Damion slowly walked along the path after getting out of the carriage. The emerald sea and white sandy beach created a spectacular view.
As a child, he loved the sea of Marel. His mother forbade him from going into the water, saying it was dangerous, but he was content just looking at the transparent waves.
He was happy to see his mother’s smile when he picked up broken seashells on the sand where the waves had passed and held them out to her.
However, after his mother threw herself into this sea, the sea of Marel began to bring him memories of unhappiness as well.
He thought he would never see this sea again.
So he deliberately tried not to seek it out.
But now, facing the sea of Marel… it wasn’t as painful as he thought.
To the point where he regretted not being able to face it until now.
Perhaps it was because the afterimage the southern sea left on him was covered by another memory.
Damion stared at the sandy beach for a while, then stepped onto it. He felt the crunching sensation beneath his feet. It wasn’t as deep as he thought. It seemed walkable.
Last spring came to mind.
The image of the woman who went by the unsuitable name Raine was still vivid in his eyes.
The sand there was particularly soft compared to other places, so his shoes were full of sand. Even so, he didn’t mind walking towards Ansi. More accurately, he didn’t have the composure to care about such things.
His mind was completely focused on Ansi’s gestures and expressions… He wanted to get to her quickly. Looking back, it was almost laughable how he pretended to be leisurely and put on airs.
Damion stopped and looked at the sea. The waves were calm. It was a silly thought, but he felt it was natural since she wasn’t there.
Now, nothing could overwhelm Damion or surge towards him.
At that moment, he felt a presence.
Damion turned around.
There was no one there. Only seabirds passed over the vast sandy beach.
But Damion stared blankly into the air for a long time.
Actually… he thought Ansi would be there when he turned around. He really had that feeling.
“I must be crazy.”
Damion let out a snort of laughter.
To some extent, it was a familiar occurrence. Even after Ansi left, he often thought she was with him.
Several times a day, he saw her illusions and heard her voice. Every night, even if he fell into a shallow sleep, he dreamed of her.
He even imagined how he would act if he met her again by chance.
Even though he knew it was all in vain, something that shouldn’t happen.
Knowing he shouldn’t meet her, Damion didn’t even try to find out where Ansi was living now. Ever since he heard a few months ago that Ansi met Deril and left for somewhere.
She must be living well without any shortage. Now that she was with her family as she wanted, her guilt and lingering feelings for him must have faded.
Damion turned his gaze toward the carriage. And he walked towards the front where not even her afterimage existed.
It was time to return to the capital.
Pretending to be Orphe’s great prince. Pretending to be the Marquis’ good brother. As always, he had to swallow his pride, hold his breath, and wear a mask again.
Damion had been participating in official events and making appearances as a member of Orphe.
The rumor that he had gone crazy for a while after divorcing Ansi had died down. Now he was more faithful and certain than anyone else to be an Orphe.
Ironically, the reason Kardian didn’t stop Damion from doing so was because of Ansi.
He had been watching Damion to this day and wanted him to be in a position visible to his eyes. From time to time, he would be suspicious of and search for traces of Ansi in Damion.
Each time, Damion made it known that Ansi had completely left his life. It was something he said to Kardian, but also to himself.
Ansi was no longer in his life.
But the promise with her remained.
So Damion had to act now as a perfect member of Orphe.
Just as Ansi had done.
He had not forgotten the promise he made with Ansi. No, he had never forgotten it for a single moment.
[This is the timeline separator]“What’s going on?”
“Shh.”
Deril, crouching down, brought his index finger to his lips.
Ansi, who quickly hid behind a rock at Deril’s lead, kept her mouth shut tightly. She could see from his serious face that she should hide for now, but she didn’t know why.
Deril’s grip on Ansi’s hand tightened. Only after staying like that for a long time did Deril look behind the rock and relax his strength.
“Let’s go.”
“What did you see that made you do that?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Then why are we hiding?”
“There was someone who looked like a nobleman. You never know. They might know us.”
Ansi furrowed her brow. It wouldn’t hurt to be careful as Deril said. But his expression was too dark for that.
“Was it someone familiar?”
“Not really. Let’s go back now.”
Deril shook his head lightly and took a step. Ansi glanced back several times with a doubtful look. The quiet beach was empty.
