Lord Preston's Secret Tutor (47 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 40
“I wonder if the King’s side has contacted her. Someone so quick to act wouldn’t stay idle this long without scheming something.”
“Yes. But… have you noticed any signs of that from Miss Somerset?”
Windsor firmly closed his mouth again.
There had been no such signs. Yet, he felt it might be better to dismiss Jacqueline first—before she could betray him—even if it meant leaving a gap in Benjamin’s education.
Perhaps then, this uncomfortable feeling would vanish.
Leaning back against the seat, Windsor closed his eyes. It was a displeasure he’d never felt before Jacqueline came to Preston Manor.
So maybe, once she was gone, this emotion would disappear as well.
As soon as he shut his eyes, Jacqueline’s dazzling smile intruded uninvited into his mind, against his will.
He tried pushing it away, but the more he resisted, the brighter her smile became. The unpleasant sensation that had started at his ankles now crept up his body, tightening around his throat.
Unconsciously, Windsor slipped his hand into his pocket. The neatly wrapped gift crumpled with a rustle in his grasp.
***
“I’m back, William.”
Jacqueline greeted the butler warmly as he came out to meet her at the carriage. William walked alongside her toward the mansion and spoke.
“Welcome back, Miss Somerset. The young master has been eagerly awaiting your return.”
“Oh? Benjamin?”
Jacqueline knew it was just flattery, yet couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her lips. Receiving affection from a child was far more joyful than she’d imagined.
Walking down the corridor faster than usual, Jacqueline spotted a familiar silhouette approaching from the opposite end. She stopped, narrowed her eyes slightly, and called out to him.
Her voice carried undisguised fondness.
“Lord Preston.”
Windsor, who had already recognized her just from her footsteps, only halted when he heard her call his name.
He turned to look at Jacqueline with an indifferent gaze. Seeing the smile lingering on her lips, he replied bluntly,
“Did you meet your friend well?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
A friend.
Windsor wondered why she’d gone so far as to lie to him just to meet Evan Knox.
Did she think he wouldn’t let her go if she told him she wanted to see him? Why?
If so, that was her misunderstanding. Windsor truly didn’t care who she met.
“You seem to be in a good mood.”
“Well, I don’t have any reason not to be.”
Jacqueline’s eyes crinkled even more as she replied.
If Evan’s book proposal succeeded, renting a room in the capital might not be impossible. With extraordinary luck, she might even afford a small house with a courtyard.
Then she could bring her mother over—she couldn’t leave her with her aunt forever.
Just imagining that happy future made Jacqueline smile foolishly. In stark contrast, Windsor’s voice grew colder still.
“Benjamin has been waiting a long time.”
For a moment, Jacqueline’s eyes widened slightly. His words sounded like a rebuke for being late.
After a brief pause, she cautiously replied,
“I don’t believe I’ve exceeded the agreed-upon outing time.”
“From now on, I’d appreciate it if you refrained from outings—if you truly understand your duties as Miss Somerset.”
Only then did Jacqueline’s eyebrows tilt in annoyance. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Windsor—how dare he flip his attitude like the back of his hand, when he’d been perfectly willing to let her go earlier?
“Isn’t today Sunday, with no lessons scheduled? I don’t recall ever failing so badly in my duties that I’d deserve such words from you, Lord Preston.”
Windsor clamped his lips shut as if he had nothing to say. He himself knew well enough—his words made no sense.
Yet they’d tumbled out before he could think, as if he couldn’t possibly bear not saying them.
It was an unfamiliar sensation for him. Windsor, a man of reason, rarely spoke emotionally or impulsively.
He usually weighed his words carefully—sometimes so long that others grew bored.
But before Jacqueline, he occasionally blurted things out like this. And even after speaking, the suffocating displeasure around his throat refused to fade.
With a frustrated expression, Windsor loosened his tie.
“But since it’s Lord Preston’s order, I’ll keep it in mind. After all, I am the governess employed by you, Lord Preston.”
She shot back coldly and stepped past him—deliberately harsh, as if unwilling to stay near him any longer.
Windsor stood rooted in place, staring at Jacqueline’s retreating back as she climbed the stairs. He even found himself wishing she were the King’s pawn.
Then he could drive her out himself—and with her gone, this suffocating discomfort might vanish too.
As Windsor walked toward the drawing room, his eyes briefly twisted in irritation.
Left alone in the corridor, William fiddled nervously with his spectacles, bewildered by this sudden cold war.
***
“Miss Somerset.”
Jacqueline, freshly changed, opened her eyes a little wider at the sight of a small figure standing before her door.
“Betty told me you were back. Was your outing enjoyable?”
The child looked up at her with anxious eyes, afraid he might be bothering her. Jacqueline smiled gently and whispered,
“Didn’t I tell you it’s okay to knock?”
“Um… wouldn’t I be troubling you?”
Only after voicing his fear did the boy timidly glance up to gauge her reaction.
“Of course not!”
Jacqueline quickly shook her head. Then she walked side by side with Benjamin down the corridor. Her soft voice drifted between them.
