Less than half an hour after confirming the family head’s death, Elbet found himself confined to the room he usually used as his office.
He wasn’t the only one trapped in the room. Elbet looked around. The nanny who usually took care of the young lady, the servant who attended to her, and the man who was both the young lady’s tutor and one of the family head’s male lovers were there with him.
The young lady who had locked them here closed the door, expressing regret that the room was too small to fit more people.
“S-stay quiet in there. O-or I’ll burn you all.”
Ho, or rip out your tongues. Before he could realize how familiar that terrifying threat sounded, the door closed. It took Elbet about half an hour after being confined to realize that the young lady’s threat was something she had heard from her father.
“We can’t get out of here?”
The young lady’s tutor, who had been thrown into the room tied up like the rest, asked. Elbet didn’t answer the man who usually flattered the family head with his smooth talk. He didn’t like men who moved their bodies lightly. It was a personal aversion.
The nanny next to the tutor also spoke up.
“E-Elbet, you used this room. Isn’t there a way out of here? Or a way to untie the ropes?”
“There’s a way to untie the ropes. Look for scissors on the desk.”
The nanny twisted her body to get up, following his words. She and the sniffling servant next to her untied each other’s ropes. The servant then came over and cut Elbet’s ropes. The last to be freed was the tutor.
Once all four were free, the conversation resumed.
“Can we really not get out of here?”
“I don’t know. The window seems too narrow for even one person to fit through.”
“And there’s no hidden secret passage or anything?”
“The room’s owner would know about that.”
At that, the tutor looked at him again. Elbet spoke curtly to the man who kept pestering him.
“There isn’t one.”
“How can there not be a single secret passage in the chief aide’s office?”
That was something he should have asked the family head, who was stingy with all his possessions, including his own secrets, but he was already dead. Instead of answering the tutor, Elbet slowly rotated his arms and legs to loosen up his twisted body.
“Hey, say something!”
“If you’re so eager to leave, try opening the door.”
As if in response to them, a loud bang came from beyond the door. The sound, like someone pounding forcefully with their fist, made all four instinctively hunch their shoulders.
“I think that means we should be quiet.”
The nanny said in a small voice. Elbet shrugged in response instead of answering her. The tutor, who had clearly secured his position with his lower body rather than his head, huffed like an aggrieved person but couldn’t cause a commotion.
Ignoring him, Elbet sat in the armchair closest to the fireplace. Though it looked worn on the outside, it was the most comfortable piece of furniture in the room.
Sitting on the sofa, warming himself by the fire with little firewood left, Elbet reflected on what had just happened.
The young lady, who had gone up to the castle walls with the family head, suddenly ran down the stairs saying her father had fallen from the wall. When they checked the moat as she said, the family head’s corpse had indeed surfaced, and the castle was thrown into disarray. So he tried to organize things inside the castle as he always did.
The reason he, who had been working for the family like that, ended up confined in this room was because of something the knight beside the young lady said.
“Does a servant of House Nebel dare ignore the master’s words?”
The young lady seemed to agree with those words, but at first, she didn’t confine him like this. Instead, she hesitated for a moment, then asked again.
“Elbet, is Father dead?”
“As you can see with your own eyes, he has passed away.”
And Elbet tried to work for the family as he always had.
“It’s late, young lady. You should return to your chambers now.”
That’s when the young lady’s face contorted.
“W-who do you think you are?”
While he was stunned by that sudden hostility, opening and closing his mouth, knights appeared from somewhere and grabbed his arms. They weren’t the original knights of the castle, but ones the young lady had brought from the royal palace.
And that’s how it ended up like this.
Elbet still couldn’t understand what he had done wrong. He had only tried to manage the young lady according to the customs of a noble house. Should he have let a woman wander the corridors late at night? That was unthinkable in an ancient house like Nebel.
But the young lady seemed to think differently. The woman confined him to this cramped and noisy room with terrifying threats.
