That monster seemed to have forgotten its place. Despite being nothing without him.
Ruans reluctantly headed towards Benedict at the urging of his assistant.
“It’s been a long time, Queen Benedict.”
“Welcome, Emperor Ruans.”
“Greetings. I am Baello of House Di Glosston.”
Ruans looked at Baello.
Di Glosston was the name of the family that Lorencia had been adopted into in the Poloid Empire.
“Di Glosston is the family that adopted Lorencia, isn’t it?”
“Haha.”
Baello laughed lightly.
“I will soon send a decree to House Di Glosston to take in a royal concubine. I plan to first seat a concubine and then welcome Lorencia as empress.”
Ruans spoke confidently. Surely House Di Glosston would welcome forming ties with him.
“We will reject the decree.”
“Duke Di Glosston. Are you saying you’re rejecting the Emperor of Isuter Empire personally offering to take in a concubine?”
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding, so let me explain from the beginning.”
Baello continued speaking with an expressionless face. He was extremely angry with Ruans.
Although he hadn’t expected proper greetings upon arrival, he nearly threw his white gloves in Ruans’ face for speaking about his precious and valuable person as if asking for an object, no, as if asking for an object to be returned.
“Lorencia was absolutely not adopted into our family.”
There’s a limit to how arrogant one can be.
“Lorencia is my niece. So she has merely returned to her rightful place.”
At Baello’s words, Ruans suddenly recalled what Lorencia had said.
“Right. That fake portrait Lorencia showed me.”
Ruans felt his anger rising. So they were all in on it together. They’re all deceiving Lorencia!
He was also angry at Lorencia. How dare she believe others over him!
Indeed, the Poloid Empire must be destroyed. Pelena was right.
It seemed he had no choice but to start a war through the Great Saint and bring Lorencia back as a spoil of victory.
And then lock her up forever in the cage he made.
Ruans clenched his fist.
“Portrait? What are you talking about?”
“Now I remember. There was a fake portrait that she showed me, claiming it was her biological father. You showed it to her…”
You deceived her, didn’t you?
Just thinking about it made Ruans’ irritation rise. All his efforts to win Lorencia’s heart had been in vain.
Over a mere fake portrait!
“A fake portrait?”
“I will not simply let it slide that you showed her such a fake portrait and lied to her, claiming to be her biological father.”
Ruans spoke coldly, uttering words he would normally not dare to say.
The assistant standing behind him bowed his head deeply, looking like he might die any moment.
The words that should never be carelessly spoken in front of another empire’s queen or emperor are precisely “lie” or “fake”.
Even if the queen were lying, one should not directly point it out.
If one wants to inquire about lies, it should be done privately in a reception room after the banquet ends.
However, Ruans was rudely confronting Baello, asking if he had lied.
Although it was Duke Di Glosston next to the queen, not the queen herself, it was not a topic to bring up in front of the queen.
“Your Majesty Ruans.”
The assistant wanted to stop Ruans somehow, but this was worse than an unbridled colt.
“I don’t understand why you told her such lies, but after this banquet ends today, I will take her with me.”
“Your Majesty Ruans. Lorencia is my niece and a member of House Di Glosston. This is an unchangeable truth. Yet you call it a lie? Do you think our family would lie just to make a beautiful woman a member of House Di Glosston? I cannot understand what benefit you think we would gain by telling such a lie. And you won’t let it slide that we deceived her? Rather, it seems House Di Glosston should not let this defamation of our honor slide. No, we must not.”
“You speak quite boldly without considering your own actions.”
‘After deceiving Lorencia and making her drift away from me. How dare you!’
“Lorencia is.”
‘A monster. A monster that can see the future. You’re trying to take her away. I will never let that happen. But do they know about Lorencia’s power?’
“Why are you silent, Emperor Ruans?”
“That was mine from birth. Not Duke Di Glosston’s niece.”
“You’d better refrain from saying anything further, Emperor Ruans.”
Benedict warned Ruans.
“Today is the founding anniversary of our Poloid Empire. Are we to take your extremely rude behavior as mocking our Poloid Empire?”
Ruans could not say anything. The current situation was too disadvantageous for him.
“And Emperor Ruans. It would be best not to send a decree to take in a concubine. I politely reject it here in advance. Of course, there is a reason for the rejection.”
