Rose thought that by now, Shallen must have faced reality to some extent and was preparing to rise again.
She went to the royal palace.
She told the attendant to inform His Majesty that she wished to see him.
The attendant glanced alternately at the tightly closed door and her face, looking troubled.
“Your Majesty, the Queen. I beg your pardon, but it would be better to come back later.”
Rose almost reflexively asked why not, as if complaining, but briefly recalled Kasallin’s demeanor she had seen in the Renel Empire.
A dignity that naturally exuded without any effort to maintain it.
Rose lifted her chin stiffly like her older sister and put on a deliberately refined expression.
“The Queen is giving an order. Is it not presumptuous to block my way?”
“His Majesty the King has ordered that no one be allowed inside. He needs rest now.”
“Does ‘no one’ include me? Step aside at once.”
Rose pushed the overly anxious attendants to one side and opened the door herself.
As soon as she stepped inside, Rose immediately understood why the attendants had desperately tried to stop her.
It was truly a wretched sight.
The entire floor was overrun with wine bottles, to the point that even a slum’s garbage dump might seem cleaner.
A dark, unidentifiable aura hung ominously in the air.
The documents, usually neatly arranged, had lost their purpose and were reduced to mere scraps of paper.
This was no longer the King’s study. It was the den of a broken man.
“Your Majesty?”
Shallen was nowhere to be seen, and there was no response when she called. Rose wandered through the dark room like a cave.
Her fingertips finally touched the curtain, and she pulled it aside to let light into the room.
She saw a single shoe sprawled under the desk.
Shifting her gaze slightly, familiar golden hair spilled across the floor.
“Your Majesty!”
Under the coffee table, Shallen, in a disheveled shirt, lay collapsed with his face buried in the cold floor.
She placed his face on her lap and slapped his cheeks a few times, and Shallen lifted his eyelids as if he had just crawled out of water onto land.
The first words he mumbled in his half-conscious state were enough to shatter Rose’s last hopes.
“Kasallin…?”
Shallen squinted, trying to focus on the blurry figure before him.
He was wandering somewhere between dream and reality.
The black hair that used to cascade over his face like a waterfall when he lay like this.
As if he could not forget the distinctive sweet scent emanating from soft skin.
Shallen rubbed his cheek against Rose’s lap, muttering in a hoarse voice.
“Kasallin. I’m sorry…”
Please come back to me.
With that pitiful whisper, Shallen slipped back into the illusory dream world where Kasallin was holding him.
Rose, frozen in that position, barely breathed, unable to move.
Several minutes passed like that.
“What in the world is this scene?”
Not even hearing the door open, Rose belatedly realized someone had entered the room.
She hurriedly raised her head.
Golden hair falling as straight as if measured with a ruler.
Blue eyes set beneath thick lashes.
A woman who looked as if Shallen had been born female entered with a shocked expression.
The decisive difference was that she carried the bold spirit of a captain nearing a treasure island.
She gestured to the attendants and servants hesitating at the door.
“What are you all standing there for? Open the windows and ventilate. Clear the bottles too.”
“Yes, Princess Relen.”
“They said his condition was serious, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”
As Princess Relen approached Shallen, she met Rose’s eyes and lightly curtsied in greeting.
“Relen Riche, Princess of the Kan Royal Family, greets Your Majesty, the Queen. I’d ask if you’ve been well, but it seems that’s not the case.”
Rose didn’t know how to respond to Princess Relen.
Her sea-blue eyes seemed to ask, “What have you done to let your husband end up like this?”
When Rose answered hesitantly, Relen gave her a slightly odd look.
But soon, as if uninterested, she gestured to Aster following her.
“You there, Lord Aster, was it? Could you carry His Majesty Shallen to his bedroom?”
“Understood, Princess.”
“No, I’ll do it. I should be by His Majesty’s side.”
As Aster, who seemed to have already sworn loyalty to Princess Relen, supported Shallen, Rose, in a hurry, reached out.
