My Discarded Fiancé Returned (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15
Perhaps because their status had been revealed, the guesthouse where they had stayed yesterday was now polished to a dazzling shine. Lucas finished bathing in hot water, tossed his shirt carelessly aside, and sat down on the sofa.
“The color of this wine seems odd.”
The Duke’s steward had offered to serve dinner, but after spending the entire day touring the Astel Duchy and eating so much, Lucas was too full to accept.
The steward then left after placing some biscuits, wine, and a few fruits on the table.
“It’s not wine, Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
“When Your Highness were bathing, the steward brought it up, so I asked as well. They say it’s a fruit wine made from berries native to Astel.”
Lucas, who had wandered the entire continent, knew what Astel berries were. Yet the fact that there was even liquor made from them made this territory seem ever more mysterious the more he learned.
“Pour me some.”
As Cedric poured the fruit wine into a slender, tall glass, its deep red, translucent hue shimmered beautifully. Lucas lifted the glass, savored the aroma for a moment, then took a sip.
“Huh….”
Letting out a strange sound, Lucas promptly downed the entire glass.
“It’s sweet and refreshing, with an exceptionally clean aftertaste. Want a glass?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After tasting the fruit wine himself, Cedric’s eyes widened in surprise.
“It has a completely different flavor profile from wine. The natural sweetness of the fruit itself comes through, leaving a crisp, clean taste.”
“Remarkable.”
Lucas murmured softly and drank another glass of the fruit wine.
“By next year, not just Astel berries but Astel fruit wine will be all the rage across the continent.”
Products made from Astel berries were already famous, and their name alone guaranteed quality and trustworthiness. Yet it seemed Astel’s progress would not stop there.
“Six years of wandering since I left for the front right after my engagement ceremony.”
The duties of the Tern Imperial Family were solemn. Thus, Lucas had to take the field in place of his ailing late father, fulfilling his role as a member of the imperial house.
During his spare time, he traveled extensively to observe the state of the realm—a truly commendable upbringing for a Crown Prince.
“Though I’ve spent years alternating between battlefields and wanderings, my fiancée has quietly been accomplishing extraordinary things right here.”
Following the mysterious symbols marked on the map today, the two men encountered nothing but novel innovations.
“I must admit, I was quite astonished myself.”
At the factory producing jam and homemade fermented drinks known as ‘Astel Berry,’ women were hard at work. In the same building, another facility sterilized bottles in hot water and applied labels.
“These are innovations even the capital lacks.”
Moreover, following a symbol resembling a bed, they discovered a windmill towering like a castle spire.
Windmills themselves weren’t particularly surprising, but the fact that inside this windmill, animal feed was ground using wind power alone was truly astonishing.
“Work that would barely suffice for ten farmers was being done effortlessly.”
Thanks to his travels, Lucas understood the lives of commoners quite thoroughly—perhaps better than any emperor before him in that regard.
“Yes. Even more, the children are receiving education.”
At the location marked with a pen-like symbol on the map, children were gathered, learning arithmetic.
“Indeed—these weren’t noble children, merely commoners of the duchy.”
Lucas murmured, still incredulous, and drank another glass of fruit wine.
“Just where do they expect those children to use arithmetic? Even noble ladies rarely study such things.”
“I’m not sure either. They seemed to be learning a few other subjects as well… and notably, their teacher wasn’t a noble either.”
“Exactly. Everything here is utterly nonsensical.”
Lucas nodded. The idea of a commoner gathering commoner children to teach them was the height of absurdity. After all, once children in the duchy learned to walk, they were expected to help with labor immediately.
Yet here they were, learning arithmetic with chalk on slate boards—an unbelievable sight had he not seen it himself.
“Most of all… didn’t divine calamity strike Astel?”
“Yes, I clearly saw records stating it happened about five and a half years ago.”
Natural disasters were considered divine will—a calamity no human power could oppose, only accept.
“That means it was after the Lady arrived here.”
“Yes.”
“Then how, after such a disaster, are all these things even possible?”
Cedric, of course, had no idea of the details.
“Never mind. I’ll have to ask her myself. Call the steward.”
“Now, Your Highness?”
“Yes.”
Cedric nodded, rose, and stepped outside. After exchanging a few words with the steward, he returned, his expression slightly dazed.
“What is it? Did she say she won’t meet me tomorrow?”
“No, not at all.”
Of course—the steward couldn’t possibly know Serena’s intentions so quickly. Though deeply disappointed, Lucas reminded himself this was merely a guesthouse, not where Serena resided.
“The acting Duke—that is, the Lady—rises early in the morning, they say.”
“I know. I saw her this morning.”
“No, I mean… like a common laborer, she gets out of bed right at dawn and immediately begins her daily duties.”
For a moment, Lucas blinked slowly.
“At dawn?”
It was customary—and expected—for noble ladies and young mistresses to remain in bed until late morning.
“At the very latest, ten o’clock, surely.”
Even if they woke earlier, they would wait in bed for the head maid to summon them and take breakfast there.
Only after the head maid returned to assist would they wash and dress, usually past ten, making it common to skip lunch altogether.
“No. The morning bell rings at seven, and that’s when the entire household’s schedule, including the Lady’s, begins.”
Though Lucas had known Serena was unconventional, her disregard even for minor etiquette now struck him as truly extraordinary.
