Strange, Have I Been Redeemed?

Yue Yu made a few final wishes:

May I be healthy and strong in my next life, free of illness and disaster, and may I enjoy the carefree life of staying single and childless.

Instead, she transmigrated into the body of the eldest Miss Yue, whose heart meridians were underdeveloped, and got bound to a childhood friend she had been betrothed to since they were young.

After they married, the two were distant and polite, keeping out of each other's way.

She wasn't an inconsiderate transmigrator, and she had no desire to disrupt the natural order.

One day, she fell into the water and nearly drowned. For some reason, she felt a brief sense of relief.

But the next moment, someone hauled her out, and she found herself facing a pair of glistening eyes.

Pei Yuxiao said calmly, "Don't overthink it. We're close, so saving you was only natural."

She gave him a wistful look and said nothing.

Later, she was accidentally buried in deep snow. As her consciousness faded, someone scooped her into his arms.

The young man's face was as dark as a stormy sea. He seemed to have a thousand things to say, but only held her tight.

For the first time, Yue Yu thought he was a little frightening when angry.

And for the first time, she discovered that the warmth of an embrace could be so scorching.

When Pei Yuxiao picked up her list of final wishes, his face turned ashen with fury. Not long after their wedding, he had realized that his wife was truly strange.

He had saved her from one accident after another, but each time she looked displeased, as if he had ruined everything.

Until one night, he came upon her huddled in a corner, a small knife beside her. Her slender wrists trembled violently, and tears streamed down her face.

The young man, who was used to wielding long knives and swords, had never found a small knife so unsettling.

When he inexplicably wiped away her tears and awkwardly stroked her hair, both of them froze.

Their relationship wasn't close enough for that, yet in that moment he felt that he hadn't done nearly enough.

He was the one who couldn't be bothered to pretend, whether in public or in private, and who treated her farewell letter as a joke. Yet later, he was the one who put a check mark beside every wish on that list.

*

A little scene:

A violent rainstorm tore through the pretense between them.

She had just lifted the curtain when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. Inside the carriage, long fingers held her slender wrist and pressed it to his cheek.

His palm was scorching. Yue Yu was about to pull away when the lips a few inches from her palm moved closer instead. His voice was restrained and hoarse at the end: "I want you to hold me for a moment. Don't push me away."

A faint flush colored the young man's eyes, making him look so pitiful that Yue Yu forgot to struggle for a moment.

A moment later, she felt a warm touch at the hollow of her throat, and her whole body stiffened. "...Who taught you to hug someone like that?"

His lips brushed her collarbone. He looked up at her voice. "Don't want me to? Then I'll hold you instead."

What's the difference?

The young man caught the edge of her clothes between his teeth.

Yue Yu: ...Wait, what are you trying to do now?

A cool, aloof young lady with a machine-like air x a sincere, warm-hearted young general

P.S. 1. A slow-burn romance, with a slice-of-life feel. The author isn't good at plotting, and the world revolves around the male and female leads.

2. Emphasizing once again that this is really, really slow-burn! You can tell from the first few chapters. The heroine is a little conflicted.

Theme: Learn to recognize your own worth and find the courage to feel happiness.