Princess Relen stopped her hand in mid-air.
“Your Majesty, the Queen, you must prepare for the royal meeting in two hours.”
“What?”
“Even though Mother is acting as regent, if His Majesty is unwell, it is only right for the Queen to take his place.”
“Oh…”
Catching the slight tremor in Rose’s eyes, Princess Relen narrowed her gaze.
“Do you perhaps not know how to prepare for the meeting?”
Rose’s face flushed red.
Princess Relen stared at her in disbelief.
“You there, quickly bring the documents from the last meeting.”
Princess Relen ordered her aides in an urgent tone.
Soon after, as she skimmed through the documents brought by the aides, she glanced at Rose.
Her look seemed to mock, “How can someone like this sit as Queen?”
If only she had openly disrespected her, Rose might not have noticed.
Princess Relen was respecting Rose as the Queen to the utmost, and because of that, Rose had no words to say.
“For now… very well. I’ll attend the meeting in your stead. Is that acceptable?”
Princess Relen closed the documents with a snap and spoke.
The answer was already decided. Rose nodded, trembling with humiliation.
She now regretted the days when she had been so absorbed in the luxurious palace life that she had only half-listened to her queenly education.
“Rose, a maid is not someone who does the Queen’s work for her. You must do your own duties.”
You must not neglect state affairs. The Queen should be able to do the same work as the King.
Why did Kasallin’s voice, which had nagged her until her ears ached, come to mind now of all times?
What made her even angrier was the fleeting thought that she should have listened to her back then.
“If His Majesty Shallen cannot rise like this…”
It would only be a matter of time before the royal authority fell into Princess Relen’s hands.
She had even heard that Nibia had consistently argued for breaking outdated traditions and placing Princess Relen on the throne.
With the previous king, who had insisted on primogeniture, now dead.
And with Shallen in such a state, it was practically the world of the mother and daughter.
“If this continues, I might not be able to pass the throne to my child.”
Aster was a cunning man.
He held a plausible title, and his eloquence and tact were beyond question.
If he set his mind to it, becoming Princess Relen’s husband might not be an impossible dream.
What if a son were born between the two of them?
No, at this point, whether it was a prince or a princess didn’t matter anymore.
“I was the one who didn’t know reality. As Aster said, this wasn’t the time to cling to Shallen’s coattails.”
Coldly thinking, Shallen could no longer be relied upon.
As the situation grew worse with each passing moment, Rose couldn’t grasp how to overcome it.
She stood blankly in the dim room like a ghost, biting her already tattered fingertips mercilessly.
“What do I do? Who can I rely on for help?”
Why was Kasallin’s face flashing through her mind now, of all times?
When she was young, whenever she fell and scraped her knee running down a hill, the name Rose unfailingly called was “Sister Kasallin.”
When she went to a party full of confidence only to flee home after learning the harshness of high society, the first person she sought was her.
On nights when she couldn’t sleep alone because of thunder. When she cut her hand breaking a glass by mistake. When she agonized over a difficult problem.
It was always her unrelated-by-blood sister, Kasallin, who had been by her side, offering solutions.
“But it was you who pushed me into this quagmire, wasn’t it?”
Rose turned her steps toward the royal meeting hall.
She resolved to herself that, no matter who else, she would never be the first to reach out to her.
But at that very moment, a piercing pain shot through her lower abdomen.
Rose staggered, taking a sharp breath and collapsing in place.
As if she had secretly expected this, an ominous feeling cast a shadow over her entire face.
“No, it can’t be.”
“Your Majesty, the Queen?”
A maid, who had come looking for Rose when she didn’t return, peeked through the door.
Seeing her trembling like a leaf in a darkened room, the maid rushed in, alarmed.
“Your Majesty! What’s wrong? Is your stomach hurting?”
“Be quiet…”
“What?”
