Parnes examined the dagger, turning it over and holding it up to the light, then suddenly dropped it to the floor.
“Your Majesty, this is…?”
Kasallin, bewildered, alternated between looking at Parnes’s face and the dagger as she asked.
As if he had no intention of resolving her confusion, Parnes left the room without adding another word.
Sunlight poured dazzlingly over Parnes’s head as he emerged aboveground.
Ludwig glanced at the prison gate, which clanged shut with a chilling metallic sound.
“Your Majesty, what do you intend to do?”
“Leave it be.”
“By leave it be, you mean…?”
“I threw them the blade. It won’t be long before they both die.”
A small room. Two people who betrayed and turned against each other. No food or water rationed, even after weeks.
And a single dagger.
Ludwig, realizing the meaning of Parnes’s words a beat too late, quietly swallowed dryly.
“What should we do with the nobles in the salon, including Marquis Clemens and Marchioness Clemens?”
“Deal with them appropriately. Clean up thoroughly.”
“I will follow your orders, but if Her Majesty the Empress were to awaken and learn of this method of punishment, would she not be troubled?”
Parnes, who had been leisurely crossing the open ground, stopped in his tracks.
With an eerily emotionless gaze, he looked down at Ludwig as if questioning what he meant.
“Naturally, Kasallin must not know.”
Duke Ludwig looked at his lord with worried eyes.
“There’s no need for her to know everything. She should only see the bright and beautiful things in this world. That’s enough.”
“As you command. On another note, the apology letter sent from the Kan Kingdom…”
“Discard it.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Parnes gave a curt reply and returned to the imperial palace.
Upon arriving at the bedchamber, he washed his body with water so cold it made his skin prickle.
After bringing his mind, still writhing at the bottom of the underground prison, back to its proper place, he donned a spotless new shirt.
Before leaving the bathroom, he briefly checked his reflection in the full-length mirror.
To ensure he wasn’t unknowingly wearing a fierce expression.
To meticulously confirm no trace of unclean energy lingered on him.
Once he was certain he was presentable enough to stand before his wife, he hurriedly made his way to the empress’s palace.
Awakening from a long, restful sleep, Kasallin blinked slowly at the sunlight streaming through the tall windows.
It seemed the saying that time heals wasn’t entirely wrong.
The nightmares that had tormented her so fiercely for the first couple of days had eased with time. Thanks to resting without a care and momentarily forgetting complicated matters.
“Ah, you’re awake!”
Still fighting off lingering drowsiness that hadn’t fully dissipated despite days of sleep, she heard the door open.
Nigel’s cheerful voice rang out as he offered her a glass of water from a tray.
“Miss Logia had some business outside the palace, so I’ve been attending to Your Majesty in her place.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Kasallin took the water and sipped it while quietly observing her surroundings.
Parnes, who was usually by her side whenever she opened her eyes, was nowhere to be seen today.
Due to this incident, the grand festival had been canceled midway, and diplomatic ties with the Kan Kingdom had been suspended.
With the matter of punishing the sinners as well, there must be many things to sort out.
Though she was in the early stages of pregnancy, she thought she should return to her duties to assist His Majesty.
‘But will His Majesty allow it?’
He’d likely say that stress could harm her body, or that she was getting heavier by the day and needed rest.
Or come up with some absurd reason to take on all her work himself.
Lost in such trivial thoughts, Nigel spoke up energetically.
“If you’re not going back to sleep, shall I have breakfast prepared? Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
“Well, I don’t have much of an appetite yet…”
“If you skip this meal too, His Majesty might come chasing after you with a scary face.”
At Nigel’s playful remark to lighten the mood, Kasallin smiled softly.
“Alright. I’d better eat something before His Majesty worries. Some fruit or light soup, please.”
“A wise choice. Please wait a moment.”
While Nigel went to instruct the maids to prepare the meal, Kasallin was attended to for dressing.
After changing into a morning dress and tidying her hair, she found breakfast set up in a small adjoining room.
Nigel moved briskly, pouring water and drinks, asking if she needed anything else, and attending to her with care.
His sincere effort to do his best in place of Loren Logia made her want to reward him somehow.
“The strawberries are fresh today. Come try one, Sir Nigel.”
When she offered a sweet strawberry that could revive even a dormant appetite, Nigel waved his hands, insisting he couldn’t possibly accept.
