That Incident.

Everyone was reluctant to open their mouths about it, so they referred to it as “that incident” or “the Ertman incident.” It happened about 15 years ago.

Since it was such a huge incident, even young Odette clearly remembered the entire sequence of events.

In a nutshell, “that incident” was this:

“The Emperor’s younger sister and Ertman Duke’s elopement.”

The House of Ertman had been loyal to the imperial family for a long time.

Naturally, they held great power, and their relationship with the imperial family was solid.

That is, until Lutus Ertman, the father of Balter, the current Duke of Ertman, tried to elope with the Emperor’s younger sister, Laila Celestine.

Lutus even had a family through a marriage of convenience long ago, and his only son, Balter, was always the top student at the private academy, becoming the talk of the town every semester.

So, Lutus must have intended to suppress his love for Princess Laila and live as the leader of Ertman and the head of a family.

At least, if the princess had not been placed in a situation where she was to be married to another country.

The Emperor planned to send his sister as a queen to a neighboring country, and this ignited their love.

It was a tragedy that they had confirmed their love for each other around that time.

In a way, this romantic and sensational gossip had set the social circles on fire for a long time, and Odette and Elido naturally often talked about it while living in the palace.

[Dash]The head of the palace staff said, the previous Ertman Duke was incredibly handsome. And back then, the previous Ertman Duke was in his midthirties, so he was certainly capable of running away.

[Dash]Didn’t Princess Laila also have a longstanding unrequited love?

[Dash]That’s enough to make them both give up everything and run away, right?

[Dash]Such a great love, really.

There was no way to know how great that love was, and how it ended.

Because Lutus Ertman and Princess Laila could not be traced afterward.

But one thing for sure was that the Ertman family bore the Emperor’s wrath for this incident.

The Emperor was furious at the betrayal of Ertman Duke and his sister, whom he had trusted.

[Dash]Bring those damned lovers before me!

[Dash]Shut down the Duke’s residence in Ertman, and interrogate everyone involved. If they don’t talk, kill them!

Treating a distinguished family like Ertman as common criminals was unprecedented.

To set a precedent meant that the blade might be aimed elsewhere.

Noble families, out of caution, hurried to plead for mercy for Ertman.

Had Arnoldt Ertman, Lutus’s father and the previous Duke of Ertman, not stepped in, the family would have been on the brink of extinction.

[Dash]I will remove the criminal Lutus from Ertman’s roster, and return the southern mines owned by Ertman to the imperial family as you wished. I will also participate as the commanderinchief of the Great Fuarte War to prove Ertman’s innocence.

Arnoldt had spent his entire life on the battlefield, a veteran of countless battles, and had also made significant contributions to the imperial family.

Moreover, at that moment, there was a lack of a suitable person to lead the war against the Fuarte Alliance, so the Emperor’s anger subsided.

[Dash]Fine. I accept Sir Arnoldt’s proposal. But Ertman will not be absolved of this sin until the Fuarte War ends. Do not forget that this is the last mercy I can bestow.

Not being absolved meant that Ertman was a disgraceful criminal family.

It was a command to voluntarily cease social activities and preserve their dignity.

Fortunately, the Fuarte War ended in five years, and Ertman washed away their disgrace, but even after that, they did not engage in any external activities, perhaps not wanting to incur the Emperor’s unnecessary wrath.
Certainly, the Emperor had greatly contributed to the reason why Ertman Duke, Walter, had been constantly sent to the battlefield.

The Duchess of Ertman, who had been the wife of Lutus, had also gone back to her parents’ house in shock after ‘that incident’, so Walter was the only person in Ertman who could be engaged in social activities.

So the Emperor’s mention of ‘that incident’ at this moment was nothing less than a warning.

An explicit warning that no matter how much the sins were atoned for, Ertman engaging in scandal with the Princess would not be tolerated.

“I am not such a closeminded person. If it’s something that happens willingly, what can I do? Although displeased, sometimes I need to turn a blind eye. But having the royal name dragged up and down more than that doesn’t look good.”

Perhaps it might sound like a warning to Walter, but this was also applicable to Lizaina and Odette.

‘Two princesses entangled with one man, thus creating scandal.’

It was something the Emperor would find unpleasant.

Especially if it was Ertman.

‘So I didn’t want to get involved with Ertman Duke…’

Of course, Odette had rejected Walter because she thought he was the Empress Katarina’s man.

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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