“I’ve instructed the steward to arrange the earliest possible meeting with the Lady.”
“Astel feels like another world entirely.”
In all his past travels to lands with different customs, he’d never felt such unfamiliar wonder. Yet here, within the same empire, his own fiancée’s domain operated under laws so novel and intriguing.
“Also, Your Highness, they say today’s fruit wine is relatively high in alcohol content.”
True to Cedric’s words, a subtle tipsiness crept over Lucas. Added to that was the exhaustion from riding long distances and touring the territory all day.
“They produce it in varying alcohol strengths, then?”
Though Lucas showed no flush on his face, his unsteady steps toward the bed betrayed the potency of Astel’s fruit wine.
“…Brilliant.”
He collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes.
“A frighteningly… brilliant woman.”
Cedric, too, felt the rare onset of inebriation. He quickly checked on the Crown Prince’s bedding, then lay down on the small bed in the adjoining room. His eyes drifted shut, and sleep came effortlessly.
“Astel… fruit wine… the best….”
Clearly, Serena’s next masterpiece would shake the entire continent. Her unstoppable momentum, which not even a typhoon could halt, had only just begun.
[This is the timeline separator]Just as Lucas and his party had been astonished, Serena’s morning began with the ringing of the bell.
“Good morning, Miss.”
“Yes, Anna.”
As always, Serena briskly washed her face without anyone’s help and dried it neatly. Though dressed in her usual simple gown with no jewelry, her twenty-four-year-old beauty radiated freshness.
“Good morning, My Lady.”
As soon as Serena finished her morning routine in an instant, Chief Steward Peter offered his greeting—the moment when Astel’s daily affairs officially commenced.
“I’ve been thinking—Astel fruit wine distribution needs more careful consideration. If it’s taxed as a standard alcoholic beverage, we might incur losses.”
It was truly remarkable how new ideas continually sprang to mind, despite rising early each morning and retiring late each night.
“I hadn’t considered that aspect.”
“I plan to negotiate with the Grand Duchy of Farell’s merchant guild. Unlike the Empire, they impose no alcohol tax, so if we succeed, the profits will be enormous.”
While Serena’s eyes sparkled with excitement, Anna attended to what she claimed as her personal duty: styling Serena’s hair. In truth, it always amounted to simply tying it high in one neat bun and securing it with a pin, exactly as Serena preferred.
“Didn’t you dislike the Grand Duchy of Farell, Miss?”
“No.”
Her delicate eyebrows briefly furrowed.
“What I dislike isn’t the Grand Duchy itself, but its Grand Duke—relentlessly persistent and unbearably loud.”
Serena herself was no pushover when it came to stubbornness, yet even she had to admit Grand Duke Farell’s persistence was overwhelming.
“Is it normal to propose twelve times to someone who’s already engaged?”
“Fifteen times, Miss.”
“Anyway!”
Long ago, the Grand Duchy of Farell had signed a non-interference treaty with the Empire and ruled independently as a sovereign state. Its current Grand Duke, Hyde Farell, was twenty-eight—four years Serena’s senior.
“Even if the whole world knew my engagement was over, it’s still incredibly rude.”
Serena had become engaged to the Crown Prince at eighteen—fully six years ago.
In this era, being twenty-four meant she was far past the typical age for marriage, leading not only the capital’s nobility but even provincial lords to assume the engagement had long since fallen through.
“Proposing to someone who’s engaged is rude, persisting fifteen times despite repeated rejections is rude—but the reason behind it is the rudest of all.”
Rarely did Serena show such irritation so early in the morning.
Because the Duchy of Astel bordered the Grand Duchy, she’d endured relentless harassment over the years.
“Sigh… that’s not the issue right now.”
An even bigger problem was brazenly occupying the ducal residence.
“At least the Grand Duke can be turned away, but there’s nothing I can do about an audience with His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince! Should I postpone it? Noble ladies normally don’t stir until the afternoon.”
“Well… the steward who delivered His Imperial Highness’s message said the same, and yesterday the people of Astel praised so highly that the Lady rises early to attend to official duties—unlike others—that he surely already knows.”
Though the saying goes the early bird catches the worm, this time it was different. Right now, being an early-rising lady meant twice the exhaustion.
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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MANGA DISCUSSION
5 Comments
Inline Comments (14)
Could Lucas’s true aim really be Astel’s management secrets?
Dumb that’s just an excuse to speed time with you duh 🙄😒
That Lucas was the Crown Prince remained a secret within the duke’s household, a
I think it’s too late for you Serena 🤔😂😂 he took care of that
“Exactly. I was receiving a guest as acting Duke, not strolling as a young lady.
Disappointment? 🤔😏 What else was she expecting to? 😏😏😏
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agustus_orchid
Did the Grand Duke propose to Serena 15 times?
I know Serena is a great person.
Why didn’t the Grand Duke give up after the third proposal?
agustus_orchid
Serena is smart.
Since the prince only does nothing but wander around, it’s natural that he’s surprised by what Serena does.
agustus_orchid
Serena is as bright and dazzling as the sun. Prince, wear sunglasses.
Prince don’t pay attention to Serena.
agustus_orchid
Grand duke was a clingy guy.
Prince shouldn’t hear that he proposed 15 times.
Prince might declare war.
agustus_orchid
Don’t be too interested in Serena.
Don’t fall in love.