However, rumors always leaked out from unexpected places.
“A prostitute’s daughter, perhaps?”
Though her mind was still in chaos, her anger making her fingertips tremble, Cynthia took deep, measured breaths.
An uneducated child was easy to handle, after all.
She took a step toward the child, whose black hair so resembled the Duke’s, and bent down.
“Oh my, hello?”
Her velvety tone betrayed no sign of the scornful demeanor she had displayed while pestering the maid just moments before.
“I’ve heard the news. His Grace has found his biological daughter. You are the young Duchess, aren’t you? I had no idea you’d be such an adorable child.”
At Cynthia’s sudden change in attitude, the child hesitated and took a step back.
“Why are you here alone, young Duchess? Do you usually wander about by yourself?”
The child did not deny it. Cynthia paused to consider this.
She always had a maid attending to her.
Born as the sole daughter of a noble Earl’s family, she considered her hands too important to use for menial tasks like opening doors or holding things.
All those trivial and demeaning tasks were performed by her maids.
The only things she would hold herself were forks, knives, or occasionally a fan to cover her mouth.
From her perspective, the sight of a child walking alone was decidedly unfamiliar.
Cynthia quickly drew a convenient conclusion within the realm of her understanding.
‘The Duke must not care for this child.’
That would explain why there was no maid attending to her.
Cases like this weren’t uncommon.
Parents who regained their biological children but showed little interest in them.
Even if she were his flesh and blood, the environment in which she had grown up was clearly different from that of a noble.
Moreover, it was that Duke—known for choosing his children based on their abilities.
For such a man, it was unlikely that the child would catch his eye solely because she was his biological daughter.
“Young lady, would you mind leaving? I was in the middle of disciplining my maid.”
Cynthia spoke lightly to the child.
The standard protocol when meeting someone of differing status for the first time was for the lowerstatus person to introduce themselves first, followed by the higherstatus person.
However, the young Duchess before her was merely four years old.
And although she was a Duchess, she was not born into the Ducal family but had joined it late, garnering little interest from the Duke.
Cynthia felt no need to observe formalities with such a child.
“You’re going to hit her once I leave.”
“I am not hitting her; I am educating her, young lady.”
“I saw everything. You kicked her head and shoulders.”
“…Ah, young lady.”
With a sigh mixed into her words, she called out to the child. Bending down to meet the child’s eyes, Sophia spoke quietly.
“You may be new to the Ducal family and unaware, but it’s not polite to interfere in another family’s affairs.”
She sighed deeply, her gaze scanning the child up and down, barely veiling her contempt.
It was an arrogant attitude, but one she was accustomed to from birth.
Faced with such an adult, most children would naturally recoil and run away.
As Cynthia pressed on forcefully, the child slowly lowered her outstretched arms.
Her oncetense neck relaxed and drooped.
‘That’s right, that’s how it should be.’
Upon seeing this, Cynthia was satisfied.
However, as insufferable as the child might be, she was, for now, part of the Ducal family.
While she felt like pressing her further, Cynthia softened her tone.
“I understand that due to the environment in which you were raised, you may feel an affinity even for maids. However, the education of a maid’s manners is also strictly under my jurisdiction,”
“But there’s something I’m curious about.”
Suddenly, the child interrupted my words. At this, Cynthia’s lips tightened.
“Yes, go ahead. Young Master.”
“Why do you call me ‘Young Master’?”
The innocent question seemed as if he truly didn’t know.
Caught off guard, Cynthia momentarily found herself at a loss for words.
“Only Sophia and Delma call me ‘Young Master,’ and even the knights call me ‘Miss.'”
Calling the young lady ‘Young Master’ had been an unintentional term of address.
She realized it midway through her speech. The fact that she had been calling the young lady ‘Young Master.’
However, Cynthia couldn’t find a reason to change the term.
She knew in her mind that she was a young lady, but it didn’t appear that way outwardly.
Cynthia thought it sufficient to use an honorific even for such a trivial child.
After all, this child surely wouldn’t know such basic manners.
Even if it somehow reached the Duke’s ears, she could easily deny it.
While Cynthia couldn’t find the words, Dianne continued in an indifferent tone.
“But who are you to call me ‘Young Master’?”
Cynthia snapped back to reality. Opening her mouth, she blurted out without much thought.
“Ah, Young Lady. It seems I made a mistake, unknowingly…”
“Ah, a mistake.”
The child calmly asked again.
“Then was it also a mistake that you haven’t told me your name?”
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.”
