“For heaven’s sake! Why didn’t you contact me earlier when such a dangerous thing happened?”
Lord Joseph escorted me as I climbed into the carriage, grumbling.
Even in the midst of this, I didn’t forget to say thank you. As soon as I sat down in the carriage, I began to pour out my indignation towards Lord Joseph sitting across from me.
“Lord Sergei is the same. I asked him so earnestly to take good care of the children, but how could he…! Kardiel is only fifteen years old!”
“Indeed, Lord Sergei seems to have been reckless in that regard.”
“Exactly. Even though Prince Raphael is of age, he’s still young. My goodness, to such a dangerous place!”
As soon as I received the letter, I went to find Lord Joseph.
Having experienced countless futures beyond count, I wondered if he might have predicted such a situation.
‘To be honest, it was to confront him.’
Fortunately or unfortunately, Lord Joseph said there had never been such a case before.
It was because in this timeline, by forming an alliance with me, too many variables had been created for the future.
In other words, he couldn’t accurately predict what would happen afterwards either.
〈Perhaps you’re disappointed that I’m less useful than you thought?〉
What nonsense.
〈Lord Joseph, if you say such dispiriting things in front of me one more time, I’ll have a bib made for you to wear then.〉
It’s already more than enough for me to look after the emotional well-being of three children.
It’s too much to indulge the whims of a prospective fiancé as well. If you’ve lived for thousands of years, you should take care of your own self-esteem.
‘Hmm, no. Maybe it would be okay to indulge a husband’s whims?’
Someone like Lord Joseph would be at a cute level, after all.
〈Once I’m wearing the bib, can I say such things?〉
〈…My preference is for bibs with lots of frills, jewels, and pearls.〉
〈Yes, I’ll remember that.〉
Why are you remembering such a thing?
…Well, anyway, that happened.
In any case, Lord Joseph and I boarded a carriage returning to Daiern at dawn the day after receiving the letter.
Since we had almost finished our business in the imperial capital anyway, hurrying back wouldn’t cause any major problems.
“By the way, my lady.”
“It’s ‘Duchess of Daiern’.”
“Yes, my lady. While reading the letter, I had a question.”
“…”
He’s really a man who always does as he pleases. To insist on that embarrassing form of address until the end.
As I glared at Lord Joseph, he seemed to read some signal in my eyes and began to ask what he was curious about.
“About Mistress Dorothea mentioned in the letter. Do you know her by any chance?”
Ah, that woman.
Come to think of it, there was such a story in the letter.
The woman who had been threatening my children immediately prostrated herself flat and begged for forgiveness upon hearing my name.
Threatening my children. It was absolutely unforgivable, but to be honest…
“I don’t know. Who she is or why she’s acting like that.”
That’s right. I’m hearing that woman’s name for the first time.
‘How would I, raised in a noble family, know about a woman who’s supposedly a big shot in the underworld?’
Still, you never know. I carefully read the letter the children had written again.
To summarize the contents of the letter:
On their way back to Daiern, Sergei obtained information that an important item from the magic era was to be auctioned in the black market, so he wanted to briefly change their route.
Of course, Prince Raphael decided to accompany him.
As the items from the magic era belong to the state and the imperial family, he couldn’t ignore it as a member of the imperial family.
And Kardiel went along to protect Prince Raphael, who was Daiern’s guest.
‘…That’s not how I meant for them to take care of guests.’
Anyway, they apparently got into a dispute with a woman called Mistress Dorothea.
And in the process of persuading(?) her, my name was mentioned.
But does this make sense?
“But if they detected illegal activity, shouldn’t they have informed the lord and called for guards to retrieve the item? There was no need to go to the black market in person, was there?”
“Well, that would have been difficult.”
“…?”
My gaze turned to Lord Joseph, who responded as if he knew very well.
His red eyes, which had been staring at me with his legs crossed, curved gently like a crescent moon.
“Do you remember when I said I was born in the slums?”
I do remember that. Instead of answering, I blinked.
“The location of the black market changes every time.”
“What? Why go to such lengths?”
“Before that, do you know about the ‘underworld’ that hosts the black market, my lady?”
“…Well.”
As I tilted my head, Lord Joseph continued his explanation.
