The tea she had tasted was clearly brewed wrong, leaving a bitter taste.
So if anyone didn’t know better, they would think ‘Arnolt really doesn’t know his teas.’
No high-ranking noble would serve bitter tea.
And he would have probably tried to cover it up by saying the tea tastes good.
But then, she would be stepping right into the trap Arnolt had set.
‘Lord Arnolt certainly didn’t ask about the tea’s taste because he didn’t know.’
Through the bitter tea, Arnolt intended to find out about his counterpart.
To see how and to what extent they could deceive him.
So, Odette’s choice was simple.
‘Just tell the truth.’
But telling the truth could come off as impolite, so she balanced it with some tact.
She mentioned that the tea tasted good and also provided methods to mitigate its bitterness.
She left no room for entrapment.
This way, Arnolt, who had set the trap and was just waiting, would realize.
Odette had seen through him and had already escaped.
[Dash]This is quite bitter.Saying so, Arnolt’s expression, now smirking, was that of someone who had given up.
Odette’s strategy had worked.
‘He seemed much more relaxed than at the start.’
She thought that Arnolt, smiling while drinking his tea, resembled Valter quite a bit.
Which meant Arnolt’s attitude had become considerably more friendly.
“Based on our teatime conversation… I think we can expect positive signals.”
“Uh-huh, if Your Highness says so, then I have nothing to say.”
Thankfully, Ellie nodded her head.
However, Ellie’s eyes, while cleaning the melted candles, still held a lingering skepticism.
‘…Is it really okay?’
Something continued to bother her.
In fact, Ellie didn’t need to go to Ertman today.
[Dash]Ellie, send this letter to Ertman for me. It’s not critically important, so you can just have someone deliver it.The letter Odette had entrusted to Katarina before attending the tea party concerned simple options related to wedding preparations.
Suggestions such as the dress should not have too low of a back, or that the venue could be as she wished.
It wasn’t anything new, considering they had been diligently preparing for the wedding since drafting the contract.
Odette had also taken that into consideration when she told Ellie that someone else could be assigned the task.
However, Ellie chose to visit Ertman Duke using this letter as an excuse.
‘…I need to check what I can.’
Just yesterday, Ellie had heard murmuring voices near the Imperial Palace while passing by.
“[Dash]Elodie Montuar is still socializing,”…I must not have crushed her enough then.
Without looking closely, it wasn’t hard to recognize the voices.
‘It’s the third princess and… the voice of her maid.’
It was a conversation between Lizeina and her favored maid, Magot.
“[Dash]From what I hear, she was even driven out from Ertman’s, and apparently broke ties with Grimouar she was attached to. How could she manage that? Is her family background strong?”
“[Dash]Family background? It must be there. Ertman Duke. If not him, who else? If the duke intends to, he could easily make a girl from a minor family irrelevant in high society.”
By not doing so, it implies that Ertman Duke is looking out for her, Lizeina grumbled.
Although she managed to save face without seriously tarnishing her reputation, she was still not in a good mood about anything related to Balter.
“[Dash]The duke, he’s funny too. He acts as if he can’t live without Odette, and yet, is he seeing another woman behind her?”
“[Dash]Could it be that what Elodie Montuar said is true? That she and the duke have a certain relationship?”
“[Dash]Hmm, seems so. What a diverse taste. Elodie Montuar or Odette, they look similar, don’t they? Both look dumb.”
The discussion about Balter, Elodie, and Odette continued, but only one thing truly resonated in Ellie’s ears.
“[Dash]Odette is just foolish. She thought she was getting a prince on a white horse, but isn’t he a man who flirts even before marriage?”
Lizeina’s voice was filled with smug ridicule.
How she had left that place, she could not clearly remember.
The next thing she knew, she was standing in a deserted corridor, catching her breath.
Many things floated in Ellie’s mind.
Lizeina’s mocking voice, and Balter and Odette, who had somehow become so close that they were conversing warmly.
And also,
“[Dash]I look forward to seeing you again, Odette.”
Balter’s gaze, persistently fixed on Odette.
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.
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