Rashid quickly grabbed the princess’s hand. Irgos gave Luhan a look begging for rescue.
But Luhan feigned ignorance, either coughing dryly, looking at the flowers beside him, or brushing his hair aside.
Eventually, Rashid, Asti, and Irgos disappeared beyond the garden, accompanied by the rest of the guards.
“What a loving family.”
Left alone in the garden, Latifa softly spoke as she watched them disappear.
“…What about your family, Latifa?”
Luhan awkwardly stepped next to her and asked. His long, dark eyelashes seemed to tremble for some reason.
‘Is he not feeling well? I’ve heard Prince Luhan is somewhat frail.’
Latifa slightly worried as she answered his question.
“My mother has been gone since before the war, and my father… he passed away during the war but we weren’t close anyway.”
I had about twenty siblings, but apart from Princess Aris who is here, no one knows their whereabouts.
Unable to finish her sentence, Latifa smiled, leaving Luhan extremely flustered.
“Ah, I, I apologize… I shouldn’t have asked.”
“You are really thoughtful, Prince Luhan. You went to great lengths to reassure me when we first met.”
Recalling how he’d earnestly extended his hand in the market to prove he was no threat, Latifa chuckled. In response to her laughter, Luhan spoke with a slightly breaking voice.
“Ah, Latifa. I planned to show you around my palace, but… you can’t just laugh it off.”
“Oh. Then let me be the one to ask for forgiveness this time. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness, Prince.”
Latifa barely suppressed a laugh and bowed her head as she knelt. Ruhun spoke to her impatiently.
“No, no. One cannot call himself a man if he patronizes forgiveness towards a woman! How can I, to you… Rise, quickly! Latifa, you’ll get hurt, quickly!”
Contrary to expectations, Latifa did not rise. She spoke with a hint of mischief.
“I won’t get up until you say you’ll show me around the palace.”
“Good heavens, gods protect me! I was going to take you even if you refused! Rise quickly.”
“It was a joke. If it were General Hades, he would have forcefully made me stand. You truly are different, Prince.”
As Ruhun was helping Latifa rise, she mentioned General Hades. He slowly took his hand off her.
Then he spoke in a somewhat deflated tone.
“Latifa, I am the same man you met in the marketplace. Just as I was ‘Ruhun’ back then, I am still ‘Ruhun’ now. It’s somewhat exhausting to hear you call me ‘Prince.'”
He seemed a little hurt at Latifa’s continued formality.
“Please, call me Ruhun.”
“But you are the Prince of the Grand Bazaar! And what if General Hades scolds me later for not showing you respect?”
Ruhun made a somewhat ambiguous face, then smiled and extended his hand, showing the back of it to her.
‘That gesture… Princess Asti said that when royalty shows the back of their hand while speaking, they are speaking with royal authority.’
Ruhun spoke to Latifa in the stern voice of a dignified man.
“It’s an order. Call me Ruhun.”
“……Okay.”
Ruhun’s brown eyes were incredibly calm, without a tremor.
Not like the burning flames of Hades, but ever calm, like the gentle, covering sand dunes of the desert.
Was the slight flutter in her chest a misconception?
“……I will abide by the command of the Basilii dynasty. Ruhun.”
Latifa responded perfectly, employing the manners she’d learned while with Asti.
His face reddened at her lighter tone, but the dutifully bowed Latifa did not see it.
[Star Icon][Star Icon]“Hades is my close friend. You should know how to treat his Frau. Hades is the fire among fires.”
Ruhun solemnly instructed the servants upon arriving at the palace, and they nodded in agreement.
“There’s something I want to show you, Latifa. If you feel unwell, speak up.”
He led her down a long corridor to a small room.
The room, with its deep green tapestries embroidered with golden cobras and silver scorpions, looked more like a storeroom than living quarters.
Ruhun fumbled around in a corner and then handed her something that looked like a white fluff ball.
Soft fur, upright ears, and a small mouth that seemed to be whining.
“Wow! It’s a bunny! It’s so tiny.”
Latifa carefully cradled the bunny Ruhun handed her. It was a very young rabbit.
The slightly silverflecked rabbit looked clever; its white, shiny fur was clearly a palace favorite.
“Why a rabbit? Are you raising it, Ruhun?”
A wild rabbit seemed to have snuck in, and the young disciples of Palistra found it and brought it to me. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I just kept it. The maids said it was cute, so here it is, comfortably sitting.
Luhann softly spoke while stroking the rabbit in Latifa’s arms.
“Palistra?”
“Ah, Palistra is a place where you learn, well, this.”
When Latifa cocked her head and asked, Luhann demonstrated how to wield a sword with both hands.
“Aha. So it’s like a ‘Academy’ for swordsmanship.”
As Latifa spoke the word in the Imperial language, he burst into clear laughter, finding her strange Imperial pronunciation cute.
“Haha. What did you say? Aca[Dash]demy? The Imperial language is quite amusing.”
“Desert language is more fun. Oh, look at this soft fur. Luhann, what’s its name?”
As Latifa petted its back, the rabbit seemed pleased and wiggled its ears.
“Uh… the, name. So, it’s La, Lahim. Ah, no, it’s Lime.”
“Lime! Cute name! Nice to meet you, you fluffy bundle. Where’s your family? Why are you here alone?”
Upon being asked by Latifa, the baby rabbit perked up its large ears and cocked its head. Becoming curious about this expression, Latifa focused her attention and observed the rabbit’s spirit.
Sure enough, the unguarded cute baby rabbit soon projected a small spirit and conveyed its voice.
[I’m not Lime.]Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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