Haa….
Edan, breathing irregularly and looking down at me from above, had a strange glint in his eyes.
“M-Master… eep!”
There was no time to panic. No chance to even beg him to move aside.
His unfocused, trembling gaze locked onto me as he bent his upper body down and swallowed my lips whole.
“W-wait… just… ngh!”
Edan shoved his body against me like a madman. His arms, gripping my neck and waist, pressed his thick, solid chest tightly against mine without a single gap.
Under his merciless weight, I felt like a small herbivore being devoured by a massive wild beast.
Through his soft yet rough, wounded lips, the metallic taste of blood and his hot breath overlapped rapidly, flooding into me.
Then, at some point, I was overcome by the sensation—as if, regardless of my will, Edan was absorbing me entirely.
It was a chilling, bizarre feeling I’d never experienced before.
As if all the blood in my body was being sucked out, yet simultaneously, an inexplicable, pleasant sensation swept through every single cell.
It felt like I might die if this continued, yet the sensations coursing through my body were overwhelmingly pleasurable—an incomprehensible contradiction.
‘I’m going insane…’
I realized instinctively.
Healing through physical contact didn’t grant pleasure only to the Gifted.
The Holy Maiden candidates must have felt something similar… right up until the moment they died, unknowingly.
I tried to stop the healing power manifesting from me, but it refused to obey my will.
I pounded Edan’s shoulders and arms wildly, trying to push him off me.
Naturally, it had no effect on him. As time passed, my breath grew shallower, and my mind turned hazy.
Edan’s lips gradually descended toward my neck. In that fleeting moment, I gasped for air I’d been holding back and flailed my hands desperately across the floor.
That book—I was certain it had fallen nearby just moments ago. Please, where is it? Grab it!
“Please…”
While I searched for the book, Edan’s face slid past my neck, descending toward my collarbone.
The more his pain subsided, the heavier my breathing became, and the more strength drained from me.
‘I’m really about to pass out now!’
At the very instant my vision began to blur, my groping hand finally seized the book.
Without hesitation, I slammed the book’s corner straight into Edan’s head.
Thwack! Thud!
He flinched after the first hit and stopped moving—but just in case, I struck him twice.
Edan’s body went limp, collapsing heavily atop me.
Simultaneously, I halted the healing power I’d been emitting, and Edan’s forceful absorption of my energy subsided.
The light that had filled the library vanished, and the surrounding air quickly returned to normal.
“Haa… haa…”
And—as if by perfectly timed coincidence, or perhaps eerie fate—
Ruben emerged from the portal at that exact moment, clutching a vial of potion.
“What in the…”
Ruben froze upon seeing us.
Trapped beneath the unconscious Edan, I barely managed to crane my neck over his shoulder and breathe laboriously, then pleaded to Ruben in a voice as tiny as an ant’s droppings:
“He’s… too heavy… Sir Ruben, please save me.”
Though clearly bewildered, Ruben rolled Edan’s body aside to free me.
Once rescued, I panted heavily, my entire body flushed red. Ruben first checked Edan’s condition, then alternated his gaze between Edan and me.
“What on earth… how… no, what exactly happened here?”
He seemed to want to say something about the situation, but couldn’t find the right words.
Probably because Edan lay there with his eyes peacefully closed, looking as serene as a child.
I finally calmed my breathing and hurled the book I’d been clutching until then far across the floor.
“I think the potion’s effect is kicking in now.”
“Judging by appearances… it does seem so.”
But suspicion lingered in Ruben’s eyes as he agreed with me.
His gaze drifted toward the crumpled corner of the book.
“Why is the book damaged like that?”
“I probably threw it too hard just now?”
Even I knew it was a shamelessly flimsy excuse.
I couldn’t possibly admit I’d used all my strength to smash Edan’s skull with the book’s corner.
This man was a knight so fiercely loyal he’d once offered his own face to take lashes meant for Edan.
“But why were you underneath His Grace?”
Ruben methodically began untangling this suspicious situation.
Once again, I had to spin my brain dizzyingly to fabricate a lie.
“When you left, Master spat blood. I went to support him, tried to lay him down gently, and… well, this happened.”
“….”
“I-I’m serious. He seemed to be losing strength and about to collapse, so I tried to catch him—and ended up pinned.”
“But that’s strange. The potion’s effect has never kicked in this quickly before.”
What? I don’t know anything about that. Isn’t the whole point of giving it because it works?
This time, I genuinely turned the question back to Ruben.
“Does it usually take longer?”
Ruben tilted his head, racking his memory.
“There were times he drank up to five vials at once when it was severe—but I’ve never seen it subside this fast.”
“…How long does it usually take?”
