The storm that had been fiercely raging as if to devour everything finally calmed down only at dawn when the sky was faintly brightening.
The bed that had been heaving to the rhythm of rough breathing and moans also settled.
Sidney’s unfocused eyes and low, hoarse voice sought Logan.
“……Logan.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sleepy……”
Sidney’s face, with skin damp from heat and sweat, red hair, and evident signs of exhaustion, was full of lingering pleasure from sobbing in ecstasy.
Logan tried caressing her body with the desire to make her more disheveled, to make her cry out wanting him, but.
“Mmm……”
Sidney let out a whining sound and buried her face in his chest. He tried to stimulate her with erotic touches, but only got childlike sleepy responses.
Though knowing it was too much, he felt resentful of her falling asleep, softly snoring.
He could only swallow his regret while caressing the red flowers he had haphazardly bloomed on her white skin.
As if not even allowing that, Sidney shivered, curling up her body as if cold.
In the end, Logan reached out and slowly pulled the white sheet. When he covered her up to her chin, the wrinkles between her brows smoothed out. She even smiled softly.
Logan embraced the sleeping Sidney and grumbled.
“You’re so cold-hearted……”
His words trailed off as he slowly stroked the back of Sidney’s head.
The cool, smooth sensation of her red hair sliding between his fingers gradually calmed the boiling heat. And even the anxiety that had been tormenting him all along.
Logan frowned, recalling what he had heard from Sidney’s guard.
Damn Victoria Owello. After all he tried to help, she dares to try and take Sidney from him?
He had been too careless. To overlook that the blood of the cunning Owellos flowed in that girl as well.
Duke Owello is the type to keep hiding the fact that his adopted son-in-law Sidney is a woman even after finding out.
He would protect it as desperately and perfectly as himself. For the sake of his only remaining child, Victoria Owello’s well-being and reconciliation.
The same went for Sidney Warden. No matter how much she valued prior commitments, she might change her mind or ask for understanding for Victoria Owello’s sake.
He had asked while hiding his anxious feelings.
Was she just changing the subject? Or did she simply have nothing to say? The more they talked, the more it seemed like the latter, but his anxiety didn’t subside.
In the end, Logan informed her that he and the Redford family would be more helpful than Duke Owello and his daughter.
That if they changed the damn imperial law, Sidney Warden could live proudly as a woman.
Telling her this method was nothing short of a gamble. Being able to erase her crime meant she wouldn’t necessarily need to marry him.
So he had planned to tell her only after marriage……
Logan Redford whispered, kissing the top of her head while cradling the back of her head.
“So, I set up an investment company to recruit nobles who would join our cause.”
“Mmm……”
Logan flinched at the sound that came at such an unbelievable timing. It seemed to be just a common sleep talking as Sidney slightly turned her head and breathed evenly.
Logan embraced her with his long limbs and muttered to himself as if making a vow.
“So the marriage is still on, Sidney.”
The dawn sky was turning reddish.
[This is the timeline separator]Dong, dong, dong,….. The temple bells rang out announcing noon.
The streets lined with trees, the wide garden, and the Redford Marquis’s townhouse visible through the carriage window were all covered in white snow that had fallen the night before.
A blue-eyed woman with neatly braided blonde hair reflected in the glass window clicked her tongue shortly with a displeased face.
“Lady Warden… Lady Marien, is there something troubling you?”
“Liz, if you’re going to get confused, just omit the title.”
“I’m sorry.”
The maid Liz quickly apologized, bowing her head.
Seeing her looking guilty, Sidney felt she might have been too harsh, but she resented Logan Redford even more for creating this situation.
Sidney sighed lightly and said as if making an excuse.
“There’s no need to apologize. It’s just… being suddenly notified of this schedule.”
Yes, that’s all. Because Logan Redford had decided on a schedule without even asking for her opinion and informed her. Right after such a night, and with a hastily scribbled note at that.
− When you wake up, go to the main house. I’ll come pick you up after work. Logan Redford.
She was upset because of the one-sided notification.
Was it a big deal that she didn’t get to see his face or exchange a word after waking up alone in the large bed? It was natural for Logan to go to work by himself, leaving her sleeping.
Even if Logan had so passionately desired her last night and embarrassingly left red flower marks here and there. In that moment, both he and she were simply swept up in momentary pleasure and lust. They weren’t in a relationship to savor the lingering emotions of such a passionate night…..
What was there to feel disappointed about? Not at all, absolutely, by no means, she felt nothing. She was just irritated because her body felt stiff.
Sidney irritably grabbed the hem of her brown dress and jumped out of the carriage.
Tap tap, she smoothed out her disheveled dress as if dusting it off and straightened her back to find an elderly lady blinking in surprise.
