After Anette returned to her room,
Hertian stayed behind with the Count to discuss unresolved matters.
“I’ve heard you offered a dragon’s eye to the Empress.”
Lucas broached the subject with a worried expression.
Rumors spread quickly. Not only had Hertian ventured into a dragon’s habitat, but he had returned to the hunting grounds with the dragon’s eye covered in its blood, offering it to the Empress.
While most nobles were impressed that he had subdued a dragon, Lucas noticed something else.
“Did you go to the hunting grounds because of this incident with the Empress?”
Coincidentally, the Empress was at the hunting grounds on the day Hertian returned. Was it really a coincidence? Lucas thought not. If she knew where Hertian had gone and wanted to hear news of him firsthand, perhaps she had gone to the hunting grounds for that reason.
‘The Archduke would never touch a dragon with his own hands unless he was insane.’
Lucas observed Hertian’s neutral expression as he concluded his line of thought.
“I had hoped it wasn’t the Empress who was behind this.”
A sigh escaped him simultaneously.
Lucas was not unaware of Hertian’s position in the palace or what his existence meant to the Empress. But he hadn’t thought that she would be so overtly threatening just after their marriage. After all, Hertian had been occupied with his military duties until now.
“The reason I approved the marriage between the Archduke and Anette was because you promised to keep Anette safe.”
In the end, Lucas spat out his regretful words.
“I understand.”
Hertian accepted the scolding calmly, as he had anticipated it to some extent.
“If Anette is in danger, I will not hesitate to take her back to the estate.”
“Don’t worry. My wife won’t be harmed because of me.”
Hertian replied as steadfastly as the first time they had met. There was neither deceit nor bluster in his words.
“While you’re in the North, I’ll keep an eye on the Empress’ movements in the palace.”
All they could do was to try and avoid calamities.
“This matter involves not just the Empress but also Serdis.”
At this, Lucas’s eyebrows twitched.
“Are you talking about Prince Serdis…?”
“It’s difficult to elaborate, but it’s certain.”
Inside the cave, all the letters had burned.
Not many people knew about the letters and Cassian’s existence. And among them, the only one capable of burning the letters was Serdis.
“Your Highness… could it be?”
Lucas, startled, thought of something and then touched his forehead.
Hertian watched him and continued speaking.
“I knew for a while that Serdis has had feelings for my wife. And that is why my wife felt burdened and expedited the marriage.”
Lucas was surprised once again.
It was a thought he had vaguely felt.
The day after Anette fainted from a date with Serdis,
She suddenly announced that she would get married, turning the household upside down. Schwell had once mentioned,
‘Could it be that Anette is avoiding becoming Serdis’ lover on purpose?’
Back then, there had been neither reason nor justification to believe so.
However, hearing it from Hertian made it seem as if the hypothesis fit.
“Were you aware of this…?”
“How could I not be?”
A sense of guilt washed over Lucas deep down.
Because now it seemed as if Anette had used Hertian, and he had pretended not to notice.
As if reading his thoughts, Hertian added more words.
It didn’t matter why you married me. And as long as Serdis has feelings for you, he won’t harm you. However, thinking about how you insisted on marrying me over being with Serdis, being by Serdis’s side seems to be the most harmful path for you.
Lucas’s face distorted suddenly.
‘To think that even the prince would become an enemy.’
But ignoring it wouldn’t change anything. He had known for a long time that Serdis liked Anette, and he had even imagined a future for the two of them.
“In fact, Anette started avoiding the prince all of a sudden. She had been choosing dresses to meet him just the day before, so it was strange when she suddenly said she wanted to get married with a frightened face.”
Lucas recalled moments before their marriage.
However, it wasn’t the right time to jump to conclusions. Whether it was five years ago or now, nothing about Anette had changed.
“You don’t know the detailed reason, do you?”
It made sense.
She had acted like the perfect lover in front of the Earl and his wife. If he had known all her circumstances, there would’ve been no need to act.
As expected, Lucas shook his head bitterly.
“You didn’t ask for the reason.”
“I didn’t ask because I thought she would be distressed. I feared she might vanish right before my eyes again…”
Lucas’s voice choked up and he paused to gulp down a full glass of champagne.
“Anette fell into an icy pond with Lian when she was eleven. She was sick for about ten days before she opened her eyes, but she couldn’t remember anything.”
Although more than ten years had passed, Lucas vividly remembered that day.
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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