Confused faces following Atia soon started running at a quick pace, and quickly grew tired.
“Heck, heck, heck……”
“Hoo…… hua…… huk.”
“Kelrok, Kelrok! I taste metal in my mouth……”
The garden was filled with labored breathing.
“Well done.”
Atia winked and continued to run without stopping.
On the other hand, Hari observed Atia while slowly walking, not joining the others in running.
To Hari, the duchess appeared incredibly beautiful.
Normally, Hari would think of herself as the most beautiful person in the world.
However, seeing the duchess made her naturally feel a need to be modest.
Additionally, she was surprisingly active.
The duchess, who looked frail enough to only do knitting or embroidery in her room, was running joyfully with her hair tightly tied back.
‘What makes her so happy?’
People running behind her seemed like they were about to die.
‘Does she enjoy tormenting others?’
Hari found her intriguing.
‘How fascinating.’
What kind of charm did she have to captivate such an incredible duke?
.
.
.
A short while later.
Casus had released all the people who were about to be sold as slaves.
He also provided them with a place to stay.
It was not far from the duke’s residence.
Just in case they might discover another clue later.
He also ordered the knights to find out if there were more victims to root out the illegal slave market.
And he strengthened the patrols within the dukedom.
Even at night, they would take turns to check for suspicious activities.
The elderly and Red returned home.
The knights confirmed their safe return and bid them farewell.
“You don’t need to worry anymore; the knights will patrol this area frequently.”
“Thank you so much. I don’t know how to express my gratitude……”
“It is my duty to take care of the citizens of the dukedom.”
“Thank you, thank you!”
The knights repeatedly bowed their heads as they parted from the grateful mother and daughter.
Red, who watched the departing knights, spoke sincerely.
“Our duke is really a good person.”
“That’s true. I will never forget this for the rest of my life. I feel so relieved to have come back. I have no regrets now, even if I die.”
The two women, filled with deep gratitude for Duke Wellington, stepped inside their house.
(This is a time separator.)
At sunset.
The people moved to their new homes, guided by the duke’s knights.
However, one person expressed her wish to stay.
It was Hari.
“Kniiight, I want to staaay here……”
Hari blinked her big eyes and pursed her adorable lips.
The knights laughed awkwardly, showing their discomfort.
Hari’s face, looking up like a pitiful kitten, was quite adorable.
But they had no choice; it was the duke’s command to move.
“His Grace has ordered you to move to the new residence.”
Hari then snorted and shrugged her shoulders.
“Heung…… I wanna stay here.”
The knights were increasingly puzzled by her cuteness.
And also bewildered.
‘Why is she like this?’
They had a direct order from Casus to courteously move her to the new residence.
They wondered if they should forcibly take her, as Hari was being so stubborn.
Regardless of how cute Hari was, the duke’s command must be executed.
‘Look at her.’
Atia, who watched Hari from a distance as she unleashed her charms, thought as she retightened her loosened ponytail.
‘I knew she wouldn’t go.’
Smiling broadly, Atia approached Hari.
Hari continued to shake her shoulders at the knights, unaware of the approaching duchess.
“If I live here with you knights, isn’t it okay? I can work as a maid~”
Hari, pouting her lips and slurring her words as if drunk, appeared exceedingly coquettish.
‘Her charm skill is pretty powerful. Although it’s ineffective on me.’
Atia barely suppressed a cringe, stifling the widening of her nostrils with a cough.
“Ahem.”
“I greet the Duchess.”
The knights’ faces brightened.
Already burdened, their spirits lifted as if Atia were a savior when she appeared.
Only then did Hari turn her head toward the Duchess.
“Mother?”
“Don’t you like your new home? You should at least visit it.”
Hari’s tonguetied mode returned to normal.
“Ah, the thing is… I…”
“Do you like it here?”
When the Duchess spoke the words she intended to say, Hari’s expression brightened.
“Yes! Exactly!”
“Why do you like it? Because it’s spacious?”
“Um, it’s spacious, the knights are cool, and… the garden is pretty?”
“Ah, I see.”
Atia lightly squinted her eyes.
At the same time, Hari noticed the knights’ expressions soften.
‘Anyway.’
Even to another woman, the Duchess watching her with squinted eyes was beautiful.
However, Hari felt strange.
It felt like the Duchess was treating her like a child.
No, it felt like she was being scrutinized by someone who knew everything about her.
As if being watched from above the sky…
Even though they had never met before.
Even though she was a stranger, why did she feel this way?
Maintaining a gentle smile, Atia spoke to Hari.
“Do you want to work here?”
Hari’s eyes widened.
“Really? Can I?”
“Yes, you can.”
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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