Edith was taken aback and retorted to Walter.
“Isaac first came to our house when I was eleven. He stayed for about 4 years, so we were both young.”
Walter slightly raised his eyebrows and apologized for his mistake. Even though their relationship was special, they were of an age when they were still wet behind the ears, so it would have been nothing serious.
However, another part caught his attention.
“You called me Isaac when we first met, probably because you confused me with someone else.”
“We had no relationship.”
Edith said with a flushed face. Walter’s words made it feel as if she and Isaac had been close.
“If it was special, you wouldn’t have cut off contact after promising to send letters when you went back to your hometown.”
“….”
“He’s a bad guy. He’s been thin and cunning since he was young. Always teasing.”
“You’re talking a lot for someone you’re calling weak and worthless.”
“That’s because…”
“Normally, you wouldn’t explain so much about someone you hate.”
“….”
Edith closed her mouth. This wasn’t the first time she had heard such words.
Whenever the topic of Isaac came up in the clinic, Edith would uncharacteristically complain, and the listeners would speak with knowing faces.
“You haven’t forgotten that boy, have you?”
Edith couldn’t possibly admit it.
“Anyway… That’s the only unusual experience in my life. I heard he has a big scar on his thigh.”
“A scar?”
“It’s not something I’ve verified, but I heard it from his mother. I was asking if you have such a scar.”
Walter seemed to think for a moment before replying.
“I don’t have anything like that. If you’re suspicious, feel free to check.”
His gaze briefly went towards his lower body.
Edith shot a look at Walter, who teased her at every opportunity. His face, which turned bright red at even slightly heated words, was resentful.
“Enough. And if you are the conscientious employee you claim to be, you wouldn’t tease your mistress like this.”
Edith brushed her skirt and stood up. Walter, with a playful face, took the reins and seated her back on the horse.
“I don’t know much about it, but to become a mistress, it seems you have to know how to use and discard people.”
Not forming an alliance, but using.
As Walter added this, Edith’s expression went blank.
“You mean that I’m a fake mistress and you will tease me?”
She asked in a sullen voice, but Walter only adjusted the reins. Following his leisurely pace, the horse moved back towards the east of the mansion.
The prison where she should be quietly confined was getting closer.
(This is a time separator.)
“I’ve sent the items to your dressing room, ma’am.”
Vivian stopped by Edith’s room in the morning with some light refreshments. Anne and Marie, who were to help with dressing room organization, were with her.
“Thank you for coming so early.”
“It’s nothing, ma’am.”
Anne and Marie bowed slightly and went to the dressing room to start organizing.
Edith called Vivian, who was about to follow, and asked in a soft voice.
“Vivian, do you know someone who’s worked at the mansion for a long time?”
“Someone who’s worked here a long time?”
“Yes. I want to ask about a tower that was in the mansion. I’d like someone trustworthy.”
As she wandered the gardens, Edith had tried to memorize the structure of the Portrion estate and the geography of the surrounding area.
But no matter how much she looked around, she couldn’t find anything like the ‘tower used to punish servants’ that Jane had mentioned.
‘The lord must have wanted to keep Walter in the mansion for a long time, so he must have hidden the spell to unlock the confinement in a place where no one can find it.’
In that sense, a tower with no existing trace, a tower where even most of the current servants didn’t know its exact location, was quite a good secret place.
So, Edith decided to learn more about the tower.
“There is one person. Someone who retired because of health but was close friends with my mother.”
“Really? Can you send a letter to that person?”
“Certainly. I used to contact her occasionally, and the person in charge of the mansion’s mail is one of Walter’s confidants.”
Edith wrote down her questions on a piece of paper, then sealed it with a thin gold necklace.
“So, I’m counting on you, Vivian.”
“Yes. It will take some time, but he will surely send a reply.”
As the two conversed in soft voices, Ann and Mary diligently cleaned the dressing room.
They also couldn’t help but hope that Edith might share something with them like she had done before. Just yesterday, they had sold the pearl earrings they’d received from Edith, and had enjoyed a rich meal with their family.
They knew that the main power in the mansion still lay with the first lady, but there was no problem in showing some kindness to the fourth lady and getting a little favor.
Edith read their subtle psychology from Ann and Mary’s expressions.
“By the way, I’m worried. Today’s schedule includes dining with the other ladies.”
“Don’t worry, ma’am. Elizabeth and Isabelle are not picky.”
“Really?”
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.”
