Chapter 2. An Unremarkable Tragedy
2023.10.02.
Yuan Pelliese first met Louise ten years ago.
Her parents were always busy, striving to uphold the Pelliese family’s legacy of producing generations of renowned physicians.
The family patriarch, her father, spent his time in the capital exchanging knowledge with other physicians, while her mother followed him to various events to support him.
Little Yuan could only see her parents during the depths of winter.
That was because her parents returned to the Pelliese estate each winter to plan and prepare for the coming year.
During every season except winter, young Yuan writhed in loneliness.
She wandered through her father’s study, tracing his presence, and roamed her mother’s bedroom, searching for the faint scent she left behind each winter.
Her parents said living so busily was the fate of the Pelliese family.
Nobles typically did not work, but the Pelliese were different.
The family had earned such prestige because its founding ancestor had been a famous doctor who once saved an ancient emperor from death.
They said one must never forget their roots, and must protect the strength of the Pelliese name.
Though strict, her parents were also tender-hearted.
And so, Yuan always looked forward to winter.
Her parents and herself—this perfect family being together at home felt wonderful.
Ah, no.
To be a ‘perfect’ family, Louise had to be there too.
Louise was Yuan’s older sister, twelve years old, whom ten-year-old Yuan had never met since birth.
She had been suffering from an incurable illness that even the full resources of the Pelliese family could not heal, and had lived in a warm southern island for treatment.
That winter, when she was ten.
Receiving that short letter from her mother, Yuan jumped with joy.
At last, her sister would come to the mansion.
In this vast estate, empty without her parents, she would finally have a small family to rely on.
Her parents, Louise, and herself—this perfect family of four would spend the winter together in the estate.
The mere thought overwhelmed young Yuan with emotion.
From that day on, she imagined happiness every day.
A beautifully dressed twelve-year-old girl smiling brightly at her.
And behind her, her parents watching them fondly.
Walking side by side down hallways she once walked alone.
Running together through the servants’ quarters, who had always been indifferent.
Even picturing themselves as grown sisters, choosing dresses together for the debutante ball at the palace—the dream of every young girl.
Just imagining it made her happy.
But the reality that arrived was the opposite of her dreams.
“Miss… the lady… the Count…”
Frantic footsteps.
The massive front door burst open, letting in a blizzard.
Knights appeared with icicles clinging to their beards, and a pale-faced butler.
“They were rushing the carriage through the snow to bring Miss Louise… and then…”
Behind a knight sobbing on both knees, another knight entered the estate, shielding a young girl.
The unfamiliar girl, face frozen red, too numb to cry, froze in place the moment she saw Yuan, as if struck by lightning.
Then, refusing help, she staggered unsteadily toward Yuan.
“So you’re Yuan.”
Her voice was thin, trembling.
“You’re my little sister.”
The girl stepped closer to Yuan, who stood there like someone who had forgotten how to speak.
“I’m your older sister, Louise Pelliese.”
Then she pulled Yuan into her cold arms and held her tightly.
Over Louise’s small shoulders, Yuan saw something covered with two mourning cloaks.
It was her parents’ bodies.
***
There was nothing particularly special about the tragedy of the Pelliese count’s family.
The count and his wife’s deaths were just another common winter carriage accident.
And orphans being placed in the care of relatives was an entirely ordinary occurrence.
Even the arrival of uncles and their families to claim the title and estate wasn’t such an unusual situation.
“Now we’re all Pellieses!”
The only thing that mattered to young Yuan was that her uncle was a complete stranger.
“And now we’re truly one family!”
And that the kind of care she imagined simply didn’t exist.
***
Before Yuan could recover from the grief of losing her parents, she had to accept a new family.
“This must’ve been my brother’s study.”
Her uncle, Gerret Pelliese, forced his oily black curls upward and plopped his heavy backside onto the study chair, cluttered with her father’s belongings.
He ran his hand over the ornate armrests as if overcome with emotion, choked up briefly, then rubbed his cheek against the desk.
“To think I’d one day sit in this chair.”
After opening the safe and clicking his tongue, he glanced at Yuan, standing frozen by the study door, and asked just one thing.
“Did your father hide a safe anywhere with gold or land deeds?”
***
Her aunt Priscilla was a thin woman of very short stature.
Wearing heavy makeup and teetering in high heels to hide her height, she rummaged freely through the bedroom still carrying her mother’s scent.
“There’s not much here, but plenty of things that look valuable.”
The elaborately dressed aunt frowned at the wardrobe filled with her mother’s neat, simple clothes.
“I expected a noble family, but all these clothes reek of books.”
She immediately dismissed most of the maids and filled the Pelliese estate with her own people.
She opened her mother’s jewelry box, sold everything she pleased, and gradually remade the Pelliese mansion to her own taste.
“What? This tiny girl knows how to read ledgers?”
Though born a merchant’s daughter, Priscilla had never been good with numbers. But when she heard that Yuan, whom she had treated like a maid to be dismissed, had learned ledger-keeping by watching over the butler’s shoulder, her eyes lit up.
“How convenient. I just happened to need a maid.”
