The news of the cold war between the two spread quickly through the Richter mansion.
At first, it was just speculation like ‘Did they perhaps fight?’, but as the cold war prolonged, everyone in the mansion came to know about the couple’s quarrel.
And so, on the fourth day since the cold war began.
“What should we do about this.”
Mari, Siena, and Markops whispered in front of Serpina’s vegetable garden.
Hushed voices exchanged secretly.
“What did the Madam say, Siena?”
Sigh.
“It seems she has no intention of reconciling today either.”
Sigh sigh.
“She’s still using the excuse that she hasn’t fully recovered and is using a separate room… I wonder what she’s thinking.”
Sigh sigh sigh.
The sighs grew deeper with each sentence.
“What if… they don’t reconcile if this continues?”
“Mr. Markops. Don’t say such ominous things!”
“That’s right. The two of them will definitely reconcile soon.”
It was almost like a voice making a wish.
Sigh sigh sigh sigh.
The three of them sighed simultaneously and looked at Serpina and Dante’s vegetable garden.
“They used to get along so well, like these adjacent gardens.”
But now, the relationship between the two had become no different from a withered garden.
“I wish the two of them would reconcile quickly.”
Hoping that this precarious situation would be resolved quickly.
The three could only pray with one heart.
Meanwhile, there was someone whose worries were no less deep than the three.
“Your Grace. Are you really going to continue like this?”
When Barhan asked with concern, Dante, with his gaze fixed on the documents, answered.
“What am I doing?”
“Why don’t you approach her first and apologize, Your Grace?”
“How can I apologize to someone who says they can’t stand the sight of me?”
“Was that really your true feelings?”
“It didn’t seem like a lie either.”
As if hurt by the words that came out of his own mouth, a crack appeared in his usually smooth brow.
Barhan let out a deep sigh.
Usually, he worried about Dante’s excessively mature attitude, but why was he acting so childishly when it really mattered?
“…You’re not even able to work properly, let alone live a normal life, are you?”
“No. I’m fine.”
He couldn’t even laugh.
This person who claimed to be fine tried to eat soup with a fork, went out to train holding a pen instead of a sword, and tore up letters while opening the envelopes.
Although he had been by his side for a long time, this was the first time he had seen Dante like this.
It was an attitude that made him seriously doubt if something had come loose somewhere.
Dante glanced at Barhan with a displeased look at his sigh.
“If you’re so worried, why don’t you go see my wife yourself?”
“Are you hoping that I’ll check on the Madam’s condition on your behalf because you’re worried about her?”
“…It was bound to happen someday.”
You’re changing the subject because you can’t give a negative answer.
Barhan looked at Dante with eyes as if looking at a child throwing a tantrum.
“Still, you should have avoided it bursting out like this.”
“When I saw her thinking about causing trouble again as soon as she recovered, I just lost it.”
“You should have turned it right side up again and restored it to its original state.”
Finally, the gaze that had been stubbornly fixed on the documents turned to Barhan.
“In a way, it’s your fault too.”
“Me? Are you turning the arrow towards me now?”
“You’ve always taken her side whenever my wife wanted to do something. Even if you couldn’t stop her together with me.”
“Those were things the Duchess wanted to do. In my judgment, they were not unreasonable things.”
This time, it was Dante who was at a loss for words.
“You also wanted to live doing what the Madam wanted. But now, what is this?”
At Barhan’s direct reproach, Dante’s gaze slowly fell.
A big sigh escaped, enough to make his chest heave.
His pale face revealed that he hadn’t been able to sleep at all for the past few days.
“Get out.”
“Your Grace.”
“I said get out now.”
At the order to leave that resembled a plea, Barhan left the room with a sigh.
“Make the right choice. The longer you drag this out, the deeper your regret will be.”
Left alone, Dante put down the pen he had been forcibly holding.
“…You just had to poke at it until the end.”
He had been stuck on the same page for hours.
The letters just wouldn’t register in his mind, so he had merely been killing time meaninglessly.
Since the fight with Serpina, the pages hadn’t turned at all.
Yes. In truth, he was regretting it.
From the moment her hand touched the back of his hand, pushing him away.
Tears welling up in her eyes, flowing down her white and red cheeks.
Even at the moment when her voice trembled with resentment.
Every moment was filled with regret.
I shouldn’t have said it.
I shouldn’t have spit it out.
I shouldn’t have done that.
I shouldn’t have hurt her.
Since I had decided to pretend not to know, I should have kept it up until the end.
Of course, it’s true that I thought it would happen someday, but not like this.
