I Ended Up Living Next Door to My Ex-Husband (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15
That evening, after Rebecca returned to the Dark Mansion.
Cedric and Bianca began their dinner a little later than usual.
Perhaps it was because she had finally come home after a long time, or maybe it was due to the astonishing conversation she’d had with Rebecca.
Throughout the meal, Bianca hummed a cheerful tune, her expression noticeably more relaxed.
“Bianca, you seem to be in quite a good mood today. But you still need to finish your dinner, right?”
“Oh! Y-yes!”
She barely managed to pick up her fork, yet Bianca’s gaze remained fixed not on the food before her, but on Cedric’s face.
“Um… dear brother.”
“Hmm?”
“…Do you think Her Highness Rebecca truly meant what she told me?”
“What did she say?”
At Cedric’s quiet question, Bianca’s cheeks flushed with shyness.
“That I’m a child worthy of being loved…”
Cedric looked at her, his eyes gradually filling with deep tenderness.
“…Of course. Absolutely.”
“R-really?”
Seeing Bianca genuinely happy, Cedric gently tugged the corners of his lips upward.
“I’ve never met a child as lovable as our Bianca.”
“Hehe. Well, that’s only because Grand Duke, you’re my brother, after all.”
Though she lightly scolded her elder brother, Bianca’s eyes crinkled merrily at the corners.
Watching her, Cedric’s heart grew even heavier.
Even after enduring so much harsh treatment, she could smile brightly again from just a few kind words.
How starved must she have been for the warmth of family to be like this?
Cedric felt his heart ache even more keenly.
“…The Grand Duchess has changed a great deal recently. So from now on, you can stay here without any worries.”
Though he’d meant to reassure her, his words weren’t entirely untrue to his own recent thoughts.
In the end, Cedric had no choice but to admit it.
Rebecca had truly become a completely different person.
And once he acknowledged that, only one question remained.
‘What on earth could have changed Rebecca so drastically?’
Just as Cedric began to sink into quiet contemplation,
Bianca nodded vigorously, as if agreeing with his thoughts.
“You’re right! Her Highness Rebecca really does seem different. You can feel it just from her expression!”
“…”
“She looks so much, much more at ease now—and unbelievably happy!”
By “before,” she meant the time prior to Rebecca’s divorce from him.
Why, then, did the image of Rebecca smiling beside Adrian immediately come to mind?
Soon, Cedric’s brow slowly furrowed.
‘What does it matter to me now, anyway?’
He forcefully pushed those thoughts aside and deliberately changed the subject.
“I heard that in a few days, some noble young ladies from the capital—your close friends—will be visiting.”
“Oh, y-yes… I heard that too.”
For some reason, Bianca’s voice, which had been bubbling with excitement just moments ago, now quietly dimmed.
“They’re good friends, of course?”
“Y-yes! They’re incredibly kind friends! Hehe…”
Cedric gave a noncommittal nod and returned to his meal.
The moment his gaze turned away, Bianca’s forced smile slowly faded into a somber expression.
[This is the timeline separator]A few days later.
A letter arrived from Camilla, my maid and the original story’s villainess, announcing her imminent return from the north.
Upon hearing the news, I immediately summoned Adrian.
“Adrian, how’s the additional art sale I asked you to handle progressing?”
“I’ve made proposals to a few more shops and will proceed with the one offering the highest price.”
“Good. Please move as quickly as possible.”
Camilla’s return meant the “item” would soon appear on the gift-trading market.
‘Right after Henry, Lobelia’s husband, returns from his affair trip with Camilla, he causes a sensation at the gift-trading market. He then uses that success to lord his power over Lobelia and torment her relentlessly.’
I intended to snatch that stroke of luck away from the unfaithful Henry.
To win the bidding war against him, I needed sufficient ready cash.
Hence, I decided to sell more of my artworks to further build up my reserves.
While I was speaking with Adrian, Mina entered the reception room.
In her hands was a large box.
“Your Highness, the toys you ordered have arrived! Would you like to check them?”
When Mina opened the box, four adorable dolls lay neatly inside.
“They’re even prettier than I expected—custom-made and all. The children should love them, don’t you think?”
“Oh, certainly! When Princess Bianca realizes you personally prepared these, she’ll probably be so touched she’ll cry!”
Ever since Bianca returned to the north,
Mina, aware that I was seeking to mend things with her, had been bringing me all sorts of information about Bianca.
Among it was the news that Bianca’s close noble friends from the capital would soon be visiting.
That very day, I immediately placed an order for dolls to gift to Bianca and her friends.
And today was the day I would present those gifts.
“I heard on my way back that your friends have all arrived and are already enjoying tea.”
The image of those sweet children gathered together filled me with delight.
‘Though, of course, our Bianca will surely be the cutest of them all.’
The thought of Bianca proudly showing off her gift in front of her friends made my lips curve upward naturally.
“Let’s go now. Where is everyone?”
“They should be in the orangery in the rear garden!”
.
.
.
At that very moment, in the rear garden’s orangery.
Despite the north’s chilly weather, warm breezes drifted around the hexagonal orangery, and spring flowers bloomed in full splendor.
Around the white table in the center,
noble young ladies from the capital’s ducal families, each around eight or nine years old, huddled together, gazing around with wide-eyed wonder.
