After the Grand Duke entered the main building while holding the Grand Duchess, Ricarion the Tower Master and Cecilia, Lady Dabano’s maid, walked out from the magic circle.
“My lady!”
Cecilia, who had awakened from a coma, ran towards the unconscious Lady Dabano.
“What happened to our lady?”
“You should know that you serve a truly excellent mistress.”
Head Maid Rosalinne handed Lady Dabano over to Cecilia with a very proud look on her face. Then she gave Shavell’s shoulder another hard shove and hurried away.
Head Butler Alexis, at a loss for what to do, supported Shavell to his feet and went inside.
Ricarion, who was watching the women in a daze, asked Popo who had swum over from the terrace.
“Where’s Yuriella?”
Among the coma patients brought to the tower, he had treated Cecilia first and brought her here immediately because he wanted to see Yuriella’s brightly smiling face soon.
“At a glance, it looked like she was being carried away by the Grand Duke. Was she hurt somewhere?”
[Upon closer look, she was indeed carried away by the Grand Duke. And she was not hurt anywhere. It was Yuriella who made that lady over there faint.]“Huh? What does that mean?”
Popo landed on top of the Tower Master’s head as he tried to go to Yuriella with a worried expression.
[Master. The important thing is not to be loved, but to love.]“What?”
[Repeat after me. I am fine. Love is patience. Blessed are those who endure.]The little four feet patting Ricarion’s head were full of pity.
[Hurry up and repeat it. I am fine. Everything is fine. I will not get angry or cry.]Tiny teardrops fell from the affectionately admonishing spirit’s eyes, like specks of dust.
*
“Please put me down, Your Grace.”
Yuriella kicked her feet back and forth while being held by Frost.
“Your face is red. You must have been very startled.”
“Of course I was startled. You shouldn’t do this in front of everyone.”
“Is it okay if they’re not looking?”
“That’s not what I−”
“You’re the one who shouldn’t do this. If you keep making me fall for you, I’ll go out of my mind.”
“Pardon?”
“You made Lady Dabano faint earlier to save me. My heart raced.”
A hot spark flickered in Frost’s lowered blue eyes.
“The heart is supposed to race to be normal. And earlier, the Tower Master came, right? I’m sure I felt a strong earth energy.”
“You were mistaken from seeing something you shouldn’t have.”
Yuriella pushed away Frost’s face, which was getting closer with a sweet smile, with both hands.
“How heartless. Since you’re being so heartless, my heart aches. Is it because my energy was drained trying to stop Lady Dabano? I feel a bit dizzy too.”
Frost nuzzled his cheek into his wife’s palm like a large dog trying to get its owner’s attention.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
When Yuriella quickly withdrew her hand, Frost’s lips landed where they had originally been aiming.
“…!”
Yuriella’s arms, having lost the will to resist any further, embraced Frost’s neck.
Frost swallowed a satisfied laugh into his throat as he saw the flames he liked slowly beginning to burn in Yuriella’s eyes.
That was when.
“Fire! Fire!”
Shouts of maids could be heard from upstairs. The flames that had begun to burn between the two were also extinguished.
“Fire?”
Frost stopped a maid running down the stairs.
“There’s a fire on the third floor! Fortunately no one is hurt, but Nero is trapped in the room−”
Putting Yuriella down, Frost ran up the stairs.
The third floor corridor was so hazy with smoke that it was impossible to see ahead. Frost froze the entire corridor floor all the way to the room that was on fire with his ice energy.
As Frost pushed open the frozen door, a “meow” sound was heard and Nero leaped out into the arms of Yuriella who had followed.
“Oh my. Are you okay, Nero?”
Yuriella anxiously examined Nero, who was burned by the fire, from this way and that.
Half of his whiskers were burned off. The remaining half were also shriveled up from the heat. Embers must have flown, as his tail and side were also burned, exposing the skin.
− Meoww…
Nero trembled and burrowed into Yuriella’s embrace.
“You were very frightened, weren’t you? It’s okay now. I’ll make the pain go away soon.”
Yuriella placed her hand on Nero’s wounds and gently spread an emerald glow of healing energy.
