As Resban, who had finished a meeting at a hideout in the underworld, turned to return to the imperial palace, he looked back with a strange feeling.
A maid with silver hair tied up high was entering a weapons shop.
She had a round forehead, a high nose, slightly flushed cheeks, and a lively face.
Resban’s fingertips unconsciously twitched.
Even without getting close, the scent from that time vividly came to mind.
The shape of her white neckline and clear, bright blue eyes.
It was her.
“…”
With deadly poison and thorns.
Yet making it impossible to look away.
That woman, the owner of his old dream, born from a past connection.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
Panic, the subordinate standing behind, asked Resban who had stopped with a puzzled look.
“Do you have business here?”
“Go in first. I… have someone I need to meet.”
At Resban’s order, he stepped back.
Resban’s gaze was directed towards the weapons shop the maid had entered.
His lips twisted slightly.
**
“A lover?”
Resban inadvertently furrowed his brow.
The maid continued speaking, her blue eyes gleaming coldly.
“Yes. I commissioned something to give him as a gift.”
“…”
“Did you come to buy a sword as well, Sir Knight?”
Resban twitched his eyebrow at the maid’s face, which smiled awkwardly.
He hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but this response made him want to be mischievous.
Like the urge to narrow the space between those fine eyebrows a bit more.
Just like any young boy would.
“No, I merely stopped because I saw you.”
At Resban’s words, Esika’s eyes wavered slightly.
A long silence settled between them.
As a cool breeze blew, Resban’s black hair swayed.
Esika could not guess what thoughts were contained in his golden eyes.
After a moment, Resban spoke again, his brows still furrowed.
“If it’s not too presumptuous… I’d like to have some tea for a moment.”
“…Pardon?”
Esika asked back, her eyes filled with a somewhat bewildered light.
Esika’s face was reflected in the surface of Resban’s deep eyes.
The smile in his eyes stimulates unease.
“Gifting a sword to a lover. It sounds like quite an interesting story.”
**
“I’ve noticed that you’re not actually a maid.”
Esika had followed Resban into the teahouse, half against her own will.
“I’m curious why you told such a cute lie. Lady Klaus… Duchess.”
He asked, leaning his face slightly closer.
It was the price of a mistake made without proper thought due to being flustered.
In the martial arts world, it was common for masters to gift swords to disciples, family members to each other, and lovers in the same martial arts circles.
However, here, gifting a sword meant ‘hostility’ or ‘severance of relationship’.
So, gifting a sword to a lover… how nonsensical a story was that.
And… the Crown Prince knew Esika’s true identity.
She didn’t know how he had figured it out, but.
“…I have personal circumstances, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Having done countless infiltrations and concealments, acting wasn’t difficult at all, but…
There was no need to act in front of someone who already knew her identity.
And knowing his identity too, there was no point in trying to hide it.
At Esika’s words, Resban raised the corner of his lips.
“Even regarding the maid’s uniform you’re wearing?”
His golden eyes moved towards the frills near Esika’s collarbone.
It was a gaze that could be considered rude for being so blatant, but no one would think the noble Crown Prince had any other thoughts.
Esika, too, didn’t try to hide what had already been exposed.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It seems the Klaus family affairs are more complicated than they appear. For the Duchess to be wearing a maid’s uniform.”
He slowly picked up his teacup and drank from it.
Watching his Adam’s apple, Esika thought.
‘Today is just not my day.’
There are days when luck is not on your side.
“Then.”
Resban’s lips moved.
“Was entering the lake at night with your hair down also due to those circumstances?”
At those words, Esika’s eyebrow twitched.
As expected, Resban remembered that night’s events.
And it was already a situation where she couldn’t gloss over it with lies.
“…Your Highness seems to have a great interest in the Klaus ducal family.”
Most masters have good intuition.
Those without good intuition wouldn’t be able to reach such high levels of martial arts in the first place.
And Resban Deon Lucein before her could be considered the Empire’s greatest master.
At Esika’s calm words, Resban’s eyes shone with a languid energy.
“Everything in the Empire belongs to the Emperor. The Klaus ducal family is no exception. Your husband, Callian Klaus…”
Leisurely observing Esika’s eyebrow twitch at the name ‘Callian’, Resban continued in a low voice.
“Is a loyal duke of the Empire. So it’s only natural to take an interest.”
No, he’s just an obstacle to the throne. Resban will lead the capital relocation and completely exclude Klaus from major political circles in the future.
“Surely you’re not thinking of asking me for information about Klaus?”
At Esika’s calm question, Resban showed a faint smile.
