“Please feel free to call me Arthur. It’s my alias that’s used throughout the empire.”
The man didn’t let go of her hand as he raised his gaze. For a fleeting moment, a red glint flashed in his amber eyes.
‘It feels like I could be entranced…’
He smiled at her like a gentlemanly devil and escorted her to the sofa with an elegantly flawless gesture.
Sitting across from each other with the duke between them, the two instinctively sized each other up.
‘She takes after her mother more than her father. I won’t have to look at a stubbornly expressionless face. That’s a relief.’
‘This is unbelievable. He’s my fiancé? I never even met him once before the regression, so what’s gotten into him?’
The first to break the silence was Duke Carlyle. He frowned as he looked at the nine-tailed fox and his innocent daughter.
‘I wanted to put this off as long as possible, but it can’t be helped.’
He was in a foul mood due to Diana’s recently decreased activity.
Ever since that impudent lycan left after making threats, Diana voluntarily confined herself to the castle. Benjamin was the first to notice.
〈Recently, she doesn’t request a carriage or knight anymore. She stopped visiting the convent as well. I should have separated her from that girl before they became close… It’s my negligence.〉
Just then, a letter arrived from Arthur.
He had boarded a ship carrying supplies and threatened that this time, he would definitely meet Diana.
‘How ridiculous. I must have told him to wait until she comes of age.’
He had every intention of thoroughly ignoring it. If only Benjamin hadn’t said that one thing.
〈Sigh… They say love is forgotten through love. Couldn’t we find a way for her to go on a date to take her mind off things?〉
〈……〉
〈Whew, I know it’s futile, but I couldn’t help saying it. Someone who shouldn’t leave any attachments to this land would be in a bind if she got a lover. If only there was at least one man she could meet without such worries…〉
〈Sigh……〉
He was convinced Benjamin had read the letter. Otherwise, this fellow was definitely a mind reader.
Returning to the present, the duke, who had been glaring at Arthur with narrowed eyes, opened his mouth slowly as if displeased.
“Seventeen is the age for a debutante ball. Go with Arthur. He should be able to exterminate some annoying fly larvae.”
He introduced the outstanding, even excellent man as mere insecticide.
Arthur, who had been sitting up straight and drinking tea, bent his elegantly raised pinky finger and raised an eyebrow.
“How disappointing. I was hoping you would introduce me as her fiancé.”
At his leisurely tone that was almost spiteful, the duke sharpened his words.
“Fiancé? Are you dreaming?”
Diana was equally surprised.
‘Wasn’t he my fiancé? The tycoon of the Eastern Continent! That’s right, isn’t it?’
His unruffled composure, the high-quality, splendid suit, and his ingrained manners proved his status.
Perhaps finding Diana’s rapidly blinking eyes cute, Arthur smoothly countered the sharp words.
“It would certainly feel like a dream to become the fiancé of such a lovely young lady. But it’s not a dream. Have you forgotten the agreement from a few years ago?”
Diana’s head turned towards the duke. What do you mean? In response to her eyes demanding an answer, he flinched.
“It would be better for you two to discuss this alone from here on. Wait in your room. I’ll send Arthur to you later.”
Already? Instead of jumping to her feet, Diana stubbornly asked again.
“…But you haven’t told me who this person is yet. Is Mr. Arthur really my fiancé?”
“…I haven’t arranged a separate fiancé for you.”
The two men’s words contradicted each other. Diana tilted her head and asked again.
“But it’s strange. This person called me his fiancée. What kind of agreement did you two have that he’s under such a misunderstanding…?”
The duke rubbed his eyebrows as if it was a difficult question to answer. And a moment later, he said something incomprehensible.
“The agreement is nothing much. Arthur is your legal guardian. He’s a henchman who will help you when you study abroad in the Eastern Continent.”
“Study abroad…?”
“Henchman?”
Diana and Arthur’s voices overlapped as if they were one.
At the sharp tone, Diana glanced at Arthur.
If he really was her fiancé from her previous life, this person held exclusive trade rights as a proxy merchant.
Someone with more power than a country’s foreign minister, and yet the duke treated him like a henchman no matter how high-ranking he was?
As expected, his elegantly shaped eyebrows rose like a wave to one side.
