Edward ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

“Right… arguing further would only lead to a fight.”

He stopped eating midway and stood up from his seat, saying, “Sorry, but I need to leave first.”

Having said that, he quickly left the dining room. The sound of him ascending the stairs indicated he was heading to his room. However, not long after, the sound of footsteps descending rapidly could be heard.

Louisa, who had been sitting alone at the table, abruptly stood up and opened the door. There in the hallway, Edward was already dressed for going out.

“Ed. Where are you going?”

Hearing her call, Edward turned around. After a moment’s pause, he looked forward and answered, “To the lab.”

With that brief reply, Edward left the house without any hesitation.

Thud. The sound of the mansion’s door closing echoed.

Louisa, leaning on the doorframe of the dining room, stared blankly at the door through which her husband had just left.

She hadn’t expected much. Just the ability to laugh together would have been enough. Yet, the path to even that simple joy seemed blocked by a massive wall.

How could she possibly overcome this wall? Would there ever come a day when they could truly be happy?

She weakly covered her face with her hands.

A light autumn rain began to fall.

“Ah, damn it. It’s not working again. This is impossible.”

Geoffrey irritably pulled out his research journal. He opened the well-worn notebook, took a pen, and began to write down the results of the latest test.

The scratching sound of the pen on paper was almost violent, as if he were about to tear through the paper. After he finished venting his anger in the journal, he threw the pen and notebook onto the desk, gathered his belongings, and said, “I’m leaving now. You should head home too, boss.”

It was late at night, and all the other employees had already left. But Edward remained seated, not even turning around, and said, “I’ll try one more calculation before leaving. You go ahead.”

“What?”

Geoffrey stopped in his tracks, incredulous. “Boss, didn’t you stay in the lab all night yesterday? Are you planning not to go home again tonight?”

“Why does it concern you?” Edward replied, his one eyebrow furrowed sharply.

With a mocking laugh, Geoffrey retorted, “Right, of course, it’s none of my business.”

Click. Geoffrey snapped his bag shut, picked up his coat thrown aside in the morning, and put it on hurriedly. He grabbed an umbrella and said, “Well, I’m off then.”

“Okay.”

The sound of his footsteps echoed unusually loud in the empty lab as he left.

Bang. As soon as the door closed, Edward sighed deeply and lowered his head, resting his forehead in his hands with his eyes closed.

A day had passed since his argument with Louisa.

He had come to the lab to work, thinking it would be better than not sleeping. But as the time to go home approached, his mood changed. He started to feel uneasy again.

‘Maybe I should have gone home with Geoffrey, like he suggested.’

As usual, by this time, Louisa’s anger would have cooled down.
Edward, perhaps expecting to be greeted as usual by Louisa upon his return, found himself lost in pointless assumptions. He inadvertently recalled the harsh words he had spoken to her the day before.

“There’s no need to do things that are meaningless.”

He let out a derisive laugh at his own words and muttered to himself as if speaking to no one else.

“Yeah, what’s the point of dwelling on it now?”

After all, staying in the lab meant everything was just hypothetical.

Edward picked up the notebook in front of him, trying to clear his mind.

He didn’t have time to waste. There was a mountain of work waiting for him, and delaying today’s tasks would only add to tomorrow’s burden.

The sound of raindrops hitting the window grew louder.

“Damn it.”

Edward leaned back against the chair’s backrest, tilting his head backward. He felt utterly defeated by the failure. With a sense of exhaustion overwhelming him, he closed his eyes.

He felt so heavy that he could fall asleep right there. Half-asleep, he mumbled,

“I hope it won’t end up incomplete…”

Startled by his own words, he quickly raised his head. Slapping his cheek, he scolded himself.

“What nonsense. I can’t afford to fail.”

You must succeed. That’s your job, Edward Allen.

Rubbing the stinging cheek, he seemed fully awake now.

Boom! Crack!

As he repeated his determination, a sudden thunderclap drew his attention to the window.

Staring blankly at the flashing outside, Edward suddenly thought of Louisa.

‘Was she looking out the window like this?’

A few days ago, Louisa had foolishly waited for him late into the night in the living room, not even in their bedroom. Despite knowing it wouldn’t make him arrive any sooner, she still waited, watching the path he would return by.

“Surely she’s not doing that again today.”

Perhaps she had done the same yesterday. After all, she never listened to what he said.

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

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