She tried to pull the sword with all her might, but it didn’t budge. It was as if Ord’s hand had turned to stone, with the blade stuck in between.
However, blood was flowing from Ord’s hand, and the blade was digging deeper and deeper into his dry, leather-like skin. Despite this, Ord didn’t even utter a groan and instead showed a grin.
“Tell me.”
Ord said. His voice was low and eerie, like the air on a day of light rain.
“Why am I unqualified to be king?”
Himierd lost her words and trembled with pale lips. She felt fear pushing her into a corner.
Ord continued.
“I am the legitimate heir of the Hyanmorik royal family, and as you said, I have diligently managed state affairs even while ill. Isn’t that right, Sui?”
His hand was now on the verge of being severed. Himierd, unable to either pull out or thrust in the sword, held onto the handle and shouted.
“Let go!”
But Ord didn’t release the sword. The blade was about to split his palm and fingers in two.
“Let go? Why do you say that? If you truly think I’m an unqualified king, why do you hesitate? Kill me with this sword. Swing it as if you’re piercing a pig. Come on…”
Himierd felt the sword suddenly trying to move. What hadn’t budged before was now being pushed towards Ord’s chest.
She screamed, letting go of the sword’s handle and backing away. As she leaned against the wall, panting, other nobles, including Count Tomen, rushed in to surround Ord protectively.
“Your Majesty! Good heavens!”
“Call the court physician, quickly!”
Ord’s hand was a mess. The wound was so deep that it was worrisome whether he could use it properly even if treated immediately by the court physician.
Blood dripped heavily, pooling on the bed. However, Ord seemed to feel no pain. With a somewhat dazed and worried expression, he just muttered while letting his injured hand hang:
“Find Eustar quickly. Hurry… as soon as possible.”
[This is the timeline separator]Eustar and Laila managed to avoid encountering any magicians as they followed the path the fairy had shown them.
The narrow alley was quiet, and the silence that blanketed the city was suffocating. It was so quiet that they thought even the sound of their own breathing was disturbing and noisy.
Laila knew the reason. She knew what caused this silence. It wasn’t a particularly welcome reason, but it couldn’t be ignored either.
The two didn’t encounter a single ‘living’ magician. However, the alleys were filled with ghosts.
They were walking as if they were still alive or drawing something like magic circles on the walls, and when Eustar and Laila came close, they all turned their heads to look at them at once.
Eustar’s monocle spun incessantly, clicking. The frequent changes in his field of vision were dizzying. He alternately pressed his throbbing temples and between his brows as he quietly asked Laila.
“There are so many ghosts, it’s dizzying. Laila, are you alright?”
She, walking half a step ahead, turned her head to look at Eustar. Surprisingly, Laila looked better than ever.
Against the backdrop of a dull sky mixed with silver-white and sand colors, she exuded an inexplicable dignity. She looked like the ruler of this city.
“I’m fine.”
Laila said in a calm voice.
Then she stopped walking and reached out a hand towards Eustar’s face.
“Take off the monocle, Eustar. I can see, you know.”
But Eustar shook his head before Laila’s hand could remove the monocle.
“No. It’s not that bad… If you’re okay, I’m okay too.”
Let’s go. Eustar said that with his eyes.
In fact, the dizziness and headache were getting worse, but taking off the monocle was unthinkable. The narrow alley was as crowded as a square on a festival day. Although it was a square full of ghosts.
‘If something happens, it might be too much for Laila alone. I need to respond quickly.’
They walked, twisting their bodies this way and that like drunk people to avoid touching the ghosts. They hadn’t walked that long, but their bodies felt as heavy as water-soaked cotton.
Laila could guess the reason. It was because she couldn’t estimate the time at all.
In just a few minutes, twilight would fall, making it seem like an indistinguishable night was approaching, but then as soon as they crossed an intersection, a faint sunlight would flicker again like a ghost’s clothes hem.
Maybe there’s no proper time here. Laila thought. The time here could be eternal day, or conversely, eternal night might continue. Day and night could change every minute or two.
“Laila!”
Eustar cried out urgently, trying to pull Laila’s shoulder back. A ghost had quickly approached them.
But Eustar’s hand didn’t move in time. The moment he tried to grab Laila’s shoulder, his arm became surprisingly heavy. It was as if dozens of people were holding onto his arm.
The ghost grabbed both of Laila’s cheeks with its palms. It happened so suddenly that Laila couldn’t respond in time.
