Damion’s recovery was remarkable. From the day he woke up in the hospital room and moved to find Ansi, it was evident. The man recovered his health and was discharged in less than a week.
Upon arriving in the capital, they boarded a carriage that came to the station. Ansi stared blankly at Damion sitting next to her.
Feeling her gaze, Damion turned to look beside him. Their eyes met.
“Are you really okay?”
“Yes, I… No, it still hurts.”
Damion tried to answer straight away, but stopped for a moment and lowered both eyebrows as if in pain. Ansi was silent for a while.
Was it obvious he was faking it? Damion was about to change his words to say he was actually fine.
“If you’re uncomfortable anywhere, let me know. Get plenty of rest at home for the time being. You’re a patient.”
“Well, my heart feels uncomfortable.”
“……”
His heart was uncomfortable, did the gunshot wound affect his heart as well?
That thought crossed her mind very briefly, but Ansi soon shook her head. Naturally so, as Damion was still smiling.
It was clear he was trying to say his heart was beating loudly and making him uncomfortable because he was with her.
Damion had always had a habit of throwing out lines that Ansi couldn’t easily adapt to, but the degree had gotten worse while he was in the hospital. So this much was quite predictable.
“I’m serious.”
When Ansi didn’t answer, Damion spoke again. Ansi nodded.
“I know.”
“You wouldn’t know.”
“I know.”
Although he said it playfully, his heart was really pounding enough to make him uncomfortable. Damion tried to take Ansi’s hand as if to put it on his heart.
But Ansi was a bit faster. She brought one of Damion’s hands to the upper part of her chest.
Damion’s eyes widened.
Her heart was beating fast.
“I said I knew, right?”
Ansi asked with a coy expression. Damion couldn’t answer and just slowly nodded.
Ansi had never expected him to be in the same state as her. Even as he poured out his feelings to her countless times, telling her to make each other the purpose of their lives… He always had doubts about Ansi’s heart.
But now, this heartbeat seemed to speak for her heart.
“Want to lean on me?”
Ansi tapped her shoulder. Damion leaned his head on her shoulder without refusing. Despite being a delicate shoulder, it strangely felt very dependable.
Her unkempt hair flowed like waves along Damion’s face. Ansi pushed it back with her hand in case it tickled his face.
He smiled broadly.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s not funny, it’s nice. You caring for me. Ah, what if we share a room too? Like in the North.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He just threw it out there, but Ansi readily agreed. Damion opened his mouth and lifted his head to look at Ansi. Was being injured this useful?
Damion stared at Ansi with eyes asking if she was serious. Ansi nodded. Looking into those clear eyes, Damion unknowingly thought about what more he could desire.
“Then let’s do that.”
Damion smiled brightly and leaned on Ansi’s shoulder again. He took her hand and fiddled with it. Ansi lowered her gaze to look at the man’s hair leaning against her. The soft golden hair was like a puppy.
Ansi reached out a hand to stroke his hair. Damion lifted his head. Their eyes met.
“You’re like a puppy.”
“Me?”
Ansi nodded. The man who asked back as if to deny being called a puppy instead rubbed his head against her hand and laughed.
“Then will you take me for walks too?”
[This is the timeline separator]Arriving on the second floor of the mansion, they headed to the room. Past Damion’s room was Ansi’s room. Damion looked at Ansi to say a brief farewell.
However, instead of heading to her room, Ansi stopped in front of his room with Damion.
Realizing the meaning of her action, Damion was momentarily flustered. She had also stopped to keep the promise they made in the carriage to share a room.
But he had said it in the sense of sharing the couple’s bedroom. Wasn’t it too soon to go in together as soon as they arrived at the mansion?
They should look at what to move from their individual belongings to the couple’s bedroom, and mentally prepare. Of course, if Ansi said she wanted to share it right now, he would do so, but…
Ansi’s heart that had been beating fiercely came to mind. Then Damion’s heart also started to pound. It was even more so when he thought about combining their rooms.
