I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or if he was serious. It seemed like a joke, as his voice sounded quite mischievous and the way he rested his chin on his hand looked playful.
But Count Odor gladly granted permission.
“Certainly! Please stay as long as you’d like.”
‘There’s no need to be so happy about it! What am I supposed to do if you allow it so easily!’
Olentia unconsciously made a very disappointed expression. The corners of her mouth turned down, and her shoulders slumped. It felt like she was losing her appetite despite the delicious food in front of her. Her current emotions were swinging to extremes.
Then Dimidius removed his hand from his chin and said teasingly:
“I really should stay a few more days, but it seems the lady is uncomfortable. Are you disappointed that I’ll be staying longer?”
She couldn’t openly say yes in front of her uncle.
Olentia quickly shook her head. For a moment, she wondered if she should wear a mask like Dimidius. A mask would be very effective in concealing emotions.
‘I got too disappointed without even realizing it… I need to be careful.’
Clearing her throat, Olentia put on a forced smile.
“I’m also imposing on the Count’s estate, so there’s no reason for me to be disappointed. If uncle is fine with it, then it’s fine.”
Seeing Olentia trying to smooth things over, Dimidius nodded.
“Yes. Then I look forward to your continued hospitality, Lady Armeniaca.”
It was an uncharacteristically polite statement from him. Olentia gave a vague reply of agreement and then focused on attacking her food again. When things got awkward, it was much better to concentrate on eating.
[This is the timeline separator]After finishing the uncomfortable lunch, Olentia remained in the garden, endlessly gazing at the flowers. The daffodils with their straight stems and yellow blossoms were especially beautiful, and gathered together they made a spectacular sight. Olentia truly loved the charm that modest flowers exuded when clustered together.
On the white table was flower tea prepared by the Count’s maids. Olentia couldn’t sit down calmly to drink the tea and kept standing. It was because she was waiting for a letter.
“When is it going to come… Is it not coming at all?”
Finally, she voiced her ominous thoughts.
Olentia hated feeling uneasy and frustrated the most. But if the letter was buried like this, she wouldn’t be able to stand it. She would surely go to find the dangerous Ankedo herself.
It was while she had been standing there for a while.
Far away, in front of the fountain, Bobby, who hadn’t been seen throughout lunch, came into view.
Bobby was in such a hurry that when she spotted Olentia, she even ran over.
“My lady! *pant pant* A messenger has arrived at the Count’s estate for you.”
Hearing Bobby’s voice, even if faintly, Olentia let out a cheer. If it was a messenger, it must be from Ankedo, so it was something worth Bobby running for. Bobby knew well how much Olentia had been waiting for a reply.
A moment later, Bobby, who had run over, held out a white envelope to Olentia. It was a clean envelope with no name or address written on it.
Olentia swallowed hard and took out the letter from the envelope. Her heart was pounding wildly, and her hand holding the letter was trembling. It was difficult to calm down easily, as it would be troublesome to show suspicious signs with Bobby watching from the side.
Olentia turned her body slightly away from Bobby, pretending to stroll in the garden, and checked the letter.
After seeing just two lines, Olentia dropped the letter. The white paper gently landed on the yellow-flowered daffodils.
‘…Was I really having prophetic dreams?’
There was no way she could have just guessed correctly. Olentia wasn’t that stupid.
She picked up the letter again from the flowerbed and took deep breaths. She wanted to scream right now, but there were too many eyes watching. She had to maintain her usual appearance.
After carefully examining the letter, Olentia went to her room on the third floor of the Count’s estate. She felt dizzy and like she might collapse. It was that shocking of an event, and she was troubled about what to do.
Seeing Olentia sitting blankly on the bed, Bobby asked in a worried voice:
“What’s wrong? Is there some bad news?”
Olentia blinked her eyes for a while before barely managing to speak.
“No. Fortunately, Sir Ankedo said he would give an opinion that could change the Archbishop’s mind.”
“Then that’s good news!”
“You’re right. But I think I’m not feeling well today. I’m going to lie down and rest, so could you leave?”
She really wasn’t feeling well. It seemed she was so shocked that the prophetic dream was real.
As Bobby hesitated and left, Olentia finally let out a deep sigh. The letter had the date and place for the magic item transaction written on it. The date was four days from now, and the place was Ankedo’s private residence, but it said they would move to a more secretive location from there.
What kind of place could this secretive location be?
Could it be that room full of mirrors?
According to the prophetic dream, Ankedo was going to a room full of mirrors to see the money he had embezzled. The scene changed right after that, so she couldn’t see the exact location of the money, but still.
Anyway, if the place for trading magic items was the building with that room, she might be able to find the money he had embezzled from the church.
Olentia clasped her now-cold hands together and thought seriously.
‘Should I tell uncle about this?’
She hadn’t hesitated about the corpse search, but this made her pause. The moment she told Count Odor and the case grew bigger, it seemed Ankedo would notice something and back out. She had heard that even in investigations, there was a greater chance of catching the criminal when conducting an undercover operation.
