Arnold looked at his grandson with a newfound scrutiny.
Walter’s face, resembling his father, had not changed, but the Walter before him now was somewhat different from the one Arnold had known.
He was as callous and rude as ever, yet he had never gone this far before.
Even if Walter didn’t enjoy Arnold’s nagging, he had never entirely ignored his grandfather’s scolding.
This was less out of natural respect for an elder and more of a courtesy toward the long-time protector of the Ertman estate.
“But now… it’s as if something’s broken.”
Watching Walter casually respond that everything was fine, Arnold wanted to ask if he was serious.
Even if he had such thoughts, the old Walter would never have expressed them.
The grandson who reluctantly nodded to his grandfather’s nagging while clearly showing his annoyance was just that sort of person.
So, who was this strange, stubborn man sitting before him now?
“War does change people, but I’ve seen it for more than a day or two…”
Could it feel this alien?
If this change was due to his interest in the Fourth Princess Odette, Arnold would have been delighted.
At least the brat would show a human side.
“But what if it’s not?”
He couldn’t decide whether to take this disparity positively or negatively.
If he had a little more time, Arnold would have contemplated this change deeply, but unfortunately, the lunatic before him didn’t afford him that luxury.
“Just relinquish your elder position to me. I’ll say it again; I’m marrying her of my own will, not as part of some imperial scheme.”
Arnold’s remaining rationality abandoned him at that cold, rude tone.
“Such an impudent brat… How dare you order me to relinquish the elder position! I oppose this marriage. The Fourth Princess is too good for you!”
“I don’t intend to deny that, but how can you, being an Ertman, favor a woman you’ve barely seen over your own grandson?”
“How is ruining a perfectly fine young woman’s life by marrying her in your favor?”
Had Odette been too naive or the opposite, he wouldn’t have opposed this much.
If it was the former, her life in the imperial palace would be miserable, making him want to rescue her; if it was the latter, she would get along fine in Ertman.
But Odette was neither.
She had a good head on her shoulders, was sentimental and moral, and could have easily manipulated her circumstances but chose not to.
‘If I hadn’t seen her at that tea party, I might have doubted more.’
Could she have faked her demeanor to deceive him?
But how could Odette, who stormed out of Lady Patricia’s tea party, know that Arnold would conveniently appear there?
‘It’s her nature.’
Arnold recalled Odette’s face as she enthusiastically explained various ways to enjoy tea, even as he knowingly brewed a bad one.
[Dash]It’s also nice to drink it this way. It’s one of my favorites.Her face, smiling without a wrinkle, was filled with simple joy.
She was a good and kind child.
Too good to be confined in Ertman, waiting for a husband.
What wind blew to make Walter desire marriage with Odette, he did not know.
‘People’s hearts are prone to change.’
The proactive attitude of Walter alone wasn’t enough to settle everything, especially with the lingering scars left by Lutrus.
“My wife is a good person. I also know that, so why wouldn’t I be proactive about the marriage? But human hearts are bound to change, Father.”
People change.
And for Arnolt, once was enough to regret it.
He firmly pressed his throbbing temples.
“Anyway, I oppose. Find a woman who’s more suitable for you.”
“And who would that be?”
“A woman who can live well even without you.”
A woman full of desires, having many things she wants to do, with strong self-esteem and self-respect, prioritizing her immediate luxuries over her husband’s love or domestic peace.
Even if Valter never crossed faces with his wife, she could enjoyably live benefiting from Ertman’s prestige.
That was Arnolt’s ideal daughter-in-law.
Of course, it fell on Valter’s deaf ears.
“Grandfather, you’re strange. I’ve never once said that I would neglect my home, yet you see me as a worthless husband.”
“Don’t you sincerely know why? If you’d once properly stayed at home, I wouldn’t be saying this! I can’t offer my elder’s endorsement to this marriage!”
The elder’s endorsement was the sole privilege Ertman, as the elder, could exercise.
So naturally, the head of the Ertman family needed that endorsement for marriage.
It was a mark of agreement to accept Ertman’s new matron into the family.
However.
“Then I’ll marry without the elder’s endorsement.”
“What?”
“The royal proposal has already arrived, and I’ve replied… negotiations with His Majesty have concluded. I’ll bring Odette back by giving up one of the eastern territories.”
Fortunately, His Majesty was lenient enough to agree to move Odette to Ertman’s residence before the wedding, Valter casually nodded.
Just that alone was irritating, and Arnolt found himself gaping at Valter’s following words.
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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