A fleeting smile seemed to appear on Carson’s face as he read the letter, but it quickly turned into an annoyed expression.
“Damn contractual relationships.”
During this era, where the seas brought news from all over the world daily and railway tracks covered the ground, the feudal system was maintained without wavering.
The feudal system was a relationship established through contracts between the emperor and knights. Centuries ago, when the empire was established through a conquest war, the emperor granted land and titles to knights who contributed. In return, the knights swore lifelong loyalty to the emperor.
That loyalty also meant helping to fill the royal treasury’s gaps.
“What’s the point if they’ll just siphon off everything through taxes.”
“It’s enviable that you can speak your mind.”
As he spoke, Carson put down his pen with a thud and swiveled his chair to gaze at the garden.
“They can’t kill me now, no matter what I say.”
His words were true. No one in the royal family would be foolish enough to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. For the continuous feasts and luxuries, they needed the money coming in under the guise of taxes from Carson.
“There’s no one better than them at sniffing out money.”
Because the flow of money Carson handled was too large, it was virtually impossible to hide it all.
That didn’t mean he was paying all his taxes honestly. His fiefdom still had a gold mine.
Although he allowed the Swolden family some flexibility in using the gold, the clause stated that they needed the lord’s permission to take it out of the fiefdom.
Gold was limited, whereas the money printed by the royal family could be produced as much as needed.
“Given that the ship sank, the empress must be desperate to make money…”
“I agree. It’s eerily quiet.”
The bankruptcy of the empress’s private trade fleet was almost like cutting her lifeline. While it wasn’t his doing, it was natural for her arrows to aim at Carson, who owned the empire’s largest trade fleet.
“Our empress must be really tired, having to keep all those Raymonds in check.”
Even if he sealed off every possible route, loopholes always existed. Carson couldn’t avoid creating some weaknesses in his life, so he had to always keep the empress in check.
The knight pledged loyalty to the Emperor, and the Emperor granted him land. This invincible contractual relationship was sacrosanct. No one could seize his land without permission, and it could only be passed on to his blood descendants.
However, the royal family had already distributed too much land to the nobility. The weakening of power was an inevitable process that the ancient royal family experienced, like the earth becoming wet when it rained.
“This time, you’ll throw it properly.”
Carson knew the Empress’s methods better than anyone, contradictory as they were. He had been involved in various affairs in the royal family for the longest time.
“It’s time to move. It’s not a bad thing. If you rush into something recklessly, time might pass a little quicker.”
Noah silently approached and opened the window he was staring at. A still-cold wind blew in, but the edge of the wind was noticeably softened.
The large trees in the garden retained their sea breeze even with their dried leaves.
In the face of slowly passing time, Carson was silent moment by moment.
Like a wild horse that ran fiercely with strong and beautiful legs and suddenly lost its way, seeking someone to tame it, he occasionally faced the wind, letting go of everything.
Noah knew who stood before him without having to ask.
When that happened, he quickly sorted the papers and prepared to leave the office. When Carson directed his gaze to the west like that, it was correct to consider the day’s work over.
What was somewhat fortunate was that Ines, who had not sent any news for the first year, occasionally sent letters these days.
From the trivial exchanges, Noah could only guess that there was some agreement between the two.
As he prepared to leave, minimizing the noise, the butler entered the office.
“Lord, the Princess wishes to dine with you tonight.”
The only existence that could lift Carson, who had sunk to the ground, back into the world was his blood relative, Luigianne.
“Alright, prepare. But don’t prepare too much food.”
A faint smile appeared on his lips as he thought of Luigianne.
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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