My Husband Has Changed (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
While the argument between her father and husband unfolded in the reception room, Adelheid stood trembling before the door.
Perhaps due to having stayed awake all night with eyes wide open? Her unusually haggard, pale face reflected in the cold glass window of the corridor.
It was then that she heard the sound of a table being slammed down. Immediately afterward, Grand Duke Ansgar’s furious voice pierced through the thick wooden door and echoed down the hallway.
“Are you mocking me right now?”
“Your Grace, I promised to give you my daughter—but never once said I would give you Charlotte. Here is the contract you yourself signed.”
Count Reichenau defiantly brandished the contract and marriage vows bearing both parties’ signatures.
“This jest goes too far. You’re telling me Reichenau had another daughter besides Charlotte? You kept her hidden all this time? And now you bring some filthy woman, unworthy even of being a bastard…”
“Adelheid’s name was inscribed upon the ancestral stone seventeen years ago. To question her lineage is an insult to House Reichenau itself.”
“…Inscribed upon the ancestral stone?”
The ceremony of inscribing a name upon the ancestral stone was strict and intricate. It required three witnesses to attest that a woman, having had no contact with men for over a year, carried the bloodline of the head of the house, and finally demanded the High Priest’s personal guarantee. With this, the Grand Duke’s plan to annul the marriage by disputing uncertain lineage was utterly thwarted.
Valentin’s face turned ashen. The Count, looking visibly exhausted, continued.
“If this were before you signed the marriage vows, then perhaps… But didn’t you enter the bridal chamber just last night, Your Grace?”
It was an utterly outrageous claim—so brazen it nearly drew a hollow laugh. The Grand Duke glared at Count Reichenau with wide, furious eyes.
He had spent less than five minutes in the bridal chamber with the bride. Moreover, Reichenau’s witnesses had surrounded the thin curtain, so the Count surely knew no contact had occurred between them.
Yet the man dared assume such shameless audacity.
“The bridal chamber last night didn’t contain only Reichenau’s witnesses, did it? You already know I never laid a finger on your daughter.”
“Your Grace.”
Count Reichenau leaned back comfortably in his chair and continued, his green eyes glinting cruelly.
“What happened in the bridal chamber last night doesn’t matter. What matters is what those who witnessed it claim to have seen.”
“…”
He was right. If Reichenau’s witnesses spread even false rumors that he and the bride had spent the night together, the Ansgar name would be dragged through the mud—regardless of the truth.
‘Which lord would dare tarnish his own daughter’s honor by spreading falsehoods?’
Yet looking into the Count’s greedy, glittering eyes, Valentin realized this man was fully capable of doing exactly that—and worse. Only then did Valentin understand he had fallen into an utterly vicious trap.
It had been a thoroughly calculated fraudulent marriage, exploiting the custom that forbade seeing the bride’s face until entering the bridal chamber. Had there been multiple daughters, he would have taken every precaution from the start—but since Charlotte had been the only daughter openly raised, his complacency had become his fatal misstep.
‘After all, the contract only specified receiving a daughter of Reichenau.’
Furious beyond words, Valentin fell silent. Sensing his advantage, Count Reichenau spoke again, his tone triumphant.
“Our side has fulfilled every term of the marriage contract. Your Grace knows well that under these circumstances, seeking divorce without grave cause on your part amounts to public disgrace.”
Valentin gritted his teeth. The Count spoke the truth. A betrothal sworn before Morrig could not be broken without serious fault. If the bride’s lineage had been dubious, perhaps—but this struggle had been futile from the start.
Irritably, Valentin slammed his chair back and rose. The moment he flung the door open, he came face to face with a small, rigid, pale woman standing stiffly in the corridor—his bride of yesterday, the deceiver.
“…”
Treating her as unworthy of acknowledgment, he nearly brushed past Adelheid—but paused briefly, looking down at her. Her hair was disheveled from being abruptly dragged out, her eyes hollow with exhaustion, and her figure utterly plain, devoid of any hint of allure.
The Grand Duke’s contemptuous gaze swept from her head to her toes. He spat the words out bitterly.
“So this half-grown thing is a daughter and a woman? You truly graft anything onto your bloodline.”
All Adelheid could do before such humiliating words was bow her head and silently pray for her husband’s anger to pass. Valentin clicked his tongue in disdain and finally strode past her.
The door slammed open violently and then crashed shut. And just like that, Valentin departed for the battlefield.
It had been three years ago—when Adelheid had just turned seventeen.
[This is the timeline separator]“You’re here again?”
Adelheid opened her eyes at the voice calling her. She rose from her kneeling position before Morrig’s altar. The hem of her dress was damp from the underground chapel’s chill.
A middle-aged woman hurried over and draped a thin cloak over Adelheid’s shoulders.
“Prayer is good, but you must care for your health too. The wind and rain have been so fierce today.”
“I’m fine, Greta.”
Greta had been Adel’s nursemaid and chambermaid, the only person who had followed her from Reichenau territory.
She was one of the few who remembered Adelheid’s late birth mother and the sole source of support that had enabled Adelheid to endure the cold, barren lands of Ansgar.
Although sometimes, her gaze would turn chillingly cold—enough to make Adelheid’s heart skip a beat.
