Following Hertian’s guidance, the place we entered was a path I had never seen before within the imperial palace.
A white building situated behind the main palace.
“Where are we?”
“We’re going to see the Imperial Physician.”
This was a place within the imperial palace that only the nobility could visit.
“Are you here to receive my treatment?”
“Yes.”
At first, I wondered what he was talking about, but I had forgotten that I had become the Grand Duke’s wife. Since Hertian was also of noble blood, as his wife, I could receive treatment from the imperial physician.
Suddenly, I thought of my father, who had tried to connect me with the imperial physician.
“He believed that my illness could improve if I received treatment from the imperial physician.”
Meeting the imperial physician wouldn’t cure my illness. This was not an illness but something close to a curse.
“Hertian probably knows that too.”
However, I couldn’t stop him, who was eager to grasp at even a straw. I quietly followed him. I was also a bit curious. How did I appear to the physician who was considered an expert in the empire? Was it an illness or a curse?
Passing through the white marble corridor, we reached a place where a man was waiting after opening a door. A person with a round face, wearing a white gown and round glasses. He noticed us and politely greeted us as if he had been waiting.
“Welcome. Your Grace, Your Grace.”
It was a different attitude from the people in the palace.
Apart from the knights who looked at him with awe, there were few people in the palace who were friendly towards him. Half had heard rumors of the War God and avoided him, while the rest were busy avoiding the eyes of the Empress’s faction.
But this physician welcomed Hertian with not just a lack of hostility but a friendly attitude.
“This is Imperial Physician Evan.”
Hertian introduced him from behind. Seeing him personally introduce the physician, it seemed like they were close enough to lower their guard.
“I’m Annette Brandice.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’ve been wanting to meet you, and I’m grateful that you came to visit the imperial physician personally.”
Evan greeted me warmly, folding his round eyes.
“Have you heard about me from His Grace?”
He nodded slightly.
“His Grace often consults me about Your Grace’s health issues. He always worries more about Your Grace than himself. Of course, I don’t know the details as His Grace’s opinions are mixed in a lot.”
Hertian, standing behind me, seemed to be concerned about my health.
“If Your Grace is okay, may I examine your condition?”
Evan asked cautiously.
I glanced at Hertian standing beside me.
He went to the imperial palace, which he hated, to resolve my health problems. Moreover, he introduced me to a reliable physician.
It wasn’t just overprotectiveness; he genuinely cared about me.
“Yes, please.”
Grateful for his concern, I willingly accepted the examination.
“Please have a seat here.”
I sat in the chair next to him. It had been quite a while since I entered a physician’s office for an examination.
“I’ll ask you a few questions.”
“Yes.”
As I sat in the examination chair, Evan’s gaze changed, making me a bit nervous.
“Since Her Grace is busy, I’ll ask questions based on what I’ve heard from His Grace.”
“Sure.”
He stopped questioning for a moment and fell into deep thought.
“You have about 5 hours and 30 minutes of sleep, correct?”
“Oh? Yes.”
“The symptoms, the headaches are most severe at night, and you suffer from insomnia at least once a week, right?”
“That’s accurate.”
Didn’t he say he didn’t know the details and only had a rough idea?
It was an accurate measurement, as if someone who had observed my daily life.
After that, I answered “Yes” to his questions.
“No matter what medicine you take, you don’t feel any improvement?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Evan, who had been questioning for a while, stopped and fell into deep concern.
“You haven’t taken any medicine at all…”
At that moment, Hertian, who had been quietly listening, threw a word.
“The lady’s inability to receive treatment for an unknown illness is not limited to just that; no medicine works for any ailment.”
Surprised, I turned to Hertian.
This was a secret even my family didn’t know.
“Did you know?”
“I figured it out by watching the lady refuse to take any medicine, no matter how much pain she was in.”
It was my mistake.
Back at the marquisate, I had to take all the medicines given due to my parents’ watchful eyes and pretended to be fine.
But at the grand duchy, I didn’t feel the need, so I didn’t bother taking the medicines that weren’t required.
‘Hertian catches on so quickly.’
“Please tell the truth. That way, we can find any possible way to help, even a little.”
“…”
“Lady, please.”
Hearing the request in his choked voice made my heart waver.
I hadn’t said it to avoid burdening him, but hiding was not the solution.
“…Yes, it’s true. No matter what medicine I take, there is no response. Not even to antidotes.”
For the first time, I spoke honestly.
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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