Looking at Lindsey who scolded her for being incompetent, Jieselgrante touched her forehead, and Pratt immediately apologized.
“I’m sorry.”
“It can’t be helped. It’s not Pratt’s fault, rather it’s a good thing.”
Lindsey looked at Jieselgrante with an expression that seemed to say ‘what do you mean?’
“I should take this opportunity to go out to the bustling area and get some fresh air. I want to look for a fabric to replace silk.”
“Ah…”
Seeing that Jieselgrante wasn’t too upset, Lindsey nodded her head in relief.
Jieselgrante apologized to Pratt with her eyes. Pratt shook his head as if to say it was fine and not to worry about it.
However, Pratt’s gaze towards Lindsey somehow seemed a little sharp.
[This is the timeline separator]After briefly preparing to go out, Jieselgrante headed to Cabelased’s office.
Just as she raised her arm to knock, the office door opened from the inside.
Cabelased was standing in front of the door.
It seemed he too was about to leave the office.
Seeing Cabelased’s perfect formal attire, Jieselgrante asked.
“Were you on your way out somewhere?”
“I was about to go out for some fresh air.”
“I see.”
Jieselgrante nodded slightly and continued.
“I suddenly had to go out, so I thought it would be better to let you know before leaving.”
Before preparing to go out, Jieselgrante had informed the butler of her outing, and the butler suggested that since Cabelased was in the mansion, it might be good to see him in person and inform him before leaving.
Jieselgrante nodded readily.
She said she would go see Cabelased after finishing her preparations to go out.
Since coming to the Duke of Cardia’s residence, she hadn’t felt the need to go out until now.
Because the Empress and Joshua might pose some harm to her, Cabelased had prevented her from going outside the Duke of Cardia’s residence.
But she couldn’t stay in the mansion forever. She couldn’t just remain locked inside, especially for the sake of future matters.
To go out, a carriage and escort knights were absolutely necessary, and she intended to discuss this matter with Cabelased.
“Let’s go.”
Contrary to her expectation of having a conversation inside the office, Cabelased left the office and moved into the hallway.
“…?”
Jieselgrante’s head tilted in confusion.
Perplexed at seeing him suddenly leave the office and head for the hallway, Jieselgrante soon finished assessing the situation.
‘Ah… He must be busy right now.’
Cabelased was the owner of the fertile and vast Cardia duchy.
With judicial rights, public safety, order, and estate management alone, he would be busy without a moment to breathe.
And that wasn’t all.
Although not yet known to the world, Cabelased was the Emperor’s son, and in the future, he would become the Emperor of the empire.
It would be strange if he weren’t busy.
He had said he was about to go out as well.
Realizing his intention to converse while heading to the carriage, Jieselgrante left the mansion together with Cabelased.
‘But why is there only one carriage?’
She only wondered briefly about the carriage waiting at the mansion’s entrance.
Jieselgrante soon deduced the reason.
Unlike Cabelased, her outing wasn’t planned.
It was decided right after receiving news of Count Frederick through the Radcliffe trading company.
While the Amaterasu ducal family always had three carriages on standby, the situation was different for the Cardia ducal family. Cabelased had no other family.
‘It seems it would take some time to prepare a new carriage.’
Just as she finished assessing the situation,
The butler opened the carriage door. Cabelased stood in front of it and extended his hand towards Jieselgrante.
Noticing that he intended to escort her to make it easier to board the carriage, Jieselgrante blinked quickly and asked.
“Is my interpretation correct?”
Cabelased nodded while holding out his hand in front of her.
‘Wasn’t he in a hurry to go out?’
She was a bit perplexed.
If he had urgent business, it would have been more appropriate for him to board the carriage first rather than being considerate of her.
But soon, thinking that a carriage for Cabelased would be prepared, she boarded the carriage.
The purpose of today’s outing was to meet Count Frederick and receive an update on the situation.
And since it wouldn’t be good for anyone to see her with Count Frederick if possible, she deliberately didn’t bring any companions.
She wore a dress that was easier to move in than usual, and let Lindsey and Ola rest at the mansion.
Since she would be riding alone to her destination, Jieselgrante naturally sat in the center of the carriage seat.
However, after smoothing out her wrinkled dress, she realized that the carriage door had not closed.
“…?”
Turning her head to the side in confusion, she saw Cabelased looking at her with a slightly displeased expression.
“Why are you standing there?”
In response to Jieselgrante’s question, Cabelased’s face showed confusion instead.
