In response to my question, Osen cleared his throat and nodded.
“I had some business to attend to before…”
“Osen was also tricked?”
“It’s not like that.”
Osen glanced at Hertian, then slipped through the gap between the knights.
It seemed that Osen still didn’t like me much.
‘Well, he only saw me whining next to Hertian.’
Now, there was no need to impress Osen. I stopped paying attention and approached Melson. He had been surrounded by the knights, cornered due to the rumors about the swindler.
“Miss Annette. Why are you catching me? What did I do wrong?”
Melson shouted, claiming his innocence.
“Just because I told a lie, does that give you the right to catch people randomly?”
“Why did you run away if Mr. Melson is innocent?”
“I, suddenly Annette said that the count was looking for me. I got scared and ran. Now let me go. I also need to go do business.”
He shamelessly pleaded.
“Before going to do business, don’t I need to hear some answers as a victim?”
“What, what!”
“Are you prepared?”
I asked quietly while gesturing to Hertian, who was taking off his gloves. If I brought up the medical records here, I might lose three teeth to his firm fist. Melson quickly caught on to that and turned his head away.
“Please…”
He groaned as if he were a victim this time. Hertian’s fist seemed terrifying. Was he living here with just this level of fear? His acting skills were impressive.
But I wasn’t going to cut him any slack.
Why did he engage in a large-scale scam against our family? I needed to listen carefully to his thoughts on compensating for his previous fraudulent activities.
“What Mr. Melson has done will determine how I respond.”
I stepped a little closer, staring at him expressionlessly.
“So, answer carefully.”
His playful face hardened.
“Miss Annette… You weren’t like this before. Why are you so scary?”
“That’s because I thought Mr. Melson was sincerely trying for Lian. When my parents and I were crying, he genuinely shed tears with us. He seemed like family who had been watching over us for a long time. But a scammer?”
“Why did you become a doctor?”
I decided to ask questions step by step, not just treating him as a simple scammer.
“Why did you become a doctor… Well, naturally, it’s because I had an interest in medicine.”
“Why did someone interested in medicine stick to our family and mainly treat Lian? According to the investigation my father conducted, all the medical records in your house were fake.”
The medical equipment at home was also for show. At that time, our family was so desperate that we would have given up everything if it meant restoring Lian’s health. So when the scammer deliberately schemed and deceived us, we had no choice but to fall for it.
“Should I ask why you approached the Marquis de L’Enveria? It doesn’t seem like you simply gave money.”
If he was in urgent need of money, he should have swindled us and disappeared. However, Melson shamelessly appeared as the family doctor for a few years after Lian’s death.
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
The sound of rolling eyeballs could be heard. Melson was rolling his head, contemplating what to say.
“I guess not. You need to experience the Marquis’s touch.”
Hertian drew his sword and brought it close to Melson’s throat. Only then did Melson open his mouth when the cold blade touched his neck.
“Why are you so impatient? It’s an old story, so I was just reminiscing.”
“I can make it come to mind instantly.”
Hertian pushed the sword forcefully against Melson’s throat.
“Speak, I say.”
“I’ll talk.”
“If you’re going to talk, you have to tell the truth without adding lies. Otherwise, your tongue will be pulled out so that you can never speak again.”
Terrified, Melson nodded his head.
“I wanted money… I did. Also, there was interest because there was a strange disease in the Marquis de L’Enveria’s family.”
“So, you pretended to be a doctor for money? Even though you could ruin the family if you were caught, being a noble?”
“I had a backer. Someone approached me, saying that if I became the family doctor for the Marquis, they would provide the desired money and take care of things without any problems.”
Melson spilled his circumstances, glancing at Hertian’s expression.
He had a backer.
Someone ordered Melson to become our family doctor.
“Who is that person?”
In my heart, asking who it was, one person came to mind.
‘Violet.’
Suddenly revealing herself as a prophet, there was no one else who could be suspected. When I first met the prophet, she clearly told me.
She had been watching over me for a long time.
At that time, I thought it was just a phrase to manipulate me, but now the thought chilled me.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know!”
“Do you expect me to believe that a scammer engages in a long-term deal with someone they don’t know? You, who approached me for money, not knowing the value of human life?”
My words made Hertian and the knights grim. The knights also drew their swords, as if they were going to strike his neck. Then, the frightened Melson blurted out.
“Playing with people’s lives… I didn’t approach you because of that! Please, believe me!”
“Speak clearly.”
Then, Melson, with trembling lips, spoke.
“What that person wanted was Annette, you. They told me to watch over you, that person did.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
