“Just stay still for a moment.”
And she extended the hand holding a napkin to Cedric’s mouth.
“You’ve got some on your mouth.”
She began to wipe off the porridge that was slightly smeared on his straight lips.
“You’re not a child, please eat properly without getting it on yourself.”
Lamein grumbled, but then broke into a soft chuckle.
Her gently touching fingertips brushed softly over his straight lips, which then curved slightly.
“I’ve wiped it all off……”
Lamein’s eyes flicked up, and she paused, her fingertips lingering on his smooth lips.
Her husband, who had subtly tilted his upper body, was looking at her with an indescribable emotion in his eyes.
“……Why are you looking at me like that?”
Just then, with a soft voice.
He gently held her wrist, which she had not lowered.
“Just…….”
A voice barely audible, followed by.
“I just wish time could stop like this. That’s what I thought.”
A sincere voice flowed out, clear as crystal.
His blue eyes, filled entirely with himself, sparkled more brightly than ever.
“Without any worries. Just as you are before me.”
……What does it mean?
The man’s enigmatic words, uttered in one breath, did not immediately register. A faint smile spread across his lips.
Lamein, who had been staring blankly, swallowed slowly.
“Th… That won’t happen. Time stopping!”
The odd atmosphere had become awkward.
“And if time stops like this, I’ll have to take care of a sick husband for the rest of my life. I refuse.”
She spoke as if reprimanding him and quickly got up.
Cedric, who had lightly released her hand, held a deep smile at his lips.
“I was talking to myself. Did you hear all that?”
“……Yes?”
“If you heard it, it can’t be helped. I have a habit of speaking to myself a bit loudly and lengthily.”
……That man, really. He does that on purpose.
Cedric smiled lightly as he watched Lamein’s lips twitch.
“I’ll take the medicine myself, so you can go back to your room now.”
“……. ”
“You mustn’t have slept all night because of me. Go and rest comfortably.”
“I’ll go after I see you take the medicine.”
She returned to the bedside with the medicine and glass of water from the box that Duke Haribo had given her, watching until Cedric swallowed it before withdrawing her persistent gaze.
“Then I’ll go back to my room now.”
“Yes. Rest well.”
“If it hurts a lot, tell Roberto to call me.”
Cedric nodded his head in response.
Lamein left Cedric’s room, walking slowly to her own.
‘The fact that I wanted to protect the child within my embrace, and now I want to protect someone else, makes me happy enough with just that.’
‘Just for a moment, I wish time would stop. I wish for that without any worry. Just as you are before me.’
Lamein’s eyes darkened as she recalled the words of Mrs. Roger and Cedric.
Suddenly, she let out a heavy sigh, stopping in her tracks.
“I’m in trouble. I might get attached this way.”
Little by little.
She kept wanting to embrace the warmth that surged without warning.
Because she couldn’t be happy forever.
Because she couldn’t feel the warmth as it was.
Her mood kept feeling empty.
“Phew.”
She exhaled heavily, calming her face, and moved her steps back towards her room.
Upon entering her room, Lamein went straight to her study and opened a desk drawer.
A bracelet with several red jewels.
“There’s not much time left.”
She tightly clenched the key that Jane had given her not long ago in her hand.
.
.
.
The next day.
“Jane. I’ll be back soon.”
Lamein left Jane and set out.
As she reached the front of the mansion, Cain was waiting in front of the carriage.
“Kane. Go to the place I told you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kane’s carriage stopped on a mountain road surrounded by large trees, dense with greenery.
A secluded space with no passersby.
Lamein, who had gotten out of the carriage, approached Kane.
“Kane. I’d like it if you could keep it a secret that I came here, as I asked.”
“Of course. It’s your request, after all, ma’am.”
Kane said with loyal eyes.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Lamein, who spoke in a quiet voice, slowly looked around.
Only the sound of birds chirping somewhere and the rustling of leaves in the flowing wind could be heard.
Lamein, with her black cloak thrown over her, followed a small path through the trees.
She walked for a long time along the forest path where a chilly atmosphere lingered, then she stopped.
Deep in the mountains.
A place where no one seemed to live.
A wooden house made of large logs was visible.
Crunch. Crunch.
She headed towards the wooden house, stepping on the fallen leaves on the ground.
She stopped in front of the door and slowly scanned the surroundings before taking out a key.
The moment she deeply inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it.
Click.
The door opened at once.
Creak.
The wooden door opened, and the forest sunlight seeping through the cracks gradually brightened the dark interior.
Lamein, who had fully opened the door, slowly swallowed her breath.
And she slowly stepped into the house.
Standing in the center, Lamein slowly looked over the wide space with a blank gaze.
On the shelves all around, there were numerous herbs and medicines contained in small glass bottles.
The moment she saw Cedric bleeding from an arrow wound in a hunting contest.
Along with an uncontrollable rush of fear, all of Lamein’s memories returned.
Why did it have to be in such a dangerous situation?
Standing in front of her injured husband because of her.
Why did her memories pour out so frighteningly?
At first, she was bewildered. However.
“Lamein. I now understand what you wanted to tell me.”
She could see what she wanted from life in her recovered memories.
Lamein, who sighed briefly, slowly looked around the wooden house again.
Even though she had seen this space in her memories, seeing it in person was truly astonishing.
Her eyes, which were slowly looking around the interior, landed on a large desk stuck to one side of the wall.
Creak. Creak.
Approaching the desk, hearing the sound of the old wooden floor, she saw a book and notebook spread out as if they had just been used.
Within them were details about medicines and herbs, densely written in black ink.
Looking at her handwriting, a strange yet tender emotion welled up.
Despite lighting a lamp, a dark and scary space.
Her image of sitting here and writing down the words on the notebook passes by.
Lamein sent all the mountain medicines and medicines she made to the orphanage and Traum village through Duke Haribo.
Traum village.
A cruel night. The place she headed to, fleeing with Lily.
In that place where abandoned children lived, Lamein was drawn out by Heter Kalipus.
Lamein, who had slowly turned the pages of the notebook, raised her eyes.
On the wooden wall in front of the desk.
There was a long sentence engraved in Lamein’s handwriting.
[]I don’t know who you are, but by the time you read this, I will no longer exist in this world. Please inform Lady Porter Spencer of my death.Lamein, who read the sentence with sunken eyes, left the wooden house.
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.”
