The owner said, “I don’t know who you are. If you really are the person sent by His Grace, then show the evidence. Show the signature or document that His Grace delegated the delivery of this item to you.”
Signature? Document? For a moment, Jocelyn looked blank as if hearing those words for the first time in her life. Did Cedric give her such things? For a moment, she almost ran towards the carriage. But no…
Cedilloy clearly never gave her such a thing. He had only said, “I will give you the items when you present my name.”
Jocelyn, suppressing her anger, spoke with effort.
“I am Jocelyn Stafford, the head housekeeper who has served the Balthamster family for a lifetime. His Grace has instructed me to receive the items, so stop the nonsense and load the goods onto the carriage.”
“I cannot do that, Jocelyn Stafford. If you are not the housekeeper of the Balthamster Ducal family, or worse, if you are the leader of a band of thieves disguised as someone similar, I cannot bear it. I will send the items through an official order from His Grace and instruct my employees to send them as per the duke’s orders.”
The owner said firmly, without yielding to Jocelyn.
It was only now that Jocelyn realized all of this was a trap set by Cedilloy. Designating her, of all people, to go to the capital to see the items, and thus making her see the jewelry disguised as accessories for Arianthe…
This was Cedilloy’s final warning and ultimatum to Jocelyn. Furthermore, he knew that moving such an important item required the family seal or equivalent evidence. Even knowing this, he intentionally did not give it to her.
To experience such a thing! To taste such disgrace!
Jocelyn’s eyes turned red. It seemed as if her blood pressure was rising and about to burst. Trembling like someone who had aged ten more years in an instant, she pounded on Ezzran’s door, clenching her fist.
Ezzran’s owner and employees, who had to face an unwelcome storm, breathed a sigh of relief as they saw the carriage moving away. One of the employees who had supported her as she almost fell spoke.
“That carriage really seems to belong to the Balthamster family. The pattern, luxurious wheels, and even the roof cover…”
The owner snorted and said, “I’ve seen that much. But do you think someone as high as the Balthamster Duke would come empty-handed to collect the items left in Ezzran? That crazy woman, whether she’s the housekeeper of the duke or whatever, must have been deliberately sent by His Grace. Go quickly, write a letter in the name of the Balthamster Ducal orders. Tell the lady that all the accessories she will wear at the appointment ceremony have been perfectly prepared.”
Where Cedilloy took Arianthe was not the study or the drawing-room but his own bedroom. Carefully placing Arianthe on the soft sofa, he reached out his arms to the top shelf and carefully brought down the large box on it.
It looked like a treasure chest of pirates in a fairy tale. The lid was round and made of graceful curves, and there was a large lock on the front.
If there was a difference between the pirate’s treasure chest and this one, it was that the surface was not wood but gold and velvet, and there was no trace of moss or barnacles.
Cedilloy, who had placed the box next to Arianthe, opened a small drawer of a small bedside table and took out a key from a deep place. It was brand new and had never been used, without any scratches.
“Try opening it.”
Cedilloy handed the key to Arianthe. The key was long, cold, and beautifully sparkling.
Arianthe hesitated for a moment, then inserted the key into the lock hole. The key fit perfectly, and as she turned it slightly, there was a click sound, and the lock opened. Cedilloy took the key from Arianthe, removed the solid lock, and then opened the lid of the box.
Inside were various items. A leather gun holster, neatly tied ribbons, handkerchiefs… Unlike the box, the items inside all had a vintage feel, and there were traces of someone using them.
Arianthe looked at Cedilloy.
“These are things my parents, Verbo and Liria, used. You could say they are their heirlooms. Someday, when you become an adult… when you’re old enough to know even if you find out, I was planning to tell you everything and give you this.”
Cedilloy smiled faintly.
“I didn’t expect to give it to you so soon.”
“Are these all… my father and mother’s belongings?”
“That’s right. Liria personally embroidered this handkerchief. Take a look.”
Arianthe cautiously picked up the handkerchief with an expression of disbelief. It was a very soft and translucent fabric. It seemed to have been used in the summer. Yellow gold-threaded flowers were densely embroidered along the edges, and Liria’s name was in one corner.
Leather gun holster, ribbons, lace, cravat, and cuff buttons… Arianthe took out and touched each one, examined them, and caressed them.
Even so, her parents’ faces did not become tenderly missed, not even their memories. However, an inexplicable sadness seemed to rise heavily and then settle down again.
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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