“What reason could there be for daring to reject an emperor’s offer to take in a concubine? Duke Di Glosston.”
“My daughter already has a fiancé.”
“Are you saying you’ve arranged a fiancé for Lorencia?”
Ruans asked in an even more agitated voice, his reddened face looking like it might burst with anger at any moment.
“Haha. Queen Benedict, did you invite me to make a fool of me?”
Ruans glared at Benedict resentfully.
“I will enjoy the pleasant banquet and take my leave, Queen Benedict. And I’ll see you again, Duke Di Glosston.”
Ruans immediately walked towards Lorencia.
He could hear people murmuring, but his mind was filled only with thoughts of separating Lorencia and Teishar.
“Your Majesty. You must first greet the royalty and nobility of other empires.”
“Not necessary.”
“Your Majesty!”
The assistant who followed was bewildered by Ruans’ behavior.
Many nobles had opposed attending the founding anniversary banquet, given the poor relations with the Poloid Empire.
However, they could not stop Ruans, who insisted on visiting because of Great Saint Saraff.
Ruans completely ignored interactions with nobles, royalty, and aristocrats from other empires gathered at the banquet hall, which would be most important for the future of the Isuter Empire.
He even had an argument with Baello and Benedict.
While the assistant understood that Ruans was infatuated with Lorencia’s beauty, from his perspective, all of Ruans’ current actions were enough to drive him mad and make him jump.
The assistant could not hold back the sigh that escaped. It was truly frustrating that he had nowhere to vent his complaints.
Lorencia watched as Ruans approached her directly.
What makes him so confident? She held back a laugh at his overly confident demeanor.
“Emperor Ruans. I, Lorencia of House Di Glosston of the Poloid Empire, greet you.”
Lorencia greeted Ruans formally as he approached.
“Lorencia. Isn’t it?”
“What are you asking about?”
“The engagement.”
“This place is the banquet hall for celebrating the founding of the Poloid Empire. There are many eyes watching, Emperor Ruans.”
“Say you didn’t get engaged. No, tell me. Lorencia.”
Ruans’ eyebrows were furrowed as much as possible. He looked clearly displeased to anyone watching.
“Your Majesty Ruans. As I told you before… I cannot accept your feelings.”
“This isn’t right, Lorencia!”
The corners of Lorencia’s lips lifted slightly. Did Ruans know that the more he spoke, the more he was inviting humiliation for himself?
“Your Majesty Ruans. An owner tries hard to find his runaway dog, but the owner cannot find the dog. Why do you think that is?”
“That’s because someone stole the dog and hid it.”
Ruans answered Lorencia’s question while glaring at Teishar.
“I told you I was the runaway dog.”
“A dog running away from home? Dogs never betray their owners. They’re very loyal animals that would even die for their owners. Lorencia, you who liked dogs should know better, right?”
“There’s something dog owners misunderstand. Do you know what it is?”
“Misunderstand?”
“Dogs can abandon their owners too.”
“No, Lorencia.”
“The reason a runaway dog isn’t found is simple. It ran far away to never be found by its owner. So it’s better not to look for that dog. Because it’s living very happily with a new owner.”
“No, Lorencia. No matter how harshly treated, a dog cannot abandon its owner. No, it’s unable to. That’s the kind of animal a dog is.”
“As you said, no animal thinks of its owner as much as a dog. But even a dog that can’t speak wants to run away from home if it keeps getting beaten by its owner.”
Even now, when she closes her eyes, she recalls the cruel words Ruans said to her.
“Even a dog that can’t speak understands what its owner is saying.”
“A dog could endure harsh words and terrible violence. Because it loved its owner so much. But there’s one reason why the dog left its owner.”
“The love it mistook… When it realized the love it received was never love at all, the dog simply left its owner’s side.”
Lorencia spoke in a gentle voice and smiled softly.
“And no one kidnaps a dog that’s dying from pain… A withered dog, at that. Your Majesty.”
She meant that she had been a dog-like existence that no one cared about, starved and abused at the Pol Heredian estate.
“Emperor Ruans. I would appreciate if you stopped clinging to my fiancée.”
“Teishar Spencer!”
Ruans’ lowered hand gradually trembled as he clenched his fist.
That’s when it happened. A trumpet sounded. A servant entered through the opening doors and announced:
“Great Saint Saraff of the Ella Goddess Temple is entering.”
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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