***
The cousins brought by the new Count and Countess Pelliese were children who completely defied Yuan’s understanding.
Regina, the same age as Yuan, gaped widely the moment she followed her father into the estate.
Young Regina licked her lips as she inspected everything from the entrance hall to the first-floor lobby and the decorative railings on the stairs. When she entered Yuan’s room, she let out a shriek of delight.
“So all this is mine now!”
Even though the room’s rightful owner followed right behind her, Regina didn’t blink. She hastily opened the wardrobe, rummaging through clothes, then flung open drawers and the jewelry box, haphazardly trying on the accessories Yuan had received as birthday gifts from her parents.
“They all suit me better anyway, don’t you think?”
Neither her uncle nor aunt scolded her for such rudeness.
The uncle was busy consulting a lawyer about hidden wealth, while the aunt scoured the entire house, appraising artworks and jewels her mother had brought as dowry.
“Pelliese Countess? Pfft.”
When the butler, who had protected the household until the very end, called Yuan by that title, Regina clutched her stomach and rolled on the floor laughing.
The red-haired, green-eyed cousin, prettily delicate, laughed so hard tears came, then without hesitation hurled a vicious remark at Yuan.
“The Count Pelliese is now my father. You’re just my mother’s maid, practically my servant. Know your place.”
After stealing Yuan’s room, Regina kept returning, eyes blazing, searching for anything else she could take. Eventually, she even swapped Yuan’s black dress—the one she wore throughout her parents’ funeral—for a real maid’s uniform, claiming it didn’t suit a “servant.”
The butler who protested was driven out. When even the head maid left the estate, stunned and speechless, Yuan could not hide her shock and slowly withered away.
The new servants didn’t treat Yuan and Louise as young ladies. Instead, whenever the Count and Countess weren’t watching, they joined Regina and Frederic in tormenting them.
They had to fetch their own meals. The few old clothes left, now too small, had to be washed by the sisters themselves.
The only reason they stopped being treated like maids was when the uncle, who knew nothing about the Pelliese family’s profession, began asking Yuan questions.
Already insecure from constant comparisons to his predecessor, the uncle quietly summoned Yuan to the study while giving vague excuses to the family.
Naturally, the servants could no longer treat Yuan as a mere maid when they saw her entering the study. And since the aunt needed Yuan for the tedious ledger work, her attitude improved—just slightly.
Meanwhile, Regina and Frederic resented Yuan the most.
Especially the fact that Yuan could freely enter the study, a place forbidden to everyone, became a twisted turning point—not just for Regina, but even for Frederic, who had never cared about household affairs.
“I’ll hit girls too. If you get cocky, I’ll ruin that pretty face.”
He took over family duties in his father’s place,
helped his mother without rest,
and even had candies and sweets his father gave him as praise all taken by Regina.
Frederic was a sturdy boy aiming for the army academy, and his threats filled Yuan with terror.
Yuan felt like she was walking on thin ice every day.
During the long period when mourners kept coming to the estate, she remained mute, crouched in silence, utterly lost about how to survive among these unfamiliar people.
To Yuan, even her sister Louise was a stranger.
Then one day, she overheard her uncle and aunt arguing about driving the sisters out of the estate.
Her anxiety reached its peak.
Louise, who heard the loud quarrel echoing through the mansion, quietly approached Yuan and comforted her.
Even though bruises clearly marked her arms and legs—whether from falling or being hit, no one knew.
“Let’s do something, Yuan.”
“……”
“Let’s become better servants, whether maids or ladies-in-waiting.”
“……”
“If we become useful, they won’t abandon us.”
Yuan quietly nodded, nestled in Louise’s embrace.
But she couldn’t stop the feelings of injustice, anger, and resentment from turning toward poor Louise.
“If only you didn’t exist.”
If not for you,
that snowy day, my parents wouldn’t have pushed the carriage too hard trying to bring you home.
Even if I rarely saw them, my parents—who always warmly held me—would still be alive.
Even with her long-dreamed-of sister right before her, young Yuan often fell into resentment and despair.
While relying on Louise to survive each hellish day, she constantly had nightmares.
The scene was always the same.
Early morning. A day of heavy snowfall.
Louise enters through the front door with the blizzard, bringing her parents’ lifeless bodies.
Whenever she was in pain, Yuan always relived that day in her nightmares. And Louise, knowing this, held her close.
“Yuan, I love you. I’ll always be by your side.”
I’m glad I have an older sister.
After ten years had passed, at some point, Yuan began to let go of her resentment. She felt a sudden urge to tell Louise those words.
Though she had never said them before.
***
And now, again.
Yuan stood alone, facing the snowstorm blowing in from outside the front door—
just like that day ten years ago.
Just like the nightmare she had always dreamed.
Slowly replaying in her mind the words the man had said to her—
the man who had taken a living Louise away, and now returned with a dead Louise.
“Her Imperial Highness, the Former Crown Princess.”
It was only natural the estate erupted into chaos
when the man known as Marquis Companni addressed Yuan with that title.
“You must come with me at once.”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
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