The Silver Snake had taken it from inside the assassin’s clothes. If it were his, he would have naturally been wearing it around his neck, but the assassin had not.
He had hidden it deep inside his clothing.
Combining all the factors, I came up with one possibility.
‘It belonged to the client.’
I wouldn’t have been able to predict this information if I hadn’t seen the memories of that day.
That day, the assassin did not return to an ordinary mansion but entered a hidden catacomb underground.
It was a place often used by assassination guilds or intelligence guilds that operated in the shadows.
They took assignments from anyone who paid, and it was not unreasonable to think that a guild member had stolen some noble’s necklace.
‘Could it belong to some lady or young noblewoman?’
As I turned the necklace around, I noticed small initials engraved inside.
‘C.G.S’
Whose initials are these? I pondered, tilting my head in thought.
‘In Hesera, a family capable of affording a necklace like this must be at least a count’s household.’
There were not many families who would own jewelry of this caliber.
Typically, assassins who received such requests would strictly keep the client’s information a secret. However, some clients wanted to get rid of even the assassins who fulfilled their requests.
To prevent this, some assassins deliberately stole an item from the client, so they could use it to save their lives if threatened.
That’s why Eliaser was able to easily catch the noble who had hired the assassin in the original work.
‘This assassin must have kept it as insurance.’
Anyway, I couldn’t find the culprit on my own with just this. I decided to keep it safe.
‘But the ending is a little different from the original.’
Unlike the original, where two were caught, the Duke only arrested Count Lipe this time.
‘Furthermore, in the original, Count Lipe died.’
However, the Duke released Count Lipe, and he safely returned home.
‘Does that mean there’s a possibility the original might change?’
A hopeful thought crossed my mind. If the original could be changed, perhaps the Duke might not turn out to be a villain.
‘The Duke hasn’t committed any evil acts to follow the original, after all.’
He hasn’t met the main character yet, nor has he harmed him.
In fact, isn’t my arrival at the Duke’s house already a deviation from the original?
‘Then can I continue to be here…?’
I soon dropped my head weakly onto the pillow, recalling a thought.
‘No, I don’t know yet.’
The fact that the Duke had captured two suspected poisoners was a minor event in the original, quickly passed over.
After some time, the Duke might catch another poisoner and punish him; it was still a possibility.
‘But it’s a good thing that Count Lifey has been released.’
The Duke had to find the real criminal before he caught another innocent person.
‘The assassin must have been hired?’
If only he knew who had commissioned it, he could find the criminal quickly. But it was even harder to find out, as even the Silver Snake wouldn’t be able to investigate this.
‘In the original work, the divine beast was omnipotent!’
The Silver Snake I saw was just a silly, stubborn snake that could only speak human language.
‘Surely, the divine beast thing isn’t a lie?’
He found himself deeply contemplating this rather plausible thought. After all, there was no way a divine beast that should have found its original master would come looking for me, was there?
And asking directly would certainly make him very angry.
‘He hates being called the Silver Snake, and if I ask if he’s really the divine beast, he’ll get even angrier.’
How could I possibly ask about this? While I was pondering, someone knocked on the door.
Startled, I quickly shoved the necklace under my pillow.
“Come in!”
The one who entered the room was Sophia.
“Baby, you’re not asleep yet?”
She seemed to have turned back when she saw the light on in my room. I nodded my head while lying down obediently.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Shall I read you a book until you fall asleep?”
I was actually messing around, but I started doing so because I couldn’t sleep.
If I had been sleepy, I wouldn’t have been pondering assassins in the dark night, or worrying about the Silver Snake’s identity.
Sophia’s voice was soft and gentle. It seemed like sleep would come easily if she quietly read a book.
Sophia pulled out a fairy tale book she often read to me and leaned by my bedside.
“Why can’t you sleep? You have to sleep early today.”
“Because that’s how you grow taller?”
“Yes, that’s right, but…”
So there’s another reason? I looked at Sophia with a puzzled expression.
Sophia only chuckled and did not give a proper reason.
“You’ll find out tomorrow morning.”
[This is a time delimiter.]The next day, dawn broke.
A carriage that had passed through the shadows calmly stopped in front of the main gate.
The gatekeepers, who always stood guard at the gate, thought the carriage had lost its way.
One of the gatekeepers approached the coachman in the carriage, holding up one hand familiarly.
“Hey, you can’t park your carriage here. Go somewhere else….”
At the sight of the gatekeeper, the coachman, seemingly startled, hurriedly got out of the carriage.
At the same time, a head popped out as the carriage window was flung open.
“Open up!”
“What’s this noise….”
“It’s me!”
A refreshing voice rang out, incongruent with the chilly dawn air.
The gatekeeper who was about to shoo away the carriage turned his eyes to the voice. His eyes narrowed as he spotted the boy who had popped out of the window.
“…Young Master?”
The gatekeeper’s eyes widened as if he had seen something unbelievable.
“Young Master Clements?”
“What? Young Master Clements?”
“Yeah! Long time no see, everyone!”
Despite the early morning, the boy answered without a trace of sleepiness.
It was a delightful guest who had arrived early in the morning. The Duke’s house began the day earlier than usual.
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.”