The wounds quickly healed, but the sight of the black cat, now patchily bald from the fire, was extremely pitiful.
Frost, who had been glaring at the cat monopolizing his wife’s bosom and purring, suddenly grabbed Nero by the scruff and forcibly yanked him out of Yuriella’s arms.
− Meow! Meow!
Nero flailed his four feet in the air and meowed towards Yuriella.
“Why are you bothering the injured child?”
“This fellow needs to be strictly monitored until we confirm the cause of the fire. It could be something evil like black magic.”
“Who would use black magic just to start a little fire like this? Nero, come here.”
Yuriella snatched Nero back from Frost, held him tightly, and glared at the Grand Duke.
“Instead of scaring a hurt and frightened child, go find the real arsonist. If you have time to spare, it would be good to spend it thinking about the consideration and compassion a small and pitiful child rightly deserves.”
Frost’s shoulders sagged.
The atmosphere had certainly been quite sweet and passionate until just now.
But the sweet and passionate lover was gone, replaced by a scary cat mom baring her claws because her kitten had been touched, her red eyes blazing fiercely.
He lingered by Yuriella’s side, timidly gauging if there was any chance to continue the earlier mood.
But his spiteful wife was absorbed in caressing and comforting the fire-damaged ugly kitten on her lap, paying him no heed.
A vein throbbed in Frost’s temple.
“Leo! Alexis!”
Large sparks flew onto the Knight Commander and Head Butler who rushed in at the Grand Duke’s roar.
“What in the world were you doing while an arsonist infiltrated my home!”
Leo and Alexis exchanged bewildered glances with their heads bowed low.
The maids had been making a fuss, but the scale of the fire was nothing much. Only the room Nero had been in was slightly charred.
Yet His Grace the Grand Duke was seething with rage as if the entire mansion had burned down.
The reason was obvious.
It had been a precious time he had obtained with Her Grace after having all his golden hair torn out by Lady Dabano. Even Prince Lewis had been left in the garden for it.
But that priceless opportunity had been ridiculously wasted. No wonder he had a thousand hells blazing inside him.
However, the burning kitten was probably not the only reason for His Grace’s fury.
The father-in-law, who was keeping a hawk’s eye on his son-in-law, was still in the house. And the Tower Master, whom His Grace considered an eyesore, had also come.
Of all times, a fire had to break out that turned the kitten into a patchwork at this moment…!
The Head Butler and Knight Commander slowly withdrew their tails.
Right now, His Grace was a powder keg that could explode at any moment. The smartest thing was to either find the arsonist before a large fire broke out and report, or hide to avoid the catastrophe.
Frost, unaware that the two men in charge of the inside and outside of the mansion were evacuating to avoid his wrath, examined the fire-damaged guest room, unable to hide the uneasiness in his eyes.
“Make sure no one can enter this room. No, make sure no one knows there was a fire here.”
The Grand Duke emphasized several times that ‘no one’ especially meant the Grand Duchess’s new father.
But it was absurd to hope that something happening under the same roof would not reach the ears of his father-in-law, even if the rumor had no legs to walk a thousand miles.
“My goodness, this house is full of ‘dangerous things,’ isn’t it.”
At the dinner table, Thomas clicked his tongue, blatantly glaring only at the Grand Duke.
“I still have no idea what danger lurks in the horse the Emperor bestowed upon my daughter. And now an arsonist is strutting around in broad daylight. Yet Your Grace has still not identified a single suspect.”
Yuriella stroked the patchwork cat purring and clinging to her lap, appeasing her father.
“It was just a small fire that went out after burning one room. Nero is unharmed like this too.”
“Targeting your cat is no different from targeting you! I’m so worried if I can continue to leave you in this dangerous house.”
“Don’t worry. I will catch the arsonist and soon resolve the Blanca issue−”
Frost tried his best to appease his father-in-law with the face of an upright and simple man that he preferred, like a bear.
“I trust actions over empty words, Your Grace.”
It didn’t work at all. But.
“Don’t worry. I will catch the arsonist and soon resolve the Blanca issue.”
When the Tower Master said the exact same thing as the Grand Duke.
“Thank you. As expected. I will only trust you, Tower Master.”