After a moment, Resban opened his mouth.
“My sources aren’t so poor that I need to steal information through a woman. I just…”
Resban’s golden eyes reflected Esika sitting before him, not intimidated even in front of the Crown Prince.
Thinking of her awkward acting when they bumped into each other last time, it’s almost laughable.
She must have tried her best to pretend to be a maid then.
“I was simply curious about you.”
At Resban’s words, Esika’s eyes wavered for a moment.
But she shrugged without showing much agitation.
“It seems you’re not busy with state affairs these days. To have curiosity about a mere subject’s wife.”
A defensive attitude saying not to try to find out. It sounds a bit rude as well.
“I’m inherently twisted. When someone acts like there’s nothing to gain, I want to gain something more. Regardless of who they are.”
Esika guessed that while Resban might not have discovered her true identity, he had likely figured out quite a bit about her personality.
“Especially with eyes like these, I can’t help but be interested.”
So trying to deceive him further would be difficult, and engaging in conversation would be disadvantageous.
“If you wish, I can introduce you to a lady for conversation. It would be more entertaining than talking to a woman with complicated circumstances.”
Resban’s lips moved again.
“Well. The taste of conversation.”
His bored gaze that had been directed outside turned towards Esika.
Resban’s low voice flowed into her ears.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll decline. You’re enough for me.”
For a moment, a fierce light flickered in his golden eyes.
For an instant, Esika felt a chill run down her spine.
If Resban wasn’t just a passing acquaintance…?
It would be best to end this meeting as quickly as possible anyway.
“…I’m afraid I must be going now as it’s getting late.”
“I see. It can’t be helped.”
It was dizzying to converse with a master whose thoughts were utterly incomprehensible after so long.
Fortunately, Resban easily agreed to her words.
With a jingle- the bell on the door rang once as the two of them exited in turn.
But just as monkeys sometimes fall from trees, Esika also makes mistakes.
She misstepped on the stairs leaving the teahouse, but Resban extended his hand to grab her arm and support her.
“…”
Resban’s face backlit by the sunset, his faintly wavering golden eyes, that scene remained quite vividly in Esika’s mind.
**
In the end, it wasn’t until dusk that Esika was able to arrive at the ducal residence.
There were so many maids in the Klaus ducal family, and cases of dismissal and new hires due to the Grand Duchess’s whims were common, so she was able to reach her newly moved room without suspicion.
‘It was a tiring day.’
As she was about to close the door with a sigh of relief, Esika’s hand paused.
And she slowly turned around.
“…”
Callian was leaning against the wall next to the door.
As if he had been waiting.
Callian, who approached Esika with her eyebrows hardened, grabbed her wrist.
Esika narrowed the space between her eyebrows at the strong grip, but Callian’s purple eyes were seething.
“Where did you go out and come back at this late hour?”
A rough voice leaked from between his lips.
“…Let go.”
Esika frowned, but Callian paid no heed and raised his voice.
“Tell me first, where have you been! Who did you meet, disguising yourself as a maid!”
His shouting was enough to make one’s ears hurt.
“What do you mean, who did I meet?”
“I finally understand the reason for your recent change in attitude. Seeing you sneak out like this and sneak back in late at night.”
Anger was wavering in Callian’s pupils within his chilly eyes.
“Do you have someone you’re meeting?”
That anger probably stemmed from suspicion.
“…You’re suspecting an affair.”
Callian didn’t deny it.
Esika felt like laughing bitterly at Callian’s behavior.
Why was this person who didn’t care whether she lived or died suddenly acting like this?
“Have you ever, even once, when going out.”
“…”
“Or even once when coming back late, told me.”
Esika spoke to him with cold eyes.
“Where you went, who you met?”
At Esika’s words, Callian’s purple eyes wavered greatly.
Callian’s face showed that he truly hadn’t expected her to counter like this.
And seeing that expression, Esika felt even more disgusted.
Although this was before regaining her memories as a spirit,
When Callian didn’t return for three days, Esika had waited for him without even eating.
When she questioned Callian upon his return, he got angry instead, asking if he needed her permission even to attend a friend’s wedding, and she had apologized profusely to soothe his mood.
Yet he was getting angry over her being just a few hours late.
“Moreover, do you… have the right to suspect me of an affair?”
Yuri Anesis, Callian had gifted her an alet ring.
And he had warned Esika as if telling her not to mind it.
But from Callian’s mouth, which had paused briefly, a husky voice soon leaked out.
“…You and I are… different.”
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.
Link to read
