I Became The Ex-Wife Of A Regretful Male Lead (2 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
Dante simply couldn’t understand.
The reason behind Serphina’s string of lies.
Why did she calmly claim she was “perfectly fine”?
Her lips, which had just spoken of death, now bore nothing but a smile—as if they’d never uttered a single negative word.
And so,
Dante couldn’t bring himself to press her about the lie. He lacked the courage.
“Duke?”
At Serphina’s call, Dante already knew the answer he would give.
“I’m glad to hear you’re perfectly fine.”
That night,
Dante secretly summoned Barhan. Perhaps from constant worry, Barhan’s face seemed unusually lined today.
“Barhan.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Is there something you’ve been hiding from me about the mistress?”
At the duke’s question, Barhan could only swallow a sigh.
So it had finally come to this.
Instead of staying silent, Barhan confessed everything:
All the suspicious reports the maids had submitted about the mistress, and more.
“In my opinion, madam is definitely ill.”
He even added his personal view.
Dante remained silent for a while, then asked in a flat tone,
“What should I do, then?”
“…Excuse me?”
“My mind won’t work—tell me what I should do about this.”
Premature death had always been the burden of the head of house, not the mistress’s.
…Perhaps it’s my fault.
After all, every family member he’d relied on had already left his side:
His mother, his father,
and his older brother too.
〈I’m sorry, Dante. I’m so sorry.〉
That tear-choked voice buzzed incessantly in his head.
“What am I supposed to do?”
At the dryness in his voice, Barhan could no longer suppress his sigh.
[This is the timeline separator]Several days passed after that.
Everyone who’d learned of Serphina’s illness—including Mari and Sienna—spent each day with gloomy faces.
They couldn’t confront her about her lies, even as she strained to smile and strangely tried to conceal secrets right before their eyes.
They could only watch helplessly as their insides burned black with anguish.
On the third day of this dreary, oppressive atmosphere,
“Huh? Who’s that…?”
“Aren’t they that quack doctor?”
Mari and Sienna spotted the physician prowling suspiciously around the mansion.
“What’s going on?”
“Right? And why’s he sneaking around like that…?”
Exchanging glances, the two quickly trailed after him.
The doctor kept nervously scanning his surroundings before swiftly slipping into an empty guest room.
“A guest room?”
As they pondered this, a new figure appeared.
It was Serphina.
With her usual pale face, she sighed and entered the guest room the doctor had just gone into.
Mari and Sienna gulped hard, watching the whole scene unfold.
Soon after,
The door opened, and the doctor darted out first.
“Well then, I’ll leave before anyone sees me. Next time, I’ll surely find a proper solution—until then, please take good care of yourself!”
“Yes… let’s do that.”
“Then, excuse me.”
He bowed slightly and crept back down the hallway just as stealthily as he’d come.
Serphina, who’d been silently watching, clicked her tongue in annoyance and headed toward her own room.
“What should we do?”
“Exactly. What should we do?”
While they hesitated over whom to follow, the doctor had already gotten far ahead.
But only briefly.
“Doctor Hetterson.”
Barhan appeared gracefully, blocking the doctor’s path.
Hetterson, who’d been rather proud of his discreet exit, jumped in fright.
“M-M-Mr. Butler?”
“His Grace wishes to see you. Please come with me.”
His tone was gentle and respectful, yet oddly threatening.
Hetterson, unable to decide what to do, soon gave up and followed Barhan with a drooping head.
Only then did Mari and Sienna finally stop their pursuit.
[This is the timeline separator]Following Barhan, Hetterson arrived at Dante’s study.
As the door opened, Dante, who’d been sitting upright reviewing documents, looked up.
He set down his pen and leaned lightly against the chair back.
Even the smallest movement radiated immense pressure.
“What’s your reason for coming to the duke’s estate today?”
The heavy voice only deepened Hetterson’s fear. He couldn’t even meet Dante’s sharp, icy-blue gaze.
Trembling like a pitiful goat before a predator, he stammered,
“Well, um, that is—it’s just…”
His voice barely came out from sheer nervousness.
Right. This was exactly why he’d tried so hard to come and go quietly without drawing attention.
He’d wanted to personally deliver medicine for the duchess, who’d moved him deeply—but everyone here was just too frightening.
They’d glare at him with piercing eyes and curse him silently with their stares.
They must’ve thought he was a fraud.
It was so unfair!
He was the North’s greatest physician!
Wasn’t he constantly praised as the finest doctor around?
Hadn’t the Richter family even repeatedly offered to make him their exclusive physician?
Yet, driven by the pure desire to help more people, he’d chosen to maintain his private practice—so why did they keep vilifying his sincere soul?
All he’d done here was examine the mistress and diagnose her as healthy!
He’d said she was fine because she seemed fine—but if they asked why she was fine…
Could it be that everyone secretly wished the duchess were unwell?
Heavens! Goodness gracious! What if that really was the case?
Lost in anxious thoughts, he stayed silent a bit too long—
“You’d be better off saying something reasonable.”
