Herxis had no complaints about her uncle taking care of her until she became an adult.
It was a natural thing. He was her only family and savior.
“Besides, my uncle was really affectionate. I could feel that he truly loved me.”
Her uncle always kept his young niece by his side. He wanted to know everything about her—what she liked, what she disliked, what food made her sick, and what scared her.
And she gladly told him everything.
She had nothing to hide from her only family.
Why would she want to hide anything from the guardian who had stood by her side when she could trust no one else after the passing of her parents?
“If he wanted, I would have even given him my liver. Of course, what he really wanted wasn’t just my liver.”
Her uncle was also excellent as a mentor.
He was proficient in all knowledge and a master of all martial arts.
Herxis enjoyed learning from him, and he also enjoyed personally instructing his niece.
Especially in swordsmanship, which was almost exclusively his domain.
“Ah, but he was a bit harsh as a mentor. He didn’t go easy on me. If I let my guard down even a little, I’d end up with quite deep scars.”
It was fine when they used practice swords.
Once she turned nine, Duke Montaner allowed her to use real swords during their duels, and there were no concessions for that.
There were times when she even thought that her uncle might want to kill her…
‘No. My uncle, who cherishes me like his own child, would never do that. This is just training to make me stronger. I should be grateful.’
Being too kind and innocent, Herxis easily dismissed her suspicions.
As the years went by, the intensity of her uncle’s training increased. She believed it was all part of becoming an Emperor, just as other Emperors had done before.
He didn’t even assign a single guard when she went out on inspections.
He said that having a guard would reveal her identity, making it more dangerous, and she believed him without doubt.
Thanks to that, she didn’t know how many times she had to dodge fights and narrowly avoid incoming arrows.
“Once, I dodged a little late and ended up with a leg injury. When I returned, my uncle immediately added new training.”
The Duke employed skilled assassins to target his niece even in normal times.
The heir must never die, and to prevent that, one’s senses must be sharpened—that was his reasoning.
Thanks to his heightened senses, honed razor-sharp, he also gained insomnia as a side effect. A time when he could sleep soundly felt like a distant memory.
Then one day, after constantly pushing his limits,
“Could you look for a book on the Blenir ceremony in the library?”
His uncle spoke to his nephew after a fierce swordsmanship duel.
Herchis, who was elated for beating his uncle for the first time, didn’t immediately realize what his uncle had asked him to look for.
Only when beads of sweat on his forehead evaporated in the early winter breeze, taking away the heat from his head, did he start to understand his uncle’s words.
The Blenir ceremony.
It was a ritual performed when a newly of-age heir ascended to the throne.
Sitting in a bathtub filled with deer blood, chanting fertility spells as instructed by the temple, and finally drinking a few bowls of that water to conclude… it was essentially a message to prepare for the ascension.
“Only one more year until you’re sixteen, you should start preparing, shouldn’t you?”
The Duke said, sitting in the throne reserved for the acting Emperor, without a hint of reluctance, a gracious smile on his face.
Herchis immediately ran to the Imperial Library, but he couldn’t find any book on the ascension ceremony there.
The book was found in a corner of a warehouse, where only books about to be burned were stored.
Dust had collected on the cover so thickly that it was hard to make out, but he found it nonetheless and started to read. Then, another book underneath it inexplicably caught his eye.
It was truly inexplicable.
It wasn’t a particularly striking book, but for some reason, his eyes were drawn to it.
It was only when he unfolded a piece of paper wedged between the pages that he understood why.
“The rose-scented perfume Mother always used to wear. The scent was still on that letter.”
The handwriting was unmistakably his mother’s.
It was clearly a letter sent to her son, Herchis.
In order to make sure her son would read her letter, she had imbued it with her perfume.
The handwriting seemed weak, likely penned when her condition had deteriorated beyond help, but that did nothing to diminish the emotion he felt upon finding and reading his mother’s letter.
“It was nostalgic, melancholy, and thrilling, as if reading a love letter.”
But such poignant emotions vanished as I read through the text.
“Reading this means you’re still alive, doesn’t it, Her? You must be about fifteen by now.
By this point, your uncle must have realized that killing you isn’t so easy.”
At first, I had no idea what it meant.
‘Kill me? My uncle? Why?’
Understanding finally began to dawn the fifth time I read the same lines.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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