Ollentia quickly wiped the sleep from her eyes and washed her face with the water brought by her maid, Bobi.
She had brought in various servants to the house in Gold City to give Bobi some rest, but Bobi insisted that she couldn’t do that.
“Miss, I have to serve you. You know how particular you are. Any other servant would quit in no time.”
Bobi’s voice seemed to echo in Ollentia’s head again. She dried her face with a thick towel and said,
“Why don’t you just be a quiet housekeeper? Who else would do it if not you?”
Worry for her was evident in Ollentia’s voice.
Knowing her better than anyone, Bobi chuckled softly.
“Ha ha! I don’t think I’m grand enough for that.”
“Why not? Anyone else would have thought they were finally free from hardship and starting a life of happiness.”
Despite such direct words, Bobi’s expression was only perplexed.
As she brushed Ollentia’s soft hair with a fine comb, Bobi spoke,
“Miss, when I was the youngest maid suffering in Count Armeniaca’s estate, how grateful I was when you called me to be your personal maid.”
Bobi momentarily lowered her head, perhaps a bit embarrassed.
Ollentia felt just as embarrassed. She hadn’t realized that such an old incident was still cherished in Bobi’s heart.
About 12 years ago, Ollentia chose Bobi, the youngest, smallest, least experienced maid, as her personal maid.
There was no grand reason for it.
She was just worried about Bobi, who seemed to wither away day by day.
Seeing her with a gloomy expression, as if she might give up on life at any moment, was a very foreign experience for Ollentia, who had grown up surrounded by her parents’ love.
Ollentia, being in a comfortable and affluent state of mind, wanted to share that with someone.
Thus began the relationship between Ollentia and Bobi.
Ollentia turned her gaze away, scratching the itchy part of her eyebrow.
“Back then, I think I was a bit arrogant.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I was so sure that you would be happy once you were by my side. You know how I was back then.”
Thinking about the past made Ollentia’s face heat up.
After making Bobi her personal maid, she showered her with kindness like a person giving alms to a beggar.
‘Do you want this? Why are you so thin?’
She was anxious to help in every possible way.
‘How have you been? It’s great being by my side, isn’t it?’
She fished for compliments.
‘You’re so lucky to have a master like me.’
She even boasted about herself.
Ollentia had to close her eyes.
“Ah… Why did I do that? I regret it even now.”
But Bobi’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Hey! Don’t say that. I never disliked you then, and I found you adorable. And you still are.”
“You’re not saying I’m still immature, are you?”
“Of course not, Miss. I’m just really happy to be your personal maid.”
“Ah! You don’t have to say it like you did when you were young!”
“Alright. Miss, I am truly happy.”
“It looks like you really enjoy it when I tease you.”
Ollentia chuckled and then thought about the information she had paid a huge amount of money for at the information guild last night. She had to focus on persuading Archbishop Werbu.
‘Archbishop Werbu has gone to Odor County for unofficial business.’
How surprised she was at the guild member’s words.
The Count of Odor, who managed Odor County, was Malisa’s brother, making him Ollentia’s uncle.
Since she often corresponded with her uncle through letters, she thought she might be able to stay at Count Odor’s residence for a while if she went to Odor County.
Although it was inconveniently far away, requiring a train ride to Noctipher, Ollentia was prepared to endure it.
She dressed in a muslin fabric dress, ideal for sweat wicking, as the days were getting increasingly warmer.
‘It’s my first time visiting unannounced. Will it be okay…?’
Sending a message to the Count of Odor and waiting for a reply would take too long. Meanwhile, Archbishop Werbu might move to another location.
She had no choice but to depart immediately, albeit recklessly.
Ollentia put on a simple-patterned bonnet and left the house in Gold City. The hot spring sun penetrated through the bonnet, warming her head.
‘Looks like the journey will be quite rough.’
She couldn’t help but laugh at her own thought.
“Why can’t I get a first-class ticket? Why?”
Ollentia asked the ticket clerk, looking straight at his embarrassed face.
She was at the Geranium train station’s ticket counter, intending to buy a first-class ticket. To her surprise, she was told that all first-class seats were sold out for the day.
It was unusual for first-class tickets to sell out unless it was a route to a famous tourist destination. Odor County wasn’t a well-known tourist spot.
‘Something’s fishy.’
Sensing something odd, Ollentia questioned the clerk.
“What’s going on? Did some rogue book all the first-class seats?”
The clerk’s expression seemed to confirm her guess.
She had heard of selfish nobles or bourgeoisie buying up all first-class tickets and occupying an entire train car for themselves.
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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