After a day of rest, the banquet with the visiting envoys was unexpectedly quite ordinary.
The envoys and Hades exchanged ordinary conversations while eating, and I only had to fulfill the role of smiling and nodding at his side.
That was until the custard pudding topped with strawberry compote was served for dessert.
“The food of the North is indeed excellent.”
One of the envoys exaggeratedly praised.
“It’s hard to find such outstanding strawberry compote in the Empire.”
Another envoy chimed in.
“To be able to eat strawberries in the winter, even though they are harvested in spring… Is there some special preservation secret in the North?”
Hades leaned his body back in his chair in a languid posture.
He appeared totally unswayed by the veiled criticism about serving fruit harvested in the spring during winter.
“I’m not sure. Shall I call the cook to ask?”
“We can’t impose such a rudeness at a delightful meal. I’ll receive this special preservation technique later, haha.”
“Your Majesty.”
As I slightly tilted my head toward Hades, the face of the envoy who had been insistently mentioning the strawberry compote subtly distorted.
“May I answer the question from the Imperial gentleman?”
“Of course, Angel.”
As soon as Hades’s permission fell, I opened my mouth toward the envoy.
It was a good opportunity to make the envoys aware of my existence.
“The strawberries you are eating now were not harvested in spring.”
“Really?”
The envoy asked with a doubtful face.
“Yes. They were freshly picked from the greenhouse yesterday. You can eat them with ease.”
Hades interjected with a slightly puzzled voice.
“I didn’t know we were growing strawberries in the greenhouse.”
“I suggested it. I like strawberries.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
Strawberries had been growing in the greenhouse since before I came to the Duke’s castle, but serving dessert made from the fruit was my idea.
“Really?”
Hades looked down at me with an affectionate gaze.
Anyone from a third party would have been deceived by that gaze.
“Then this delicious dessert is all thanks to Angel.”
His sweet voice tickled my ears.
I blushed. To deceive the envoys, Hades was more affectionate than usual.
“Please say it’s thanks to the cook, Your Majesty.”
“How can that be? No matter how skilled, without ingredients, it can’t be made.”
Hades whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
“What reward should I give this time?”
I glanced at Schizechin.
Seeing him not even trying to hide his disgusted expression, my mood lifted.
“Your Majesty always treats me too generously, what more rewards do I need here.”
I smiled bashfully at Hades.
I can match this level of acting anytime.
“Being able to stay by Your Majesty’s side is more than enough.”
Hades lifted my right hand and kissed the back of it.
“Your Majesty…….”
“How many times have I told you to call me Hades?”
If Schizechin, Count Byungback, hadn’t coughed, I would have really called him Hades in front of the envoys.
“Lady Angelica is indeed beautiful. I see why Your Majesty favors her.”
“Not just beautiful.”
Hades laughed out loud, but his eyes were not smiling at all.
It was a clear warning to Count Byungback.
“Angel is a treasure of our Donovan. So, I intend to keep her by my side for life.”
“To think about her for a lifetime, you really are deeply affectionate.”
Count Byungback answered softly.
“But should the companion for life not be a woman fitting for Your Highness?”
Silence flowed.
A few people who had been eagerly eating dessert just moments ago were seen putting down their spoons.
I stared forward with a stern face.
It was because I instinctively realized that now was the timing for Hades to step in.
“A woman fitting for me… So Chancellor, you are going to decide that?”
“Surely not.”
The Chancellor clapped his hands.
“How dare I? I merely think that a woman fitting for Your Highness, the rightful ruler of Donovan and one with a noble bloodline, would not be common even if we search all over the continent.”
“What if such an uncommon woman is by my side right now?”
A few took a sharp breath.
To be honest, had I not made an extreme effort to maintain my composure, I would have shown my surprise too.
Even if Hades is completely devoted to the government, what he said just now was too much.
My role was merely to hold back the diplomatic corps and break off the engagement with the princess.
There was no need to show his feelings for me to that extent.
‘Could there be another reason?’
Shuzhechin opened his mouth with a stiff voice.
“That means.”
“Angelica is a woman who lacks nothing to be by my side for life.”
Hades sharply cut off Shuzhechin’s words.
“If you say anything more about this, I will consider it interference in my private affairs, Shuzhechin Chancellor.”
“……Understood.”
Shuzhechin responded with a cold voice.
“How dare I comprehend Your Highness’s will. I only hope you make a decision for the glory and prosperity of Donovan.”
“Interesting.”
Hades’s gaze on Shuzhechin was bonechilling.
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
