The maid cautiously opened her lips.
“But surely, the master instructed us to treat ‘the lady’ with utmost care.”
‘Zen said that?’
Deborah found it hard to believe. Not only the term ‘lady,’ but also the instruction to treat her with utmost care seemed unlike Zen.
Yet, it was Zen who had made her eat all those precious desserts yesterday. Whether that constituted treating someone with utmost care was debatable.
‘What on earth is he thinking doing all this…’
Deborah sighed inwardly and said,
“But I’m neither a bourgeois nor someone who will stay long. So, there’s no need to take such care of me.”
Deborah mixed truth with her wishes in her response.
“Oh, I see…”
The maid blinked slowly with her large eyes and then spoke softly with a faint smile,
“However, the fact that the master asked us to take good care of the lady does not change.”
Deborah was at a loss for words. She realized she had no right to suggest that the master might have made a mistake. After all, a maid’s role is to follow orders, not to question or judge them independently.
‘I can’t overstep my boundaries, no matter how inappropriate this seems.’
A memory came to Deborah’s mind, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
Noticing Deborah’s somber look, the maid playfully said,
“Lady, why not just enjoy this fortune? If I were you, I’d relish it without thinking about tomorrow.”
Realizing that the maid was trying to comfort her with a joke, Deborah smiled gently,
“Yes. I’ll do that.”
Relieved by Deborah’s response, the maid’s eyes softened. Deborah hoped for a peaceful morning, but seeing the breakfast the maid brought in made her think it wouldn’t be so tranquil.
“This is…”
“The chef showed off his skills! It’s not just the master’s instruction to treat you well, but you are also the first official guest of the Baker family.”
Pleasing a guest on behalf of the master is the chef’s pride and joy. Moreover, this guest defended his desserts to that stern master.
“The chef has been sharpening his knives since last evening! It must be really delicious.”
“Haha, it sure seems so.”
Deborah swallowed her tears internally as she moved the food to her mouth. It was delicious, truly excellent. But there was too much.
‘Am I really going to burst?’
Watching Deborah move the food to her mouth absent-mindedly, the maid snapped back to reality and said,
“Please enjoy your meal comfortably, and call me whenever you need.”
“Thank you.”
After leaving Deborah’s room, the maid walked down the corridor, pondering.
‘Really a commoner? She didn’t seem like it at all. Her behavior was extremely elegant.’
‘If she hadn’t said she was a commoner, I would have thought she was the owner of the bridal chamber.’
The future mistress of the house was said to be the daughter of the Earl of Blythe. Thus, the commoner Deborah could not be her.
But Deborah’s behavior and the fact that the strict master had instructed to take great care of her indicated she was more than just a mere guest.
‘It seems she’s not here for just a short stay at the Baker family.’
Zen told Deborah she could go anywhere, as long as she didn’t go beyond the walls. But Deborah had no intention of leaving her room until Zen returned.
‘Why would a guest roam around when the host is absent? There’s no need for that.’
She was sure of that, yet now she found herself in the garden, bloated and walking in circles in her room, thanks to a maid’s suggestion.
The maid suggested enthusiastically,
“If it’s alright with you, how about a walk in the garden? The Baker family’s garden might not follow the latest fashionable style, but it’s truly beautiful. It holds its own even when compared to other noble families’ estates.”
Finding it difficult to refuse the maid’s active encouragement, Deborah followed her to the garden.
‘I didn’t get a chance to properly see the garden yesterday with everything going on, but it’s truly beautiful. It’s something to be proud of.’
The trees in the streets were shedding their leaves, turning from red to brown, signaling the onset of winter. Yet, the garden remained splendid and vibrant, seemingly indifferent to the seasons.
‘Money even overcomes the seasons.’
The Baker mansion was a place lavishly adorned with money. The beauty of this residence was astonishing.
Although she should have been awestruck, Deborah still felt like she was in a prison, remembering clearly what Diya had endured here.
‘It’s cold, though.’
Deborah, wrapped in a shawl, was fine, but the maid following her might not have been. Deborah kindly said to her,
“I can look around by myself. You can go back inside.”
“Oh no. The master explicitly instructed me not to leave your side.”
That moment, Zen’s words from yesterday vividly flashed in Deborah’s mind.
[You must be accompanied by a servant outside your room at all times. No exceptions.]It wasn’t just an offhand remark.
‘Why all this fuss for me?’
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
