She nodded and lifted her lips into a smile.
“Then let’s go see him right away.”
“Yes! I’ll guide you!”
Hestia followed Angela towards the king’s residence.
“Your Majesty, Princess Hestia has arrived.”
“Let her in.”
Soon, permission to enter was granted. The large double doors quietly opened, and Hestia, entering the office, respectfully greeted her uncle, King Yorgos of the Kingdom of Elsword.
“Your Majesty, it’s been a long time.”
“Come in, Hestia. Have you been well, with no discomfort?”
“Thanks to your constant care, how could I be unwell?”
Hestia responded calmly with a smile, but Yorgos looked displeased.
“Do you think I don’t know that you’re just tolerating everything because of your kind nature? Those temple folks fussing over that new saint, Anessa or whatever, is a ridiculous sight.”
Hestia smiled faintly.
“Everyone treats me well.”
When she said she would stay in the palace for a while, the high priests had repeatedly instructed her.
Specifically, to keep silent about her terminal prognosis.
‘But it’s better to bring it up first.’
In her past life, she had received the same request. She didn’t say anything until the temple officially announced her terminal condition.
When Yorgos learned about the oracle later, he was furious that she hadn’t consulted him first.
‘Let’s wait for a better opportunity. Today is not the day.’
Hestia then addressed him about a more urgent matter.
“Your Majesty, I have something to ask.”
“What is it? Ask freely.”
“I was wondering if the Duke of Kalati from the North is coming this year too.”
“Ah, you mean outside.”
Yorgos suddenly frowned and roughly stroked his chin.
Just the thought of Aslan seemed to irritate him.
‘Why does he refer to it as outside?’
Hestia felt a significant discomfort in Yorgos’s attitude.
Though the North was still part of the Kingdom of Elsword, her uncle treated it like a completely separate country.
It felt almost brutally dismissive.
‘Maybe soon I’ll be pushed out there too.’
Hestia held her breath, waiting for her uncle’s response.
Yorgos eventually nodded.
“As you said. Three days ago, we received word they passed the wall. They should arrive soon. Either tonight or by tomorrow afternoon.”
He spat out a sigh, apparently thinking of Aslan.
“I wonder how deathly he looks this time.”
Hestia, having got the answer she wanted, concealed her eagerness and spoke as casually as possible.
“Your Majesty, actually, I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
Yorgos’s face scrunched up again.
The palace and the temple, though outwardly harmonious, were actually at odds, always trying to undermine each other behind the scenes.
Yorgos grumbled more, his face crumpling further.
“Is the temple using you again to wheedle something from me?”
Hestia quickly shook her head.
“No, it’s a personal favor. You don’t need to give anything in return.”
Yorgos’s eyebrow raised in surprise.
Seeing his niece, who never asked for anything, use the word ‘favor’, he seemed intrigued.
“A personal favor…”
Yorgos’s interest was piqued.
Their relationship, though uncle and niece, was distant due to Hestia spending much more time in the temple than with him.
To Yorgos, Hestia was more aligned with the temple than the family.
It seemed he thought it wouldn’t be bad to owe a favor to the saint, as his face displayed an increasingly sly smile.
“Let’s hear what it is then.”
Time seemed to crawl and yet flew swiftly.
Upon hearing from Angela that Duke Kalati had entered the capital at dawn, Hestia quickly got ready.
She had no intention of dressing extravagantly. It wasn’t her style, nor did she possess fancy clothes or jewelry.
This allowed Hestia to be the first among the royal people to arrive at the audience chamber.
‘I’m nervous.’
She had already obtained Yorgos’s permission earlier.
“I would like to attend the audience with Duke Kalati, if you permit.”
Yorgos looked surprised.
It was an event he had offered her every year to assert his authority, but Hestia, uncomfortable with Aslan, had always declined.
“Why the change of heart?”
“I no longer want to run from my fate.”
Interpreting ‘fate’ as ‘duty,’ Yorgos laughed heartily.
“Hestia, you’ve finally grown up.”
Yorgos didn’t probe further.
This spared Hestia from having to think of more excuses.
‘She’s twenty-four now.’
Hestia steadied her breath, reviewing information about Aslan whom she was about to meet.
Unlike her peers who were engaged or married early, he had always been alone.
‘Until the moment I died, Duke Aslan never married.’
Likely because he was busy defending the troubled North.
As she continued her thoughts, Yorgos arrived late.
“You’re early, Hestia.”
“Of course, I should be here before Your Majesty.”
Yorgos, seemingly pleased by the excessive humility, barely smiled and nodded, taking his throne.
Hestia simply exchanged glances with the crown prince, her cousin, as a form of greeting.
“He’ll be here soon.”
No sooner had she said this, the outside of the audience chamber became noisy.
The chief steward entered and bowed to Yorgos, the crown prince, and Hestia.
“Your Majesty, Duke Kalati of the North requests an audience.”
“Let him in.”
With a forced stern voice, the large doors flung open.
Aslan appeared, not in ceremonial attire, but armored.
With a surcoat, pauldrons, and gauntlets, he was ready for immediate deployment.
A tsking sound came from the throne.
“No money, so he wears that.”
Hestia clenched her fist subtly, as if she had been insulted.
‘Aslan Kalati.’
Internally repeating his name, she found her mouth drying out.
Memories of his desperate grip in her past life choked her up.
“Hand over your sword and helmet.”
Upon the steward’s request, Aslan handed over his helmet and sword, which he carried at his side.
Hestia forced herself to stand and look straight ahead as their eyes briefly met.
His golden eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed. Hestia’s heart sank.
‘He’s upset.’
Just as I feared, it turned out to be true.
Aslan clearly did not take kindly to me.
Even so, I didn’t expect such intense disdain from just our eyes meeting.
I unwittingly bit my lower lip.
I wanted to flee from the embarrassment, but I held back.
‘It’s okay. It’s not the first time he’s disliked me.’
Moreover, I had no luxury of time to wait for a more appropriate moment, as I couldn’t predict Anessa’s movements.
And I couldn’t guess when Aslan’s mood might improve.
‘Such a day might never come in my lifetime.’
I let out a wry smile.
It seemed best to initiate the conversation as quickly as possible.
Suppressing various negative emotions, I swallowed hard.
Meanwhile, Aslan steadily advanced towards Yorgos.
Clank, clank.
The sound of metal dragging and colliding echoed with each step he took.
I had seen him hand over his sword to the steward at the entrance, but honestly, what good did that do?
His mere presence was intimidating.
With each step Aslan took, it felt as though the ground I stood on quivered.
Such was the intensity of Aslan’s presence.
I kept swallowing dryly as Aslan emitted an unbridled fierce aura.
Like Yorgos, Aslan too had an annoyed expression, as if he found this whole situation irksome.
‘I can hardly breathe.’
I tightly closed my lips.
As Aslan drew nearer, breathing became increasingly difficult. The dangerous and fierce atmosphere felt suffocating.
Before I knew it, my hands were raised, clutching at my left chest, near my heart.
In this moment, I truly realized that the epithet “Black Lion of the North” wasn’t given to Aslan without reason.
He truly was a wild beast. A very hungry one at that.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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