“Who are you?! Where is this place…?!”
As the man wearing a robe slowly revealed his face, silence fell over the buzzing square.
Around the time when even the wind brushing against his nose felt piercingly cold.
‘What is it?’
Lea, sensing the changed atmosphere, slowly opened her eyes.
Before closing her eyes, everyone had been staring at her. But now, the focus of the audience was on the man standing in front of her.
‘Who is he…?’
Was it due to the blinding sunlight? The deep shadows made it hard to see the man’s face.
The man began to approach, turning his back to the sun. Only the sound of his heavy footsteps on the dirt floor echoed in the execution ground.
A heavy silence that oppressed everyone. The audience held their breath, focusing intently on every movement of the enigmatic man.
‘Who is that man…’
The shadow obscuring the man’s face vanished, revealing gleaming blond hair.
Hair as if made from shining gold. And beneath the blazing sun, the man’s faintly visible red eyes.
“…Count?”
Lea’s hands and feet trembled as if she had seen a ghost.
Had she met a man who should be in the afterlife after her own death?
After all, he should have already been buried in a mound of cold soil.
“Ho, how could this be…!”
Someone screamed in place of Lea. Looking up, she saw Rodrigo, who had been sitting next to the judge, standing up from his seat.
His mouth was agape as if he couldn’t believe the sight.
And several people who recognized the Count let out sighs. Only then did Lea truly realize. The Count, thought to be dead, had returned.
‘He wasn’t dead…?’
Even as Lea blinked several times, the scene before her did not change.
Whether Lea’s expression seemed funny or not, a faint smile appeared on the Count’s lips. Again, the arena started to stir.
“Wasn’t the Count said to be deceased?”
“Exactly, that’s why they were going to execute that pharmacist, right?”
“Didn’t they say Count Heidern was weak? For a man who was presumed dead…”
Everyone had a word to say about the Count, but Lea couldn’t hear any of it.
Her heart swelled simply because this man had not died.
‘…Count.’
Tears soon brimmed in Lea’s eyes and then flowed down her cheeks.
‘You’re alive… You didn’t pass away…’
Because Akia was alive, it meant he hadn’t died from the new drug.
With just that, she could escape the terrible guilt that had been choking her. Lea’s tense face relaxed in the deep relief that came belatedly.
‘I’m glad… Truly.’
Lea showed a faint smile to the Count before her. But perhaps due to the longlasting tension being released,
As she was looking at the Count saying something, Lea felt all the strength leave her body and she collapsed.
(Time Separator)
‘So warm.’
After a long time, she felt the soft and tender bedding enveloping her body.
‘Who is it?’
A tender hand caressing her earlobe made an unfamiliar moan escape from Lea’s mouth.
As if irritated by the touch, Lea buried her face deep into the pillow.
‘Is it a dream?’
Someone was tenderly caressing my face with a hand filled with affection, it felt like such a sweet dream.
A breath that tickled the tip of her nose. And a tingling touch that swept her hair back.
‘Why does it feel so real?’
In a dream too vivid to be a dream, Lea slowly began to awaken. As she felt something strange, she softly opened her eyes to see.
‘Count…?’
Carved features and brilliant golden hair that resembled the sun, along with eyes as red as blood.
She blinked as if she had seen a ghost.
Am I still dreaming? Lea cautiously pinched her own flesh with her fingers.
“Ouch! It hurts…”
It was clearly not a dream given that it hurt when she pinched herself.
“Are you really alive? What is this…”
Yet Lea still seemed unable to believe this reality as she touched the man’s face.
The unfamiliar sensation of skin she felt at her fingertips told her it was not an illusion.
It was then, as Lea was feeling around the man’s face, that he grabbed her wrist and muttered,
“You’ll wear out my face.”
‘Ah.’
His deep bass voice resonated in Lea’s ears. All too familiar… It was a voice she had missed terribly.
“Are you really Count Heidern…?”
Shocked, Lea sat up abruptly as if to spring off the bed and looked the man over. Indeed. There could be no other man with such a face.
“My God.”
She had certainly watched herself die. Stunned, she remained speechless until he spoke again.
“Why aren’t you happy? That I’ve returned alive.”
Was this even a matter of happiness or not? Lea seemed still to be grasping the situation, her body rigid.
Observing her, the man took her hand.
“Disappointing.”
He then lifted her hand to caress his own cheek.
“When I was dead, you cried and wailed.”
He spoke after a moment, his voice grumbling.
“So was it all a lie?”
By now, she felt his breath on the palm of her hand, his lips almost touching.
“It’s not that. Count, you were clearly, at that time…”
“Breathing, yes.”
He chuckled, apparently amused by Lea’s reaction.
“But considering you were chattering with other men when I was gone.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