“I-I’ll speak!”
At this even sharper threat, all his inner conflict vanished instantly.
Grief, injustice, worry, loyalty—all were useless before sheer terror.
“I just came to deliver medicine! That’s all!”
“You came only to deliver medicine?”
“Yes! Truly!”
Dante narrowed his eyes and glared at Hetterson.
“What kind of medicine?”
“A-a stomach remedy!”
“Is that all?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if that’s all.”
“…Y-yes, that’s all.”
A frown creased Dante’s brow above his narrowed eyes.
Hetterson felt like he was dying.
From now on, he resolved, he’d send his apprentice with the medicine—no more loyalty or anything like that!
“From now on, answer my questions honestly.”
“Y-yes, I will.”
What else would he ask?
“Is my wife… perfectly fine?”
“Oh, well…”
The question was unexpectedly simple yet oddly vague, leaving Hetterson flustered.
What exactly did “perfectly fine” mean?
Medically speaking, she was unwell based on her symptoms—so not fine.
But physically, her body was healthy—so technically fine?
What was he supposed to answer?
After a brief mental struggle, he decided to take a strictly medical approach.
Medically speaking, the duchess’s body was…
“Yes. She’s perfectly fine.”
“…You’re lying.”
“Wha—? No! I’m telling the truth!”
“No. My wife is not fine.”
At Dante’s firm declaration, Hetterson blinked in surprise.
He must have misunderstood the question.
Right. Of course.
Upon reflection, the mistress’s condition clearly wasn’t normal:
Symptoms existed, yet her body was healthy.
Hetterson quickly changed his stance and nodded.
“…Y-yes, that’s correct. Actually, there is a slight issue.”
“Sigh… I knew it.”
Barhan, standing in the corner, was the first to sigh.
Dante stared at him briefly, then dragged a large hand across his face.
When his face reappeared, it was even more somber.
“…Do you know the cause?”
“No. I have absolutely no idea. I’m researching and studying as best I can, but right now, I can’t even guess. I’m sorry.”
At that moment,
Hetterson felt an oppressive silence all around him—
so heavy he couldn’t even hear breathing.
Ah! I want to go home!
“…So there’s no medicine either, then?”
Hetterson replied almost on the verge of tears.
“W-well, that’s true… but I’ll do my utmost to find one! To me, the duchess is nothing short of my top-priority patient!”
With that, Hetterson was finally led out by Barhan.
Wow, never coming here in person again!
Heaving a sigh of relief, Hetterson headed home.
When Barhan returned to the study, Dante had already risen from his seat.
He stood quietly by the window, gazing down at the herb garden.
Marlops had taken Serphina’s place there.
“Your Grace…”
“Am I understanding this correctly?”
“…”
“An incurable illness.”
At Dante’s words, Barhan lowered his head.
“So that’s why it was hidden?”
With no cure available, they’d given up hope long ago.
“Your Grace…”
“What should I do, then? Lock the mistress in her room and summon every physician in the empire? Would that actually solve anything?”
“That wouldn’t be wise, Your Grace.”
“Then just leave her as she is? Let her die?”
At Dante’s growling tone, Barhan lifted his head firmly.
“Yesterday, one of the maids who serves the mistress closely said something.”
Dante briefly recalled the two maids who always attended Serphina.
“What did she say?”
“She said that, for now, pretending not to know might be what’s best for the mistress.”
“…What?”
He couldn’t believe it.
How was ignoring someone who was ill any different from pushing her toward her death?
“What nonsense is that…”
“More than anyone—”
Barhan cut off Dante’s outburst firmly.
“More than anyone, the mistress herself must know her condition well. Yet she insists on hiding it… because she wants an ordinary life.”
An ordinary life?
Dante silently repeated the words, his gaze drifting once more to the herb garden outside.
By now, even Marlops had left, leaving the garden deserted.
Before it, Serphina’s shadow appeared—
wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a stained dress, mismatched boots and gloves.
Whenever she crouched down with her trowel, the servants would linger nearby as if drawn to her.
What expression had she worn then?
Ah, right.
“…She smiled.”
She had smiled. Happily.
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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MANGA DISCUSSION
1 Comment
Chapter Comments (160)
I hope they get closer soon. It’s lovely to see the hero’s concern for the heroine.
Hahaha, they’re really sweet and overprotective. I hope he likes her soon.
Haha, their interactions with some cute and funny, it’s cute to watch Dante floundering like this🤭🤭
Inline Comments (215)
“Yes. Even if I leave someday, these plants will remain rooted right here.”
Serphina has now made a big misunderstanding with Dante.
Turns out he’s got quite a bit of pride too?
Hahaha! She really has no clue. I really feel sorry for every male lead who had to deal with a female lead who thinks of his future wife while they are falling for them.
For someone who wasn’t interested, he’d been showing up consistently and working
No, never, but the attitude of someone who loves the person who is gardening. (｡♥‿♥｡)
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Miioo
I was hoping it would be a sweet and beautiful love story, but it seems like a story about a disastrous misunderstanding 😭💔