“At the fastest, half a day; at the slowest, about two days.”
“….”
I had nothing to say. Damn it. At this point, isn’t it possible the Emperor really sent a counterfeit Holy Maiden potion?
The Imperial Court couldn’t possibly be unaware of Edan suffering from the Gifted’s side effects.
If they truly cared, they wouldn’t have pretended to show kindness by bestowing the potion in the first place.
But if they genuinely cared for Edan, they wouldn’t have given him the position of Northern Duke while he’s hated by Killian—the Northern Mountains, the unbreakable wall, is precisely where monsters appear most frequently.
They don’t shield him from Killian’s hatred, yet they can’t afford not to use him—so did they just toss him a mediocre potion to buy superficial goodwill? If you’re going to help, help properly! No wonder the poor guy’s driven mad by this kind of treatment!
“Anyway… it’s fortunate the potion worked. Right?”
“Indeed.”
Ruben slowly nodded at my words, then approached Edan once more to recheck his condition.
“U-um… how is he? Is he okay?”
Honestly, I was worried too. Did I hit him too hard?
In my entire life, I’d never struck someone else’s head with that much force before.
Under normal circumstances, Edan wouldn’t even blink at something like that—but today, he clearly wasn’t in good shape.
“He seems to be asleep.”
Thank goodness. As I sighed in relief, Ruben asked me:
“And you? Are you alright?”
“Me?”
“Yes. His Grace’s muscles must have been quite heavy.”
“Oh. That? I’m fi—”
Nope. Not fine at all.
“Breakfast portion!”
Mid-sentence, my head spun violently, and I collapsed right there.
Whether it was because Edan had drained my healing power, or because struggling while pinned had exhausted me—I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.
I was just overwhelmingly tired.
It felt like the last time I went to the North, when extreme tension made me pass out.
‘But Ruben, why “breakfast” again? You clearly called me by my proper name just a moment ago…’
The last thing I saw through my hazy vision was Ruben’s face—then my eyelids snapped shut.
[This is the timeline separator]I truly hate this.
In my dream, Edan appeared wearing a wolf mask, intent on devouring me.
‘No! Save me!’
I was endlessly chased across a vast, open plain with nowhere to hide—until my savior, Jenald, appeared before me.
‘Jenald! Help me! The wolf wants to eat me!’
But inexplicably, the usually gentle Jenald only stared at me coldly.
‘Why did you do it?’
‘What do you mean? Jenald, this isn’t the time! The wolf is right now—!’
‘Latieana. Why did you do it?’
‘Wh-what? Do what?’
‘How could you kiss another man?’
Jenald’s face, shocked and deeply disappointed.
‘Huh? But… that…’
It wasn’t my will! And that wasn’t even a kiss—it was something that just happened, unavoidably!
‘I’m sorry, Jenald. No! Don’t leave!’
I truly couldn’t help it!
I chased after Jenald as he turned away, tripped over a rock, and fell.
Then the ground turned black, opened into a massive hole, and I was sucked inside, falling endlessly into nothingness—until I jolted awake.
“AAAAH!”
I shot upright.
As usual, warm sunlight streamed gently through the curtains.
This is so unfair. Why do I have to feel guilty? Why must I suffer nightmares even after helping someone?
Guilt over Jenald washed over me.
Honestly, yesterday’s kiss with Edan… felt good. In that situation, at least. Ridiculously so.
But I know the truth—it wasn’t my will. It was an instinctive sensation triggered while transferring healing power.
No matter how much my mind insisted that physical contact with Edan was unpleasant, annoying, or repulsive, my body clearly registered it as pleasurable.
Of course… I wanted to help Edan, so I didn’t truly find it that repulsive or unpleasant.
But it wasn’t as if I lusted after Edan’s body enough to feel genuine remorse toward Jenald.
“Thirsty…”
Perhaps from overusing my healing power, my mouth burned and stung sharply.
As I grimaced, clutching my throat, a cup of water appeared smoothly before my eyes—as if by magic.
“Drink.”
“Ah, thank y—huh?”
I whipped my head toward the voice.
Edan stood beside the bed, holding out the cup.
“Master?”
I stared up at him with wide eyes. He extended the cup slightly further toward me.
“Go ahead.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
What’s this? Why is he acting so… kind? Could he possibly remember last night?
I rolled my eyes and gulped down the water. As the pleasantly cool liquid slid soothingly down my throat, Edan sat casually on the edge of the bed. He took my empty cup and neatly placed it on the bedside table.
“Awake now?”
“Huh?”
“You never wake up easily.”
“….”
Seriously, what’s going on? It’s not just my imagination—he’s being genuinely, uncomfortably kind.
Why are you acting so scary like this?
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