Sidney extended her hand for a handshake and introduced herself.
“I’m Marien.”
“I’m Mrs. Lind, the head maid. Welcome, Lady Marien.”
Mrs. Lind shook her hand with a kind smile. After exchanging eye greetings with the servants and knights visible behind her, Sidney withdrew her hand and began walking.
As they entered the building, Mrs. Lind spoke first.
“Was your journey here comfortable?”
“The Marquis sent a nice carriage, so I came comfortably.”
“His Excellency will be very pleased to hear you say that. By the way, it’s snowing unusually much this winter.”
I wonder if he’ll really be pleased. Tilting her head as she recalled Marquis Douglas Redford’s gruff face, Mrs. Lind subtly changed the subject.
Was it because her mind was biased? Suddenly, a part of the poem that had been annoyingly shouted in Cloud Square in the past flashed through her mind.
On the night of Marcel, when white snow falls softly, that is when the time has come.
Quickly wake from your slumber and hasten your preparations.
For with each step towards the battlefield that awaits you, spring shines more brilliantly.
The night of Marcel should be a situation of waging war, the snow should be the call of the motherland, and the brilliant spring should be peace won through victory. It was a poem written with the intention of sending as many people as possible to the battlefield.
How many young people had been lured to the battlefield by those inflammatory words?
Sidney smiled bitterly and said.
“They praise the snowy night of Marcel so much… That’s why spring is slow to come.”
Of course, spring did come. Until countless people paid with their blood and lives to achieve victory….. But can that be called a brilliant spring?
“Does Lady Marien dislike poetry?”
“I dislike the impure intention of inciting young people to be driven to the battlefield.”
Sidney flinched at the stiff tone that unconsciously came out. Glancing sideways, she saw Mrs. Lind with a deeply thoughtful expression.
As she reminded herself to be more mindful of her tone, Mrs. Lind smiled enigmatically and said.
“But spring did come, didn’t it?”
“Yes, the war did end. But whether that spring is brilliant… I’m not sure.”
Where there is light, there is darkness, and where there is victory, there is defeat. Thinking of the Kingdom of Anes that had been reduced to ruins, a complicated feeling took precedence.
Not only that. Although they said life had become more prosperous with the wealth gained from war and that the Kingdom of Anes had been used as a battlefield, the Asnel Empire was also suffering from the pain of war.
Because the countless young people taken by war were someone’s family, lover, and friend.
Mrs. Lind, who had been walking silently down the red-carpeted hallway, stopped. The servant following behind opened the door and stepped back.
Mrs. Lind lowered her voice as if telling a secret and whispered.
“Young Master Logan also cringed at the ‘brilliant’ part. Saying what’s the use of being brilliant after everyone’s dead.”
Yes, that’s the kind of person he was. A superior who despised war more than anyone and tried to save even one more of his subordinates. That’s why she could trust and rely on him more.
If such a Logan Redford became her sword… What he said last night might become reality.
Such a day might not just end in imagination. Sidney grasped her fan tightly, flustered by her swelling expectations and certainty. Then she followed Mrs. Lind into the reception room.
[This is the timeline separator]Even a bad law is a law. It also meant that laws must be followed unconditionally, regardless of right or wrong.
That would mean that the long-standing evil custom of excluding women in the Asnel Empire would be useless before the law.
She surely wasn’t the only one wishing for such a world. Among the families without sons to succeed, if they gathered the intentions of those who wanted to pass on to their daughters rather than adopted sons-in-law or adopted sons?
Tok, tok, as Sidney lightly tapped the table with her index finger, trying to continue her thoughts.
“Lady Marien, is there a problem with the guest list for the wedding?”
“Since the preparation period is short… Wouldn’t it be better to focus on the details rather than the scale? So that the wedding invitations become a symbolic meaning of people who will go forward with the Redford family, rather than past acquaintances.”
“Are you trying to establish Young Master Logan’s position as the new master of the Redford family through the wedding?”
Since its establishment by the great Emperor Cloud, the Asnel Imperial Law had never been amended.
This stemmed from the process of the Asnel Imperial Family deifying Emperor Cloud.
To confront the imperial family and the emperor, the nobles had no choice but to unite their intentions.
Sidney looked at Mrs. Lind meaningfully and said.
“New wine should be put in new wineskins.”
“It would be troublesome to reject everything old unconditionally.”
For a mere head maid to say such things? Without the absolute trust and permission of Marquis Redford, she could never be so confident. Which means…..
__________
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Synopsis:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
He even had his eyes on another woman.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
Su Mu expressed her disdain.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
She also wanted to embrace Xie Yi, who had silently stayed by her side in her previous life and committed suicide by taking poison after her death.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
—–
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
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