Wouldn’t they be sharing all aspects of life from now on? This woman would be there when he opened his eyes in the morning, sometimes they would have simple meals together in the room instead of the dining room, and have lunch and dinner together… Before going to bed at night, he could personally dry her wet hair, and fall asleep together in the same bed…
Damion swallowed dryly.
He felt he needed time to prepare his heart after all.
“We’ll combine the rooms a bit later…”
“I’ll change your bandage.”
The two people who spoke at the same time looked at each other with blank eyes.
It was then that Damion realized why Ansi had stood next to him in front of his room.
To change his bandage. She had intended to enter his room with him for such a pure and warm reason.
That didn’t mean Damion’s own heart was impure, but…
No, Damion admitted it. He wasn’t pure. In just over a second, he had imagined numerous things.
“Thank you. I think I need to wash my body first before changing it.”
“Ah, I’ll help…”
“No, it’s alright.”
Damion firmly refused Ansi’s words. Of course, it was inconvenient to wash because of the wound, but not to the extent of needing help. Besides, if Ansi washed him, he didn’t know what might happen.
“Then I’ll wash too and go to Damion’s room.”
Ansi entered her room without lingering. Only then did Damion exhale the breath he had been holding.
But even after that, time passed by too quickly. Even by the time Ansi returned to his room after finishing her bath, Damion’s heart still hadn’t calmed down.
“We should use this bandage, right?”
The woman who had gathered her slightly damp hair to one side asked like that. Damion just nodded silently.
“Sit down.”
Ansi made Damion sit on the bed with the bandage and sat behind him. She slightly furrowed her brows. Somehow, Damion seemed quite tense.
“Don’t worry. I’ve changed bandages before. Lady Jiden was injured once, and I was in charge of changing her bandages then.”
She had experience, so there was no need to fear that something might go wrong. That’s why Ansi also confidently said she would change the bandage.
However, when Damion actually lowered the nightgown he was wearing, Ansi seemed to feel a strange tension rising.
Centered around a balanced, straight spine, a broad and firm back unfolded.
Even when he was clothed, she had thought several times that he had a pretty good body, but dismissed it as him being a soldier. However, his bare body was even more imposing than Ansi had anticipated.
With well-toned muscles without a single flaw revealed before her eyes, Ansi’s eyes wandered around not knowing where to start.
But then, a mark on the man’s waist caught her eye.
“Ah…”
A translucent heart-shaped pattern.
It was the same color as Ansi’s.
〈When you meet your beloved companion, a pattern will appear on you, and if you love your companion, a pattern will appear on them as well.〉
Sophia’s words came to mind.
If I love my companion…
Ansi reached out and gently stroked that pattern.
“The nurse who changed my bandage said there was a mark there. Is it true?”
Damion didn’t seem to know what kind of pattern was there. It made sense, as it was a spot on the back of his body that was difficult to examine closely without looking through a mirror.
“There’s proof that we are each other’s companions.”
“Proof?”
Ansi nodded.
“This pattern, I have it too. People from Lubel say that when they meet their companion and come to love each other, a heart pattern appears on their body. The same thing happens to that companion.”
“Is that related to you seeing my future as well?”
“No.”
In fact, this pattern had deepened each time she prevented his death, but she didn’t bother saying that. She wanted this pattern to feel only positive for Damion.
She began wrapping the bandage. Damion’s wound was near his lower abdomen. On his back was the mark that she loved him, and on his stomach was the mark that she had betrayed him.
Her chest ached.
“I’m sorry.”
She murmured like that after taping to fix the bandage she had been silently wrapping.
Damion turned to look at Ansi. The woman’s face with downcast eyes was filled with guilt.
“Ansi.”
Damion cupped Ansi’s cheek and lifted it towards him. He knew the sadness in her blue eyes stemmed from this wound.
“Wounds heal someday.”
“Scars will remain.”
Ansi had not forgotten the fact that Damion still had trauma from the memory of being shot by his aide, Leo.
Damion lowered his face and lightly kissed her.
“Don’t make that expression. The mark you left on my back will be much deeper than this measly scar.”
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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