The street parade ended, and the investiture ceremony for Valliere began at the Central Temple located in the heart of the city.
Some of the people gathered outside the temple, considering Valliere’s background as a bastard, projected their own circumstances onto him with joy, while most others expressed displeasure that an unworthy person was receiving the title.
Yet, the nobles inside the temple showed no reaction.
Beyond matters of liking or disliking, there wasn’t even a hint of genuine interest.
The temple, with its high ceilings and spacious interior, held an aweinspiring grandeur. It was filled with people, but you wouldn’t believe it until you saw it with your own eyes.
Complete silence and indifference.
The reaction of the nobles was uniform, regardless of their allegiance to either the Emperor’s faction or the noble’s faction.
Though Valliere was from a scorned background, he hadn’t been this disregarded even during the reign of the previous Emperor.
The previous Emperor, with his striking red hair and almost translucent eyes, was a man overflowing with sexual charisma, irrespective of his incompetence.
Furthermore, he was articulate and quickwitted, making women fall for him, leading to suspicions that perhaps the gods had bestowed these blessings solely upon him.
So, whether foreign royalty, highborn ladies, or commoners with no interest in the court, all were entranced by him, regardless of their status.
Indeed, it was a time when love and jealousy flowed abundantly within the palace.
Complicating matters further, the previous Emperor had no heir from his official Empress, and there were no closely related royal family members either.
Thus, all the women who bore the Emperor’s children began to vie for the position of heir.
To formally adopt their child by the Empress, who showed no signs of abdication, power plays abounded in the capital.
What eventually unfolded was the most horrifying fratricide in the history of the Empire.
Though it’s unclear who started it, one by one, the bastards began to die, fueling the revenge of those who remained.
However, even as his own sons died off one after another within a few months, the previous Emperor showed no will to resolve the situation.
He simply watched as his sons died, ultimately accepting only Henri, who had survived and established his own power base, as the Empress’ adopted child and proclaimed him heir.
The years of fratricide left a terrible impression on the nobles entangled in it.
Events shook the faith of those who had believed they were living in a country governed by strict laws.
While today’s nobles, regardless of their faction, are relieved that Emperor Henri has a clean slate when it comes to women, that doesn’t mean they are entirely satisfied.
The Emperor has not only allied himself with the François family, who are most implicated in the deaths of the Emperor’s bastards, but also accepted their daughter, known for her ominous magic, as the Empress.
Whether they have lost someone close in the power struggle for succession or not, the nobles harbor various grievances and grudges against the Emperor and Empress.
Yet, they cannot express this to the Emperor, who is revered as a living god.
Of course, Empress Ermedillin, labeled as immoral, has indeed received numerous threats and attempts on her life, but her position as the strongest witch made even the nobles hesitate to act recklessly in her presence.
Thus, their pentup grievances and grudges were directed at Valliere, who happened to be by the side of the Emperor and Empress.
Moreover, Valliere was a bastard with an utterly deplorable background.
From the moment he entered the palace, he had to endure an endless stream of humiliations.
‘What’s going on? Why’s the atmosphere like this?’
Even if one were to overlook the silence due to the important ceremony, the atmosphere was far too cold considering a celebration was imminent.
The original Valiere was accustomed to such treatment and, being a woman of strong character, was not easily swayed by the gaze of others. She would not have taken the situation very seriously.
But the Valiere now had never experienced such treatment before.
Being born as a pretty daughter of a chaebol family’s third generation, it was rare for her to feel humiliation.
Never having failed, never having overcome inferiority, her past life’s self reacted so extremely to the emotion of inferiority.
As she moved step by step toward the central altar where Henri was waiting, Valiere realized that the atmosphere was quite different from what she had initially imagined.
She had expected to receive the envy and admiration of the nobles, but there was absolutely no reaction.
In the alltooquiet atmosphere, she could hear even her own breathing, but Valiere managed to maintain her composure and stood in front of the altar.
Henri, standing solemnly and elegantly on the altar, was dazzling.
Valiere, following the guidance of the priest, knelt in front of Henri and bowed her head.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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