Meiana felt her spine chill once again. Despite the absence of cold, her body shivered as if a chill had settled in, and her back tightened.
“Wrong…”
“I didn’t see it wrong.”
Cedric’s attitude, interrupting her words, was filled with strong conviction. Meiana’s shoulders trembled as if in a convulsion.
Cedric spoke, “No one else would have seen that appearance. Even I thought I saw something fleeting, but… No, that wasn’t the case. Jocelyn was undoubtedly smiling, and she seemed extremely satisfied.”
At this point, Meiana spread both palms to block Cedric’s words. She felt that if she continued listening, even she might lose her mind.
Alright, Meiana thought. Fine. I understand. The person I was dealing with is crazier than I could have imagined. However, relying solely on the Duke’s memory to catch Jocelyn won’t work.
Meiana asked, “Is there any evidence or witness that Jocelyn killed those two? Do we have anything like that?”
Cedric silently raised his eyes that were downcast. This—about Jocelyn—had been a secret he hadn’t told anyone. The fact that she was deeply involved in the deaths of Beberbo and Liria… and the fact that he was suspecting it, all had to be thoroughly concealed.
If even a hint of a rumor spread, or if a similar piece of information reached Jocelyn’s ears, his entire plan could go awry.
But he had told everything to Meiana. Even the story about Beberbo’s birth that he had kept buried, not revealing it even to his parents.
Why did he do that? What made Meiana bring out secrets from him? Cedric was captured by sudden, unmanageable suspicions and self-blame, but when he faced Meiana’s gaze, those emotions quickly dissipated. At least, it seemed like he could endure that weight a little more…
“At first, I couldn’t even think of suspecting Jocelyn. It was that shocking. I couldn’t even look at Ariante properly because of the guilt that felt like I had killed those two. But as time passed… I began to think something was strange. The smiling face I saw, that face wouldn’t leave my mind.”
Meiana’s breathing became rough, repeatedly surging and gradually calming down. Cedric continued speaking.
“At that time, the employees who were close to Jocelyn… and all the employees who worked in this house until Beberbo and Liria died disappeared. Except for Jemero and Jocelyn, no one directly witnessed what happened back then. I’ve been instructing Jemero for a long time to interrogate each person who worked in our house at that time. On the day Beberbo and Liria died, the forester in charge of the forest near the lake also disappeared. I don’t know if he was never there from the beginning or if he was involved in the incident and ran away. Maybe Jocelyn silenced him… I’m currently searching for him.”
Meiana had no idea that Jemero was doing such a thing. In fact, whenever Cedric wasn’t at the Duke’s mansion, she had no chance to meet Jemero, his secretary.
While Meiana, who had to manage Ariante’s daily affairs, spent most of her time in the eastern part of the mansion, Jemero was always in the western part of the mansion, whether Cedric was present or not.
However, after hearing Cedric’s words, Meiana thought that Jemero might have taken advantage of people’s perceptions, using Meiana’s role as a distraction to carry out Cedric’s orders here and there.
Above all, inside the mansion, she wouldn’t know where to encounter Jocelyn…
“Can we really trust Mr. Jemero?”
Cedric nodded.
“Yes, you can trust Jemero.”
He exhaled a long breath, and his body leaned backward again. With a thud sound, he stretched his long legs under the sofa’s backrest. Although he looked much more exhausted than before, his gaze seemed clearer.
“My answer to your question ends here. If you can bring some magical evidence from somewhere and make Jocelyn confess the truth about Beberbo and Liria’s deaths, you can expel her as soon as tomorrow. But there is no such thing in the world. That’s why I can’t send Jocelyn away.”
“Are you planning to keep her around for your sister’s revenge?”
“You might think it’s foolish. It’s okay, curse me as much as you want.”
Cedric, extending his hand, tilted his head in the other direction, closing his eyes. Seeing his posture, it seemed that even if Meiana cursed him fiercely, he would quietly listen without reacting.
Well, she could do it if she wanted to. Meiana thought. She had accumulated quite a bit of resentment while taking care of Ariante.
Unconsciously, Meiana took a deep breath. Her belly tightened, and she felt a surge of energy.
With her lips tightly sealed and her chin lifted, she said, “Fine. Then I’ll do what I can to help you with the Duke’s revenge.”
Cedric still avoided Meiana, but he opened his eyes. He seemed to silently endure and listen if Meiana decided to shower him with curses.
What was he saying?
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
