The ambassador’s voice was drowned out by the rising murmur.
Then, from the audience, a deep, booming voice resounded.
“Even if the hero has a contract with the royal family, it changes nothing! The hero must have had no choice but to sign the contract!”
Taking the lead, other groups also chimed in with their opinions.
“Yes! Contracts are inevitable!”
“Don’t you dare slander the hero with such nonsense!”
The ambassador was flustered by the suddenly heated atmosphere. He had no chance to read the next line due to the scathing criticism.
Thud!
At that moment, Chloe struck the platform floor. With high heels, she made a significantly dull sound.
“Don’t rush. The contract has just begun. The ambassador still has much to read. Ambassador, would you read that sentence again?”
“……Hmm! The contract specifies that the Earl of Argen, Callis, agrees to marry the third princess, Chloe Valront.”
“Thank you. Did everyone hear the position of Earl Argen? In this contract, he is the party A.”
She pinpointed the crucial detail.
“Respected Ambassador, would you read the remainder of the contract that follows? Specifically, what benefits will party B offer to party A?”
Frantically, the ambassador read the following text. Gradually, his expression changed, and the corners of his mouth began to droop.
In the temple, Callis had a high standing. The ambassador also likely viewed him positively, given that he had brought peace to the empire.
“Party B, the Valront Royal Family, promises to give the title of Duke to party A, Earl of Argen, along with approximately 10 million gold as a donation! Additionally, the ownership of mines and territories of party B will be transferred to party A by agreement. Furthermore, a monthly allowance of 100,000 gold will be provided for territory management. This allowance can be used at the discretion of party A.”
Title, donation, territory, and even a monthly allowance!
It was an astonishing sum.
“……10 million gold?”
“A monthly 100,000 gold?”
The audience seemed bewildered, as if questioning their hearing.
10 million gold was an amount they had only heard or imagined, never encountered.
The monthly provision of 100,000 gold was equally unfamiliar.
Considering that an average family of four earns around 10,000 to 20,000 gold a year, one could easily grasp the scale of what the Duke’s house would receive monthly from the royal family.
“Aren’t these conditions too extraordinary for a forced marriage?”
“Moreover, there’s talk of an agreement. Doesn’t that imply that the king and the hero eventually came to terms?”
Humans are indeed simple creatures.
Appeals of incomprehensible emotion may have been made a hundred times, but numbers visible to the eye always settle the score.
In the midst of the chaos outside, Chloe took the opportunity to ask for the ambassador’s understanding.
Standing in the ambassador’s place, she snapped her thumb and index finger.
Snap!
The tiny fingers held significant power. They easily silenced the noisy crowd, directing attention toward her.
Artificial titles and enormous dowries. Moreover, the transferred ownership of lands and mines. One might think it’s a small price to pay for a national hero. However, the 100,000 gold received for land management takes on a different meaning.
The contract stated it could be used ‘as the party desires,’ but whether the public would accept this was unknown.
“Upon examining the ducal accounts, only 10,000 gold out of the 100,000 was used for land management. The remaining 90,000 was entirely spent on the duke’s luxuries and territorial acquisitions. It was also spent on the duke’s ventures, but those weren’t for the development of the lands, but rather for personal profit.”
Chloe had been aiming for this.
“Now, considering these tremendous benefits, do you still consider the duke a victim of matrimony? Or is he a rogue taking advantage of the name ‘hero’?”
The residents of the lands governed by the House of Argen were likely present at this occasion. How shocked must they be to see the real character of Callis, whom they had followed solely for his fame.
The opposite of loyalty isn’t indifference, but contempt. Those who had once followed Callis more than anyone else would now despise him the most.
Selfish it might be, Chloe desperately needed that lamentable sentiment.
“What nonsense! What was the article he released six months ago about? Claiming that he was sold into marriage like a courtesan?”
“What do you mean ‘sold?’ He made a business out of marriage! From the duchy to money! Didn’t he buy both money and honor through marriage?”
“He became a hero because we supported him, but he’s no different from any noble.”
“He deceived us!”
The audience was now in complete chaos.
Those who once cheered during the hero’s speech now contributed to his downfall.
Amidst that scene, Chloe blankly stared into space. The accusations against Callis were blocked out by her heavy ears.
Was it because she too was once the subject of their criticism? Chloe felt both infinitely satisfying and empty.
Indeed, emotions were a mysterious thing. Unnecessarily so.
She thanked the presiding officer and descended from the stage.
The area behind the curtain was pitch dark.
The woman who had walked out with somewhat disheveled posture soon noticed a man sitting hunched against one wall.
“……Callis.”
It was Callis.
The man who had heard her lifted his head listlessly.
Though it was too dark to see his face in detail, the tear marks on his cheeks were clear.
The man who had always maintained his arrogance was now dispirited. Especially before Chloe, he never wanted to appear vulnerable, yet here he was, already ensnared.
“You said it. That I am in your hands.”
Chloe wiped the liquid hanging off his chin. Confirming that it was indeed tears, the cold liquid wet her fingers.
“You’re the one in my hands. Duke.”
From the tips of her toes, a new, unprecedented emotion welled up.
“……Chloe.”
“So, Duke, you too should feel it. What despair is. Accept the unchanging reality, even as you struggle in that confined space. Go ahead and despair.”
It was ecstasy.
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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