Ines mainly helped the maids with laundry, while Charlotte stayed in the kitchen.
There were plans for a new priest to come from Edmont to here soon.
“Charlotte, what are you doing?”
Expecting Charlotte to be in the kitchen, Ines returned to the room when she didn’t see her.
“Ah…”
Even upon seeing Ines, she remained silent and seated. In her hands was the priest robe left by Hansel. Lately, Charlotte often seemed absent-minded. So, Ines tried not to leave her alone as much as possible.
“I just… I still can’t believe it.”
It had already been two months since Carson and his party left. While it was still warm during midday, cold winds blew in the morning and evening. However, the fervently burning hearts didn’t cool even a bit. It was the same for Ines and Charlotte, both holding onto Hansel’s priest robe.
“I still can’t believe I won’t see him forever. As you know, I relied on him a lot.”
Charlotte had come to Edmont before Ines and it was Hansel who silently took care of her struggling self. It couldn’t be said that he treated her more specially than other maids, but Charlotte followed him a lot.
“The priest was the son of the Duke of Folden… Such things don’t happen in reality.”
Of course, Ines and Hansel kept everything a secret until the day of departure. It might have been natural for Charlotte, who later learned the truth, to be bewildered. Ines sat beside her quietly.
“Still, won’t he come back at least once?”
At Ines’ words, Charlotte shook her head.
“He probably won’t.”
The process of a priest leaving the temple was more complicated than expected. There was no term for quitting voluntarily. It was an absolute expulsion.
“Anyway, he’s not even from this country. He probably won’t come back just to be expelled.”
She didn’t hide her regretful expression as she stroked the priest robe in her hands. It was clear that the sacred clothing rightfully belonged to Charlotte.
On the day of the water festival, the three of them were on their way back to the castle, fully soaked. Seeing Charlotte’s body illuminated as it clung to the wet clothes, Hansel took off his own clothes and covered her with them.
Even though the priest robe was soaked as well.
Taking off a priest’s robe to cover someone was not an easy task. Charlotte’s surprised expression at that time was unforgettable.
And in that moment, Hansel bid them farewell.
After he left, Charlotte stood still for a while and shed tears. Ines couldn’t help but envy her honesty in crying, wondering why she was crying.
Charlotte brushed the priest robe once more and then let out a deep breath. After that, she carefully hung his clothes in her closet.
“Now, let’s go. Dinner preparations must have just started.”
As the two were about to leave the room, Noah was seen walking towards them at the end of the hallway. Charlotte gestured at Ines after giving him a polite greeting and then distanced herself first.
Often, Noah came to inform her about the situation in Folden, and now everyone in Sang-an knew about it.
Even before, no one felt bitter about Ines receiving special treatment, but after the Water Festival, no one dared to treat her disrespectfully.
A temple maid, yet a woman respected by the lord. And her sister followed her like a mother. If this were Randhill, it would have been an easily targeted position.
“I have something to tell you.”
As Ines nodded, the two naturally headed to Carson’s office, a place where nobles handling Monstera’s affairs couldn’t enter without permission.
Although it was an ownerless office, it didn’t feel empty with the presence of the two.
“The items you mentioned have arrived.”
As Ines took her seat, Noah approached with the ledger. Right after Carson departed, she immediately brought in more military supplies to Monstera, stating it was to prepare for the castle’s potential danger after the army left.
All the available guns were bought, and thick knight armor for winter and war provisions were prepared. There seemed to be too much inventory for just fortifying the defense posture. Anyone could easily notice that they were preparing for something else.
Before leaving, Carson left a message for Ines to fulfill any request she had. Although he diligently carried out that order, Noah thought Carson probably didn’t expect it to be something like this.
“Yes, thank you. Is the training going well?”
“Of course. But, can I ask you something now?”
“What is it?”
“Why have you raised so many soldiers? As I mentioned before, Folden’s capital is already in a state of collapse.”
It was said that it only took three days for them to occupy the royal capital due to their swift attack. However, Folden wasn’t aware of that fact.
Following Monstera’s departure, a full-frontal battle unfolded near the border with Folden’s army. Just ten days later, news came from the battlefield that the royal capital had fallen.
Monstera’s army immediately advanced and arrived at the royal capital without much difficulty.
However, what followed was not easy. Of course, it was just on the surface.
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.”
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