Yuan unknowingly sharpened his teeth. The title of a madman, a tyrant, was quite lenient for that demon.
“After the mad Emperor left and the belated Viscount Lev traveled across the continent, questioning doctors, wizards, even black sorcerers, he finally brought me in. This is how I look now.”
Hena, initially tense, sighed with a slightly softened demeanor. Tears had gathered in her large eyes for some time. Before they could flow, Hena quickly wiped them away.
“After that, the aged attendants who had served him for a long time were distanced by the master. The people still here are those who served him since the late Emperor’s reign. Most of the people in the mansion on that day died, and those who survived were not at the mansion as they were busy with funeral arrangements. Only those who barely survived… Even though the master never showed his face and treated them coldly, they couldn’t let go of the master. He treated them so kindly when they were young.”
Observing Yuan suppressing his emotions, Hena felt it was okay to speak further. She looked out the window as if there was nothing there.
“Oliver is the same way.”
“Oliver?”
“The master has never hugged Oliver even once after that. Originally, he used to carry him around even if he whimpered a bit. If there was something delicious, he always left some for Oliver.”
“It’s unbelievable.”
“Isn’t it? After that incident, he became extremely sensitive, isolated himself from anyone sent by the royal family, and never mentioned Oliver’s name.”
Hena said with a bitter expression, “Everyone thinks that the Crown Prince has suffered such a great betrayal from his family, and we can’t blame him for not trusting anyone… and feel bitter about it.”
“…”
“I followed my grandmother to the imperial palace and sometimes played with Princess Apolline. It’s a rare memory because I was very young. If only the princess hadn’t passed away, the master would have been much less miserable.”
“Indeed, she was the only family left after the parents passed away.”
“The master always carried Princess Apolline, who had difficulty walking. Even when he grew up a bit, he continued to do so. If he called for her to come along and play, he would run, but he would quickly come back and offer his back. I don’t know how envious that was for a young heart, hehe. I don’t have an older brother.”
As Yuan, pondering over the grim events, refrained from speaking for a while, Hena, who had been carefully observing him, cautiously spoke up.
“Perhaps the master… may have seen Princess Apolline from Lady.”
“From me?”
“Similar in age. The atmosphere they exude is similar.”
Yuan imagined Princess Apolline, whom he had never met. A beautiful princess with sparkling golden hair and amethyst-like eyes. A completely opposite image from Yuan, who was always referred to as a crow.
Claude couldn’t have imagined such a dazzling and noble appearance of the princess from himself.
“Anyway, what I want to say is! The master wasn’t originally like that.”
Looking at Yuan’s subtle expression, Hena spoke urgently.
“Everything changes in ten years.”
“…”
“He just… changed a bit.”
Hena looked at Yuan’s hand that held her own hand for a long time.
“I hope the mistress stays here for a long time.”
The scene of that day must have been the worst memory in Hena’s life as well.
Hena said she still occasionally dreamed of that nightmare.
Failing to protect Princess Apolline, the faces of her parents who dug up the wooden floor to hide their daughter.
And then the scream of her parents who died fighting against Emperor Igor, who tried to kill Grandmother Margaret, and died trying to protect Claude until the end.
Hena was pleading with Yuan, even if it meant facing the recurring nightmare, to stay here.
Even though Yuan had no intention of leaving this place.
“I want to live well too.”
In Yuan’s subdued voice, Hena’s face, which was gloomy, noticeably brightened.
“But sometimes… I feel like you genuinely dislike me.”
The brightening face turned into one full of questions.
“What are you talking about, ma’am?”
Then, her hunched body straightened up.
“The butler said that. He said that His Highness, who couldn’t even endure the sunlight coming through the curtains, now opens the curtains wide during the day and looks out at the garden as part of his daily routine. Is that all? Sometimes he even leaves the window open.”
“He must have felt stifled.”
“He’s changing. He just kept me by his side to avoid suffering.”
Yuan thought with a bitter smile.
But, cowardly, through Hena’s voice that seemed to express her frustration, Lan’s voice seeped into his mind, revolving in his head like a secretly kept snack.
“If you don’t like it, you wouldn’t keep me with you, right?”
Knowing it wasn’t a message for himself, he continued to pull out those words like a hidden snack.
The heart that was sore after hearing not to cross the line seemed to have flown away somewhere.
Beside the kitchen chef Ralph, who admired Yuan’s skills, Yuan prepared lunch for Claude.
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.”
