When the colleague who supported her cheek with her hand, smelling of wax, spoke.
“Debbie might marry a rich person later! You could take a generous dowry.”
“Hey, fool. Would a rich person marry for a dowry? Besides, Debbie is good enough even if she’s poor. She’s pretty.”
“Well, still!”
Another colleague said with a bright smile.
“Or maybe Debbie will become a lady’s maid someday.”
“Yeah. Debbie is good at her work, and she speaks well, so the mistress really likes her!”
Deborah, who unwillingly became the topic of conversation, spoke with an embarrassed smile.
“The mistress is a kind and good person to everyone. And how could I become a lady’s maid? I’m much less than everyone else.”
“Oh, Debbie! Being too humble is not good, you know?”
Everyone laughed gracefully, like flowers swaying in the breeze of spring.
At that moment, Sage, sniffing as if he had just farted, spoke.
“You understand your place well.”
The surroundings became quiet, as if cold water had been poured, but Sage didn’t care and continued with what he wanted to say.
“Honestly, which rich person would take an orphan with a stigma? ”
“Hey, Sage!”
A colleague shouted, blushing. Sage shrugged, regardless.
“Why? Am I wrong? Looks are like that too. How many more beautiful girls are there in the capital?”
“You’re going too far with your words.”
“You guys stop talking nonsense and do your work. Hasn’t your hands slowed down every time you talk?”
“Seriously!”
At that moment, Deborah called an excited colleague who seemed to rush forward. Then, speaking in a gentle voice as if comforting, she said,
“I’m okay.”
“But…”
“Really, it’s okay. So, let’s not get angry.”
Having said that, Deborah stared at Sage. In Sage’s face, which showed no signs of frustration or discomfort, his cheeks turned red.
“You’re great, really!”
And so, Sage left the place, as if pushing forward.
“Oh, look at him! Leaving work like that!”
“Anyway, it’s annoying!”
The voices of colleagues erupted simultaneously.
“Sage used to be different; he’s becoming stranger and stranger! Shouldn’t we tell Lady-in-waiting about this?”
“I’ll talk to her later.”
The maid who was brought from the Geman family, the one who had worked the longest among them, said. Everyone hoped that she would take care of it, so they gradually shared the tasks left behind by Sage.
“It’s really annoying.”
Everyone complained, but Deborah didn’t. She just continued to think.
‘What is it about me that he dislikes so much?’
The top lady’s maid, who was absorbed in her thoughts, silently watched Deborah’s busy figure. And late in the evening, she called Deborah and said,
“Were you upset today?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“It’s not fine. There will be some kind of discipline for Sage since I reported it to Lady-in-waiting.”
With a bitter smile, the lady’s maid said to Deborah,
“The other girls wish Sage would leave the mansion, what about you?”
“Huh? No, I don’t think that way. Others may have said that to consider my feelings; they probably don’t sincerely wish for Sage to leave.”
The top lady’s maid nodded.
“Okay. It’s good that you say so sincerely.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, she glanced around and whispered softly.
“Sage’s family is in a difficult situation. Not everyone working here is well-off, but he…”
Once, the head maid, who had coincidentally shared a day off with Sage, witnessed Sage being grabbed by the hair by a middle-aged man on the street, emitting the smell of alcohol.
Startled, she rushed to stop them, but what the man said was outrageous.
“Give me money!”
The police on patrol arrived late, separated Sage from the man, and asked Sage.
“Do you know this person?”
To this, Sage, with a tear-streaked red face, shouted,
“I don’t know! I don’t know that trash!”
And then he ran away. So, the head maid had to talk to the police for a long time instead of Sage, thinking that Sage ruined her holiday.
“Do you have nothing to say to me?”
Returning to the mansion, she went to find Sage. When Sage, whose face was swollen from crying, bowed deeply and apologized, the woman, who found the situation bitter again, sighed deeply and asked,
“That man, do you really not know him? If you’re being chased by a loan shark, I have no choice but to report this to Lady-in-waiting.”
“It’s my father.”
In response to Sage’s answer, she widened her eyes.
“What did you say?”
“That man is my father.”
“…”
In shock, unable to say anything, Sage, with a stern expression, said to her,
“Do you want to tell my father that too? But what can I do? I haven’t received a penny from that man. It’s true. But why…”
“Calm down. I didn’t think that way.”
As she grabbed Sage’s shoulders and spoke seriously, Sage’s eyes, which had forcibly squinted like those of children his age, softened. Sorrowful tears flowed down Sage’s cheeks.
“Really, I don’t know how to live.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
