Surprised by the unexpected identity, Leopold arranged an appointment for me to meet with him the very next day.
He said that I could ask as many questions or request any information I wanted about Lloyd.
“He is a person who has been thoroughly trained to work as an assistant. He probably knows most of the things you’re curious about.”
While having breakfast together, Leopold told me not to worry.
He said that there would be countless things I could hear from him besides information about Arianna.
He mentioned that the employee working as Lloyd’s assistant was more clever than expected.
“Then did you originally plan to put him in as Lloyd’s assistant?”
“It’s a bit strange to say I planned it, but yes, sort of. I had to pull some strings to get rid of the previous assistant.”
Usually, assistants were often people from the family.
Moreover, as far as I knew, Lloyd’s assistant was the son of someone who had worked as the Duke of Alois’ assistant for a long time.
Whether he persuaded or threatened them, it wouldn’t have been easy to get rid of such a person.
Just as I was about to ask how he did it, Leopold spoke first as if he had read my mind.
“It’s better if you don’t ask. I proceeded in a somewhat reckless manner, so I’m embarrassed to tell you.”
“It sounds like you used force.”
“Well, something like that.”
Leopold smiled awkwardly and lowered his gaze back to the plate of food.
He doesn’t know how cute that gaze is.
I laughed as if it was nothing and moved my tableware, following his lead.
“I understand those things too. There are times when it’s necessary.”
“Yes. If possible, I wanted to deal with the dirty work, bad things, and difficult tasks by myself without you knowing…”
Because you wouldn’t like that.
Leopold quietly revealed his intention of not wanting to talk about it to the end, adding those words.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand how he felt.
There were times when I endured difficult things alone without saying anything to Lloyd.
Of course, Lloyd liked that back then, but at that time, I didn’t know that it would eventually lead to me becoming sick.
So, even if he opened his mouth thinking of me, he would someday realize that it was ultimately good for himself.
But anyway, it was true that he did something he didn’t want to do for my sake.
I smiled at him.
“Thank you for telling me, Your Highness.”
“You didn’t want that. It’s only natural.”
Leopold answered softly.
Affection overflowed in the gazes that met.
He really is, no matter how much I think about it, too good for me.
I finished the meal without realizing that I was slowly being influenced by him.
Not knowing that I was having the arrogant delusion that everything could eventually go according to my plan.
[This is the timeline separator]After finishing the meal, I left the palace with Arnold, Leopold’s assistant.
The reason was that if both he and I were to leave the palace, someone might notice.
It wasn’t wrong, so I left Betty in the palace just in case and left with the escort knight assigned by Arnold and Leopold.
“We’ll move a little quickly. Because it’s daytime, after all.”
The escort knight John, who was supposed to drive the carriage, asked for understanding in advance.
I nodded, saying it was fine, and got into the carriage with Arnold.
The carriage had no decorations and was an ordinary one.
It seemed that they had paid attention to the appearance to make it look like the carriages commonly used by coachmen on the streets.
On the other hand, the interior was not much different from the luxury carriages that nobles rode in.
“Where are we supposed to meet?”
Arnold rode with me in case of an emergency.
When I asked him, holding what looked like a thick stack of documents, Arnold put down what he was reading and quickly raised his glasses.
“We’re supposed to meet in the merchant district. There’s a cafe there with separate rooms.”
“It would need to be well-soundproofed.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. It’s located in such a remote place that no matter how loudly we talk, it won’t be heard.”
Rather, we’ll have to endure the sounds coming from other rooms.
Arnold answered bluntly, lowering his gaze back to the documents.
Hearing those words, I could roughly guess what kind of place it was.
Come to think of it, a cafe with rooms in the merchant district where energetic people gather.
That says it all.
I nodded, thinking that the owner there would probably make an astronomical amount of money.
Then, I understood why Leopold remained in the palace, using the excuse of being mindful of the public’s attention, which he usually didn’t care about.
It would be a bit awkward to take me to such a place.
After all, we’re not a real married couple yet.
As I was organizing my thoughts alone like that.
“Your Highness. There’s one thing I’d like to ask.”
Arnold suddenly opened his mouth.