The ghost’s appearance was terrible. Half of its head was blown away, and where the left eye should have been, there was a gaping hole.
— Run away.
An icy chill blew from the ghost’s mouth. At that moment, Laila felt exactly the same as Eustar.
Her body became heavy. No, rather than heavy… it felt bound. While Laila couldn’t move, other ghosts surrounded them with empty eyes.
— Run away.
— Run away before reaching the well.
— The well is dangerous.
— Flee far away. Run.
Laila tried not to panic while feeling a pressure that seemed like it would crush her shoulders. Eustar’s voice from behind faintly echoed in her ears.
As she managed to turn her eyes to look around, she saw countless ghosts holding onto her body.
As if trying to escape from this place by clinging to her, or like sick people hoping for a miracle. They were all desperate, and Laila felt pain at the fact that these beings, dead for over a hundred years, were still bound to this place.
— Run away…
The ghost holding Laila’s face exhaled another eerily cold breath. At that moment, Laila felt her blocked airways suddenly clear.
“Disappear!”
Laila’s shouting voice was strangely amplified and spread throughout the city. At the same time, she lifted her right leg, which felt deathly heavy, and then stomped the ground fiercely as if to split it.
A scream that seemed to tear the ears rang out. It was the ghosts screaming. The shockwave that started from where Laila had stomped spread in a huge circle.
The ghosts that had been clinging to the two flew away all at once with an unpleasant sound. They were like sandcastles helplessly crumbling before a storm.
“Gasp…!”
As their bound bodies became free, Laila and Eustar exhaled rough breaths simultaneously. Their hearts were beating so fast it felt like they might burst.
“Laila.”
Eustar gently grabbed her shoulder while catching his breath.
Now his arm wasn’t heavy.
“Are you alright?”
Laila was also busy inhaling and exhaling rapid breaths.
She focused all her attention on breathing while holding Eustar’s hand on her shoulder. It was so painful that it felt as if her lungs had been flattened.
After a while, Laila nodded. She tightly grasped Eustar’s hand and looked ahead. The scenery had changed.
The strange, similar-looking bizarre structures that formed the narrow and peculiar alleyways had all disappeared.
“I’m okay.”
Laila said. She pointed ahead with her other hand while still taking shallow breaths that hadn’t yet calmed down.
“That’s the entrance to the well, Eustar.”
Where she pointed was wide open like the entrance to a huge cave. Inside, pitch-black darkness seemed to be crouching like a beast, with not a single point of light visible.
The sight of the round hole floating in empty space offered a strange creepiness. Eustar knew that Laila’s fingers holding his hand were trembling with anxiety.
“It’s okay, Laila.”
Eustar comforted her in a low and gentle voice.
“It’s okay. I’m here.”
His voice rang like a loud noise in Laila’s head. It seemed to both fuel her anxiety and reassure her.
Actually, it doesn’t matter which. Laila thought. Eustar will never get hurt. He will return. He will return and someday sit on the throne.
Laila, swallowing dry saliva, nodded. A pleasant tingling sensation was felt at her fingertips as blood flowed into her pale and cold hands.
“Alright, Eustar.”
Laila replied quietly as she gripped his hand more firmly.
“Let’s go. We need to end all of this. As quickly as possible.”
Eustar nodded. The two slowly moved towards the gaping hole. They felt as defenseless as young children being inevitably drawn to a dangerous temptation.
They were like five-year-olds who, despite feeling anxious and guilty, couldn’t resist their curiosity and ended up climbing over a torn fence.
As they walked towards the well’s entrance, both of their shoulders flinched simultaneously. Countless white things had sprouted from the previously empty ground.
They were human arms.
“What is this…”
Eustar gripped Laila’s hand tighter and pulled her closer as if to protect her. Laila also moved closer to Eustar’s side but didn’t stop walking.
They had to pass through those arms. Like old seaweed swaying in ocean currents, the arms wavered and tried to wrap around their legs. Then they all pointed towards the well’s entrance at once. It was an eerie sight.
“Look, Eustar.”
Laila pointed at the air. Eustar’s lips parted in surprise as he raised his head following her.
A tower had risen where there was nothing just a moment ago. It looked like a triangular horn, but as they took another step, it now looked like a strangely twisted dead tree.
“I hear a sound, Laila.”
Eustar said. Laila heard it too. It was like the sound of a giant bird crying out while drawing blood from its throat.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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