However, Ian looked down at Brody, who was leaning on him and asleep, with satisfaction.
[This is a time separator.]“Bree? ……Bree?”
She opened her eyes from the darkness at the sound of her name being called and returned to the bright reality.
Brody, lifting her head in a daze, almost hit Ian’s chin with her head.
Ian, who avoided her movement leisurely, looked at Brody, who was blinking and looking up at him.
“Ouch…….”
Brody, stretching one leg at a time as if her bent knees were numb, did so cautiously.
Ian supported her so she wouldn’t fall, helping her achieve her goal.
He caught her below her ankle.
His soldiers, who had just become accustomed to their unfamiliar duke carrying Brody during their travels, were again surprised at the sight of such a considerate duke.
So far, they had only seen him as quiet and majestic, mercilessly cutting down the enemy on the battlefield.
Brody, who lowered her legs, asked while rubbing her eyes with one hand and holding Ian’s arm with the other.
“Are we there yet?”
“Almost?”
“Almost……?”
Brody answered as if asking why she had been woken up already.
Ian grinned and pointed ahead with his chin.
Brody, who had been sitting next to him, turned her head and looked where he was pointing.
“Wow…….”
There was a huge fortress there.
Built between rugged mountains on both sides, the fortress was naturally protected, making it worthy of being called a natural fortress.
The fortress’s walls were all white because when the bricks were baked with the soil of this region, they turned white.
The sun was setting to the south, to their right, and the burning sunset, slanting from behind, dyed the white fortress in shades of pink and orange, creating a spectacle.
“Wow……”
Brody could only repeatedly exclaim in admiration, unable to find words.
“It’s amazing.”
“Yes, amazing. We timed it to arrive at sunset.”
“You? Oh, that’s true, but, Your Grace.”
“Hmm?”
“How did you capture this fortress?”
She felt like she understood why the people of the South did not defend themselves so much. How could they have thought that this fortress would be captured?
Now that it had been captured, the opposing side must be feeling the same way.
The duke chuckled at Brody’s strange point of surprise.
‘Really an unpredictable woman.’
Brody did express amazement at the greatness of the fortress, but she also seemed to admire the beauty of the scenery. Judging by her stretching her neck to look around here and there.
Proudly, Ian spurred his horse on, and the horse, seeming to know its owner’s mood, walked with style.
[This is a time separator.]After entering the fortress, they spent several days organizing their positions and planning to descend to the Imperial City.
The final battle would likely be on the looped plain in front of the wall of the castle where the Imperial Palace was located.
As they descended, the climate grew warmer. Based on the fortress, the vegetation had changed dramatically, and it seemed like a different world from the north.
In the occupied village, finely grown crops on fertile soil greeted them.
The people who had come and gone in the barrenness of the north shed tears rather than rejoicing at the abundance of the central region.
This was because they acutely felt how the royal family had treated the north.
In any case, the supply line for food to the battlefield had shortened. It was possible to resupply directly from that region.
Aidan’s army pushed vigorously to the south.
On a hill where the imperial castle was visible in the distance, the army of the Duke of Ice Wall was lined up.
Below the hill, the Gori Plain was visible, and at the end of the plain, the walls of the capital, surrounded by a moat, were seen.
The castle seemed peaceful, but the walls did not look suitable for battle.
Brody, who had ridden with Aidan to the hill overlooking the enemy at the Duke’s request, looked at the enemy’s flags.
The emblem of the imperial army and the emblem of Duke Nicholson’s army could be identified.
“Jacks will come out.”
Jacks was the name of the original protagonist.
Brody frowned at the emblem.
Aidan was more concerned with ‘Brody’s thoughts’ than the enemy’s army, having originally expected enemies near the imperial castle.
After all, it was an attack on her hometown… he thought her feelings wouldn’t be good.
“Is there anything you want me to take care of for your hometown? Family, perhaps…”
Aidan asked, as if he would protect any place or family she wanted.
“No.”
However, Brody answered curtly.
“Come to think of it, I don’t really know anything about her.”
Aidan was surprised by her sharp answer, but he felt awkward to ask further, having Brody’s hometown before them, where the battle would soon be joined.
‘I’ll have to ask when the war is over.’
[This is a time separator.]“Take care.”
Perhaps because the final battle was imminent.
Unusually, Brody came out in front of the soldiers to bid farewell to the Duke.
Aidan nodded his head in response and turned the horse’s head with a kick.
The battle began soon after.
Ahead of the army of the Lailly royal family, Duke Jacks MacCarthy’s army appeared first.
Behind the tightly woven line, Duke Jacks, his golden hair flowing, stood confidently.
His army boasted brilliant topclass weapons and armor. The formation was neat, and they exhibited a majestic and splendid movement.
It was an army composed of elites who graduated from the noble and royal school.
However, it was difficult for them like exemplary students to withstand the battlehardened veterans.
At first daunted by the force of Duke MacCarthy’s army, the Duke of Ice Wall’s forces quickly regained their composure after a few clashes.
They realized they were more formidable than they thought.
After that, the tide of battle turned.
When Duke MacCarthy’s army was surrounded and faced annihilation, Jacks, Duke of the MacCarthy family, screamed and challenged Duke Aidan of Ice Wall to a oneonone duel.
Although General River advised against it, Aidan accepted the fight without a blink and won within ten bouts.
Thus, the goldenhaired Duke Jacks became Aidan’s prisoner.
The first day’s fighting ended like that.
Having destroyed Duke MacCarthy’s army, considered the capital’s top force, the rest was a matter of time.
Aidan returned to camp with a triumphant air.
With a pounding heart, he looked to the camp to see if Brody might come to meet him.
But he did not see her.
Inside the Duke’s tent.
On the table, where no human warmth was felt, a small medicine bottle and a short note with writing awaited him.
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.”