A henchman, he says. It was the first time he had been so insulted since he was born into this world.
He had been a revered being from the very beginning. Even when he lived in a shrine without a home of his own. With his stunning appearance and outstanding magic, humans quickly bowed their heads to him.
The fox, who had grown up eating the offerings they made, couldn’t help but be arrogant. And yet a mere human dares to belittle me?
The fox, haughty from birth, engaged in a fierce staring match with the impudent man.
That’s right. Arthur was a nine-tailed fox.
Hiding his unpleasant expression, he soon sneered.
In any case, the duke had few choices he could make. Since it’s come to this, let me provoke him properly. He rested his chin on the armrest of the sofa and languidly recited.
“It’s absurd to say the agreement isn’t important. Have you forgotten the item you promised to return to me in exchange for guaranteeing Lady Diana’s safety?”
Diana couldn’t hear the rest of what he said.
At the whispered murmur mouthed silently, the duke’s complexion hardened like stone.
“Diana. Return to your room.”
“But… Yes…”
She had wanted to get a proper answer about her fiancé and studying abroad, but she had no choice but to get up from her seat due to the heavy atmosphere.
‘Let’s go back and think about it for now. Since this man named Arthur seems to be coming to me again, I’ll have to grill him then.’
As the door clicked shut, a spark ignited in the duke’s eyes.
What Diana hadn’t heard was this:
“It seems the fox doesn’t know how to receive vitality. If you don’t hold a wedding ceremony, your daughter will become an unchaste woman. But if you’re fine with that, by all means.”
The duke’s installed safety device wasn’t a sword or a knight. It was an egotistical young fox.
[This is the timeline separator]Foxes stored marbles in human bodies to maintain their vitality.
And when they needed the power of the marble, they had to make contact with the marble’s owner in some way.
That method was suitably described as brazenly taking or coveting.
The duke probably wasn’t unaware of that fact either. However, there was no match more suitable than a nine-tailed fox to settle his daughter in the Eastern Continent.
Humans worshipped nine-tailed foxes as gods, yet they feared having a being that neither aged nor died by their side. So they were skilled at transformation.
Changing identities and living as if they were someone else was no different from their daily lives.
And the duke needed that ability.
He was in the midst of making plans to relocate her to a faraway land in preparation for when the family would be destroyed.
“Feeding her the marble naturally leads to contact. It shouldn’t be surprising.”
Once Diana left, the fox no longer maintained formalities.
No matter how many years he had lived, there was no reason for him to speak respectfully to Carlyle.
Carlyle scoffed at his impudent attitude. And soon, he took out the marble.
“Are you telling me to break it right now?”
It was the marble that had fallen out when the woman storing it at the wharf died of a heart attack a few years ago.
Of all people, that bastard had to pick it up.
Arthur raised both hands high, pretending to surrender.
“Calm down, will you? It’s a deal where neither of us loses. You just have to acknowledge me as your son-in-law.”
The duke, lost in deep worry, let out a low sigh.
“I haven’t even decided whether to feed her the marble or not. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
He didn’t know that his cautious attitude only further piqued Arthur’s interest.
‘So he’s reluctant to have a loveless marriage.’
Suppressing his rising competitiveness, he reassured the duke.
“Don’t be so wary. Vitality is replenished most smoothly in a state of happiness. Rather, she’ll be grateful for the fortune that is me and bless our future. Because if your daughter loves me, there will be no more loyal spouse.”
“……”
He stood up from his seat, adjusting his tie.
As far as Arthur knew, the duke was a man who gave faster responses when rejecting rather than agreeing.
‘A slow answer means affirmation.’
He smiled alluringly and whispered slyly.
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait until the agreed-upon period.”
There was not a moment’s hesitation in his hand turning the doorknob. Benjamin, who had been waiting outside, had a servant guide him alone.
“The young lady is waiting. Why don’t you have tea together?”
‘A response already.’
As expected, Diana had already begun to take an interest in him.
A cup of tea could turn into a meal, and if the opportunity arose, they could practice dancing under the pretext of her debutante ball.
‘It’s not that difficult.’
The face that had repeatedly asked if he was really her fiancé came to mind.
She was quite cute.
Until then, he had no idea that Diana would be such a challenging conquest.
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.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
