“Why are you doing this?”
“Shut up. If you don’t want to die, be quiet.”
After sending the frightened woman out, the chief attendant entered the room where Ruans was again.
When Ruans is in a bad mood, he hits or breaks things or people in the room. Fortunately, he seemed to be in a not so bad mood today, as he was staying still.
“Help Her Majesty while I’m gone. And keep sending people to the Pol Heredian estate to find the seal.”
“Yes, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
“What should I wear to go?”
“You look great in anything.”
“But I’m going to get my concubine. I should dress more handsomely than usual.”
The corners of Ruans’s mouth twitched as he imagined Lorencia running to him and hugging him.
But Ruans frowned at the thought that Teishar Spencer, who had appeared in his dream, would actually interfere between him and Lorencia in reality as well.
“Damn it…”
Ruans looked in the mirror. He saw the handsome appearance, blond hair and green eyes inherited from his mother. When he imagined Lorencia standing next to him reflected in the mirror, the corners of his mouth that had gone down went up again on their own.
“Yes. The monster should only be by my side.”
Teishar can’t be a match for him who has become the emperor anyway.
Once he got Lorencia back, he would move the Ella Temple to the Isuter Empire and then declare war on the Poloid Empire. Just thinking about it was thrilling.
“Chief attendant.”
“Yes, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
“You must have prepared a gift for my concubine, right?”
“Of course, Your Majesty. Lady Lorencia will be very pleased to see the gift.”
“Really? She will like it…”
Ruans smiled with satisfaction. The image of Lorencia smiling with a flushed face upon receiving the gift naturally came to mind. Strangely, the more he thought of Lorencia’s smiling face, the more his left chest ached.
Originally, he should have greeted the Great Priestess who came to the Isuter Empire and looked around together to see where to build the Ella Temple.
With Lorencia.
[This is the timeline separator]Ruans left the Isuter Empire by carriage and headed to the Poloid Empire. And he recalled the shadows’ reports from before.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He didn’t know why the pillar of light had appeared, but thanks to the disappearance of the demonic creature, Charlotte was able to live. Lorencia’s prophetic dream was off the mark. It seemed like nothing was going right since Lorencia left for the Poloid Empire, which made him feel irritated.
“This is why I wanted to keep Lorencia by my side…”
If she had been with him, she would have told him in advance through her prophetic dreams that Charlotte could live. Come to think of it, it was because of Teishar Spencer, who took that monster Lorencia away, that Charlotte didn’t die.
“I won’t kill you too easily, Duke Spencer.”
Ruans took out a black glass bottle from his bosom and looked at it.
Looking down at the glass bottle containing the poison Felina had prepared, his mood improved a little. How happy would he be if he could feed this poison to Charlotte or Queen Benedict? Or to Teishar?
Ruans raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at the glass bottle containing the poison Felena had prepared. If he dropped a single drop of this poison into a well in either Spencer territory or Di Glosten territory, everyone who drank it would die, right? Just imagining it made him happy.
“Come to think of it…”
Ruans recalled that Carlien’s younger sister was currently working at the Spencer estate.
“That’s right, Duke Spencer. Why did you steal the monster born for me and bring death upon yourself?”
The corners of Ruans’s mouth went up. Just the thought of Teishar dying filled him with overflowing joy.
“I should prepare red mist flowers and white trumpet flowers for Duke Spencer’s death.”
Before he knew it, while thinking about this and that, the carriage Ruans was riding arrived at the Poloid Empire.
The people of the Poloid Empire did not think well of Ruans, the Isuter Empire’s emperor.
It was because he had slandered the Di Glosten family and other nobles of the Poloid Empire as the culprits who killed Adrian.
In this bad situation, Queen Benedict did not think well of Ruans, who had come in person to retrieve his concubine.
Above all, she became anxious about Ruans’s fickleness, which Charlotte and Adrian had mentioned. So Benedict sent letters to the nobles with daughters.
The content of the letter was that for the time being, she would not receive visits from ladies and young ladies, and that if they had to come to the imperial palace and meet Emperor Ruans, they should be careful not to fall for his sweet talk.
Still, Benedict was not relieved. She predicted that Ruans would stay at the imperial palace as much as possible to take Lorencia with him somehow, as his goal was Lorencia.
“Your Majesty the Queen, Emperor Ruans has arrived.”
