“Ah…..”
As I blinked, not knowing how to explain, my senior officer quietly added.
“If it’s difficult, you don’t need to say. It’s not like I’m particularly curious.”
Usually, everyone is very interested in this kind of issue.
I recalled the past when even people who barely knew my name would generate and spread numerous rumors about my relationship with him.
In contrast, my senior officer never seemed curious about such things, as this was the first time he had asked.
Even now, though he had asked, he didn’t seem particularly interested. That attitude actually made me feel at ease.
“Just… there’s a connection from the past.”
My senior officer nodded slightly as if he understood.
“It’s not my place to say this when you’re receiving support, but it seems best not to get too deeply involved with that person.”
I could understand what he was worried about.
After all, it’s obvious how a relationship between the Blanchet heir and a mere commoner without even a title would end.
I had seen through books how miserable such an ending to life could be, and he had likely seen it through life itself.
However, one way or another, those were all just needless worries.
Deeply involved, he says.
“That person isn’t even interested in me.”
“No, that guy is interested in you. The way he looks at you is extremely suspicious.”
My senior officer, who corrected ‘that guy’ to ‘that person’ thinking the former was a bit harsh, continued speaking.
“If there was a man who sent such looks while not even settling things with his fiancée near my daughter, I’d drag him away by the hair.”
I burst out laughing at the newfound enthusiasm in his declaration that he’d drag him away by the hair if necessary.
He added, his expression still stern as if he was being serious:
“Ah, of course, this is just my opinion, so just take it as a reference.”
The corners of my mouth couldn’t help but be pulled upwards.
As I laughed like that, my senior officer quietly added while collecting the plate:
“You look good when you laugh.”
When you laugh… Only after mulling over my senior officer’s words did I realize that I had been smiling throughout the meal.
“You’ve been looking gloomy lately.”
Come to think of it, I had been like this ever since being dragged to the Slayer’s chamber.
I thought I had hidden it well, but it seems it was completely evident in my senior officer’s eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“There you go again……”
“Ah, I’m sorry for saying I’m sorry.”
A gentle smile spread over our small talk.
My senior officer, who had uttered kind words he wouldn’t normally say, seemed to have used up his quota of kindness and soon stood up from his seat.
The end of a late lunch full of laughter.
It had been a really long time since I had properly seen the sky.
The clear sky was cloudless, with a vast expanse of clear blue spread out.
The sun at its center scattered ruby-like red light.
Just like the obvious fact that the sun rises when the rain clears, the world flowed according to the laws of nature.
The Slayer’s chamber was burned down, and that man who saved me was suspiciously kind.
The project was racing towards its end…
And now there was little time left until I had to receive the medicine.
Everything was flowing as peacefully as the bright blue sky after the rain, almost excessively so.
Over that, the man’s last appearance was superimposed.
The shadow of the man who had shed the darkness.
His footsteps that had echoed like heartbeats.
The sound of his heart beating unbelievably fast…
Numerous questions piled up on top of that, stirring my heart.
It’s something I simply cannot understand.
Why my heart beats so fast when I think of that person in this situation that isn’t even anxiety-inducing.
Even after that, his afterimage persisted for quite a while.
Even until I finished work and left the building, heading towards the dormitory.
But as my senior officer said, that person is terribly dangerous just by being nearby.
In fact, it’s strange that he appeared at that place when he’s supposed to marry Lady Fiocel.
It would have been more like him to abandon me with that cold face of his, saying I had served my purpose as I was being dragged away.
After all, it wouldn’t matter to him where I was after that.
My aimless steps soon reached a street corner.
The newspapers placed on the stand caught my eye vividly.
The bold headlines on them were all praising him and the Blanchet family.
Underneath, the issue of engagement with the Periot family was invariably attached.
The contents suggested that his sudden public appearances might be in consideration of the upcoming engagement.
Well, for someone like him, even coming to the Slayer’s chamber must have been all intentional.
After all, there can be no unplanned actions for the heir of Blanchet.
As I took my eyes off the newspaper and walked on, with a shout of “Extra!”, another newsletter was scattered into the air.
Picking up one of them, I saw a headline about the rumored breakup between Periot and Blanchet.
The letters pressed down firmly by my fingernail gradually moved down, coming into view.
The main content was the testimony of an eyewitness who had seen that man and Lady Fiocel meeting.
Below that, the name of the press agency was prominently placed, following procedure.
The few articles organized after that were all about such content.
The names of the press agencies were also mostly familiar.
