“Sit down.”
Aslan was now looking at her. When their eyes met, Hestia felt as if all the hairs on her body stood on end.
“Ah, yes.”
She nodded and took a step forward. As she inhaled deeply by accident, the warm air brutally invaded her frozen nostrils.
Hestia’s nose tickled instantly.
Without a chance to stop it, small sneezes followed one after another.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
Aslan, who had planned to sarcastically greet Hestia as soon as their eyes met, was quite taken aback.
With his lips slightly parted, Aslan froze for a moment. As Hestia’s sneezes seemed endless, he soon furrowed his brows in annoyance.
‘What should I do?’
He was as if frozen in place.
Would patting her back help?
He extended his hand towards Hestia but then hesitated.
His golden eyes looked down at his own large, thick hand.
‘If I hit her with this, she’ll die right away.’
Irritated, he clenched his fist tightly.
Eventually, giving up on approaching her, he moved towards the fireplace.
Aslan roughly grabbed some dry wood and threw it into the fireplace.
The flames greedily devoured the wood, growing stronger.
The room quickly became not just warm, but hot.
Having barely stopped coughing, Hestia couldn’t stand the heat and slightly lowered the hood covering her head.
Only then did she fully notice Aslan’s attire.
His shirt, unbuttoned down to his chest, was soaked with something that looked like sweat, sticking closely to his muscles.
Staring at the vivid contours, she felt her mouth go dry.
Hestia felt an intense thirst, this time for a completely different reason.
When her eyes met Aslan’s, she involuntarily turned her face away.
Heat seemed to rush up to the very tips of her hair.
“Your face is red.”
“It’s hot……”
With a slightly cracked voice, Hestia began to fan herself.
“Better than freezing to death. Endure it.”
Aslan gruffly uttered and then placed a glass filled with a dark brown liquid in front of her.
“Drink it.”
Considering his intentions, Hestia raised the glass to moisten her throat as a gesture of politeness.
Then her face darkened rapidly.
“It’s…… alcohol.”
As Hestia looked down at the glass without intending to drink, Aslan clicked his tongue.
“Don’t have anything fancy like tea that a princess would enjoy.”
Embarrassed by Aslan’s cold reply, Hestia made a sheepish face.
Seeing her expression, Aslan momentarily regretted his words. He didn’t want to be sarcastic this time. But he closed his lips again, thinking that explaining every action was utterly ridiculous.
Without any response from him, Hestia spoke first.
“It seems you had the meeting quite comfortably.”
Hestia murmured softly, looking down.
“It’s my house, what’s the problem?”
“……None.”
Hestia replied a bit bewilderedly and then took a sip from the glass he had offered her.
Her throat burned.
Eventually, unable to bear it, she coughed out harshly again.
“You should have diluted it with water or something, foolish.”
“It’s okay. I can drink this much.”
After coughing a bit more, she licked her lips.
“First of all, thank you for making time. I really mean it.”
Aslan scoffed lightly in response.
Hestia cautiously started the conversation.
“I’m not sure if you remember what I said last time… but I came to finish the rest of our conversation.”
Aslan crossed his arms and leaned back casually against the chair’s backrest.
Her action was meant to show that she wouldn’t be interested in whatever he had to say.
Meanwhile, Hestia leaned forward even more, as if her upper body would topple over, gazing at him with earnest eyes.
“I want to get married.”
Aslan’s face distorted as before. Hestia, worried he would interrupt her again and not hear her out, hurriedly spoke.
“With you.”
It would be fair to call that short whisper a significant effort from Hestia.
She then immediately closed her mouth. No reaction had yet come from Aslan.
‘Should I have brought at least a flower?’
It was a proposal, after all.
She felt perhaps she had been too thoughtless.
Hestia swallowed hard, holding her breath.
The heavy silence between her and Aslan was almost unbearably burdensome.
A beat late, he responded.
“……What did you just say?”
Hestia swallowed her bitterness, seeing Aslan’s furrowed face.
She knew he disliked her, but seeing such an expression right before her eyes stirred a strange feeling.
“Marry me? With you?”
He asked incredulously. But Aslan was surprisingly not as upset as he thought he’d be at Hestia’s preposterous suggestion.
Not wanting to reveal his confusion to Hestia, he deliberately scoffed coldly.
“Princess, are you on some kind of medication?”
Hestia frowned at such an indecent question.
“I haven’t taken any medicine, nor do I have a fever. I am perfectly sane, so I hope you end the mental state check here.”
More bewildered, Aslan ran his hands through his hair haphazardly.
“Just barging in and the first thing you say is about getting married. Wouldn’t you be shocked if you were in my shoes?”
Hestia awkwardly nodded, then added as if to explain.
“It seems I’ve been too abrupt. But… if I didn’t start with the main point, I thought you wouldn’t listen to me again. Please understand.”
She tightly held the glass as if it were her lifeline, staring intently into it.
Aslan watched her quietly, twisting his lips in disbelief.
‘Just like last time, and today too.’
He felt anger boiling up against Hestia, who came without any greetings or apologies for such a situation.
‘I decided to meet and listen, so I’ll endure it.’
Aslan restrained himself, fearing only sarcastic words would escape his lips if he spoke.
Yet, he couldn’t help but steal glances at her.
‘Nothing has changed.’
No, she seemed even more beautiful.
Then, Aslan clicked his tongue without realizing.
He inwardly cursed himself for having such trivial thoughts.
His gaze, sticky like melted caramel, struggled to leave her. Clenching his jaw, it tensed up.
Swallowing a sigh, Aslan turned his gaze away from her with superhuman effort.
Then he asked with a voice hoarse and slightly husky from the heat.
“I really can’t figure you out.”
Hestia mulled over her words in her mouth.
How much should she tell Aslan?
‘I don’t need to spill everything, but I have to share enough to persuade him.’
She thought it best to reveal her intentions to leave the temple, although it was confidential.
‘There’s no worry about the word spreading right away.’
Aslan wasn’t one to mingle in social circles anyway.
So even if rumors spread later about her leaving the temple, he could be excluded from the list of suspects.
Quickly finishing her calculations, she took a small breath, held it in, and then spoke.
“I will soon be expelled from the temple.”
“……What are you talking about now?”
Aslan furrowed his brow.
He gestured for her to explain more, but Hestia’s lips didn’t reopen.
Aslan rubbed his eyebrows roughly.
“Princess. If you’ve started talking, finish it properly.”
His voice was tired.
“That’s all I can tell you.”
Aslan glanced at Hestia with furrowed brows. His face looked quite troubled.
“Is that a matter already settled with the temple authorities?”
“Not exactly, but… it’s as good as certain.”
She tensed her fingertips, and the liquid in the glass she held trembled slightly, creating ripples.
No matter what happens, the oracle does not change. It means she cannot escape her destined death.
So, her only wish is one.
To die not by divine will, but at a time of her choosing.
That was her only revenge against the deity who pushed her again into a cruel fate.
‘In some way, I hope my death holds value. Or at least leaves behind a small comfort or sense of relief.’
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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