Duke Lev, recalling the terrible day, faced Clad and then cast his eyes down again, filled with complex emotions.
At the sight of his gaze dropping to the floor, Clad let out a laugh.
“Thank you for your response.”
“Who can understand Your Highness’s pain? But please remember, there are those like myself who still faithfully follow you.”
Clad left Duke Lev’s earnest words behind, staggering to the darkest part of the room, where he lay down on the bed.
After a night of restless agony, this was the only time Clad could even attempt to close his eyes.
“On your way out, tell my ninth wife that returning now is her only chance of survival. That’s my first and last advice as a husband.”
“Your Highness.”
“She’s just another woman who will end up dead or fleeing from me alone. Why bother bringing an outsider into my house?”
Clad irritably spoke and turned over.
His golden hair, shrouded in shadows, softly spread across the white pillow.
“Why do I have to witness someone else’s death again?”
His words, more like a soliloquy, drifted from the golden head turned towards the wall.
“…It’s disgusting, that’s what it is.”
Duke Lev, with a heavy heart, stepped out of the mansion.
A carriage, not permitted to enter, stood alone at the entrance.
In front of it stood a small girl, clad in a fur earmuff and a thin fur cape.
Her face, red with cold under her neatly combed black hair, watched him.
Her posture and facial lines seemed mature, but her chubby cheeks and droopy eyelids beneath thick eyelashes still carried a youthful air.
She looked much younger than he expected.
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
“May the Euphris lineage be eternally glorious.”
Although Clad was the deposed emperor, he was still a legitimate member of the royal family.
Duke Lev bent his knee and bowed his head in front of Clad’s wife, then lifted it.
“I am Lev Duke. Please call me Duke Lev.”
Lev – the surname of the late empress.
Yuan recalled the name she had read in a newspaper she had picked up.
The Lev family was one of the most respected in the country.
Noble, upright, and incorruptible.
They were heroes who helped the first emperor found the nation and had provided several empresses throughout the centuries-long history of the Euphris lineage.
After waiting a long time following Duke Compani’s abrupt departure, the first person to greet her was not a housekeeper but the emperor’s uncle.
The head of the prestigious Lev family.
Yuan, tense, glanced over Duke Lev’s shoulder again at the daunting black mansion.
Finally, she was about to meet the man who witnessed Louise’s last moments.
The person who could answer her questions about Louise’s death.
And now, her only family.
“Am I… going in now?”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. It would be best if you return to your family first.”
Yuan momentarily held her breath at the sudden rejection.
Sorry. Family. Return.
She mulled over the three words in her mind before finally exhaling.
“Why?”
Return? But where?
As her dark eyes trembled intensely, Duke Lev quickly surveyed the surroundings.
Realizing that the Euphris family hadn’t provided any attendants or maids for her, he momentarily panicked but soon regained his composure.
After all, no parents would willingly send their precious daughter to such a place.
His heart grew heavier with these thoughts.
“I’m well aware of the rumors about His Highness Clad. But His Highness is not a monster or a womanizer; he’s just a sick patient. It’s not advisable for him to receive a partner in his current state, so it would be wiser for you to wait until there’s further word from the royal family.”
Duke Lev watched as each word he spoke seemed to darken the woman’s complexion further.
Usually, it’s the opposite.
There have been several similar situations, but all of them eagerly led their entourages back to their families.
The woman, who hadn’t even seen Clad yet, already looked terrified and fragile as if she might collapse at any moment.
“What if… I refuse to go?”
Her voice, though trembling, held a surprising firmness. Clutching her frostbitten hands, she firmly expressed her will.
“I won’t go back. I will stay here.”
Duke Lev, encountering such an unprecedented response, was momentarily too flustered to speak.
The woman hastily continued, not giving him a chance to relax.
“Even though there wasn’t a wedding, I heard I was already chosen by the royal family as the next bride. Then that black… that mansion, isn’t it a place I can enter? Isn’t that going to be my home now?”
Her logic was sound, but the most important fact was that Clad Euphris owned the black mansion.
It meant that common sense did not apply.
Duke Lev began to genuinely worry for this innocent and fearful young lady.
“I’ll wait… until he, my husband, comes out himself.”
With that, Yuan firmly shut her mouth. Her small jawbone quivered then settled back into place.
She stubbornly faced forward, ignoring Duke Lev’s concerned look.
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
_____
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