And with a very serious face at that.
“Hm? What is it?”
“Before that, first, could you promise me that you won’t get angry no matter what I ask?”
He stared at me intently, setting a seemingly grandiose condition.
What kind of question is he trying to ask so solemnly?
For now, I nodded and gestured for him to speak.
“I promise I won’t get angry.”
“Thank you.”
Even after getting permission, he hesitated for a while.
I, who knew him as a person who always handled work meticulously and precisely, wondered if he was originally such a contemplative person.
As I was looking at him like that, tilting my head, Arnold slowly opened his mouth.
“Your Highness… What do you think of His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“What?”
What is this? A probing question that a love rival would ask someone who likes the same person.
Moreover, Arnold’s expression as he asked that was more serious than I thought, so for a moment, I seriously wondered if he had feelings for Leopold.
Well, they say there are no limits to love.
Too startled, I was thinking of all sorts of random things, but I realized that he was waiting for an answer, more nervous than I expected.
This situation has really become strange.
I rolled my eyes for a moment and then opened my mouth with an awkward expression.
“…What is there to think? Isn’t he someone worthy of respect?”
“That’s true.”
“I don’t know what you’re curious about, but I respect His Highness. Because he’s someone who always works hard for the people. Did that answer your question?”
It wasn’t a lie.
Leopold was a person worthy of respect both as a husband and as a leader.
How many people choose the latter of those two, reputation and status outside, over family?
There were many cases where people only cared about their prestige and reputation outside, only to be ignored or abandoned in the hearts of their families.
But Leopold was different.
He always did his best in his work and fulfilled his duties to me and his parents.
Even in his busy schedule, seeing him make time to have meals or tea together shows how much he does his best for his family.
If one observes him even a little bit, anyone can know this fact.
However, it seemed that my answer did not satisfy Arnold.
He looked at me with a somewhat ambiguous expression.
Was there an answer he was expecting?
“If you have something to say, say it. There’s no need to hold back.”
“Well… It’s not that.”
Arnold opened his mouth, rolling his eyes here and there.
An expression of pondering how to make these words not sound rude.
I urged him, saying it was okay to speak.
“Didn’t I say I wouldn’t get angry? Tell me.”
“Well… Actually, I thought Your Highness didn’t really like His Highness.”
“…Me?”
He thought I didn’t like Leopold.
When I asked back, feeling a bit dumbfounded, Arnold carefully nodded.
“Anyone close to His Highness would probably know. How much he cares about you.”
No, it’s not just caring.
Arnold let out a small sigh.
“It seems like he thinks about you all day long. There’s not a day that goes by without mentioning you, and there’s not a day he’s not curious about you.”
“…Was that so?”
The Leopold that Arnold talked about seemed like a different person from the one I knew.
Leopold, who thinks about me all day long, whose attention is always directed towards me.
Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t think of me, but I never thought he would think of me every day, every moment.
I thought he was the kind of person who would think of me once in a while in his busy daily life.
Just like how I think of him.
But Arnold said that he thinks of me more than I had thought.
“But there were more days when he smiled bitterly alone than days when his thoughts seemed to be reciprocated.”
And that there were more days when his feelings were ignored rather than rewarded.
At those words that seemed to resent me, I closed my mouth.
Arnold continued to speak as if he didn’t notice me like that.
“So I was curious. Because I respect His Highness too, after all.”
I didn’t want to see such a person getting hurt.
Arnold concluded his words in a serious tone.
So he was curious.
If I happened to dislike him, he wanted to tell me how much he thinks about me.
And if I heard that and still didn’t change my mind.
He wanted to tell me to let him go instead.
That’s what his gaze towards me said.
“I know it’s out of line, but I really wanted to tell you. That this marriage was entirely His Highness’ intention from beginning to end.”
It was a story I already knew, but somehow it felt like it hit me a little more.
Looking at Arnold like that, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Arnold, I…”
What should I say?
That I’m trying to give up on him because of that?
Or if not, ask if it would be good for him if I stay by his side like this?
As I was pondering like that.
“We’ve arrived.”
The voice of John, the escort knight, broke the silence, saying that we had arrived at our destination.
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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