Contract Marriage with the Devil Duke - Chapter 10

At that moment, Dimidius gave an order to the knight approaching him.

“……Take care of everything, and follow after.”

“Will you really be alright with just one aide, Your Grace? It’s dangerous.”

“You’re being too meddlesome. What are you trying to do?”

As Dimidius’s aura changed so drastically that even Olentia could sense it, the knight was startled.

The knight immediately bowed.

“I-I’m sorry!”

“Killen and I are enough for any situation.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!”

Olentia perked up her ears and listened to their conversation without missing a word. It seemed Dimidius was going to move with just this person called Killen, parting ways with the Belial knights for a while.

Where was the Grand Duke going? For what reason was he attacked, and how could he remain so calm despite being attacked?

Her curiosity about him grew rapidly, threatening to pierce the sky. Olentia found herself unconsciously stomping her feet.

Thump thump!

Only then did Dimidius turn to look at Olentia again and speak.

“It would be best for the lady, who’s like a flower in a greenhouse, to return to her original place.”

‘Does he know I really hate being called a flower in a greenhouse and is doing this on purpose?’

Olentia glared at him with fierce eyes, then said what she really wanted to say.

“I don’t like that bauta mask. Change it to something else.”

Dimidius, his arm fully bandaged, tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?”

“I have a very precious dream, and the person in that dream wore a white bauta mask. So, Your Grace, wear a different mask. It makes me uncomfortable.”

What really made her uncomfortable was that he hadn’t asked for her name even once. It meant he wasn’t curious about her at all.

Olentia was truly bewildered, beyond words, and on the verge of feeling dejected. It felt as if she had been jilted for no reason.

Whether he knew Olentia’s feelings or not, Dimidius wiped his blood-stained hand with a cotton cloth and spoke in quite a serious voice.

“I refuse, my lady.”

“What?”

“You can either change your dream or not sleep at all. This mask is as good as my face.”

She thought they would part ways like that.

But suddenly, Dimidius called out to Olentia.

“Wait a moment.”

Olentia turned her head with a sullen expression.

“What is it?”

“Shouldn’t you treat your wound properly before you go?”

In his hand was a tube-type ointment. Surely he wasn’t planning to apply it directly with his hand? Olentia glared at him with a distinctly suspicious expression.

Then Dimidius approached with impatient steps, snatched Olentia’s hand, and made her hold the ointment.

“W-What are you doing?”

“I’m telling you to apply the ointment.”

“If you just give me the ointment, I can apply it myself, you know?”

“There are people who say they’ll apply it but then skip it because it’s bothersome, you know?”

Though it wasn’t clear who he was referring to, Dimidius stubbornly held Olentia’s hand and opened the cap of the ointment. The opaque ointment contents popped out, and Dimidius brought the ointment to the wound on Olentia’s neck.

It was truly a strange method of treatment.

Dimidius was bending his knees considerably, focusing on her neck. His large frame made it look burdensome for him to crouch. But his thick black hair looked particularly soft in the sunlight coming through the window, and his large hand was as hot as if it held a flame.

‘Why on earth is he doing this?’

While Olentia stood still like a stone, a ticklish spring breeze blew in her heart. It felt like dandelion seeds were floating around.

‘He doesn’t even ask my name… why is he taking care of me?’

Olentia found Dimidius, who was applying the ointment in such a strange way, quite unsatisfactory.

“This is really ridiculous.”

Olentia, who had returned to the second-class compartment, huffed for a long time. She couldn’t understand this person called Dimidius Belial at all.

‘Well, fine. His Grace isn’t curious about me at all. I don’t need to know about him either.’

She could only try to think that way.

Perhaps because she had been away from her seat for quite a long time.

Bobby, who had woken up, scolded Olentia for a long while. When she saw the wound on her neck, she almost fainted.

“My lady! What on earth happened?”

Olentia had no choice but to make the strange excuse that she had been stung by a peculiar insect.

“I need to meet Archbishop Werbu.”

To persuade the Archbishop within a month and avoid marriage to Marquis Luxus.

Olentia rolled her goal around in her mouth and left the train with Bobby, her face resolute.

The train station was rather quiet, and brilliant spring sunlight penetrated through the circular dome that enclosed the station. The outer surface of the dome sparkled.

She looked around the train station area for no reason, but Dimidius and his party were nowhere to be seen. It seemed they had quickly gone to their destination without saying goodbye. She couldn’t understand why they had come to Odor territory at all.

Regardless of that.

She just needed to find out the Archbishop’s whereabouts after arriving at the Odor mansion. The Count of Odor would probably know the reason for Archbishop Werbu’s visit to Odor territory and his whereabouts.

