“Are you really…?”
The voice, trying to stay calm, trembled noticeably and then trailed off.
After a moment’s command to lift her head, Annette slowly raised her gaze.
The Empress Dowager, sitting on the sofa, looked unbelievably young for someone who had seen her grown son and even a grandson. She looked younger than Heyworth’s king, who should be at least five or six years her senior.
‘Do the Alkan royals always look so youthful?’
No, the Empress and Empress Dowager aren’t direct descendants, so perhaps it’s a condition for the royals to choose partners with youthful appearances.
Annette shook her head inwardly at her absurd thought.
‘I’m not looking young; I’m just a child.’
Her tension was so high that she was having ridiculous thoughts.
Meanwhile, the Empress Dowager, with her light sky-blue hair impeccably swept back, sat upright, surveying Annette with cool, piercing eyes. The scrutiny was so intense that Annette involuntarily gulped, noticing the Empress Dowager’s eyebrows sharply rising.
She hurriedly cast her gaze down, feeling the sharp sting of the Empress Dowager’s look on her cheek.
“Ah, it’s really beyond words.”
Finally, an exasperated voice broke the silence.
Annette bowed her head, feeling a chill in her heart.
She knew the truth.
She wasn’t the delicately raised Princess Bridget of Heyworth, but a mere monster-hunter, known as the ‘Seed of the Monster.’ The Empress Dowager couldn’t possibly approve of her as a suitable partner for her precious son.
Especially now, with this inexplicable situation, it was even more unlikely.
Initially, she had expected such reactions in the empire, but the friendly attitudes of the Emperor and Empress had softened her, leading her to hope unconsciously.
Worrying that they might decide to replace the bride altogether, she swallowed her uneasy breath.
“Does Cardin know about this?”
“I’ve informed him, but the Grand Duke has gone on a monster-hunting expedition. Whether he has received the news…”
“Hmm.”
Charlotte’s words made the Empress Dowager sigh deeply and nod.
Annette realized that her fiancé, Grand Duke Hargens, was a much-loved figure.
‘Perhaps he’s the sore thumb of the Alkan royal family.’
That’s why the Emperor had personally created the purification stone, not just for himself but also, presumably, to secure a suitable match for his brother.
‘That’s why they were so kind to me.’
Because she was to become the wife of Grand Duke Hargens.
Annette felt a twinge of envy for the man she had never met.
She had lived her life, dragging down not only her parents but also Franz, the only family she could call her own.
Had it not been for her, Franz wouldn’t have lost his mother, nor would he have lost his father’s favor. He might have been Crown Prince by now, not competing with his much younger brother at the age of twenty-seven…
“Soon, we’ll be family, so you can speak freely.”
Suddenly, the Empress Dowager said.
Startled, Annette replied, “Yes, of course,” and then looked bewildered.
It wasn’t surprising for the Empress Dowager to speak informally, regardless of her being a princess or the future Duchess, but the way she so naturally referred to her as ‘soon-to-be family’ sounded strangely off to Annette.
Meanwhile, at the Empress Dowager’s gesture, the maids swiftly brought in sweet desserts, an elegant teapot, and cups for tea.
Annette looked at the delicately arranged table and couldn’t help but feel excited.
She had once wished to join teatime, enjoying tea and cookies leisurely like Bridget, or even any regular noble lady, instead of tearing into dried meat in a makeshift tent with her subordinates. Of course, she had promptly abandoned the thought upon seeing the ladies fleeing at her sight.
“Oh my, some of these don’t seem to be made in the palace, do they?”
Charlotte’s surprised voice came as she examined the table.
The Empress Dowager cleared her throat and replied, “The Empress doesn’t fancy sweets, but I thought to prepare for our new guest’s tastes.”
“I see. These are from a famous dessert shop in the capital, aren’t they?”
Charlotte laughed, mentioning how occasionally noblewomen, unfamiliar with her tastes, gifted them to her.
Annette marveled at the almond-studded cookies, colorful macarons, custard-filled tarts topped with glistening strawberries, and then was surprised by their conversation. She had assumed the Empress Dowager would dislike her, but the preparation of these desserts suggested otherwise. Though baseless, Annette felt slightly more relaxed.
Suddenly, she felt hungry, her appetite piqued. She hadn’t eaten much for lunch due to the abrupt announcement of teatime by the Empress Dowager. Plus, lacking experience in such gatherings and the skill to lead conversations, she preferred to focus on eating.
‘Adults like children who eat well,’ she remembered Sarah saying. Unsure if it applied to her, Annette decided it was better than leaving the carefully prepared food untouched. Her eyes shone more brightly at the desserts before her.
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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