The father-in-law didn’t even cut him off. Isn’t he readily agreeing to believe his promise?
“Our father-in-law trusts actions over slick words, Tower Master.”
Frost turned his head to seek agreement from Thomas, relaying the words he had omitted.
“That doesn’t seem like something someone living with a beautiful daughter-in-law should say.”
No matter how much of a father-in-law he was, Frost couldn’t tell him Shavell’s true identity, so he was even more frustrated.
The hateful Tower Master brought up one more thing to win the father-in-law’s favor.
“Sir. I can only tell you that my words are not mere words. I have a hunch who started today’s fire.”
“Oh. Really?”
When Thomas exclaimed, Frost’s silver eyebrows twitched.
“Who is it?”
It greatly irked him that the Tower Master knew the culprit he couldn’t even guess.
“Who is it?”
Thomas asked, and the Tower Master shook his head slightly.
“I’m sorry. It’s a confidential matter. Instead, I will make sure you have nothing to worry about.”
“It’s the arsonist who set my house on fire. I have a right to know.”
“I’ll let you know when the time is right. I can’t tell you yet, so please understand.”
“I must understand. Of course. You must have your reasons for not being able to say.”
Seeing his father-in-law readily agree, Frost grew even more resentful.
“Ricarion Greco!”
When Frost raised his voice, Yuriella furrowed her brow and let out a deep sigh.
“Your Grace. Please stop. The Tower Master is trying his best to help us. Let’s talk about work later separately.”
When even his wife took the Tower Master’s side, Frost quietly put down his fork and knife on the table.
His heart felt so hurt that he felt like he couldn’t swallow a single piece of meat.
“Your Grace. Your plate is untouched.”
Yuriella, sitting across from him, gestured with her eyes while fiddling with her fork and knife.
“No, I’m just thinking…”
Frost couldn’t finish his words and froze like that.
Because a small bare foot had come to rest on top of his foot, tickling him.
“You have no thoughts?”
Yuriella tilted her head, gazing at Frost.
“I’d like it if Your Grace did have some thoughts.”
Frost grabbed the fork and knife meekly, blushing shyly.
“If that’s what you want, gladly.”
Thomas laughed hollowly, dissatisfied with the sinister wolf acting like a shy large dog in front of his daughter.
Ricarion regretted rushing over, seeing the couple even sweeter than before.
Popo, hiding in the Tower Master’s pocket, also let out a deep sigh following his master.
[Popo. Why did you stop talking and sigh?]Because of the arson incident, Popo had sent an emergency wire to Aerie. It was hateful to lie and pretend to be on vacation, but the matter was grave anyway.
[Love is great. The bear doing tricks becomes a fox. The sharp icicle becomes a soft gelato.] [You were talking about the arsonist, why are you suddenly bringing up bears and gelato?] [My master seems to be a real bear who only does tricks and exits.]Although Aerie couldn’t hear the conversation through the private emergency communication line with Popo, she felt like she knew why Popo was sighing so sorrowfully.
Yuriella, who was thought to be only a bear, had been acting like a fox to the Grand Duke since receiving the divorce notice.
What was even more amazing was that the sinister wolf was so bewitched by that clumsy fox that he couldn’t come to his senses.
[It’s upsetting to talk more, so let’s talk about the arsonist, Aerie.] [Yes. I’d prefer that too. But are you sure Nero was really the one who started the fire? Did Nero confess that he did it?] [He still seems to be in shock, so I plan to talk to him slowly. But based on the scale of the fire and the marks left on Nero’s body, it’s clear that Nero is the arsonist.] [Why did the fire start, Popo? Could it be a phenomenon that occurred because Nero’s memories are returning?] [It could be. Or it could not.] [What do you mean it could not?] [It may also be a phenomenon that occurred while the black magician Cassandra was trying to undo the black magic of the sacred sword Flama again.]Popo raised his small head and looked at the patchwork cat rubbing against Yuriella’s hand.
Seeing the patchwork suddenly grow irritated, jump down, crawl under the table and viciously bite the Grand Duke’s foot, Popo felt exhilarated, but decided not to tell his master.
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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