What luck that Archbishop Werbu was in a place where her uncle’s influence was substantial!

How much time had passed since then?

Bobby, who had arranged for a stagecoach, said to Olentia,

“Shall we go to the Odor mansion now?”

Olentia got into the stagecoach with a bright smile and looked around Odor territory.

In particular, when she saw the vast daisy field spread out in Odor territory, she opened her mouth in admiration. The daisies sparkling in the spring sunlight and swaying in the wind were as lovely and cute as if someone had cracked an egg and spread it out on the soil.

‘Just like me? When I was young, Uncle Jack used to call me Daisy sometimes.’

Jack Odor.

He was the only brother of Olentia’s mother, Malisa, and was running a large perfume business. In Odor territory, there were not only daisy fields but also quite a few famous herb fields. Lavender fields, jasmine fields, and even ylang-ylang fields. If it had been open to the public, Odor territory would have become a famous tourist destination.

But the Count of Odor family had been focusing only on protection for a long time, perhaps because they didn’t like the idea of people trampling on the herb fields that were used as perfume ingredients.

After passing through the daisy field that resembled a person’s smiling face, the Odor mansion finally began to appear in the distance. Because it was a stagecoach, the bumping was severe, and Olentia wanted to get out of the carriage quickly. Her waist had been very uncomfortable for a while now.

Noticing Olentia’s discomfort, Bobby said in a soothing tone,

“Please bear with it a little longer, my lady. We’ll arrive soon.”

“I’m bearing it well. I’m just not used to it.”

Even Bobby thought that Olentia was enduring well, considering they had traveled quite far from home. Originally, she wouldn’t have had occasion to come to a place as distant as Odor territory. She used to visit sometimes when she was young, but now it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. That’s how significant the marriage to Marquis Luxus was.

As they arrived at the front gate where a fountain with a harmonium was installed, Bobby got out first and approached the knight guarding the gate.

The knight tilted his head, seeing Bobby getting out of the shabby stagecoach.

“Who has come?”

To the knight’s question, Bobby proudly stated her mistress’s name.

“Please inform them that Lady Olentia Armeniaca has arrived.”

The knight was well aware of Jack Odor’s only beloved niece. He was surprised and approached the carriage to greet Olentia first.

“Greetings to Lady Armeniaca. I am Alter, the knight guarding the front gate of the Odor family.”

Olentia yawned slightly as if tired and said,

“Alright, Alter. Please let my uncle know.”

But Alter’s reaction was a bit strange. He bit his lip as if troubled and kept turning around in place. The sound of his shoulder epaulettes rattling could be heard continuously.

Olentia poked her head out of the carriage slightly and frowned.

“What are you doing? Is something wrong?”

Only when Olentia showed her displeasure did the knight reveal the situation.

“Ah, well, the mansion is in a bit of chaos welcoming a guest who arrived just before. Did you come without notice, my lady?”

“That’s right. How did you know?”

“Well… the lord wouldn’t have invited you on the day Grand Duke Dimidius Belial is visiting.”

“Huh? What did you just say?”

“Pardon?”

“Did you just say that His Grace Belial is here?”

Olentia shouted at him with a shocked face.

Come to think of it, when high nobles traveled to local areas, they usually stayed at the mansions of local dignitaries or lords. If Dimidius had followed the custom, his destination could have been the Odor mansion.

‘Am I an idiot? Why didn’t I think of that?’

It had been a long time since she felt so foolish. If Dimidius, who rarely left the Grand Duchy, had come to the Odor mansion, there must be an important reason. It didn’t seem likely that he would leave the mansion in just a day or two.

“Ah! This can’t be happening. Why did we have the same destination…”

Olentia felt a bit uncomfortable at the thought of facing him again. There was a saying in the Bonus Empire that if coincidences happen three times, it’s fate. She didn’t want to be tied to Dimidius with such a saying.

Bobby, not understanding the situation, asked Olentia,

“Did you know about this, my lady?”

“No, well. I did see him in first class.”

“Then there’s nothing we can do.”

Bobby, looking at her despairing mistress, hesitated before speaking to the knight.

“Please at least inform them that the young lady has arrived. We’ve come all this way, and it’s difficult to just turn back.”

Bobby was quite tired from bringing Olentia here as well.

The knight had no choice but to leave the gate to another knight and went inside.

He was slightly anxious, knowing how much effort the Count of Odor had put into managing the mansion and servants to welcome Grand Duke Dimidius.

Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation

One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.

Intro:

To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.

But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.

It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.

This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.

Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.

Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.

“Let’s divorce!”

***

Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.

Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?

But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.

Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.

Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.

In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.

Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”

Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.

He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”

***

Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.

But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.

“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”

Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?

Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?

[Reading Guide]

1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.

2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.

Link to read

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