It shouldn’t have been in a way where I couldn’t hold back and spat it out.
Just, at least, somehow.
…I shouldn’t have made her cry.
Despite the regret he kept chewing over, he couldn’t muster the courage to go to Serpina and ask for forgiveness.
What if she declares it’s over like this?
If she’s tired of me and won’t even give me a chance for forgiveness…
Ah. He hated his own cowardice to the point of nausea.
He no longer wanted to be abandoned. More than anyone else, he didn’t want to be abandoned by Serpina.
Dante slowly buried his face in his large hands.
[This is the timeline separator]These days, the first thing I do when I wake up is to reach out and feel the bed.
“…Empty again today.”
Although I used to sleep in late like a proper ‘adult’ of the new country, strangely, I’ve been waking up at dawn lately.
Just in case, I reached out pretending to talk in my sleep, but all I touched was the empty bedcover.
Ha. I got up from my seat, ruffling my bangs with my hand.
“How long do you intend to hold out?”
I’m starting to feel like I could pretend not to notice if he apologizes soon.
Even after thinking about it for days, I didn’t do anything wrong.
No, of course.
I do feel a bit guilty about telling him to leave because I didn’t want to see him…
But I didn’t want to apologize first just for that one thing.
It’s not like I’m planning to never reconcile, so I was going to accept it and let it go if Dante apologized first.
“Stubborn mule.”
He’s strangely stubborn in the weirdest ways.
Come to think of it, he was like that in the original story too. Right. No wonder he was called a sweet potato maker.
I buried my face in my raised knees.
My outstretched hand was still pointing towards the empty space where Dante should have been lying.
Tears welled up in the chilly dawn for no reason.
…It’s not like I’m going through menopause or anything.
I don’t know why I’ve become so tearful.
I didn’t cry much even when I lived at the Count’s estate.
It’s ridiculous that tears keep flowing when I thought I was far from being a crybaby.
The unstoppable tears continued even in front of Mari, who visited the room early in the morning.
“…My Lady!”
Surprised, Mari approached me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
Sniff. It’s warm.
“Mari.
Tears continued to flow at her worried consolation.
Along with the flowing tears, I poured out the story I had been holding back.
It was about how Dante and I ended up fighting.
“Do you… really think I did something wrong too?”
“No. Of course not. Everyone knows how hard you worked to prepare everything, My Lady.”
“Right? I worked hard. Because I like the North, and I like it here. I worked hard to be helpful…”
Sniff.
Mari handed me a handkerchief for my running nose.
I wiped away my tears and snot under her pitying gaze.
It was after I had somewhat stopped crying that Mari opened her mouth.
“…You know, My Lady.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve been debating whether to tell you this or not. But I think I should say it, because if we leave things as they are, it seems like the misunderstanding between you two will only grow.”
What on earth is she going to say with such a solemn introduction?
I forgot I had been crying and had to swallow dry saliva.
“Wh-what is it?”
Mari’s eyes were trembling finely as if conflicted until the very last moment.
Wow. Really, what on earth is she going to say…
“Actually, you see. My Lady. The Duke and the rest of us already knew everything.”
“Knew what?”
I replied seriously in response to her serious confession.
Mari bit her lower lip hard with eyes full of tears, then released it.
“That you were sick, My Lady.”
“…Y-yes. I was sick. But I’m all better now.”
“My Lady. You don’t have to pretend anymore. We really know everything. In fact, we’ve known for a long time. That you…”
It was a moment more heart-pounding than the announcement of the finalist in an audition program that reveals the result after 60 seconds.
Finally, the words that burst out of Mari’s tightly closed eyes were.
“That you have an incurable disease so severe that you cough up blood, My Lady!”
It was content far beyond imagination.
__________
Men In The Royal Harem All Yearn For Her (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The men (young empress, young empress dowager, crown prince) in the harem all yearn to become her consort.
Synopsis:
The female protagonist is a wildly popular heartthrob with a natural halo.
The male protagonist is a crazily obsessed and self-abasing loyal dog.
Qiu Shu, the top scholar’s daughter, is pure, elegant and incomparably enchanting, captivating countless admirers.
Being favored by the eldest prince, the most handsome man in the capital, and becoming his wife in a single move is truly the pride of a poor student.
However, what they don’t know is that the seemingly bright and splendid female protagonist lives in a battlefield of jealousy every day.
The cute and adorable young empress is unusually attached to her.
The gentlemanly and upright young empress dowager has an ambiguous relationship with her.
Even her aloof and proud eldest prince is actually a gloomy and petty jealous husband.
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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