If it were Loren Logia, she’d have scampered over like a puppy and gobbled it up in one bite.
Nigel, it seemed, still found it difficult to be at ease around her.
“Even if it’s an order from the Empress?”
Kasallin gave a mischievous smile, wiggling the hand holding the strawberry.
Nigel, who had been standing stiffly with his hands behind his back, glanced at the strawberry with a troubled expression before slowly bowing.
“If it’s an order, I gratefully accept.”
Kneeling on one knee, Nigel reverently took the strawberry with both hands and ate it.
Finding his demeanor oddly endearing, Kasallin laughed silently, but suddenly Nigel’s face turned pale.
Following his gaze, Kasallin turned her head.
Unnoticed until now, Parnes was leaning against the doorway, quietly watching them.
Nigel hurriedly swallowed the strawberry in his mouth and bowed deeply to the Emperor.
“I greet the Emperor, the sky and sun of the Renel Empire!”
“Your Majesty, when did you arrive? You should’ve said something.”
Feeling a familiar joy at seeing him after a while, Kasallin spoke, and Parnes’s eyes softened.
His silver hair, still slightly damp as if he’d just showered, glistened at the tips.
The glimpse of his sturdy shoulders through the loosely worn shirt and the faint smile on his lips felt especially striking today.
“I’ve been here since you shuddered while drinking celery juice.”
“You saw that too?”
Kasallin grumbled, her cheeks flushing a peachy hue.
Parnes gazed quietly at her flushed cheeks with a hungry look, then shifted his eyes to Nigel, staring silently.
Nigel quickly wiped the strawberry stain from his mouth and bowed to both of them.
“W-Well then, I’ll take my leave. Call if you need me.”
Kasallin watched Nigel’s retreating figure with a puzzled expression, as if he’d been dismissed.
Parnes approached her, kneeling to meet her eye level.
“Your complexion looks brighter, thankfully. Were you startled that I wasn’t here when you woke?”
“Startled? Hardly. Besides, Sir Nigel was here today.”
A faint twitch flickered at the corner of Parnes’s eyes.
“Since Miss Logia was away, he stayed by my side all morning. He’s diligent, like Duke Ludwig.”
“What did you talk about?”
At the sudden question, Kasallin tilted her head.
Parnes continued.
“From the doorway, it looked like you were laughing as if amused, and he was blushing, seemingly embarrassed.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I offered to share a strawberry. Sir Nigel is still so innocent; he blushes at anything I say.”
“Innocent…”
Parnes muttered something incomprehensible. For a moment, an unreadable dark flame seemed to flicker in his eyes.
But it vanished so quickly that she wondered if she’d imagined it.
“On another note, are the nightmares gone? You seemed to be sleeping peacefully the other day.”
“Yes, I’m fine now. As you know, I tend to bounce back quickly.”
“That’s my wife. Resilient as ever.”
Parnes smiled gently, softly stroking Kasallin’s cheek.
Kasallin deftly hid her shyly swelling heart and shrugged awkwardly.
“By the way, where were you so early in the morning, Your Majesty? Sword practice?”
The hand caressing Kasallin’s face paused for a moment.
A brief, unreadable silence passed.
“I did handle a sword a bit.”
“Still so diligent. Since I’m feeling better, I should return to state affairs soon. Starting with those who need to be punished this time…”
“My lady.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
Kasallin, about to stand to head to the meeting room, turned to him.
Parnes, still kneeling, slowly rose to his feet.
“While you were resting, I took care of everything. So you don’t need to worry about it anymore.”
“Took care of everything…?”
All those complex matters without consulting her even once?
“…”
A strange silence cut through the space between them.
As always, Parnes looked at Kasallin with a gentle yet somehow chilling gaze.
“As Sir Leon has warned several times, you must be cautious, especially in early pregnancy. So why not step back from stressful matters for now and focus on resting with me?”
His cool hand gently slipped between Kasallin’s fingers.
His voice sounded unusually low and alluring today, as if hiding something in a thick fog.
“We could do some light exercise together, paint the pictures you love, and on warm days, go for short outings nearby.”
“Hmm…”
Kasallin flushed quietly, hesitating.
He continued earnestly.
“Even if I can’t do much for you, carrying such a burden in that small frame, as your husband, I want to at least do that much. Is that not alright?”
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.
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