Inside the carriage with Cedric, just the two of us.
As soon as the door closed, I glanced slyly at Cedric.
“There was no need for you to say that.”
However, Cedric simply asked back with a sly expression.
“What are you talking about?”
“……”
“Hmm? What do you mean, Rebecca?”
He prodded me in his slow, deliberate manner.
His lips soon curled up into a relaxed smile.
‘Wow, he’s really annoying.’
Did he think I would lose this round?
But as I was about to spit out the words, I felt a bit embarrassed to say them.
“Something about me being the most beautiful you’ve ever seen… something like that.”
Cedric bit his lip as if holding back a laugh.
Then, he raised his arched eyebrows high and turned his head towards the window.
“Ahh, who was it that wanted to play the show-window couple?”
Cedric’s characteristic relaxed attitude was usually charming, but sometimes it felt infuriating, like right now.
I pouted my lips and continued.
“That was supposed to be to the extent of not getting caught, but now it’s too much. Besides, it might give Bianca false hope.”
“False hope?”
He asked back, and I nodded slowly.
“Yes, the expectation that we will be a happy couple for a long time.”
“……”
“We’ve already reached a point where we can’t fulfill that wish.”
Cedric remained silent for a while.
He kept staring outside the window before his gaze returned to me.
“……The words I said weren’t forced just to maintain our show-window marriage.”
“……”
“They were sincere.”
His languid voice pleasantly resonated in my ears.
How long did our eyes meet, his blue irises gazing directly at me?
Feeling an odd warmth creeping up my neck, I opened the window of the carriage.
‘Among all the looks I’ve seen of you, today is genuinely the most beautiful.’
That simple phrase and the continuous blue gaze towards me jumbled my thoughts.
Around the same time, at the Count Dimitri’s residence.
Count Dimitri was preparing to welcome guests at the entrance of the banquet hall with his wife, Camilla.
‘She still seems in low spirits.’
The Count kept glancing at Camilla, who was looking into a hand mirror.
Ever since returning from a long journey, Camilla had suddenly quit her job as the duchess’s maid.
Though she never disclosed the reason, the Count sensed that she had fallen out of favor with the duchess.
That was evident from the increasing hysteria of Camilla since that day.
“My lady, if it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have to attend. I’ll inform them that you couldn’t attend due to indisposition.”
Count Dimitri spoke gently, trying to soothe her.
Camilla suddenly widened her eyes and angrily threw the hand mirror.
Crash!
“I know that! That’s not the point! Don’t you get it?”
Servants rushed to clean up the broken mirror pieces around her.
But Camilla just stood there, glaring at her husband as if she wanted to kill him.
‘To think I’m married to such a frustrating man!’
Count Dimitri was a considerate and practical husband, a perfect score in every way.
However, Camilla begrudgingly compared him to her lover, Henry, in her mind.
‘If only Henry had a little more wealth, I could divorce and go to him right away!’
Camilla clenched her teeth in frustration.
Henry Bart, the Count, was a friend of her friend Robellia’s husband and Camilla’s secret lover.
Until recently, they had been steadily executing their plan to create their own world: to amass wealth through futures trading, divorce their respective spouses, and remarry officially within three years.
But all of that fell apart in an instant.
‘Because of Rebecca, that foolish duchess.’
The dream of a happy new beginning seemed far away.
Now, all that was left for Camilla was the precarious title of a northern socialite and her desire for revenge against Rebecca.
‘I’m still so furious I could go mad… but I have to welcome the duchess with a smile.’
Camilla forced herself to calm down.
News had already spread throughout the northern social circle that Camilla had quit her maid position with the duchess.
People speculated that Camilla must have been ousted due to some fatal flaw.
It was enough to deal a blow to Camilla’s haughty image and pride.
‘All because of that duchess, I’ve become the laughingstock of the socialites.’
Camilla gritted her teeth, a chilling sound escaping her lips.
‘I must turn the socialites’ attention towards the duchess.’
She thought that humiliating Rebecca would somehow soothe her boiling anger.
Camilla had invited every notable lady of the northern social circle to the party with this intention.
‘I wonder how they’ll react when they find out about the duke couple’s separation?’
Imagining the forthcoming scene, Camilla’s lips curled up sinisterly.
The Dimitri estate was not far from the bustling area.
The carriage arrived at the count’s estate about forty minutes after the party had started.
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.”
