Mother dropped me from her arms.
“Lise, stay in the carriage with Betty.”
“…No, I don’t want to.”
“Roger will be fine, I’ll take care of him, so don’t worry.”
“…But.”
Instead of speaking, Mother tied my feet with a gesture and disappeared from my sight.
My hands trembled. The suffocating feeling contracted my body. Betty hugged me as my upper body lunged forward in haste.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Miss… If only I hadn’t asked…”
“…Where’s Roger? Where’s Roger?”
“Miss…”
I felt a tremor from Betty’s body that enveloped me. My heart raced, fearing what might have happened to Roger alone. The guilt of forgetting him to ease my own pain tormented me.
While looking around outside the carriage for signs of Roger, I found a carriage parked in front of the Bacchus mansion.
Ahead was Father’s carriage, followed by the one Roger and I had ridden in. Surely, something precious of Roger’s would still be in there.
“Miss…!”
Pushing Betty’s chest away, I stepped out of the carriage.
In an instant, I reached the carriage Roger and I had used and found two violin cases inside. One was mine, and the other was Roger’s.
Originally, after delivering a letter to Lady Bacchus, we were supposed to return to Marsen village right away.
‘Why, why did this happen?’
Holding the two violin cases, I saw Betty, who had nervously followed me. She tightly gripped my wrist, a behavior she would never usually show.
“Miss… please, please go back to the carriage. Madam and the young master will be here soon…”
I had no choice but to nod at Betty’s crumbling voice. I had unintentionally scared her. Betty, who held onto me till the end, caught her ragged breath only when we reached the Marsen family’s carriage, parked at a distance.
“…”
“…”
It was a time of waiting now. Time seemed to crawl, perhaps due to my impatience.
All kinds of thoughts crossed my mind. I considered all sorts of futures. They were all unhappy narratives.
“…”
Tears flowed again. Did I always have so many tears? Was it acceptable for a grown adult to cry this much?
In the end, I blamed myself for leaving young Roger alone. They said Roger had collapsed. Was he alright? Was he severely injured?
“…Where is Roger?”
“Miss.”
“Mother is also too late. Could something have happened?”
“…”
“If I can’t go alone, let’s go together. I have something to tell Roger, okay?”
At my request, Betty stood up.
She, too, seemed worried about Mother’s delayed arrival. Holding the two violins carefully, I silently followed Betty, who moved ahead.
Betty took a few steps, checked behind, took a few more steps, and checked again. She was afraid I might run away somewhere.
The place where Roger was, was a small forest behind the Bacchus mansion. As we entered, I heard Mother’s voice.
“…Roger.”
As expected, Mother and Roger were together. Contrary to what Betty had said, Roger was sitting under a tree with his face buried in his knees. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong with him physically.
“Lise? Why are you here…”
As Mother spoke, Roger also lifted his head in response. His downcast face met mine.
“…”
“…”
Neither of us spoke a word.
“…Anyway, Roger. Since Lise is here, let’s go with us. At least until your father arrives, be with us.”
“…”
“Roger…”
Roger didn’t flinch at Mother’s words. A shadow fell upon us.
“It looks like it’s going to rain.”
Mother looked up at the sky.
“…Please, leave me alone.”
I heard Roger’s voice. Now I knew why neither Mother nor Roger had appeared in front of the carriage. Roger had refused to go with us.
“Roger.”
“Please… just leave me alone.”
“But it will rain soon. Or… will you go back to the mansion?”
At Mother’s question, Roger lifted his head. His eyes, which had been blankly staring at Mother, trembled with unease.
“No.”
He spoke definitively.
“I won’t go. I don’t want to see mother’s face.”
“I’ll contact your father, so for now, come with us…”
“I don’t want to see father’s face right now either.”
Thunder struck.
As the weather darkened, raindrops began to fall sporadically. Roger’s stubbornness was unyielding.
His distressed mother, seeing Roger’s deteriorating face, said nothing, did nothing. She was not the kind to forcibly take someone who had said no.
“……Is that so?”
Perhaps thinking she had done enough, mother turned her body away.
“Roger…!”
Fearing mother would abandon Roger, I stepped forward. I set my violin case next to Roger and bent my knees, coming to his eye level. Up close, I saw Roger’s face soaked in sorrow.
Both of us had faces with no redeeming features.
“Let’s go together.”
As I laid my hand on the back of his hand, Roger flinched.
“……Let’s go, okay?”
“……”
“I brought the violin, so…”
“Go by yourself.”
Roger rejected even my words. Unsure if he even wanted to see my face, he turned his head sideways.
“Roger.”
“Take the violin too. I don’t need it.”
“……It’s yours.”
“I don’t need it anymore. I don’t want to be betrayed again. I’ve had enough!”
Roger swiped away the violin case beside him.
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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