“How amazing! With just magic, you can turn freezing weather warm in an instant!”
“Right?! It’s just a few steps outside into bitter winter, yet it’s so cozy in here—it’s incredible!”
Erica, Mary, and Judith.
Each of them joyfully watched the shower of flower petals drifting down from the trees.
Bianca offered them an awkward smile.
“I’m so glad you all like it…”
Her voice was small and faint compared to her friends’.
Judith stared at Bianca, puzzled.
“Bianca, why do you sound so listless? Aren’t you happy we came?”
“Huh? N-no, of course not…”
Judith, the young lady from House Montran, was pretty but had an oddly irksome air about her.
Under Judith’s unwavering gaze, Bianca’s head sank so low it seemed she might drill a hole into the ground.
The other girls soon chimed in with indifferent expressions.
“Well… isn’t that just how Bianca is? She’s always so timid.”
“Exactly! Nothing special about it.”
At the girls’ words, Judith tapped her chin thoughtfully with a finger.
“No, no. Bianca seems especially low-spirited today… Ah! I know why!”
The dramatic shift in Judith’s demeanor drew all the girls’ attention.
“What is it? What is it!”
“We’re curious, Judith!”
Judith’s lips curled into a smug smile.
“Bianca’s upset because she had to leave civilized the capital and come back to this uncivilized north!”
“Eh? Really?”
All eyes instantly turned to Bianca.
The subtle disdain and mockery from the capital’s noble girls were already familiar to Bianca.
But to hear her homeland—the place where she and her family were born and raised—mocked like this was unbearable.
Gripping her skirt tightly with small hands, Bianca squeezed her eyes shut and raised her voice.
“T-that’s not true! There are so many wonderful things in the north…!”
But her brave attempt was cut short, as her friends paid her no heed.
“Well… actually, Judith does have a point! The north does feel a bit backward.”
“Backward?! But most of the technologies famous in the capital were all developed right here in the north…”
“…”
“If anything, it’s the capital and southern regions that are behind—the north is the opposite…”
Though her tone lacked confidence, Bianca clearly stated her point.
Caught off guard, Judith and her friends fell momentarily silent.
After a long, heavy pause, the girls sensed Judith’s discomfort and rushed to speak.
“B-but, so what! The north is close to the Demon Realm, after all!”
“Yeah, yeah! Being near the Demon Realm is just… creepy!”
Overwhelmed by their sudden ganging-up, Bianca’s face stiffened.
Meanwhile, Judith regained her composure and, like an actress on stage, batted her eyelashes exaggeratedly.
“Mary! Surely Bianca isn’t afraid of the Demon Realm?”
Then she dramatically flipped her golden hair over her shoulder.
“After all, Bianca is a half-demon. Unlike us, she wasn’t born under the grace of the gods…”
Judith quickly covered her mouth as if realizing her blunder.
“Oh dear! I’m so sorry, Princess Bianca.”
Though she feigned regret for her slip of the tongue, her apology was clearly overdone.
Bianca merely bit her lip hard, holding back tears.
The awkward tension made the girls exchange uneasy glances.
“J-Judith was just speaking without thinking, Bianca.”
“Yeah, exactly. If you don’t let it go, you’ll look petty.”
“And honestly… Judith wasn’t entirely wrong, either.”
“Right… My mother says things like that all the time.”
Words that no true friend would ever say poured freely from their lips.
The girls maintained even this superficial friendship with Bianca only because their parents had pressured them to do so—
all to leave a favorable impression on the Emperor and Cedric.
Perhaps that was why
genuine affection was nowhere to be found among them.
Instead, their “friendship” was merely a stage play—with roles of queen bee, handmaidens, and the one singled out for bullying.
“To be honest… maybe Her Highness Rebecca hated Bianca precisely because she’s a half-demon?”
“I think so too. It’s actually quite difficult for humans to treat half-demons without prejudice.”
Bianca clutched the rabbit doll tighter in her arms.
“N-no… Her Highness clearly said I’m a lovable child…”
She tried desperately to explain, then bit her lower lip hard.
‘Could it really be… that Her Highness disliked me all this time because I’m a half-demon?’
Just as Bianca hung her head dejectedly,
a gentle yet sharp voice pierced through the girls’ ears.
“Oh my! You noble young ladies certainly are having an interesting conversation!”
When they turned instinctively toward the voice,
their faces instantly paled.
“Y-your Highness!”
“…Hah! Cough, cough!”
To their startled eyes appeared Rebecca, calmly approaching them.
Her face was smiling warmly,
yet her eyes held the subtle chill of a predator about to strike.
Before they knew it, she stood right beside them, slowly draping an arm over Judith’s and Mary’s shoulders.
“I’ve been listening for a while now, and your discussion was quite… fascinating.”
Despite her gentle smile, an inexplicable pressure emanated from Rebecca.
Just as the frozen noble girls’ lips began trembling uncontrollably,
“Now then… who would like to tell me—who dared make our Bianca cry?”
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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It had to be something like this, Original Rebecca sounds pittiful
He’s going to be soooo surprised when the new Rebecca comes back
LOL I KNEW IT. LOVE IT. I’M IN LOVE WITH THIS NOVEL!!!