taren fortune, then what? And after that?
With dry eyes, she stared at the empty space Ambre had left.
What would’ve become of her if Ambre hadn’t reached out to help that day?
She wouldn’t just be absent from this seat—she’d likely be writhing in unimaginable agony, scraping the bottom in utter despair.
Knowing this, she couldn’t bring herself to reject Ambre’s hand.
She gave a bitter smile and pushed back the pastry Ambre had offered her.
“Lady Taren’s goodwill is truly beautiful and appreciated, but…”
She didn’t want to learn through experience that even wholly benevolent acts could ultimately bring ruin.
Lowering her head, she traced her teacup.
“How long will Lady Taren’s goodwill last?”
Her whisper, too faint even for herself to hear, dissolved into the air without reaching anyone.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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