“Are you saying we should be separate now?”
Blinking, Jieselgrante pondered the meaning of his words.
‘Separate? What does that mean?’
Meanwhile, Cabelased’s voice continued.
“Or are you telling me to sit opposite?”
Reading Cabelased’s gaze, Jieselgrante quickly offered an answer.
“Are you… going to ride in this carriage?”
Cabelased nodded with an expression that suggested it was obvious.
Blinking repeatedly with a bewildered feeling, Jieselgrante pointed to the right side of the carriage with her eyes and asked again.
“Should I move to the side?”
“That would be good.”
Jieselgrante had no choice but to move slightly to the right side of the carriage.
Then Cabelased boarded the carriage and sat next to her.
It was an unexpected situation, and while it might be fine on the way there, the problem would be when returning to the mansion.
There was only one carriage, and there was no guarantee that Cabelased’s and her return times would overlap.
Unless Cabelased and she went to the same destination and returned to the mansion together…
Just as Jieselgrante was about to ask about that, the carriage departed.
‘There must be… some plan.’
[This is the timeline separator]As the carriage left the Duke of Cardia’s residence and headed towards the meeting place with Count Frederick, the conversation between Jieselgrante and Cabelased continued without interruption.
From simple conversations about how life was at the Duke of Cardia’s residence to the future of the empire and the trends among the nobility.
In the process, Jieselgrante realized that her views aligned with Cabelased’s on many points.
Thanks to this, she found the conversation with Cabelased so enjoyable that she felt somewhat regretful about the fact that they would soon arrive at their destination.
Usually, Cabelased rarely opened his mouth except for what he absolutely had to say, but today was different.
While nodding in agreement with her opinions, he also knew how to view and analyze situations objectively.
The fact that he didn’t just nod and agree that everything she said was completely right also appealed to Jieselgrante.
When she lived as a princess, it seemed as if everyone around her had agreed to express agreement with all of her opinions.
But this was only superficial agreement, and in reality, there was little she could do according to her own will.
From the menu of meals to the amount eaten, the dress worn that day and the accessories worn. More precisely, everything was done according to the Empress’s will.
To her, who had become so accustomed to a life of compliance at the time, a single remark thrown by Cabelased in the past came as quite a shock.
‘They all look like dolls, just different in size but identical in appearance.’
That’s what Cabelased had said while looking at her standing between the Empress and her ladies-in-waiting.
The Empress and her ladies-in-waiting, and little Trinity.
Everyone standing there in similar designs of dresses and accessories, shoes and makeup, looked just like identical dolls, he had said.
Of course, she hadn’t heard Cabelased’s words directly, but had heard them through the mouth of Lady Zimmer, who was a lady-in-waiting at the time, after a banquet at the imperial palace had ended.
Lady Zimmer was indignant, wondering what on earth the Duke of Cardia’s intention was in suddenly criticizing Her Highness the Princess.
At the time, she had found some comfort in Lady Zimmer, who was upset as if it were her own affair, but looking back, that wasn’t anger for Trinity’s sake.
‘Perhaps she was trying to drive a wedge between me and Cabelased.’
Trinity, who had no interest in love or romance, hadn’t even noticed that Lady Zimmer had feelings for Cabelased at the time.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t affected at all after hearing such criticism.
She was upset for a while. She kept ruminating on Cabelased’s words.
But the harsh words Cabelased uttered then actually ended up helping her.
Because after that day, as she repeatedly pondered the meaning of Cabelased’s words, she realized.
That in others’ eyes, she was seen as nothing more and nothing less than the Empress’s doll.
That ultimately meant that even if she became the Emperor later, she wouldn’t be able to do anything according to her own will.
‘While Cabelased’s words did act as a catalyst for change in me back then… it was still too much.’
As the memory of the past suddenly came to mind during their conversation, Jieselgrante’s gaze towards Cabelased sharpened for a moment.
Noticing this change in Jieselgrante, Cabelased said.
“Your gaze is peculiar.”
“Peculiar…?”
Despite having glared at Cabelased with resentment from the past, she quickly denied it.
She even blinked her eyes while putting on an innocent expression as if she knew nothing.
“…”
Cabelased looked intently at Jieselgrante like this and wondered.
‘…Why?’
There was clear hostility in Jieselgrante’s gaze just a moment ago.
He couldn’t know exactly what Jieselgrante was thinking, but it seemed like she was probably muttering something like ‘bastard’ to herself.
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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