April’s eyes widened. It was an utterly unexpected thing to say. Wasn’t he the man who always kept his distance and was indifferent to her?
But to come rudely in the middle of the night with such a passionate confession.
Was he drunk?
So it would be right to refuse him?
But don’t they say that there is truth in wine? If he sincerely wanted her, she felt like she could be as immoral and vulgar as possible.
“I don’t hate you. Because I want you too.”
‘Gasp! I’m crazy. What did I just say!’
April was surprised that such an explicit word had come out of her mouth. But she felt proud of herself when he bowed his head and lowered his lips and she did not refuse him.
‘I wanted my first kiss to be more romantic…’
But she closed her eyes quickly, anxiously lifting her heels.
His breath, hot as fire, wet her lips. April tightly clenched the hem of her nightgown. Sweat was damp in her hands already.
Their lips were about to touch.
“Adel…”
“…Huh!”
Knock, knock!
Just then, someone knocked on the bedroom door.
“Just, just a moment!”
Startled, April pushed Christine away, glancing back and forth between him and the door. But he looked as if he had no thoughts.
“Princess, is everything alright?”
The voices of the guards came from outside the door.
“Yes, everything’s fine!”
April shouted towards the door.
“We will check it for a moment. We received a report that someone entered the princess’s bedroom.”
They didn’t seem to be easily dismissed. At that moment, she slightly resented the guards’ diligence.
“Wait a moment!”
She whispered, pushing Christine behind the velvet curtain.
“Just hide for a moment. I’ll send them away soon.”
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]Bang!
When April opened the door, two guards and a nanny who had come into her room earlier were standing there.
“What’s the commotion at this hour? Someone entered my room without me knowing?”
While saying that, April’s nightgown was wet.
“We apologize. We will check for your safety for a moment.”
As the guards tried to enter, she strongly blocked their way.
“If there’s no intruder, how will you take responsibility? How do you plan to pay for waking the princess from her sleep?”
Usually docile, April was a princess. The guards could not proceed forcefully any further. They just glanced over her shoulder into the room.
“We are sorry. We’ll leave now.”
“Princess…”
To the worried nanny, April spoke firmly.
“Goodnight, nanny.”
After sending them away and closing the door, April finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“They’re gone.”
She spoke towards the curtain, but there was no response. Gently lifting the velvet hem where she had hidden Christine, she found no one.
He had disappeared as quickly as he appeared.
“That’s too much…”
Disappointed, April slumped onto the bed. She then gently touched her lips, where his breath had touched just before.
The breath that was so hot and sweet.
The rough and excited breathing.
Just the memory made her feel breathless and tingly.
What if they had spent the night together?
How would he embrace a woman?
“Oh, that’s too naughty!”
Blushing, April flipped the blanket over her face.
Then suddenly, his last mumbled words came back to her.
“Adel…”
He had surely said it like that.
Adel was the name of the Lady of Oswald, but could he have called her name?
‘No, I must have heard wrong. He’s like a brother to the Count.’
But what if she didn’t hear wrong?
Certainly, here’s the translated passage:
Thinking back, there seemed to have been a strange current flowing between them since Mrs. Hans’ party. They didn’t make eye contact, but somehow they seemed aware of each other.
Moreover, the incident that happened in the imperial garden yesterday afternoon had already become a rumor. The women of the palace were buzzing about how he took the Empress’s whip for Adel.
Could it be that he mistook me for that woman just now?
If so, it means that the relationship between the two is not ordinary…
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]The next morning.
After a night of fierce rain, the sky cleared as if nothing had happened. It was an unusually clear and refreshing morning, perhaps due to the cold air.
“Princess, are you awake?”
The nanny, entering April’s room with the maids, was taken aback.
Sitting in bed with a haggard face, the Princess looked far from her usual lovely self.
“What happened… all night?”
When the nanny asked cautiously, April lowered her head with a gloomy face.
“I just had trouble sleeping.”
Then one of the maids quickly asked,
“Did you see anything strange last night?”
The nanny tried to interrupt the conversation,
“Something strange?”
But April’s eyes were already sparkling with curiosity.
“Well, a corpse was found in the imperial forest this morning.”
“A corpse?”
The nanny said it was nothing, but April was worried about Christine, who had suddenly disappeared in such a state last night.
It wouldn’t be his fault, would it?
“Who died? How did it happen?”
The nanny comforted April, who kept asking questions.
“It seems a starving beast entered the imperial forest in the winter. A night guard was bitten to death. They are hunting now, so don’t worry too much.”
“Ah, I see.”
April finally relaxed, relieved at the unfortunate news.
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]The imperial forest’s disaster had caused a stir in the palace for several days. Hunters and guards continued to search the forest, but no beasts were found that could harm humans.
“It must be a leopard or a tiger.”
“It could be a wolf. There has been a rumor that a silver wolf has been seen in the imperial forest recently.”
“A silver wolf?”
April and the noble ladies, gathered to enjoy tea time, also showed interest in the incident. However, their interest was very brief.
“What’s going on with Vice Count?”
Someone’s question caused them all to look at April with sparkling eyes.
But the Princess only stabbed the cake with her dessert fork, her chin propped up. She looked like someone lost in thought.
“Princess.”
When the maid beside her called quietly, she finally came to her senses.
“Hot, yes?”
Looking at April like that, the noble ladies all smiled meaningfully.
“What happened on the rainy night with Vice Count?”
Clang!
Startled, April dropped the fork she was holding.
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.”
