Last night, the raging storm had quieted down.
Olivia gasped for breath.
‘If only you hadn’t been in her womb… Elena, my daughter, could have had a fresh start. So make yourself useful for your mother’s sake as well.’
With the bank guarantee, identification, and passport in hand, the Earl, having turned the room into a mess, glanced contemptuously at Olivia lying on the floor and then walked away.
It had been a night stained with relentless violence. Ann wept, but for some reason, Olivia couldn’t cry.
Even at six years old. When the business failed, her father passed away, her mother left, and she was left alone, Han Ji-an survived.
Everything was a mess, and it seemed it couldn’t get any worse, but she didn’t cry then either. Crying didn’t solve anything.
After all, this world was full of unsolvable, uncontrollable problems.
Yet, she never gave up on life.
“Don’t cry, Ann.”
It was a second life, given like a gift.
She couldn’t let everything be taken from her now.
Even if she felt suffocated by the oppressive reality, as long as she was still breathing, she had to struggle.
That was how Han Ji-an had lived. She faced the unforgiving world head-on, with nothing but her bare self.
“Everything will be alright.”
Olivia whispered, embracing Ann’s trembling small back.
“Did you open the account here?”
Startled by the clerk’s voice, Olivia snapped out of her thoughts.
“No. I did it in Lemont. The Rondos Lemont branch.”
“Are you from Rondos?”
“Yes.”
The clerk was strictly businesslike.
“It’ll take some time to verify. Your name?”
“…….”
“Your name, please.”
“……Oh, Olivia Blanchett.”
Even to the old-fashioned banker, who only knew numbers, the scandal of the Rose Ball was no exception.
That Olivia?
The clerk’s eyes widened as he peered through the bars at the woman’s face, pulling his glasses closer. The strange, alluring makeup made sense now. If he had such a face, he’d have fallen for her a hundred times.
“Your ID, please.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Passport?”
“I don’t have that either.”
The clerk looked up at Olivia.
“You don’t?”
Finally, instead of the large hat, he could see the woman’s face. She was stunningly beautiful. Perhaps she had suffered some misfortune at the hands of the princess.
No, that can’t be. He shook his head. The noble, elegant, and utterly pure princess couldn’t be involved.
“I lost the guarantee and everything. Is there no other way? I must stop it.”
The shabbily made-up woman seemed quite desperate. Even this look was charming, softening the bank clerk’s usually calculative mind.
She was an individual endorsed by major newspapers.
But then again, her face wasn’t in the published photos.
If it weren’t for the scrupulous bank manager, he would have resolved this stylishly and transitioned it into a dinner date, making it a wonderful day.
“You should first go to the police station to report it. Then go to the consulate to get a new ID and passport reissued. That seems to be the procedure. Ms. Blanchett.”
The woman looked disappointed, but the thought of the bank manager’s glaring eyes made this the best a clerk could offer.
“What do we do now?”
“Let’s go to the consulate first.”
Olivia and Ann hurriedly caught a carriage and headed to the Rondos consulate.
However, Olivia couldn’t get the answer she hoped for from the consulate staff either. He was even more fastidious than the bank clerk.
“Reissuing an ID will take about ten days.”
“Ten whole days?”
Earl Blanchett would have already arrived in Rondos by then.
With Olivia’s ID, he could forge a power of attorney and take a train to the capital, Lyden, to deal with the International Bank’s head office in just two days.
But ten days to block the account.
“Can’t it be done any sooner? Please.”
“Unless it flies to the Lyden Foreign Ministry, and even if it did, I can’t guarantee how promptly the officials there would work.”
Olivia calmly explained the situation in detail again.
“I understand the situation, but there’s no way around it. How will you fill out the application?”
The employee’s response was disinterested.
“…Is there really no other way?”
Olivia couldn’t back down.
The consulate employee, a native of Lyden, the capital of the Kingdom of Rondos, was a patriot.
He loved Rondos and revered the Duke of Edinburgh, particularly admiring his son Johan.
That woman, who brought disgrace to such an honorable family, couldn’t be lovely.
Even if there was a way, he didn’t want to help. He would have helped if her face hadn’t been filled with injuries.
Who had she been beaten by? His heart softened because of that. Being alone in a foreign land, his sense of kinship played a big part.
“There is a way if Ms. Blanchett has a guarantor. Someone with public credibility who can take full responsibility if something happens to you. Say, the Duke of Lanslot, for instance.”
Of course, that powerful, arrogant man wouldn’t bother with an infamous divorcee entangled in a scandal, but he was ready to bet his whole fortune on that.
The man’s cold rejection would bring her to her senses.
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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