Duke Schneider postponed his response with a reluctant expression. He couldn’t possibly make his precious granddaughterinlaw stay in a cramped and dirty boarding house.
Then, looking into her unyielding eyes, he sighed as if he had no choice.
“But you must show your face often. You are still my family, Marianne.”
“!”
At those words, Marianne’s eyes widened. Her round eyes shook violently. Her face contorted as if she would cry at any moment, but instead, she held a calm smile.
“……Yes, Your Grace. I will do so.”
As if to signal the end of the conversation, Marianne stood from her seat and carefully veiled her face.
Watching her distantly, Duke Schneider suddenly spoke.
“Christoph is my only grandson. After the early deaths of my son and daughterinlaw, I placed all my expectations on Christoph. I wished for him to be more perfect, to dominate over others. I wanted him to fulfill the dreams I could not. To become a man standing at the pinnacle of the empire.”
Marianne slowly turned her head to look at him. Duke Schneider was staring at a point in the air as if seeing someone dear.
It was almost like a confession. Marianne silently listened to his admission.
“Christoph did his best to meet my expectations. He was always a satisfactory grandson. A proud one as well. But perhaps…… yes, his cold personality might have come from those heavy expectations. No, it was my fault for driving him even though I knew.”
Duke Schneider, continuing his bitter soliloquy, finally turned his eyes to Marianne. His ashcolored eyes softened.
“Marianne.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“I don’t know if you know this, but I care for you very much.”
At that, Marianne couldn’t easily continue. After swallowing something hot and slowly moving her Adam’s apple, she nodded. Her lower lip trembled slightly.
“I know, Your Grace. That’s why I came here.”
“Yes.”
Duke Schneider nodded with a smiling face. It was probably not just flattery.
The fact that she had run away from Christoph to find his grandfather wasn’t simply to poke at the wound. Perhaps he was the refuge behind her secrecy.
Duke Schneider spoke lightly, half in jest.
“But at the crucial moment, I will side with Christoph.”
“……Yes, Your Grace.”
It was a given. Marianne looked at him calmly without any signs of disappointment.
Count Schneider thought that there was no one more suited to be Christoph’s wife than Marianne. There was no other reason. It was because Christoph had chosen her.
He never doubted that his grandson would have a strategic marriage. A marriage between similar families was closer to a contract than a marriage, and Christoph was more ambitious than a dreamer. So, a strategic marriage was a rational and realistic alternative.
Moreover, he had never seen Christoph even feel affection for anyone, let alone love. With that, he tightly held Marianne’s tense hand and crossed the threshold of the mansion.
Count Schneider still couldn’t forget that moment.
“When Marianne graduates, we will marry.”
It was not a request for permission. It was a firm declaration and notification that he would not allow any objection, even from Count Schneider.
The count, awakened from his brief contemplation, added in a gentle voice,
“But promise me. I’m on your side until that decisive moment comes. So let’s see how Christoph turns out.”
At those words, Marianne’s expression, which had been calm until now, greatly shook. It rocked uncontrollably like a small boat caught in a storm.
She dropped her gaze and whispered in a voice mixed with various emotions,
“Maybe… it won’t be a big deal. He might be buried in work as usual and not even notice I’m gone. Or… he might have already filed for divorce. I’m not that important to Christoph, Count.”
Although the one who had run away from him was herself, she still hadn’t given up her lingering feelings.
No matter how much dry firewood was piled up in her heart, it was someone she loved so much that she couldn’t like anymore. The feelings for him could not be cut off like cutting wood.
But everything would be solved by time. She decided to believe in the saying that if one moves away physically, one also moves away emotionally.
Count Schneider stared fixedly at Marianne’s face behind the veil. And her trembling hand, clutching the hem of her dress tightly.
Suddenly, he pulled the corner of his mouth.
“Well, my thoughts are a little different. But that’s something you’ll find out if you wait.”
Marianne, taking a quiet breath, politely bid farewell to Count Schneider and left the reception room. Count Schneider gave some instructions to his butler.
She moved slowly. Marianne walked alone in the endless corridor. Suddenly, she thought that her life might also be standing on a path like this.
A fork in the road appeared at the end of the corridor, leading to an unknown place. There were no servants around. After a moment’s hesitation, she turned the left corner.
Hoping for a shining exit there.
(This is a time separator.)
“It’s fortunate that the Count provided a carriage. Otherwise, the sun would have set while leaving the private property.”
Marianne mumbled softly, looking at the sky that was beginning to darken.
She entrusted herself to the swaying carriage and was captivated by the unfamiliar town scenery. A sight that was somewhat similar to the capital but distinctly different unfolded before her eyes.
Sneaky children were running around shouting, a cart selling dried fish was seen. There was a man with a rickety fishing rod, and there were nobles dressed as neatly as gentlemen and ladies. Occasionally, foreigners with exotic appearances crossed the streets.
Upon noticing, the salty smell of the sea brushed against her nose. If she listened closely, she could hear the sound of a boat’s engine not far away, a sound deeper and heavier than the scream of a steam locomotive.
Marianne finally realized that she was standing alone on a land she had never been to, away from Christoph.
“I have to find a place to stay before the sun sets.”
Marianne was worrying and muttering at the dim street when the carriage that was running hard stopped.
Marianne looked around once again. The houses were closely packed together. She still couldn’t tell where she was.
Then, the door of the carriage opened, and the coachman revealed himself. He was the butler’s assistant who had led her to the count. Marianne adjusted the veil covering her face and looked at him.
“Should I get off here?”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
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