“It will be difficult to teach every day, but I can make time two days a week. Knowing a foreign language will help the orphans find jobs later.”
She didn’t know how to respond.
To forgive all at once would feel wrong, but to completely ignore her would undervalue Biella’s sentiment.
“Fine. I accept your offer with gratitude.”
Still undecided, Ermedillin accepted the offer in a toneless voice.
“Yes, thank you.”
Biella showed neither happiness nor sadness. Her face was emotionless.
Before leaving the drawing room, she deeply bowed her head toward Ermedillin for a long time.
The blood rushed to Biella’s face, and for a moment, a pained expression appeared and then vanished.
Ermedillin pretended not to see it.
“Is she still up to her antics?”
At Henri’s question, Count Halushtein nodded and smiled sarcastically.
“It appears so.”
“Even after I ordered everyone not to help, she still steps out to fetch water?”
“I did warn her strictly, but truthfully, most people fear the Empress more than the plague… Besides, aren’t the maids of Duke Bellian not showing severe symptoms? Everyone subtly resents the Duke. Even if I hadn’t given the order, no one would willingly offer help.”
Ermedillin’s unpredictable behavior was confusing, but right now, Henri had a more pressing issue.
“Have you identified Ermond’s identity?”
“It seems certain he has left the country.”
“Even if he has hostile feelings, two notes are insufficient. Are there any other evidences being collected?”
“Yes, we are conducting a discreet investigation around the missing maid.”
“I see. You may leave.”
After Count Halshtein withdrew, Henri looked out the window with a meaningful gaze.
The spring garden seemed blissfully unaware of the swirling mistrust and suspicion among the people inside the palace, as it continued to be tinged with a fresh shade of aquamarine.
‘I’ll have to see how far the Empress’s act will go. I’m very curious about the expression she will make when she finds out Valier tried to kill her.’
“Quite a lot of soldiers have gathered. More are crossing the border to join us. Additionally, mercenaries are arriving one after the other.”
Langen reported the situation to Leopold, who was sitting on a luxurious terrace and indifferently looking beyond the horizon.
Leopold was in the midst of forcibly piecing together Ermedillin’s face in the clouds hanging on the far edge of the sky.
Even though several years had passed and memories had begun to fade, her face, etched not in his eyes but his soul, refused to blur.
“Did you hear my report? All preparations are almost done!!”
Langen yelled, redirecting the focus of his inattentive master.
“I heard. But it’s not over just by gathering a sufficient army. I have to make myself known to the public and openly demand the throne. Only then will I pressure Henri with force. To do that, I need to wait for reliable mercenaries to naturally infiltrate the capital. Keeping a low profile is most important.”
Mercenaries were planning to surround the capital, and deserters were covertly gathering in remote ports of nearby countries, ready for sea transportation.
Several ships could be procured and armed in just a few months since money was no object.
“And above all, her situation needs to be considered. Both my son and she are in the middle of the capital. I won’t take any action unless her safety is assured.”
Leopold, in reality, had no strong interest in becoming the Emperor.
But when Ermedillin chose Henri over him, she had said she wanted to be Empress and bring everything that tormented her under her feet.
Her words back then, that he and their child were nothing but obstacles in her path and should be removed, left a colossal wound.
Leopold had left Tribian, a place where he had no power, and set out on a wandering journey.
The fact that the first person he cared for had so cruelly abandoned him left a deep scar, intensifying his wanderlust.
For years, he cursed Ermedillin every drunken night but also wept from longing before falling asleep.
Then came the news about Ferdant, just as a scab was about to form over his deep wound.
Leopold decided to aim for the throne without a second thought.
‘Yes, it’s all for you. If you want to be Empress, then I’ll become the Emperor.’
“And news about Prince Ermond has come in.”
“Ermond? That halfwit?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know where I am?”
“He’s subtly dropping hints to soldiers crossing the border.”
“What is he saying?”
“He’s headed for Prienton. The King there bears a grudge against Henri and is willing to cooperate if requested.”
“What? My younger brother is married to Tribian’s Empress, yet he goes to an enemy state? That fool is causing trouble till the end. It’s certainly something he would do.”
“What will you do?”
At Langen’s question, Leopold clicked his tongue as if the matter was not even worth considering.
“Tsk, tsk. What else? If it becomes known that my brother has defected to the enemy, how troubled would she be? Moreover, bringing enemy troops into a country she will govern as empress? Nonsense. Don’t engage. No, don’t get involved at all. Filter out any troops coming from Brunian territory. They’re suspect.”
Langen was quite satisfied with his master’s response.
Although born to a princess rather than a prince, and thus distant from the imperial throne, among the emperor’s grandchildren, there was no one better than Leopold.
He was born with the essential coolheadedness and fairness needed for a ruler; he simply lacked the will to apply his intellect regularly.
Moreover, if one thought about it, didn’t the blood of the emperor of one of only two empires on the continent flow through them all?
In terms of lineage, they were no worse than their external cousins or Henri.
To Langen’s eyes, Leopold’s red hair seemed like it could swallow up everything in front of him at any moment, akin to the instinctual hunger of a carnivorous animal, and his golden eyes seemed to symbolize the patience and focus to wait until the prey is well within range.
He was truly a perfect fit for an emperor, inside and out.
With eyes full of reverence, he looked at his master and responded.
“Yes, I will carry out your orders as instructed.”
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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