Olentia held her forehead for a moment as if her head was about to split. A sigh escaped her lips involuntarily.
“Haa… But it’s an opportunity.”
Although it was dangerous, she thought that if she approached pretending to be a customer, she might be able to find out a lot, including the location of the building.
Moreover, the prophetic dream where she had cried out wailing at Moring’s grave weighed on her mind.
At that time, Olentia had clearly said:
‘If I had met Ankedo and resolved things, this wouldn’t have happened!’
This was clearly regret for not going to meet Ankedo when she had the chance. Then she should go. Go and resolve things properly. She didn’t want to create something to regret. Moring’s life was at stake.
After safely burning the letter, Olentia got up.
Since she had left Bobby behind, she thought she should go meet Moring right away. To find out where she was, she needed to go to the information guild in Odor territory first.
Olentia changed into clothes better suited for activity and left the main building, heading for the carriage house. The coachman tilted his head curiously seeing Olentia alone.
“Are you not taking a maid or knight with you?”
She had had a rough experience in Shine Street when she didn’t go with a knight, but now she had no choice.
Olentia forcefully opened the carriage door and said to the coachman:
“I need to move secretly. Help me out.”
[This is the timeline separator]Meanwhile, Dimidius had been watching Olentia’s fuss in the garden from inside the room.
“So she has someone to exchange letters with at a time like this.”
Hearing his words, Killen bit his lip while examining a document densely filled with writing.
“Should we look into that as well?”
“No need. We’re already busy investigating Thomas’ death case. I’ll keep track of the lady’s movements myself.”
Killen seemed extremely busy these days. It probably wasn’t easy investigating alone without other aides.
On Count Odor’s side, they had filed a missing person report for Thomas, the administrative officer of the Odor Province Church, while searching for the corpse. So there was a high possibility that the missing Thomas would be found in the Centmi River.
While examining the documents, Killen said to Dimidius:
“I’ve just learned something new. The last person to see Thomas said he was with a priest from the Odor Province Church. His name is Ankedo. 34 years old. He seems to be quite trusted by the residents of Odor territory.”
“The more trusted they are, the more fishy their background tends to be… Look into it in more detail.”
“Yes! Understood. By the way, what will you do about Lady Armeniaca?”
‘What will I do?’
Dimidius was lost in thought for a moment.
He had been shocked to see Olentia’s neck during lunch today. The wound from the train had disappeared without a trace. It wasn’t a big wound, but it had seemed like it would take quite a while to heal. It couldn’t have disappeared so suddenly like that.
The conclusion was that Olentia had shown self-healing ability.
She was showing all abilities related to holy power.
Dimidius spoke in a firmly resolved voice:
“We’ll keep watching and monitoring until the end. If Lady Armeniaca becomes endangered, it would be troublesome for me as well.”
There would come a moment when Olentia’s power would be needed. It hadn’t been long since she opened the power of the devil, but soon… such a moment would surely come.
Of course, he had no desire to show her a rampaging appearance. Still, if necessary, he wanted to hold Olentia’s hand.
[This is the timeline separator]Arriving at the information guild, Olentia obtained information about Moring quite easily. It seemed it wasn’t very difficult information to get.
She deliberately didn’t ask about anything related to Ankedo. There was a possibility that Ankedo had also used the information guild in Odor territory.
“So it’s really a doll workshop?”
Moring was a commoner who made and sold dolls. It was strange that such a commoner had worn a very expensive, limited edition hairpin.
Perhaps it was a gift from her ex-lover Ankedo?
Olentia arrived at the doll workshop with display cases full of animal dolls. Moring was alone in the workshop making dolls.
As she opened the door and entered,
“Welcome!”
Moring greeted Olentia, putting down the doll she was working on. Moring was wearing the hairpin like before.
Olentia thought she might be kicked out if she brought up Ankedo or the room of mirrors from the start, so she casually looked at the dolls in the display case.
The animal dolls wearing dresses or suits were truly adorable.
“Would it be possible to custom order a doll wearing my dress?”
At Olentia’s question, Moring, who had been staring at her, perked up.
“Ah! You’re the young lady from the Armeniaca family who I met at the Odor Province Church, right?”
It really seemed there was hardly anyone in Odor territory who didn’t know her.
Olentia nodded awkwardly with a smile.
“That’s right. Everyone seems to know.”
“Of course. You’re Count Odor’s niece. Everyone is up to date on the geranium news.”
Despite her haughty-looking face, Moring had a bright, kind, and rather friendly personality. If so, wouldn’t the conversation be a bit easier? Olentia felt more and more courageous.
“I’d like a rabbit doll. And I have some questions, so shall we sit down and talk?”
__________
My Clingy Little Husband (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
Introduction:
One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.
One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.
As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.
From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.
But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.
Mini scene 1:
One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.
Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”
Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”
Mini scene 2:
After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.
Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”
Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.
[Reading Guide]
1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.
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