Meiana sighed and stretched her arms over the table, leaning forward.
“Okay, okay… I’ll think of any possible way. By the way, what time is it now? Hasn’t it reached the end of the class?”
At that moment, as if waiting for her to say so, the study room’s door opened with a creak. First, Ariante bounced out with a chuckle, and behind her, Swan, holding books to her chest, walked out quietly. Ash Loren, with a haughty expression, was the last to leave the room.
“Meiana! Let’s go for a walk! We decided to go for a walk after class!”
Ariante pulled Meiana’s arm, swaying. Swan, standing a bit away, just watched the scene, seemingly envious, then soon turned around to leave the room.
“Swan, young master!”
At Meiana’s voice, Swan turned his head in surprise. The boy’s cheeks quickly reddened, and his eyes slightly trembled.
“Meiana… what’s wrong?”
“Young master, would you like to go for a walk too? The wind will be refreshing.”
Upon hearing this, Ariante glared at Meiana with an expression that said it was absurd. A fierce gaze was felt from the waist, but Meiana didn’t mind and nodded towards Swan.
Swan said, “I… I’m okay. Ariante, go with her.” Then, as if someone were going to catch him, he quickly turned away. Bridget stood up.
“Young master, I’ll escort you.”
“Oh, no. Bridget, you can… rest here a little longer. I… want to do homework alone. Call me if needed.”
Swan, shaking his head, quickly left as if escaping. Ariante puffed up her cheeks and grabbed Meiana’s hand.
“Meiana, I want to go for a walk!”
This is not going to be easy. Meiana sighed, trying not to get caught by Ariante.
Meanwhile, Swan, suppressing the feeling that tears might come out, left Ariante’s room. As he tried to open the door, wrinkled hands grabbed the doorknob before Swan.
Surprised, Swan’s eyes widened.
“Who…”
The boy’s green eyes were full of confusion as he explored this unfamiliar person, with a collar that rose high and stiff enough to wrap around the entire neck, a black dress without any decorations, and a wrinkled face emitting a cold and austere aura.
“Nice to meet you, Young Master Swan. I am Jocelyn, the housekeeper of this ducal residence.”
Swan, still shocked, stared at her.
“Housekeeper…? You? Why have I never seen you…”
“I rarely set foot in this place, Young Master. And on the day you visited… I regret to say that my old body couldn’t keep up and I was lying in bed. So I couldn’t greet you until today.”
Jocelyn bowed very politely. Swan, looking even more surprised, stared at her.
“Housekeeper…? You? Why have I never seen you…”
“Even now… Thank you for coming to greet me, Jocelyn. I…”
“Would you like to take a moment to tour the mansion with me, Young Master?”
“Now?”
“Yes, now.”
After finishing her words, Jocelyn extended her wrinkled and bony hand to Swan. Seeing her hand, Swan suddenly felt a sense of fear. Images of a sinister witch from a book read to him by his nanny long ago flashed in his mind.
However, any witch’s hand, along with fear, also invoked curiosity. That was truly the power of a witch.
Swan, shoulders shaking, took Jocelyn’s hand. As the two disappeared around the corner, Meiana, holding Ariante’s hand, came out into the corridor to go for a walk.
The Duke’s garden, heralding the arrival of autumn, was incredibly beautiful. The slow fading of the dense greenery, as the hot sun bent down, even looked enchanting.
As the scorching sun eased, Ariante became even more excited and played all day long. Thanks to that, putting her to sleep at night wasn’t very difficult.
“Look, Meiana! The apples have ripened!”
In a row behind rose bushes and blackberry bushes, there were apples on a rather thick branch of an apple tree.
Meiana lightly shook Ariante’s hand. “That’s right, Your Ladyship. If you wait a little longer, they’ll turn very red.”
“They seem delicious now! But I’ll wait until they become even redder.”
“When all the apples ripen, shall we pick them and make jam? Or slowly simmer them and spread them on toast; it will be delicious.”
“Cinnamon! You have to sprinkle plenty of cinnamon!”
A smile spread across Meiana’s face.
“Yes, sprinkle plenty of cinnamon. And honey too…”
At that moment, the central gate of the garden opened, and a carriage entered. An expression of puzzlement appeared on Meiana’s face when she saw it, and as Ariante, with great excitement, shouted.
“It’s Cyrus! Meiana, Cyrus is here!”
“Cyrus, Young Master? There was no mention of him coming today…”
However, Ariante had already let go of Meiana’s hand and was running towards the carriage. The stableman, who saw her coming, quickly grabbed the reins, and as he did, the door creaked open.
“Ariante! I’ve come to visit!”
The first to jump out was Umbrose. After him, the children descended one after another. Silas and Chrony followed, and Lucian, with a somewhat chubby face, was also present.
“I didn’t know you were coming! No one told me!”
When Ariante, who was almost clinging to Chrony, shouted excitedly, Silas said in an adult-like manner.
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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