Twinkling, the light from the chandelier behind Carson combined with his own aura, emitting a beautiful light that seemed not of this world.
The moment their eyes met, Ines’s breath stopped on its own. The illusion that the entire ballroom was filled with him came over her as he stood before her.
He was indeed a beautiful subject.
During the moments she looked at him, not even Joseph, or the Count of Graham watching his back, or perhaps even the Empress of the Keinz Empire behind him, were feared at all. The massive conspiracy that constricted her breath didn’t feel big anymore.
“I’ll let you step on my feet as much as you like.”
“Thank you.”
“But do you know how to swim?”
“Swim?”
“It seems like you’re on the same boat unintentionally. You might fall into the water…….”
“No, I’m good…….”
He reached out again to take Ines’s hand. Swiftly descending the stairs, he twirled Ines around and led her to the center of the ballroom.
When she was drawn back into his arms by the rebound, he whispered softly in her ear.
“Well, there’s not much to worry about.”
She was too busy following his lead to ponder the meaning of his words.
“I can swim very well.”
When he determined that Ines was ready to dance, he shouted towards the orchestra positioned in the corner of the ballroom.
“Chabottero!”
With his command, the conductor counted with his baton, and the lively music began at once. As Carson led, and she moved accordingly, the filthy images filling her view were hidden one by one by the light. People also entered the dance floor in pairs.
The face of the Count of Graham, who blinked his cunning eyes like a snake, the dirty and disorderly noise of two men and women colliding, all lost power in front of the sparkling world created by Carson.
Ines looked up at him with newfound wonder. Unlike behind the curtain, Carson didn’t avert his eyes at all.
“But are you really okay?”
The melody reached its climax. Dancing for the first time in a while, Ines concentrated all her energy on not stepping on his feet.
“Pardon?”
As the music grew louder, Ines brought her ear closer to him. Then he asked again, pulling her waist tightly.
“Four years is not a short time.”
For a moment, Ines felt like her feet were floating on clouds. Carson was lifting her slightly from the floor. Thanks to that, she could momentarily let go of the fear of stepping on him.
“I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“Joseph……. You love him, don’t you?”
“Oh…….”
With an ambiguous sigh, the flowing music stopped abruptly.
They stepped back and bowed to each other, and their eyes met again in midair. Surprisingly, Ines was smiling brighter than ever before. At that, Carson momentarily lost his words.
“Thank you for asking.”
Only then did Ines realize that she had been wishing for someone to ask her that question.
“Absolutely not. I don’t love him at all.”
At her confident voice, Carson smiled faintly. Immediately, the second song with a gentle rhythm continued without time to catch a breath.
But Carson stopped the orchestra, and the conductor came to him at once. He issued some command, then reached out to Ines.
“Come here.”
When he asked again, Ines placed her hand on his without hesitation. Then the conductor started playing a new song. Amazingly, it was a hymn to the goddess of victory.
Ines’s eyes widened as she looked up at Carson. It was out of place in this ballroom, but it was perfect music for them at that moment.
“I thought you needed encouragement rather than consolation today.”
Looking at his brilliant smile, Ines felt that he had granted her victory.
In a world filled only with malice and scorn towards Ines Swelden, only he was her salvation and light.
Carson von Raymond was another name for a deity that had never once disappointed her.
(This is a time separator.)
Ines’s father Andrew was returning home, completely unaware that his daughter was dancing with the new young lord.
He was engulfed in deep thought inside the carriage on the way back to the mansion, because of the astonishing tale he had heard from Carson.
Andrew had spent his lifetime working for Rusonia, taking pride in his work. But after the Count Graham took over as the master of Rusonia five years ago, he started feeling a severe doubt about his work.
Count Graham was not suited to be a provincial lord. He was a central aristocrat from his roots and had little interest in the territory’s affairs.
Inside Rusonia, there was a committee formed to decide important and urgent matters related to the territory.
Composed solely of eleven barons, the committee was carefully chosen, considering their contributions to the territory, the time they had worked, the duration of the family’s existence, and the like. Andrew was one of them.
The committee had to be constituted with an odd number of people. The reason being, decisions on important matters followed the principle of majority voting.
Two years ago, Count Graham came to the committee with a proposition.
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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