She felt somewhat unsatisfied. But since it seemed Deril wouldn’t say anything, she gave up and started walking too.
[This is the timeline separator]“Welcome back, sir.”
Elma greeted Damion as he arrived at the mansion. Damion nodded and immediately headed towards the central staircase. Elma chased after him with quick steps as he walked briskly and spoke brightly on purpose.
“Rauti has prepared a very luxurious meal, saying you were coming. Go and eat it quickly. Before it gets cold!”
“I don’t feel like having dinner.”
Damion refused indifferently. But Elma didn’t give up and stayed by Damion’s side.
“Did you eat something there?”
“I ate enough.”
“Oh my, you know it’s obvious when you lie, right? You barely ate anything before leaving too. Don’t do that and have dinner…”
“Elma.”
Damion stopped walking. His tone was chilly, and his face was full of fatigue and embarrassment.
In the end, Elma couldn’t say more and bowed her head.
Damion had been like this lately. To be exact, ever since the lady of this house left the mansion. He acted like a soulless person, not properly eating or sleeping.
Until Damion entered the room and disappeared, Elma watched his back with a worried look.
Meanwhile, Damion, who entered the room, took off his jacket with an indifferent face and hung it up. Then, as if out of habit, he took out liquor from the cabinet and poured it into a glass. The scent of strong liquor spread throughout the room.
He walked to the desk with the glass in his hand. Sitting on the desk, he slowly looked through the numerous letters that had piled up.
Damion smirked.
Most of them were letters containing marriage proposals.
He threw them into the trash can in a lump, leaving only one letter. Then, bringing the glass to his mouth, he looked around the room.
Even though Ansi had left, he was still using the couple’s bedroom, not his original room. A couple’s bedroom used alone, it was truly pathetic and miserable. Ansi might find it creepy if she knew.
But without this room, he couldn’t even fall into a shallow sleep. He also wanted to linger a little longer in Ansi’s fading presence, which was slowly disappearing day by day.
Clinging to her vanishing traces and reminiscing about past memories was the only thing that kept Damion going.
“Ansi.”
There was no answer today either.
Hating the silence, Damion drank and drank again. No matter how much he drank, he didn’t get drunk. It would be nice if he could at least fall asleep, but his mind only became clearer.
The more it happened, the more he missed her.
Head bowed deeply, staring at the floor, he got up and left the room.
He arrived at Ansi’s room.
In her room, there was a huge night sky. Damion walked quietly in front of it, closed his eyes, and brought his hand to the painting.
As the bumpy oil painting touched his fingertips, he was enveloped in a feeling of being swallowed by the night sky.
Suddenly, Damion realized that he would never see the night sky with her again, the stars adorning that sky.
When he first let her go, he comforted himself by saying that being under the same sky was no different from being together.
He could see how arrogant and miserable that thought was before autumn passed.
The seasons without her passed slowly, painfully. Autumn, winter, and then spring again. He could no longer remember what he had been thinking and what he had spent countless seasons for before.
Arcturus. The herdsman who protects the family.
He wanted to become that herdsman. To be remembered forever in Ansi’s sky. That was now the reason for his existence.
‘Damion.’
Before he knew it, Ansi was standing next to him. Damion’s gaze wavered. Knowing it was an illusion of her, Damion reached out into the air and grabbed her.
“Don’t go.”
‘You sent me away. You told me to leave.’
“I didn’t mean it.”
‘We can never see each other again. That’s our fate.’
“No. I miss you…”
Damion spoke the words he could never convey to the real Ansi. It was his true feelings that he had kept to himself because he couldn’t make her unhappy anymore.
Ansi just stared at Damion silently with her mouth firmly shut. Damion embraced her. But at that moment, Ansi disappeared like smoke.
“……”
Damion, who had been standing there blankly, slowly lowered his arms. He let out a hollow laugh.
The laughter didn’t end easily. Until a faint light mixed into the darkness visible through the window, Damion thought of Ansi and laughed again.
After a long time, Damion, who returned to the couple’s bedroom, picked up the one letter left on the desk.
It was an invitation to a masquerade ball.
A place he was set to receive an invitation to early on, and the destination of this tedious life.
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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