He wore an expression of amusement.
Ariana blinked, frozen in place.
As he swept his wet hair back, a smooth forehead was revealed. His dark ash-colored eyebrows lifted slightly, and a droplet of water trickled down past his eye.
His long eyelashes, adorned with dew, exuded a decadent atmosphere. The droplets on his cheeks shone mysteriously.
Seeing Ariana, who couldn’t close her mouth and was staring at him absentmindedly, he said,
“You’ll drool.”
Ariana quickly regained her senses and closed her mouth.
She blinked for a while, then abruptly realized she was gazing at his naked body and hastily turned away.
Swish—Swish—
The sound of him walking through the water towards the lakeside penetrated her ears.
Her heart pounded heavily, for a reason she couldn’t understand.
She had seen a man’s body before, yet she didn’t understand why her legs felt weak.
His statue-like physique flickered before her eyes.
Ariana lightly gripped her skirt and calmed her racing heart.
As he stepped onto the shore, Ariana regained her composure.
She heard the sound of him dressing.
“Did you sleep well?”
Cyrus asked, as if nothing had happened.
Ariana pursed her lips and cautiously replied,
“Yes.”
“Taking a walk to wake yourself up?”
“I was taking a walk, Your Highness.”
“I don’t have a hobby of watching people bathe.”
“……Neither do I, Your Highness.”
“Oh.”
He let out an indecipherable exclamation and walked briskly towards where he had been sleeping.
His retreating figure was so confident that it made her doubt whether he had actually caught her watching him bathe.
Once Cyrus returned to the camp, he sat on a rock. Seeing Ariana standing idly, he spoke.
“Am I bothering you?”
“No, it’s just that the water is too cold.”
“Ah, it would be cold for you. I’ll tell Louie to find a container to warm up the water.”
“Thank you for your kindness, but I’ll find another opportunity to bathe.”
Ariana walked towards Cyrus, clasped her hands together, and stood respectfully.
“Your Highness, I will treasure the kindness and care you have shown me. I am now well-rested and will depart.”
“Rain.”
“Pardon?”
“A downpour.”
Ariana tried to recall.
Certainly, it was the rainy season.
Rain wouldn’t be a major issue, but a downpour in the mountains was different.
‘Keeps getting delayed.’
Although she had escaped the Bronthe mansion, she wasn’t completely free from Rachel.
By now, Rachel would have heard of Ariana’s disappearance and would be searching for her.
Perhaps she had even hired assassins to find and kill Ariana upon sight.
She wanted to get out of the realm of Seiryung as quickly as possible.
“Mountain paths are dangerous in the rain. It looks like it will rain for another day or two. Let’s rest another day and depart tomorrow. By the time we leave the cave, the rain should stop.”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
As Ariana sighed and replied, Louie was outside the cave, liaising with Noah and Isaac.
He looked up at the bright sky and muttered,
“Nice weather.”
+++
Isaac frowned.
“Departing tomorrow? Why? Is the Queen Mother not well?”
“My Lord says it will take some time to win over the Queen Mother.”
“……He’s still saying that?”
“Yes. According to the Queen Mother’s pace, it will take another three days to get here.”
“Damn it. We’re delayed more than expected. The one who’s going to get scolded by Duke Hern isn’t His Highness but me.”
Caught in a dilemma, Isaac received a comforting jest from Noah.
“But if you go with Jehubi, Duke Hern won’t be angry.”
“Well, that’s true… but how is Jehubi’s condition? The letter said she was badly hurt.”
“Applying your ointment helped, but it seems like a scar will remain.”
“Yeah, figures. It’s made for monsters like you guys with skin as tough as steel. It’s not good if it leaves a scar on a woman’s skin.”
Isaac spoke, tapping his thigh with his index finger.
“Do we have to wait here?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll wait in the village beyond that city. I’ll have to make an ointment that won’t leave a scar.”
“His Grace will be pleased.”
“Is that all?”
“What?”
“Is His Grace so smitten with Jehubi that he would be pleased just because I make an ointment that won’t leave a scar?”
“Yes. Actually…”
Louis, who generally was quiet, was so astounded by Cyrus’s behavior when he was with Ariana that he wanted to share it with someone.
But since he couldn’t blabber about everything, he chose to share the most striking detail.
“Concerned that Jehubi would be uncomfortable lying on the hard cave floor, His Grace went outside and collected a bunch of leaves to make a bed. He then laid his own cloak on top.”
“Huh!”
“Ugh!”
Both Isaac and Noah made bizarre noises.
The two men covered their mouths with their hands, their eyes widened, and paused. Then Noah spoke.
“Louis, you’ve become a better liar, haven’t you?”
“It’s not a lie.”
“It’s a lie. Even if His Grace is smitten with a woman, he wouldn’t do something like that. Right, Isaac?”
“Yeah. Definitely. His Grace making a bed for a woman? Hahaha. That’s a really funny joke, Louis.”
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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