“You just have to say one thing. Just tell me who threw you into the lake. I’ll take care of the rest.”
His black eyes were unwaveringly telling the truth. Should I be thankful to this man who casually said he would kill someone for me?
“Marquis, thank you for saving me today.”
Laches’s eyebrows furrowed suddenly.
“If I had intended to tell you who I was… When you said you would banish anyone I didn’t like from the North, I would have told you.”
“Am I not good enough for you?”
“It’s not a matter of trust. It’s because it’s my job and someone else’s revenge.”
Laches’s sweetness is poison.
Using his power would make the job easier and faster, but I had no intention of doing that.
The relationship between Laches and me is just a superior-subordinate relationship. For whatever reason, he is treating me well, but if I assume it’s just simple curiosity, the emotion will disappear someday.
Now is fortunate because the emotion is growing like a balloon, but when it reaches its limit, it will burst and disappear.
All emotions have an end. But that’s not visible. Laches’s emotion exploded without my knowledge, and I didn’t want to act like a fool.
When that time comes, my request will be a tiresome conversation for Laches.
I didn’t want to gamble on Laches’s attitude, which could change depending on the situation or mood.
“The words I wanted to hear from you weren’t that.”
Laches, who was breathing lightly, reached out his hand. His fingers, which I thought might wander and disappear, boldly landed on my lips.
“You… always surpass my expectations.”
His thumb brushed against my lower lip. Has his temperature risen? If so, is it because of me, or is it this man?
The space between us was filled with heated breath. He slowly examined my lips and tilted his head.
“Marquis too.”
I replied quietly, and our eyes met as he lifted his gaze from my lips. In his black pupils, a small desire had turned into a spark and was spreading like wildfire. He was burning with various emotions.
“I didn’t expect you to touch my lips without my permission.”
“I didn’t expect you to say something like that now.”
Laches lightly smiled at the corner of his mouth and withdrew his hand from my lips. Then, he climbed onto the bed where I was sitting.
“Should I apologize for being rude?”
I wondered what he was doing, but soon Laches took a seat behind me. His voice, tinged with laughter, echoed above my head, and then his thin fingers touched my nape.
“What are you doing…”
As the unfamiliar sensation touched my nape, my shoulders involuntarily shrank.
“I thought I’d apologize for being rude by drying your hair myself. Do you know your lips are purple? I’m afraid you might bleed again.”
“Even this…”
“Is this also considered rude? Then, what kind of apology should I make this time?”
This time, he seemed determined to do something even ruder. Crossing the line as he pleased was a specialty of this man, and I had forgotten that.
It’s fortunate that he can’t see my face directly.
“…Just dry my hair, please.”
Behind me, his laughter rang clear. He carefully dried my wet hair strand by strand with a towel.
A maid receiving her master’s favor. It was an unprecedented situation.
His long fingers brushed my nape and grazed my ear. His barely touching fingers seemed to leave traces like a fever I had when I was young.
‘Is it really fortunate that he can’t see my face directly?’
It felt much more dangerous than when he could see my face.
Is he laughing? Or is he maintaining a stern expression? What expression is he wearing while looking at me?
As my field of vision was blocked, other senses became more sensitive.
Laches’s breathing, the sound of his clothes brushing against me, the sound of water dripping from my hair.
Everything stimulated me.
“But I still hope that there won’t be such incidents in the future.”
The voice came from closer than I had thought, and I was startled.
“I don’t want to feel despair every time I hear such news. I hope you don’t get hurt.”
“…Does the Marquis despair because of me?”
“Didn’t you know?”
His tone was playful. I couldn’t tell if he was being serious.
“My whole day ends with you intact. You have to spend the day safely for my day to continue tomorrow.”
It was like savoring a delicious cake in one bite. But what I can taste is only up to there. This is a sweetness I can’t swallow.
At first glance, it might seem like he’s whispering affection, but Laches has never explicitly mentioned such emotions to me. It’s just a playful guessing game.
If he ever finds out that I’m from Leparentia, will all this consideration disappear?
“Come to think of it, since I fell into the water, I have to wash up anyway… Shouldn’t I dry my hair after washing?”
So, it’s best for me to pretend not to know and steer the conversation away.
“…Are you clever? Then, did I make a mistake by drying your hair?”
In that case, this man would follow my conversation without hesitation. The previous conversation was not particularly important.
“But still, if you don’t dry your hair, you might catch a cold again.”
As the towel he was using to dry my hair slipped down gently, his hand slipped between my hair.
“I’m showing leniency only this time. I don’t know who it is, but if anyone dares to interfere with you next time…”
The hand that had been playfully ruffling my hair stopped.
“I won’t even ask for your opinion then. I’ll kill them right there as I please.”
“…”
“During my entire life, no one has dared to touch what’s mine without consequences. So, what can you do? If there’s another clueless fool who tries to beg for mercy next time, they’ll have to die.”
It was a casual tone, but there was no playfulness in it. He whispered softly as if sharing a secret.
“My mercy extends only to you, after all.”
“…”
Laches laughed, as if discussing inconsequential matters like the weather.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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