To You, Whom I Shouldn't Love - Chapter 23
“I like it, Dad! I’ll be Cass’ friend. But how long will Cass be staying with us?”
“Well, I’m not quite sure about that yet.”
It would be nice if they could stay together for a long time.
With that thought, Riena went outside and grabbed Cass’ hand.
“Let’s go! I’ll show you around the mansion!”
Cass didn’t look too thrilled, but he obediently followed her out.
To be honest, Cass wasn’t the best playmate. No matter what Riena did, he had no reaction.
Even when Riena showed him her most cherished horse Lucy, her adorably newborn baby brother Aaron, or when the nanny brought various snacks, he remained indifferent.
“Your name is Cass, right? I’m Riena Dyke. Dad and Raoul call me Ria. So you can call me Ria too.”
“……”
“Raoul is my childhood friend. He lives in the neighboring Berna territory. He said he’ll come over to play soon, so the three of us can play together then.”
“……”
“By the way, what do you like? I love tomato stew with lots of beef in it. Our chef makes it the best. Eating it on a rainy day warms up my body and makes me feel good.”
“……”
When she was little, Riena was even more lively and talkative than she is now.
In the mansion, she would often chat with the servants, and when she went into town, she would strike up conversations with people about this and that. So she must have been thrilled to have a friend her age.
Although she had her childhood friend Raoul, it was difficult to see him often, so she was very happy that Cass would be staying at the mansion with her.
However, no matter how hard she tried, Cass hardly showed any reaction.
“Hey, by any chance, can you not talk?”
The nanny beside them was startled and said she shouldn’t ask such a question, but Riena was genuinely curious.
“If you can’t talk, should I bring you a pen? Do you want to write it down?”
“Young lady, I just told you not to say such things…”
Riena ignored the nanny who was holding her forehead.
Finally, Cass opened his mouth.
“…I can.”
“Huh?”
“I can talk.”
“Wow! Nanny, did you see that? He talked!”
Cass closed his mouth again after that one statement, but Riena was simply delighted.
At least Cass didn’t show any dislike towards Riena, so she thought they could get along well.
And a few days later, Cass suddenly developed a fever. Although it was autumn, the Dyke territory at the southern tip wasn’t particularly cold, so everyone was surprised.
Countess Dyke was troubled to see Cass with a fever.
She worried if he might have caught an infectious disease and if it would spread to Bianca and Aaron.
Fortunately, the physician asserted it was not an infectious disease.
“Although he has a fever, there are no other symptoms, so it doesn’t seem to be the flu either. It appears to be stress from suddenly losing his mother and staying in an unfamiliar place. But just in case, it would be best to keep him isolated from young lady Riena.”
Count Dyke calmly explained Cass’ condition and cautioned that Riena should not go to Cass’ room until his fever subsided.
However, Riena was not one to follow those words literally.
She frequently went to Cass’ room only to be chased away by the nanny or maids.
“Young lady, you can’t come in. You might catch the flu.”
“But they said it’s not the flu!”
“Still, you never know, so you can’t come in.”
“I want to help take care of Cass too.”
“I am taking good care of him, so please go back to sleep, young lady.”
Sometimes she was pushed out by the maid, and other times she was carried out by Count Dyke.
After several failed attempts to sneak in, Riena decided to wait until nighttime.
She stayed awake and waited, then snuck into Cass’ room while the maid was briefly away.
“It’s strange.”
Kneeling beside the bed, Riena rested her chin on the bed and looked down at Cass.
Cass, who had been struggling to breathe, slightly opened his eyes at the sound of her voice.
“…What is?”
“You. You said you were from the North. Then why did you catch a cold? Isn’t the North much colder than here? We don’t even get snow in the winter here, but in the North, there’s snow on the mountains even in the summer. What was it called again, perennial snow?”
“……”
“Could it be that you’re actually not from the North?”
“I am… from the North.”
“Really? Then have you seen perennial snow?”
“I… don’t know.”
“If you have, you have, and if you haven’t, you haven’t. Why don’t you know?”