“Oh dear…”
Greta glanced at the half-burnt talisman on the altar and let out a long, exasperated sigh.
“Praying again for His Grace’s safe return?”
“…”
“What in the world is so precious that you pray like this every single day?”
“It’s the only thing that gives me a little peace of mind…”
She barely managed to whisper the reply.
“…Again, speaking as if to atone. I’ve told you time and again—this marriage isn’t Your Highness’s fault.”
Seeing Adelheid shrink into herself, Greta’s frown softened. Though she grumbled, she knew Adelheid’s choice was right. Without such gestures, the Duchess’s reputation would have sunk even lower than it already was.
Every day truly felt like walking on thin ice.
Gathering the ashes from the altar, Greta changed the mood with a teasing remark.
“I’ll allow a hundred visits to the temple—but if you keep wandering alone so recklessly, what if you run into the Dragon of Bitzleben?”
A faint smile touched Adelheid’s pale face. Greta seemed to be in a decent mood today.
“Do you still see me as a very young child? I’m long past the age to fear tales from legends.”
“But what if it’s not just a legend? They say monsters have been sneaking into the stables lately. More than a few sheep have gone missing.”
“Sheep have gone missing?”
“The stable doors were broken, and corpses—guts torn out—are found dozens of arks away.”
It was a horrifying tale, yet nothing extraordinary in the Bitzleben region. All four northern territories, including Ansgar, frequently suffered wild beast attacks each winter.
Remembering the carcass of a cow she’d accidentally seen last winter, Adelheid shivered lightly.
“That’s terrible. At least no one was injured, right?”
“The Priest has been diligently blessing the grounds… Still, you must be careful. Always take a guard with you when I’m not around.”
She gave a faint nod.
“I was busy today. I didn’t know how long the prayer would take.”
“You’ve done enough for now. Your hands are like ice. You’ll go straight to the butler, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
For the past few months, Adel had been assisting the butler. Once he learned she could read and write fluently, he handed her the task of organizing old account ledgers.
Perhaps Count Reichenau had clung to the vain hope that she might still awaken healing abilities. Because of that, until the age of fifteen, Adel had received the same education as Charlotte—
including reading, writing, Ancient Aryan, embroidery, poetry, dance, and etiquette…
‘It must be because of that prophecy the Count received when I was born. I don’t know its contents, but surely that’s the reason.’
In any case, it was fortunate she knew at least something. Without even these minimal skills, she would have been treated as nothing more than a useless burden wasting food.
Even now, old retainers openly slandered Adel as the shameless woman who deceived Ansgar. Though she was a victim of the fraudulent marriage herself, no one ever considered that fact.
To the northerners, Adel was nothing more than an expensive flawed product.
‘They surely expected a powerful healer as their lady—not an ordinary woman like me.’
The Bitzleben region always lacked healers. Especially in Ansgar—the northernmost territory—people were frequently attacked by monsters. Each winter, many suffered frostbite so severe they lost fingers and toes.
Thus, news of the marriage between the Duke of Reichenau’s daughter and the Grand Duke had sent all of Ansgar into a frenzy—especially the knights of the house, who often sustained minor injuries and held high hopes.
But that hopeful optimism swiftly turned to fury once the expensive bride they’d brought home proved utterly useless.
Fortunately, Ansgar’s elderly butler was a fair man. Since she began assisting him, even slightly, the meager provisions she received had gradually improved in both quality and quantity.
“Your Highness, I’ll take the shortcut back and head straight to the kitchen. Is it alright if I go ahead?”
“Of course. See you later.”
Adel watched Greta’s receding figure for a moment before quickly turning toward the right corridor.
“…”
But she stopped abruptly after only a few steps. An unwelcome figure stood at the corridor’s end.
Oscar—the Grand Duke Valentin’s full younger brother.
The last she’d heard, he’d been sent off to a border garrison for repeatedly causing trouble over women. When on earth had he returned…?
‘I hadn’t heard anything about his whereabouts even this morning.’
She always found his presence deeply uncomfortable. Ignoring her wary gaze, Oscar closed the distance with a smirk.
“Adelheid. Returning from the temple?”
His lingering eyes slowly raked over her from head to toe.
“No matter how fervently you pray, my brother will never know.”
“…”
“What about for me? Did you pray for me too?”
Adelheid bit her lip, her expression troubled. Anything she said would sound inappropriate. It was already too late to regret not sending Greta away first.
“That outfit…”
Feeling Oscar’s persistent stare, Adelheid tugged at her worn sleeve to hide it. She’d been too busy these past days to remember mending it—her mistake.
Oscar’s eyes darkened further. He clenched his jaw and muttered bitterly.
“If it were me, I would never treat you like this.”
Adelheid nervously glanced around, searching for a maid or guard to call. Oscar gave a mocking smile, as if her actions amused him greatly.
“No guard will come.”
“…Please, maintain your dignity, Lord.”
“How could I possibly show more dignity than this?”
Despite her plea, the man stepped closer and seized Adel’s slender wrist. Terrified, she shoved him away.
“There are eyes watching… I am your brother’s wife. Please…”
“You never spent the night with my brother—so why should you be my sister-in-law?”
At such brazen words, Adelheid’s face turned deathly pale.
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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