If the family head were alive, he would have been furious, saying it was an act that dragged the family’s honor through the mud, but now such thoughts only served to remind him that the family head was dead.
Anyway, staying like this could put his position at risk. Elbet didn’t think the young lady, who had been transferred to the royal palace like a fool while staying at the castle, would appreciate his efforts for the family. Just as experience and skill are needed to appraise art, the same is true for recognizing people.
So for his own protection – though reluctantly – he needed to cooperate with the young lady who had temporarily seized control of the household. Sitting in front of the fireplace, warming himself by the fire, Elbet finished his thoughts.
That’s when the door opened.
“Which one is Elbet?”
One of the knights who had clearly been guarding outside until now entered the room and asked. He was a knight with the royal emblem engraved on his armor.
Elbet rose from his seat quickly, almost subserviently to fit the situation.
“That’s me.”
The knight looked at him for a moment, then jerked his chin.
“Come out. The new head of House Nebel is calling for you.”
[This is the timeline separator]Siana looked at the middle-aged man sitting in front of her.
Elbet was the aide her father had kept by his side and used. He was a very quiet man, but Siana didn’t particularly like Elbet. In fact, there was no one she liked in Nebel’s castle.
But Elbet was the best person to use in a situation like this. After thinking that far, Siana was a bit surprised that she had thought about using someone. Using people! Isn’t this thinking just like Father’s!
But Father was already dead. Siana shook her head vigorously to avoid recalling the corpse that had surfaced in the moat. It would have been better if it had just sunk.
She thought he would sink since Father was quite fleshy, but reality was the opposite. The knight who had become her secret accomplice informed her of this fact.
“Corpses of people with a lot of fat float more easily.”
The knight said this as if it were a joke to ease the tension. But Siana couldn’t manage the same secretive smile on her lips. It was too unfamiliar, being her first time committing – or instigating – murder. Maybe after doing it a few more times, but it’s hard to relax from the start, isn’t it?
Ah, useless thoughts. Siana shook her head again to shake off the irrelevant thoughts that weren’t helping the situation at all, then lifted her chin slightly. The queen spoke like this. Even if imitating her wouldn’t make Siana look as intimidating, it might give her some gravitas.
“E-Elbet. I have a task for you.”
The man, who she thought would act arrogantly, immediately bowed his head and said,
“What is it, my lady?”
“G-go and gather the family’s private soldiers.”
“Pardon?”
Elbet frowned slightly, taken aback by words he never expected to hear from the young lady’s mouth. How did the young lady, who was almost an outsider, know about the family’s internal affairs?
But before he could deduce a plausible route, another shout came down.
“Q-quickly! Did you think I didn’t know you and Father were raising private soldiers? Gather them inside the castle at once!”
“H-how did you know about that, young lady…”
At that, Hazel, who was beside her, drew his sword. Seeing the royal emblem gleaming on the sword, Elbet quickly rose from his seat.
“I’ll do as you command.”
“W-wait, before you go.”
And Siana beckoned to him. Elbet, who had ignored her even when she called his name until an hour ago, quickly approached at that single gesture. Siana grabbed his annoying ear and pulled it down to make conversation easier.
“I-if you harbor any other thoughts, you’ll die.”
Good heavens, to think I’m threatening someone with death. Today seems to be a series of new experiences. Thinking this to herself, Siana whispered to him.
“B-because, you know, Brinwell lost the war.”
[This is the timeline separator]In fact, Elbet’s words weren’t so wrong. As he said, until an hour ago, Siana knew nothing.
An hour ago, Siana was trembling after locking Elbet, the nanny, the tutor, and others in the spare room. Perhaps because it was her first time confining people, she was so nervous that her hands and feet were tingling.
In truth, she could hardly believe that her father was dead. Siana didn’t know people could die so easily.
If I had known this would happen, I should have acted sooner. As she stood there, covering her face with a sense of relief that swept through her chest, one of the trembling servants approached her.
“Um, young lady. There’s someone you need to meet urgently.”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