Rose, pale and sweating coldly, glanced around at the empty surroundings.
Then she whispered to the maid in a low voice.
“Bring the court physician without anyone knowing. No one must know… No, wait.”
Cutting herself off and shaking her head, she gritted her teeth and stood up.
She could trust no one anymore.
“I need to leave the palace immediately. This… no one must know.”
Male lead Asks for a Divorce Every Day
It’s not often you come across a plot like this in the female-dominant genre — make sure to check it out!
This is a novel I’m planning to reread as well.
The male lead is strong, skilled in martial arts, and not the usual fragile type you often see in matriarchal novels.
Meanwhile, the female lead is a scientist—rational and logical. Even when she falls for the male lead, she doesn’t let her emotions cloud her decisions.
If you push through the first few chapters, you’ll gradually find the story really intriguing.
It has a mix of mystery, detective elements, and romance.
The author’s writing style is like crafting a puzzle—except they deliberately leave out a few pieces, making it hard to predict what happens next, yet keeping you hooked.
In the end, everything will come together and be explained.
One-sentence summary: Wife, stop playing with beakers and look at me!
In a laboratory accident, research scientist Zhu Wansheng accidentally travels to a matriarchal world. The original owner of the body is an eighteen-year-old only daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant, already married with a handsome young man.
Zhu Wansheng grins: Nice! She always said she was heaven’s favorite granddaughter. After a life of toil in her previous life, she can enjoy blessings in this one.
However, her joy lasts no more than three seconds as bad news arrives: the original owner’s family is about to go bankrupt, and her husband wants a divorce.
Even worse, she’s stuck with a research system full of restrictions.
Zhu Wansheng: ? Is this the destiny of a research dog?
——
Faced with this mess, Zhu Wansheng pours herself a bowl of wine to drown her sorrows. In her drunken haze, her husband arrives.
His figure is imposing, holding a long sword, with a dignified air that captivates Zhu Wansheng.
Gu Yingqing, however, looks at the alcohol-reeking Zhu Wansheng with undisguised disgust and coldly asks, “Divorce or not?” The intoxicated Zhu Wansheng mumbles vaguely, “I think… it’s not… it’s not… impossible!”
——
The next day, after sobering up, Zhu Wansheng is full of energy, rolling up her sleeves ready to make a big move. As for yesterday? She has no memory of it.
Zhu Wansheng is ambitious; a research dog fears nothing!
Upgrading rouge, extracting fragrances, producing perfumes, researching lipsticks… all shall bow to the power of modern technology!
The original owner’s dying rouge shop is revitalized. Her mother is pleased and with a wave of her hand, passes on the family business to her. As she takes control and her experimental results gain popularity, it’s the pinnacle of her life…
——
But there are always those who can’t stand to see her doing well. Jealousy, scheming, assassination attempts – they want nothing less than her life.
The person who has always kept his distance from her suddenly holds her tightly in his arms, eyes full of concern.
She is unharmed, but he falls into a pool of blood…
Zhu Wansheng feels guilty, “I can grant you one wish.”
Gu Yingqing tentatively circles his arms around her, carefully resting his head in the crook of her neck, pleading softly, “I regret it. Can we not divorce?”
Zhu Wansheng: ? When did I agree to a divorce?
[Small Theater]
The newly developed rouge is beautifully packaged, and Zhu Wansheng is eager to try it.
Gu Yingqing suddenly appears: “My lady, may I apply it for you?”
Cool fingertips lightly brush her lips. His Adam’s apple bobs as he leans in for a light bite.
Zhu Wansheng: ?
Gu Yingqing: It smells so good, I wanted to taste it…
On a warm spring day, Zhu Wansheng tries a new perfume: “Spring Night.” Gu Yingqing corners her against a wall.
Warm breath lingers on her neck.
“My lady, from now on, may I test the fragrances for you?”
[Humorous female scientist vs scheming live-in son-in-law male lead]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