To summarize, it went like this:
The so-called ‘underworld’, an organization centered around the slums, has been enormously expanding its power through crimes such as loan sharking, gambling, and slave trading for a very long time.
Among these, the black market was their most effective means of drawing in money from the outside.
Here, money from the outside refers to the financial power of people who have as much vanity as they have money, and who can ignore the laws of the state.
Not only the self-made wealthy class, but also some nobles seemed to be their big spenders.
“So that’s what they call the underworld.”
From there on, it was all new information to me.
My common sense was, after all, not far beyond the scope of my own experience.
Even knowing about the black market was because I remembered the words of the woman who kidnapped me 20 years ago.
“Yes. That’s why the black market’s principle is to evacuate before sunrise the next day. Since all sorts of vile acts take place there, they need to avoid being tracked.”
In the end, that was the reason why Sergei had to attend the black market even at the risk of danger.
If the guards were even a bit late, they wouldn’t have been able to recover the item.
“But there’s actually another reason why the black market’s location changes.”
“Another reason?”
Lord Joseph said with a sound like a sneer.
“Until 20 years ago, the black market was a regular event held in the district where Mistress Dorothea resided. But there was a big problem when that woman messed with the wrong noble.”
Oh my. I couldn’t help but click my tongue.
“Messing with a noble would have made things big. But by messing with them, do you mean she picked a fight?”
“It was more vicious than that. She kidnapped and tried to sell them at the black market auction.”
What?
“I heard they were a premium product just based on their appearance. Mistress Dorothea’s eyes supposedly went wild as soon as she saw them and snatched them up.”
“…”
Lord Joseph spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal.
But I froze for a moment like a fully wound-up doll.
Kidnapping. It felt like my blood was turning cold.
“The problem is this. Even if she kidnapped them, if she hadn’t been caught, nothing would have happened.”
“…It seems the child managed to return home safely.”
“That’s right. Not only did they escape from where they were confined, but they miraculously managed to get out of the criminal maze that is the slums unharmed. There must have been someone who helped.”
Someone who helped…
There was. A scruffy child whose name I couldn’t even ask, who I don’t know if they’re alive or dead now, or where they might be if they are alive.
Now I understood. Who Mistress Dorothea was, why she was said to have been terrified upon seeing my portrait.
“But my lady. I never said it was a child, how did you know?”
“Why do you think?”
Suddenly, Lord Joseph asked me. I crossed my arms and smiled brightly.
“Because that kidnapped child was me.”
“Pardon?”
Lord Joseph’s eyes widened in shock.
Before he could ask anything more, this time I asked.
“So, Lord Joseph. Is there any chance we could find the person who helped me escape back then?”
[This is the timeline separator]The carriage carrying Lord Joseph and me hurried on its way to Daiern.
We hurried so much that we covered a distance that usually takes twenty-three days in just ten days.
Thus, on the tenth day, the carriage finally entered the city where the Duke of Daiern’s castle was located.
In about an hour more, we would arrive at the ducal castle, but…
“Stepmother, you’ve arrived.”
“Karl!”
I didn’t expect Kardiel to come all the way to the city entrance to greet us.
I quickly got out of the carriage and embraced my son whom I was seeing after almost a month. My goodness, he’s become even more dependable!
“You didn’t just wait at the castle.”
“Then I would have had to wait an hour more to see you, Stepmother.”
Look at this boy. He says such sweet things with an unchanging, stoic face.
I lightly patted my son’s shoulder with just the palm of my hand.
However, because his clothes were thick, instead of the crisp sound I expected, there was only a dull thud of fur being hit.
“Well, coming out first like this means you’re ready to be scolded first, right?”
Thud, thud.
“I warned you so clearly! You, who will be the future Duke of Daiern! Going to dangerous places, what a thing to do!”
Thud, thud, thud.
I patted a bit more. If you’ve done wrong, you should receive this much of a reprimand!
“Does it hurt? If it hurts, quickly say you’re sorry.”
“…”
Of course, Kardiel, whose shoulder was being hit, remained expressionless.
For a moment, he seemed to exchange glances with Lord Joseph over my shoulder. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth rose slightly. Oh…?
“Yes, it hurts.”
While I was doubting my eyes at my son’s smile, Kardiel gently narrowed his eyes at me and said,
“I’m sorry, Stepmother.”
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.
_____
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