The chief attendant informed Benedict of the news that Ruans had arrived. However, the queen did not go out to greet him. Not going out to greet meant that she expressed her heart that his visit was not welcome.
Ruans also did not need to greatly announce his arrival to people. After all, his goal was to take Lorencia back to the Isuter Empire.
Benedict sat on the throne with a holy and majestic appearance to greet Ruans. The crown sparkled above her head.
“Welcome, Emperor Ruans.”
“Thank you for allowing my visit, Queen Benedict.”
“Did you say allowing the visit?”
“Yes.”
She looked at Ruans with eyes that seemed to calmly dominate her territory.
“Didn’t you create a situation where I had no choice but to allow it? Emperor Ruans.”
“If that’s how you felt, then I guess that’s how it is, Queen Benedict.”
“What I mean is… your siblings and parents are all dead, but you came all the way to the Poloid Empire to welcome a concubine. I’m saying it’s extraordinary.”
Benedict, who had hardly moved from the throne, leaned her upper body slightly forward.
“I said it in a roundabout way… You’re not innocently taking it at face value, are you?”
At Benedict’s clear provocation, Ruans let out a hollow laugh. If he had known things would turn out like this, he should have said that he was still searching for Adrian’s culprit until he got Lorencia back. He had unnecessarily blamed the Poloid Empire, so Benedict’s words and actions were not favorable.
“I know you’re upset about Adrian’s death. But the one who accused the Poloid Empire nobles as the culprits was not me, but Duke Graykan. I said we should search for the culprit until the end.”
“As far as I know, Duke Graykan is Emperor Ruans’s maternal grandfather.”
“I’m telling the truth, putting aside that he’s my maternal grandfather, Queen Benedict.”
“As far as I know, I heard that when Charlotte was in the Isuter Empire, Emperor Ruans actively blamed Charlotte.”
“Don’t believe false rumors. I never did such a thing.”
Benedict gritted her teeth so hard that veins bulged on her face and neck. She didn’t want to continue this tiring conversation in this situation, saying she had heard everything from Charlotte. She felt that Ruans was definitely not someone with whom normal conversation was possible.
“Queen Benedict. I clearly took Princess Charlotte’s side.”
As Ruans spoke the lie without any hesitation, Benedict’s lips and eyes trembled slightly. The anger seemed to pass through her throat and come out of her mouth.
“And before you say anything to me, even though she is a bastard child of the Pol Heredian family, shouldn’t you punish the Di Glosten family for trying to forcibly adopt her, a count’s daughter?”
“The Di Glosten family has clear evidence that Lady Lorencia is their family member, Emperor Ruans.”
“Evidence can be fabricated in any way. Above all, until right before his death, Count Brant said that Lorencia was his biological daughter.”
Ruans frowned and continued.
“Do you know that Count Brant was so worried about his kidnapped daughter Lorencia that he took his own life?”
Ruans raised one corner of his mouth crookedly and continued.
“Count Brant fell into severe depression and committed suicide in a situation where his wife Anne died, his daughter Illina was imprisoned, and his beloved daughter Lorencia was kidnapped. At least if Lorencia had not been kidnapped by Duke Spencer, Brant would not have died. I think the reason for his death lies with the Spencer family, and I have no intention of letting this matter go.”
Benedict inwardly clicked her tongue at Ruans’s brazen words.
“I’d like to keep the greetings to this extent. Or do you intend to talk more with me?”
Ruans cut off the conversation after saying all he wanted to say. Benedict felt so frustrated, as if sweet potatoes were stuck in her stomach.
The more they talked, the more she felt victimized. Ruans was the kind of person Benedict hated talking to the most. It is best not to talk to people like Ruans, but if given the chance, they must be thoroughly trampled and then uprooted. But now she was not ready to uproot him. Preparations had to be made to properly uproot him. So she had to endure it for now.
“When will Lady Lorencia, who will become my concubine, come?”
“Chief attendant.”
“Yes, Your Majesty the Queen.”
“Please escort him to the parlor.”
“Understood.”
Ruans felt good thinking that he had driven Benedict into a corner.
“But since I visited, I hope you will accept my gift.”
“Of course. I will gratefully accept the gift.”
Ruans followed the chief attendant and mulled over Benedict’s words. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
Should he poison the wells and waterways before leaving and kill them all?
Dangerous thoughts kept coming to him. And his body itched to carry them out.
“You can wait here in the parlor.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
