Felix, who was staring at me intently, turned his head slightly and looked down at Duke Seberes in the glass coffin.
“The first time seeing someone with the same color of the soul as the half-uncle.”
“… What?”
“What you have is the same color of the soul as a half-uncle.”
“…!”
Once again, I had to exert great effort not to show a surprised expression.
Having the same color of the soul…
‘Is it because I am the biological daughter of Duke Seberes?’
It was a highly plausible assumption.
Considering the nature of the four major families, where the ancestor’s ability is passed down through blood among the women, having the same color of the soul among female relatives was not an unusual occurrence.
However, that alone did not mean I could awaken Duke Seberes.
Yet, why did Felix Hiklmaier look at me with eyes full of certainty?
His excessive expectations could only burden me.
“Then it must be my misjudgment. I sincerely apologize.”
Felix’s request was hard to coldly reject when he went so far to say that. Bringing an outsider whom I had never talked to, all the way here just because our soul colors were similar probably meant that this man also desperately hoped to awaken the half-uncle.
I sighed lightly and looked down at Greed in my arms.
“Are you good? Play a little, Black.”
“Kkiyu?”
‘If you act up, you die.’
“Kki, kkiyu…”
Although I smiled affectionately on the outside, I sternly warned Greed in my mind, gently placing him on the floor.
Turning my gaze back to Felix, I suddenly felt uneasy.
‘Wait a minute.’
Seeing the color of my soul implies that he knows who I am, considering that ‘Magician Elvi’ I met in the Mahtab mentioned meeting again. Was that talk about today’s encounter?
I scrutinized Felix’s face, but he just smiled amiably.
Let’s talk about that later.
Approaching the glass coffin where Duke Seberes slept, I asked, “How do we wake the duke?”
“I don’t know either.”
“…”
This was too irresponsible.
Felix, as if claiming ignorance about the method, just shrugged his shoulders.
Sitting down next to the coffin, I observed Duke Seberes in the glass.
Neat forehead, well-defined facial features, a slightly pale complexion…
If he were awake, what kind of father would you have been?
Did you know of my existence?
If so, in the unrevealed past within the family, would I have not felt lonely?
Amidst fleeting thoughts, I made up my mind.
‘Let’s start with contact.’
Deciding to hold hands first, I reached out without hesitation.
The moment my fingertips touched Duke Seberes’s back of the hand…
“……!”
“Lady…?!”
Paah!
With a blinding light that covered my sight, consciousness faded away.
Light and darkness blinked and flashed.
Before I could adapt to the gradually brightening sight, a voice was heard.
“Arcelia.”
It was the voice of a strange man. However, for some reason, it felt like I had heard it before.
Though unfamiliar, the gentle voice of the man comforted me.
“Why are you calling, Rihard?”
The woman’s voice responding also seemed somewhat familiar.
Arcelia, and Rihard.
The names of the two people were the names of my adoptive parents.
As I realized this fact, a scenery unfolded before my eyes. The place I was in was someone’s bedroom.
My body, suddenly glancing down, was transparent like a ghost.
‘Oh, am I a ghost?’
Such an appearance seemed invisible to others.
In the midst of the sudden situation, the conversation between Duke Seberes and my adoptive mother, Arcelia, continued.
“The wind is chilly. Come inside.”
“It’s refreshing.”
Smiling faintly and swaying, the figure of the woman seemed oddly familiar.
Thick golden hair, rosy-pink eyes, and crescent-shaped smiling eyes.
“I thought it was Nine.”
More accurately, it felt like seeing my future self.
There was no way I wouldn’t recognize her. That person was my adoptive mother.
“Then, is this Duke Seberes’s memory?”
I observed the man approaching my mother.
It felt different from when I saw him with closed eyes.
Affection that couldn’t be hidden was engraved in the red eyes, gazing at my mother like a painting.
Duke Seberes lifted a blanket and draped it over my mother’s shoulders.
“Arcel, by any chance…”
Duke Seberes, who hesitated for a moment, finally asked, “Are you thinking of Sylvester?”
‘Sylvester?’
If it’s Sylvester, that’s the name of Duke Ferdia. I was suddenly startled by the unexpected mention of Duke Ferdia’s name. The following conversation was enough to shock me.
“To me, there’s only you, Rihard.”
“That person, didn’t he desperately cling to you?”
Oh my.
Duke Ferdia desperately clung to my mother.
‘My father, mother, and the fake dad(?) were in a love triangle?’
However, Duke Ferdia detested mentioning my mother’s story so thoroughly.
Momentarily stunned by the unexpectedly learned passionate love triangle, I quickly regained my composure.
‘Not now. I need to wake up Duke Seberes.’
But how can I wake him up when I’m not visible?
Before I could get caught up in such concerns, the voice continued.
“Arcel. Arcelia. I will make sure you don’t regret choosing me.”
From Duke Seberes’s words, the scene changed.
The space that was once a bedroom had changed to a completely different place.
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, I realized it was a place I knew. It was the greenhouse of Duke Seberes’s mansion where the glass coffin was.
But in the changed scene, my adoptive mother Arcelia was crying endlessly.
“How could you, how could you do that!”
“Don’t cry… Arcel.”
With a face that looked pitiful, the Duke’s fingertips twitched.
Although I wanted to wipe away her tears, my body seemed unable to move.
“Why, why are you doing things I didn’t ask you to do? This is your duty, Rihard.”
“What’s yours is mine……. So, your duty was mine too.”
A dry laugh lingered on Duke Seberes’s lips for a moment and disappeared.
“…In the end, I couldn’t protect anything.”
Why Duke Seberes collapsed and why my mother was wailing could not be understood, but it was certain.
The fact that the Duke sacrificed something to protect my mother.
“I wanted to protect you…… You and our precious child, Elodie…….”
‘Me…?’
Did the Duke know about my existence?
My amazement didn’t last long. Like the Duke’s fading vision, the scenery and voices gradually started to drift away.
With a flick, when the Duke’s hand weakly dropped to the ground, my consciousness also faded away.
In the midst of that, a soothing voice continued like a lullaby.
“Just wait a little, Rihard. Our child will save you. So don’t worry about anything……. ”
“……. ”
“Sleep well, Rihard.”
Soon after, there was no more audible voice.
In the floating consciousness, I realized one thing.
My adoptive parents didn’t…
Abandon me.
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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