“I had no idea.”
“It’s not good news, nor something worth spreading. But the rumors did circulate quietly. Anyway, Mother benefited much through Empress Mama.”
It was rather surprising for him to suddenly bring up such a topic. It couldn’t have been a good memory for him either…
“The Empress was confined to a place called Star Palace. The Emperor’s love eventually faded, and the Empress was forgotten, losing everything. Even so, Mother tormented Empress Mama until the end. I guess you could say that’s when my loathing began.”
As he spoke distantly, his gaze slowly swept the surroundings. Star Palace, where the Empress had lived, locked up until the day she died… a cage as dazzling as it was opulent.
“In a good way, she was assertive; in a bad way, a person who had to have everything her way. Even with her own children, she was busy using them as pawns. I disliked such a mother. Perhaps because I was never loved. Maybe it’s her fault. Either way… I was honestly relieved when everything fell apart after she passed away.”
The Emperor seemed a little off today.
Normally, he would never engage in such talk. He considered such words and actions to be weaknesses. But today’s Emperor… seemed willing to vouch for anything.
“Are you happy about it?”
“Yes. Empress Mama lived to see my brother ascend the throne. And she wanted to drive me out at all costs. In the royal family, bloodline can always threaten one’s position. But she suddenly fell ill and collapsed.”
Isabella remembered it too. The story was about the sudden death of the Empress, after all.
Emperor Rahel, father of Liandro, and his wife, Queen Wesilella, had left this world at a young age. Some even said she was poisoned.
Although not publicly revealed, there were whispers that the Empress’s body had turned black, a clear indication of poisoning. Many rumors circulated.
Who killed the Empress? It couldn’t be anything but an interesting topic of gossip. From that point on, all sorts of rumors spread throughout the empire.
‘The mystery of who killed her, along with many other stories, circulated.’
The first suspect was Emperor Rahel, the Empress’s husband.
However, Rahel had abdicated the throne to his eldest son, Crown Prince Tetman, and retired. There weren’t many reasons for him to kill the Empress.
So, he was quickly exonerated.
The second suspect was Liandro, the current Emperor and the second son. The arrow pointed at him, but since the Empress had not met anyone other than Tetman, he was able to avoid suspicion as well.
Public opinion quickly spread that if Liandro were to poison someone, he would have targeted Emperor Tetman instead.
‘In the end, there were strong rumors that Tetman, who was once Emperor, was the one who killed my mother.’
Queen Wesilella had tried to manipulate her son and even control him as an adult.
Because of that, the rift between Tetman and his mother had deepened, leading to the idea that the son, unable to bear it any longer, had killed his mother, the former Empress.
“In the end, she left this world. After that, everything changed abruptly. My brother, who seemed so unshakeable in his absolute authority as Emperor Tetman, was severely shaken. After all, his throne was built on sand. Though he grew up as the Crown Prince, all of that was a position built by Mother.”
“Ah…”
As soon as Grandmother passed away, many nobles, starting from my maternal family, began to sway my older brother. They wanted to take Grandmother’s place themselves. But my brother rejected all of it. He rather closed his ears and did nothing that the nobles wanted.
Can this man really tell me all this? He started speaking casually, yet he talked about the internal matters of the palace.
If I had only a little social awareness, I might have known. But for most people, Isabella was the extent of their information. And even that was something only widely known because it was much talked about.
“In the end, my brother also fell victim. They moved against him because he quickly executed those related to Grandmother and did not act according to their wishes. My brother was not aware of this and eventually fell.”
“So, after that you…”
“Yes. After Emperor Tethman passed away, there was no one to ascend to the throne. Emperor Rahel, my Grandmother, didn’t even go outside while he was away. Apart from a few trusted people, no one even got to see his face.”
I looked at him quietly.
“Even after the death of my son, during the suspicious funeral, and despite the news of his death, he showed no reaction. The only person who could ascend the throne was me. I unexpectedly became the Emperor.”
Leandro had only been the actual emperor for a few years.
“I too stand on a shaky castle of sand, unsure when it will crumble.”
“But you are…”
“Lean.”
“Yes, Lean, aren’t you different?”
At my words, he awkwardly smiled. His eyes, which seemed to have something to say, changed in an instant.
His eyes twinkled as if he had awakened from a long dream.
“Ah.”
“What’s wrong?”
“What was I talking about?”
“…What?”
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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