The Shadow Guard Husband I Traded For (Matriarchy)

[A deceptively gentle, laid-back manor lord x a slow-witted shadow guard with a high pain tolerance]

Blurb:

A shadow guard's fate is one of two things: either he dies on a mission, or he survives until his term is up and retires.

Cang Yu had just two years left before retirement. He never made enemies and kept an extremely low profile, waiting for the day he could retire with his savings and live quietly in the countryside.

Until his master summoned them.

Inside the room, a young woman lazily raised her eyes. Her peach-blossom eyes swept over the crowd, then settled on Cang Yu, who was hiding at the very back.

"I'll take him."

His master clicked her tongue, looking displeased. "Why not pick someone else? He's getting on in years, he was injured just yesterday, and he's not that good in a fight."

The young woman's gaze passed over the bandage on his forehead, and she smiled. "But I think he's quite good."

After that, Cang Yu somehow ended up with a new master. That very day, he followed her, looking bewildered and carrying his bundle on his back.

A shadow guard's life was worth little. Life and death were decided by a single word from those in power. He only hoped his new master would be easy to get along with, and at least let him make it through these two years.

On the first day, Cang Yu asked his new master whom he should kill, knife in hand.

The woman pointed at a rooster and told him to kill it so he could build up his strength.

His new master didn't like killing people. She only liked traveling through mountains and rivers, stopping wherever she pleased. She made Cang Yu put down his blade and pick up an embroidery needle, and taught him to cook all sorts of dishes.

Two years later, when his term was up, Cang Yu packed his things and left without looking back.

The woman was left behind, her expression dark as she captured him, forced him to marry her, and dragged him back to their room tied up.

"You've got my baby in your belly. Where do you think you're going?"

At first, his new master told him, "I have no family. If you follow me, life will be hard."

Later, he stood in their luxurious manor, still clutching the patched-up bundle he'd carried for years.

Later still, she said, "I have no sisters or brothers, so we should have several children."

A few years later, as he watched the little ones running all over the courtyard, he finally realized: Wasn't he supposed to retire to the countryside? How had he ended up staying to have her children?

Notes:

1. The hero is two years older than the heroine.

2. Like my previous stories, this is a logic-free, healing little sweet romance.

3. The hero will have a storyline involving blindness, but he'll recover.

Theme: Everything that came before is only a prelude.