“……”
As if he no longer had the energy to deal with her, Cass closed his eyes completely. Riena chattered beside him.
“You know, my mom also passed away from the flu. To be exact, they said it was something more severe than that, but anyway, it was similar to the flu. Of course, I don’t remember it at all. I was just a tiny baby back then. They said I was bigger than Aaron though.”
“……”
“So I’m worried about you. What if a weak child like you catches a severe flu and something bad happens?”
“…I won’t die.”
“I didn’t say anything about dying.”
“That’s what you meant…”
“Is that so?”
Riena quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, get well soon. When you’re all better, let’s go play on the hill behind the mansion. There’s a huge tree there, and it’s nice to have a picnic under its shade. There should be wildflowers blooming now too.”
“……”
“Do you know how to ride a horse? If you do, let’s ride together. We may not find a horse as magnificent as Lucy, but I’ll find one that suits you.”
Despite Riena’s incessant chatter that could have been annoying, Cass silently listened to her without showing any signs of displeasure.
Riena’s chattering continued after that. Then she realized Cass couldn’t sleep because of her and got up from her seat.
“I should get going now. If I get caught here, the nanny will scold me. Good night. I’ll come again tomorrow.”
Cass, who had barely been able to respond properly until then, reached out and grabbed her clothes. Riena almost stumbled and fell, wondering where he got such strength from.
“I almost fell over.”
“…Don’t go.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t go.”
It seemed to be difficult for Cass to even open his eyes as he kept them tightly closed, but tears streamed down his temples.
“Please don’t go.”
Perhaps he was having a sad dream.
Riena, looking down at Cass’ hand grasping her clothes as if it were his only hope, let out a deep sigh.
“Oh dear, I’m going to get scolded by the nanny.”
She hesitated for a moment before climbing onto the bed.
“Why are you crying again?”
She gently wiped his wet eyes with her hand. She was surprised that Cass’ face felt hotter than she thought, but she didn’t show it.
“I’ll stay here and not go anywhere, so don’t worry and sleep well. Stop crying. There, there.”
“Mhm.”
Riena hesitated before hugging Cass’ body and closing her eyes.
The next morning, the nanny discovered the two children tightly hugging each other in their sleep and woke them up, startled. Fortunately, Riena did not catch the flu.
And after that night, Riena felt that Cass had opened up to her.
[This is the timeline separator]Cass still didn’t talk much. But it was better than when Riena first met him.
He still kept his mouth shut like a clam to Count Dyke and others in the mansion, but he often opened up when he was with Riena.
Seeing Cass like that, Riena was reminded of a kitten she had seen in the mansion’s garden before.
A black kitten that initially hid its body from a distance and was wary, but after being fed a few times, it would come closer and rub its head against her ankle.
And when Cass had fully recovered his health, Riena took him to the hill behind the mansion as promised.
“Cass! Come on! Hurry!”
Even as a child, Riena had better stamina and was more active than most boys. She ran up the hill, holding her dress with both hands.
The goal was the large, towering tree at the very top of the hill.
She ignored the voices of Joanna and the nanny calling from behind, telling her to slow down.
Glancing back, she saw Cass stumbling and walking. It seemed like he was trying to run, but it was hard to tell if he was walking or running.
“How are you going to learn the sword like that? Get it together and come on!”
“Wait… I…”
“Sigh.”
With a sigh, Riena turned back the way she came and linked arms with Cass. Cass’ eyes widened in surprise.
“You said you’re a year older than me. But what if you’re even weaker than me?”
“I’m…”
It was a trivial remark, but Cass lowered his head with a gloomy face. Even the tips of his black eyebrows drooped down.
“I’m sorry. For being weak…”
“Why is that something to be sorry about?”
Cass fidgeted.
“Because I’m slow, I can’t play with you properly.”
“Well, that’s true.”
When Riena readily agreed, Cass hunched his shoulders even more.
Seeing him like that, Riena thought again that he was similar to the kitten she had seen before.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
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