“On my way back, I noticed many people strolling in the park. Before the weather gets even hotter… how about we take a walk there next Sunday? Of course, if Lord Preston permits it.”
Benjamin’s eyes widened. A park stroll—something he’d never even considered before.
“Yes, Miss Somerset!”
He answered immediately, afraid that if he hesitated even a moment, she might take back her offer.
“Good. I’ll ask Lord Preston later…”
Jacqueline’s gentle smile faltered. The image of Windsor coldly staring at her just moments ago flashed in her mind.
“I really can’t figure out what he’s thinking.”
“Pardon?”
“…Hm? Nothing. I’ll ask Lord Preston myself later.”
“Yes, Miss Somerset.”
Meeting the boy’s bright brown eyes, Jacqueline reflexively lifted the corners of her lips. Earning a child’s trust always filled her with joy—
especially when she remembered their first meeting.
If it meant seeing Benjamin smile, speaking to the inscrutable Lord Preston was hardly a big deal.
“It’s already teatime. I should ask Betty to prepare some tea.”
“Um… may I have tea with you too? Only if you don’t mind, of course.”
Benjamin still lacked confidence. The sweet child constantly doubted whether he truly deserved to be loved.
Jacqueline vaguely guessed it might be due to his parents’ early deaths.
At an age when he should have received abundant love, Benjamin had suffered two great losses—perhaps leaving a trauma buried deep within him.
Expressing love openly to such a child was part of a governess’s duty. Jacqueline looked down at him with tender eyes.
“Of course, Benjamin. You’ve never once been a bother to me. You’d be surprised to know how much I look forward to talking with you.”
“Really?”
Benjamin’s eyes widened in disbelief. Jacqueline answered, “Of course,” then added,
“Let’s have your portion as cocoa. Didn’t you say your stomach hurt yesterday from drinking too many cold drinks?”
“Okay, Teacher.”
The two walked side by side down the main staircase. Their steps, once noticeably mismatched on the first day, now fell into perfect sync like twins.
Just as they were about to begin tea time, William entered the drawing room carrying a silver tray. He handed Jacqueline a letter.
“A letter has arrived for you, Miss Somerset.”
“For me? Who… Oh? It’s from my aunt. I wonder what’s happened?”
Jacqueline sliced open the envelope with the letter opener on the tray and unfolded the letter carelessly.
“…….”
Her expression hardened as she read. The next moment, she unconsciously held her breath—then abruptly stood up from her seat.
“Miss Somerset?”
Benjamin looked at her in alarm; Jacqueline’s face had drained to a deathly pallor, as if she might collapse at any second.
Staring blankly into space with trembling eyes, she clenched the letter tightly. It crumpled with a rustle in her hand, drawing the boy’s gaze.
“Is it bad news?”
“Oh, Benjamin…!”
Only then did she suddenly come to her senses. She tried to reassure him with a smile—but it vanished like smoke before fully forming.
“I’m sorry. I must see Lord Preston urgently. Can you have tea by yourself?”
“Yes, Miss Somerset. Of course. Please don’t worry about me.”
Benjamin nodded solemnly.
“Thank you.”
Jacqueline immediately left the drawing room. Arriving swiftly at Windsor’s study, she knocked on the door without even catching her breath.
“It’s me, Lord Preston.”
“Come in.”
Windsor, who had been looking at the crumpled gift, tucked it into his drawer and raised his head—then faintly furrowed his brows.
“What is it?”
Instead of answering, Jacqueline quietly drew in a breath. A vein stood out on her slender neck.
She looked like someone standing on a frozen pond—on thin ice that could crack at any moment, hiding her anxiety behind a fragile calm.
Unable to bear it any longer, Windsor slowly rose from his seat. His eyes remained fixed on her face.
“What is it?”
Uncharacteristically, Windsor pressed for an answer. Jacqueline’s tightly pressed lips trembled slightly before a thin, shaking voice escaped.
“I think… I need to go back home.”
“Home?”
Windsor’s eyebrows furrowed. Jacqueline hurriedly nodded.
“My mother is critically ill. I must go—right away. I know I’m failing in my duties as a governess, but…”
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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MANGA DISCUSSION
2 Comments
Chapter Comments (51)
Huhuhu,😭 Poor Jackie,. Worried sick for her mother, only to receive a cold scolding
…aww, so sad…Jacqueline hugs!!! stay strong…
Ugh! She’s obviously making an impression to him while our FL is in difficult situation with another shitty fiancee😫
Inline Comments (1206)
“So it was a lie?”
nooo, that’s so mean of them. will never respect people who play with others’ emotions like this
“And Jackie’s got enough on her plate—what’s there to enjoy? Living as a governe
even though the aunt lied to her too at least she was taking her side, the mom is absolutely nuts
Perhaps… perhaps she really had been enjoying life in the capital, just as her m
Enjoying what life? You’re making money in order not to be a burden, unlike your mother.
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Ashiel_26
One after another, they were just happy then another second the sad news of her mother.. 🙁
TehShy
…jealousy, that destructive emotion that makes you grouchy😬😬😬
Marjae
I hope her mother’s alright. Fl has been through so much already.