It’s immediately apparent that they are all directly entangled with Blanchet, writing articles favorable to them.
On the other hand, those who reported on the union of the two just yesterday were mostly companies unrelated to Blanchet.
To be precise, this means less famous and less credible places.
An ordinary person probably wouldn’t notice this much.
But thanks to the data accumulated while working as an administrative officer, all situations were naturally readable.
It seemed the Periot family had released yesterday’s articles, and Blanchet had probably spread today’s articles.
In other words, these reports close to breakup rumors.
‘Is this also that man’s work?’
Probably so.
After all, press agencies friendly to Blanchet wouldn’t dare move without his permission.
The more I think about it, the conclusion converges to one side.
Is he really… trying to break off the engagement with Lady Fiocel?
Why.
Saving me that day was just saving a toy that hadn’t finished its use, wasn’t the marriage to Lady Periot a different matter for that man?
For some reason, my heart sank.
Even though I had concluded it had nothing to do with me, and in reality, it would all be irrelevant.
An intuition born from nonsensical delusions made my heart beat erratically.
However, another thought rushed in like a wave, quickly covering the previous ones.
Well, no matter what, he probably just thought he couldn’t marry someone who went as far as kidnapping.
Even if it’s not Lady Fiocel, there would be many people to stand by his side.
Of course, I don’t know if those people will have as much background as Lady Fiocel, but in any case, there’s no doubt they will be young ladies from some long-standing family.
Whether that’s the case or not, I think it has nothing to do with me, so my concern drifts away.
The feeling of hatred towards him, who pushed me into such a quagmire to keep me by his side, has dulled considerably, perhaps due to the passage of time.
I was planning to burn away all hatred before leaving this place.
It was the result of acknowledging the fact that he had saved me.
Also, only by burning away all emotions could I live in the future, not the past.
After coldly organizing my thoughts, I checked on my sleeping mother at the dormitory I arrived at, then returned to my room.
When I sat at the table and opened the cabinet, the pile of papers was there as I had left it.
The map I unfolded first was densely marked with circles.
Among the candidate locations I had chosen as livable places, there were now only a few options left.
It was the result of careful selection and re-selection.
As I looked at it and flipped it over, a new paper appeared with a list of things to do.
I took out a quill pen and added items one by one to it.
The completion date of the project that I heard through the conversation between my senior officer and the deputy director was just around the corner.
Fortunately, it seemed that task would be finished before receiving the last medicine.
I was planning to send that money to Lady Fiocel by mail.
At a time when I would already be gone when she came looking for me again.
From the lady’s perspective, it might be even more infuriating, but detestably, it was a decision made to maintain at least my last bit of self-respect.
And eventually, I will leave this place.
To a place where I will never see my senior officer, the people of the capital, or that man again.
Like the foam of any winter wave that never existed from the beginning.
For a moment, there was a knock on the door a couple of times.
When I went out, the postman, without fail as always, delivered a letter stamped with that man’s seal and left.
In the letter, which had only the time and place written as before, there was a kind ointment included today.
As if he was worried about me.
[This is the timeline separator]“Rumors have started circulating discreetly that the young master and Lady Fiocel have broken up. There are even people betting on it.”
Cassian didn’t move an inch despite Tiobe’s dynamic report.
“Lady Fiocel probably knows everything by now… It seems she’s resigned herself to it. Given that there’s no particular movement.”
“……”
“It’s natural, I suppose, since even the incident at the Slayer’s chamber was exposed.”
Tiobe quietly observed his lord, who was still silent.
Even after the young master discovered the kidnapping incident at the Slayer’s chamber, Lady Fiocel continued to release articles implying that the union between Periot and Blanchet was solid.
Of course, it wasn’t revealed who was behind those articles, but the only person who would release such articles at this point was Lady Fiocel.
In other words, it was a move with completely transparent intentions.
As if to counter that, the young master leaked articles that were close to rebuttals.
Of course, for him, such things were at a level that could be done with just the lift of a finger.
The result was quite excellent, to the extent that people in the world now thought the two families had really separated.
Tiobe couldn’t hold back what he had been curious about all along as this situation unfolded.
“Are you really… planning to break off the engagement?”
A faint smile slowly settled on Cassian’s lips.
Tiobe immediately confirmed from that smile that the answer was affirmative.
What on earth is the young master trying to do?
“Even if you terminate the union with Periot, you’ll still have to make a marriage contract in the end, won’t you?”
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
