Leaning against the quiet bedroom, Adeline felt her earlier agitation gradually subside.
Realizing she had been sensitive, she couldn’t take her eyes off the bedroom door, waiting for Cassius. But until she fell asleep, he never returned.
Exhausted from the tough day, Adeline eventually dozed off.
The next morning, the relentless rain continued. Adeline woke up feeling as heavy as a waterlogged cotton ball.
“Cough, cough,” she was suddenly seized by thirst and struggled to get up.
As she rose, something fell from her head – a wet towel. Someone must have tended to her through the night; there were extra towels and a basin neatly arranged on the nightstand.
Adeline reached for the fallen towel but paused, noticing the bandage neatly wrapped around her right hand.
She hadn’t thought to rewrap the bandage last night.
‘He must have come while I was asleep.’
It seemed he had taken care of her tenderly.
Feeling inexplicably guilty, she decided to look for him, but as she attempted to leave the bedroom, she was hit by sudden dizziness and lost her balance, awkwardly collapsing back onto the bed.
“Am I dizzy?”
Last night, she had been fleeing through the rain-soaked forest in her thin dress, which was no match against the chilling rainwater.
The stress of hiding from the knights had also taken its toll.
Apparently, the ordeal had left her with a fever.
The world seemed to spin, but regaining her senses, Adeline cautiously left the bedroom.
She couldn’t find any sign of Cassius on the second floor.
Only the sound of rain was heard, and the corridor with the bedrooms and office was filled with silence.
Holding onto the railing, she descended the stairs to the first floor.
Approaching the ground floor, she was enticed by a delicious aroma and followed it.
At the end of the scent trail was the kitchen.
On one side of the kitchen, vegetables were haphazardly cut, and beside them, a man’s back was visible as he busily cooked something.
“Mel?”
Her voice was hoarse.
Cassius turned around upon hearing her raspy call.
“Are you awake?”
He approached her briskly and placed his hand on her forehead.
“Lie down more. Why did you come out?”
Adeline closed her eyes, comforted by the cool touch on her forehead.
“It feels cool.”
Like an oasis in the desert, she instinctively grasped his hand, wanting to feel more of the coolness.
“It’s not my hand that’s cool, you’re the one who’s burning up,” he frowned, seemingly upset.
“I’m making soup. Wait in your room; I’ll bring it to you.”
“I want to stay here.”
Adeline didn’t want to go back to the lonely solitude of the second floor.
“There’s nowhere to sit here.”
Despite the lack of seating, she stubbornly insisted.
“Even so.”
Cassius sighed, seemingly giving up on convincing her.
“Alright.”
He then started looking around and cleared a table next to the window of all its ingredients.
After draping a large tablecloth over the clean table, he approached Adeline.
“Hold on.”
Swiftly, he lifted her by the waist, and in an instant, Adeline found herself sitting on the table covered with the tablecloth.
“Sit here.”
Adeline was unsure if her current flushed state was due to the fever or because of the Duke.
Swiftly lifting Adeline onto the table, the Duke then refocused on his cooking as if nothing had happened.
A delicious, sweet aroma was added to the savory scent.
He seemed to have finished the soup, turning off the heat and ladling it into a small spoon. “Want to try it?” he asked.
Startled by the sudden offer, Adeline blankly stared at the spoon, then nodded and reached out with her left hand.
But he playfully raised the spoon high, out of her reach. “Ah, open your mouth.”
The Duke then grabbed Adeline’s hand that was reaching for the spoon, pulled it down, and wrapped it along with the table. Suddenly, her hand was caught between the table and his.
Blocking her hand, he jokingly asked, “No hand?”
He gradually approached, and soon Adeline tasted the soup from his spoon. “Is it good?”
Surprised by its deliciousness, Adeline sincerely responded, “It’s really good.”
Seeing Cassius smiling without a care upon hearing her praise, Adeline was reminded of the previous day’s events.
Had she been too harsh? She brought up the courage to speak, “Mel, about yesterday… I was too sensitive. I’m sorry.”
Her apology seemed to dissolve all the Duke’s lingering resentment, as he smiled broadly.
Feeling shy upon seeing the Duke’s smile, Adeline couldn’t face him directly.
Her cheeks, already flushed from the fever, turned even redder, spreading to her ears.
His smile, finding her cuteness irresistible, made him lean even closer to Adeline.
They were almost touching.
As they leaned in closer, Adeline’s back reached the window. Suddenly, a crashing sound was heard, and her back leaned even further back.
“Del!” The Duke quickly grasped her waist and safely brought her down.
Their closeness, or perhaps the shock of nearly falling, made Adeline’s heart race.
The Duke, looking at the window, pointed out, “Oh no, the window is broken again.”
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.”
