“Huh? They’re talking about me?”
I perked up my ears and, indeed, heard my name being mentioned.
“Ajestar’s third princess, Luibel, has become a Sword Master…”
“Saved people twice from danger, they say?”
“Left to become a hero of prophecy…”
“Truly brave and saintly!”
“Not only that, but they say her beauty is like that of the goddess of love…”
“Ugh…!”
I was so surprised that I pulled my hood down and buried my face over my beer glass.
Anselot chuckled mockingly at me.
“Are you okay, Lulu?”
Only kind Elay clutched at the hem of my clothes, asking worriedly.
“Yes, I’m, I’m fine, Elay.”
I coughed awkwardly, my face red.
‘When did my story spread this far?’
Although embarrassed, I pretended to be unfazed and took a sip of my beer.
“But did you hear that story?”
“What story?”
“Oh, you know, that Princess Luibel and Prince Anselot are… in a romantic relationship…”
“Pfft!”
I couldn’t help but spit out the beer I was drinking.
It splashed right onto Anselot’s face, who was sitting opposite me.
“Oh, I heard that too! The minstrels are already singing about their fateful love!”
“A new bond forming between Ajestar and Luenhart!”
Drip, drip.
I watched helplessly as droplets of beer trickled down Anselot’s jawline.
“So, sorry, Anselot.”
“…….”
I apologized immediately, but Anselot didn’t respond.
I looked crestfallen.
Anselot calmly took out a handkerchief and wiped his face.
I asked him cautiously.
“Aren’t you upset?”
“Of course I am. I just got hit in the face with the beer you were drinking.”
“No, not that. About what those people are gossiping about.”
Anselot then narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Why? Are you upset about it? Upset enough to spit what was in your mouth on my face?”
“Spit? No, that’s not…”
As I tried to deny it, his soaked handkerchief told a different story.
Feeling guilty, I kept my mouth shut.
Elay, watching us, tilted his head and then gently patted my shoulder with his tiny, maple-leaf-like hand.
“Are you sad, Lulu?”
“…….”
“Even if you’re sad, you can spit on my face. I won’t mind.”
“…….”
Although his words were hardly comforting.
While I was sulking, Anselot put down his beer mug and spoke to me.
“I wasn’t really upset.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, really. About what people are gossiping about us. Even about you spitting on my face.”
His teasing remark made me glare at him.
Anselot then softly smiled with twinkling eyes.
It seemed he enjoyed teasing me.
I just gulped down the rest of my beer in annoyance.
Feeling the effects of the alcohol, I slammed the empty mug on the table and pouted.
“Liar. You were upset.”
“Really, I wasn’t. Why would you think I’d be upset?”
“Well, because you’re…”
I was about to retort when I bit my tongue.
“You’re what?”
Urged by Anselot to continue, I hesitantly brought up the question that had been tickling the back of my throat.
“…When you were trapped in the fog. Who did you see?”
The black figure looked somewhat like me, but it certainly wasn’t me.
Elay’s fog digs into memories to form shapes, so that black figure was Anselot’s biggest vulnerability in his memory.
That’s why I was more curious.
Who was that person who resembled me but definitely wasn’t me?
“…….”
Anselot’s eyes slightly hardened, but he soon relaxed, dismissing it as if I had seen it wrong, and casually replied.
“Just someone I knew a long time ago.”
“They seemed precious to you.”
“Did they?”
Anselot tilted his head and asked back.
Was he really unable to remember the person he held and wept with in his arms?
“You tried to protect that person from me.”
“Me…?”
Anselot blinked his eyes in surprise.
“Ah, so that’s…”
He muttered to himself as if realizing something and then slightly furrowed his brow.
“It seems so.”
He had just connected the dots between what he saw in the fog and his subconscious attack.
I casually asked, feigning disinterest.
“Was it a woman?”
“Well, it seems so.”
Anselot responded vaguely.
I stared at Anselot’s face intently. It was a question I already knew the answer to, but…
Yes, it was a woman.
The person he didn’t want to lose again, the one he wanted to be with forever, was a woman.
Anselot had someone like that in his life.
“Do you miss her?”
“She’s gone now.”
Anselot answered calmly.
“Oh… sorry.”
I hadn’t expected that answer.
I became flustered, not knowing what to do, but he just chuckled.
“There’s no need for you to apologize.”
“…….”
A brief silence followed.
During this pause, Klaus returned, and Anselot stood up.
I watched him go outside, saying he needed some fresh air.
“What happened, Your Highness?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
I forced a bright smile and asked.
“But did you manage to sell all the bear by-products?”
“Of course.”
Klaus proudly rattled a heavy purse.
Anselot walked through the cold night air, his fists clenched tightly.
‘Damn that fog.’
He knew he had attacked Luibel because of the fog.
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.”
