“Do you have company? If not, please don’t refuse.”
Even if Karan had companions, Elise wasn’t planning to back down, but she added that for courtesy.
Karan looked serious. Elise’s proposal was too bold for him.
From her arrival to her single sentence, Elise had shaken his heart.
In a pub, a woman sitting next to a man often implied sexual intentions, and a drink invitation…
Sighing, Karan felt hot and brushed his neck.
“I have no company.”
“Good to hear.”
Elise, with the brightest smile she could muster, sat down on the chair where Karan’s coat was hanging.
“What can I get you, madam?”
A waiter, who had been waiting for her to sit, approached.
Despite knowing her identity, his pretense of ignorance seemed like good business acumen.
Elise glanced at Karan’s glass.
“The same for me, please.”
“No, for the madam, Red Bordéan, please.”
Karan changed Elise’s order. She tilted her head inquisitively, and his healthy-looking lips moved.
“My drink is… too strong for you. Red Bordéan will suit your taste in both aroma and flavor.”
Karan acted as if he knew Elise well.
‘He must have researched me, knowing I was Chase’s intended fiancée.’
Was that why he was so courteous? Elise felt somewhat bitter.
‘But this makes things easier.’
His familiarity left Elise with no choice but to reveal herself.
“Karan Lisandro of Titris.”
Elise rolled his name gently in her mouth. Karan’s shoulders jerked.
“Do you… recognize me?”
“Of course. I couldn’t be unaware of the prince of Titris.”
“Ah… The prince of Titris. Yes, that’s me.”
Karan’s voice trailed off. His tone, tinged with regret, dampened the atmosphere.
As Elise pondered what to do, the ordered drinks arrived.
“Enjoy your time.”
The waiter glanced back and forth between Elise and Karan, smiling meaningfully.
Karan’s brows furrowed deeply.
Elise clinked her glass against Karan’s.
Contrary to his earlier discomfort, Karan emptied his glass each time Elise initiated a toast.
One glass became two, and soon a bottle was finished.
Elise felt the alcohol’s effects, and the awkward air between them faded.
Elise lightly tapped Karan’s fingers on the table.
Karan, reaching for his glass, froze.
“Shall we move, Karan?”
Her eyes clearly suggested an invitation. Would Karan accept her provocation?
Elise’s plan to escape Chase was simple.
Spend the night with Karan.
It would surely anger Chase and Baron Warton, but that anger could be deflected with Karan’s name.
Assuming, of course, Karan cooperated with her plan.
“What do you mean by moving places?”
Karan’s thick eyelashes fluttered.
“What do you think it means for a man and woman who just met in a pub to move places? It means exactly that. You’re not pretending not to know, are you?”
In Titris, where survival was challenging and infant mortality was high, it was common for capable individuals to have multiple spouses and engage in active sexual life from an early age.
Karan, being who he was, likely had several betrothed.
That’s why Elise decided to offer him her night.
To him, it would be just one of many, alleviating any guilt she might feel for using him.
And she was confident she could be of help to Karan.
‘I will surely repay the favor.’
Elise’s eyes sparkled as she awaited Karan’s response.
“Are you serious?”
He asked, gazing intently into her eyes.
“Yes.”
There was no need for lengthy explanations.
His sharp gaze lingered on Elise, then dropped away.
Elise faced his scrutinizing look with confidence.
Karan sighed deeply, rubbing his face with his dry hand, as if burdened and anxious like someone trying to solve a problem with no apparent solution.
“Seriously…”
Karan muttered and picked up the bottle of liquor.
He drank it like someone who had to get drunk. The pumpkin-colored liquid flowed down his throat.
Thud, he put the bottle down and turned to look at Elise.
In that moment, Elise realized.
He had fallen for her seduction. His eyes glittered with desire.
“Let’s go upstairs.”
He stood up.
Karan led Elise to the third floor of the pub, to his lodging.
Walking behind him, Elise’s heart started to pound.
She hadn’t expected to feel nervous, but as they approached Karan’s room, her fingertips trembled.
Even though it was her first time in this body, she couldn’t understand why her heart was racing so much.
Sighing, Elise took a deep breath to calm herself.
“We’re here.”
Lost in her thoughts, she had arrived at Karan’s bedroom. He spoke while holding the doorknob.
“If you’ve changed your mind, you can still leave.”
“No, let’s go in.”
Elise entered first, not wanting him to see her trembling.
Karan was from Titris, where the saying goes, ‘Playing coy in bed isn’t fun.’
Elise wanted to be an interesting person to Karan.
It was necessary for her next plan.
Elise looked around the room. Karan’s bedroom was far too modest for a prince of a nation.
‘Staying at the Pig’s Tail Pub is the problem itself.’
“We should have gone to a hotel,” Karan said, misunderstanding Elise’s standing posture.
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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