“Please make me fed up with it.”
In response to Gibran’s words pouring out like an outburst, Riley turned her head, avoiding his gaze.
Asking to be tired of it. She already felt it becoming annoying.
‘In the end… nothing will change.’
How despicably might she be thinking inwardly? A daughter of a humble family with nothing to her name, could she dare to harbor feelings without even understanding the topic?
The names of the women mentioned in his proposal floated through her mind.
Even Riley, who had lived secluded in a corner without any connection to the world, had encountered these names through the mansion’s servants or clandestinely read newspapers. Renowned individuals, each one of them.
Among them, the name Riley Eadalin was undeniably meager.
The already battered self-esteem felt like it was tumbling down into an abyss.
“I hope you get tired of it.”
“…”
“If that were the case, there’d be no need to worry about it all day, wrapping my head around it.”
Gibran buried his face in Riley’s neck, and sensing something odd, Riley turned her head.
The tone was different from what she had expected. Could it be a misconception, a different feeling?
This is like…
“I shouldn’t have worried about whether I’d be hated.”
Riley’s eyes widened as she carefully chewed on Gibran’s words.
His looming figure, approaching closely, seemed reminiscent of a child whining.
Simultaneously, dissecting each word he uttered, it unmistakably conveyed, no matter how one looked at it, the sentiment of ‘I’m not fed up; I can’t be.’
“…Am I not disliked?”
With difficulty, throwing out the question with maximum consideration, Gibran raised his head to gaze at Riley.
He smiled as if dumbfounded. “What is there to dislike that I would dislike?”
“…Isn’t my affection burdensome?”
“Why should it be burdensome?”
“Well… We aren’t really like real lovers, are we? Our relationship is a bit strange. And I… Compared to you, I’m infinitely lacking and insufficient.”
“What’s lacking, what’s insufficient?”
Was it necessary to say that? Riley subtly averted her gaze.
Through her stepfather, she learned that the noble world was different from the world of commoners, with love taking a back seat to quantifiable conditions. Most nobles engaged in strategic marriages, seeking partners in their own circles. The higher the status, the more stringent the criteria.
While there were love stories between nobles and commoners, the positions available to commoners were limited to government positions. Even then, if the lower-status individual was a man, they often received inadequate treatment in this society. Love stories from this era were scarce, and most ended tragically.
The public reaction, following Riley’s public disclosure on Gibran’s birthday, reflected this reality. While the media covered the marriage of the Marquis with more emphasis on the transcendent love beyond status and the gap between households, the public found it more perplexing why the Marquis would marry a woman from such an insignificant family.
“Why are you avoiding my gaze?”
“…Do I have to tell you everything with my mouth? No, right.”
“I really don’t know.”
“The environment, background, status – everything about you and me is different. The disparity is too significant. Like substances that can’t be mixed, we are.”
“So? What does that have to do with anything?”
When Gibran, seemingly nonchalant, threw the question as if truly not understanding, it was Riley who became perplexed instead.
Ongoing dilemmas at the back of her mind. The premise of ‘he and I are not compatible’ seemed to have turned into a blank canvas.
“…It’s a tilted relationship.”
“…”
“We’ve been tilted from the start. I received a lot from you, but I can’t give you as much in return.”
In response to Riley’s diminishing voice, Gibran chuckled, seemingly amazed.
“Contrary to appearances, you’re quite calculating, Nuna.”
“…Calculating?”
“One by one, you’re nitpicking over useless things.”
“…….”
“Why do you think you have to reciprocate exactly what you receive? Why bother scrutinizing unnecessary factors like emotions, background, status, and wealth?”
Riley became as silent as a clam.
“Is it written in the law that you must do that?”
“…….”
“You have to give as much as you receive. Isn’t that a story applicable to business, not relationships between men and women?”
“…….”
“Why bother with such foolish concerns? Do I seem like a materialistic, superficial person to care about such things?”
“…It’s not that. I just… learned it that way. I thought that was the right thing to do.”
When the right age came, she thought it was only natural to be sold to an appropriate family.
If her marriage partner were not Count Ermetz but an ordinary man from a common family, she would have accepted the marriage without any fuss.
Women were considered as assets to their families in this society.
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.
Link to read
