“I will be leaving now.”
The viscount and his wife, along with the knight, repeatedly looked back at the princess.
The princess, who had been smiling elegantly, collapsed onto the sofa as the door closed. A satisfied expression played across her beautiful face.
“It was such an easy matter to resolve, nanny. Wasn’t it?”
“It’s all thanks to Your Highness for thinking of such an ingenious plan.”
Lady Viscountess Ruhas looked at the princess with genuine admiration.
A moment ago, the princess, who had been smiling enticingly at the summoned knight, had won him over in an instant.
“To think the knight pledged his oath to me, I’m truly grateful. My knight would certainly be able to grant my request, wouldn’t he?”
The blushing knight nodded to the princess’s words, even at the audacious request to arrange his schedule for the next five days, contrary to the imperial command.
The princess even called the viscount to her and sincerely thanked him.
“Thanks to the viscount and his wife, I was able to fulfill His Majesty’s command.”
The viscount’s wife couldn’t hide her perplexity for a moment. After all, the princess had done nothing since arriving at the viscount’s estate.
However, after confirming the expected reaction, the princess smoothly continued her words.
“I want to repay you two properly. How about I invite you to the imperial palace’s summer banquet?”
At the princess’s words, the rural nobles, the viscount and his wife, didn’t refuse but nodded vigorously with bright faces.
Upon seeing the enthusiastic face of the viscount’s wife, the princess softly asked for a ‘small favor’ and elegantly issued the guest decree.
And at this moment, she smiled brightly as if all her worries had been resolved.
“So, nanny, make sure to instruct the other maids as well. I stopped by Vicander’s command, and after confirming the investigation of the trustworthy maid I sent earlier, I’m hurrying to leave here to return to the palace within five days, according to the imperial command.”
(This is a time delimiter.)
On the other hand, even when the knight who had come out into the corridor had moved far away, the viscount and his wife, who could not leave the door of the princess’s room, looked at each other with disbelief.
“My goodness, darling. We’re going to the summer banquet. This can’t be a dream, right?”
“Indeed! I heard it too!”
The bewildered couple looked at each other and hugged tightly.
They hadn’t hoped for this, yet the viscountess repeated it. The viscount couldn’t help but suppress a rising smile while consoling his wife.
Finally, the viscount’s estate was to be brought into the system. However, even though what he had always wished for unfolded before his eyes, an uneasy feeling remained somewhere in his heart.
“I was here only for a moment. You know that, right, Viscount?”
The fact that the princess had done nothing during her stay at the viscount’s estate was something the viscount’s wife knew best.
And the princess had already resolved the emperor’s command.
Puzzled and tilting his head, the viscount saw the princess lift one side of her mouth and smoothly continue.
“…Baseless talk always comes from the lower ranks. Viscount, please control your subordinates’ tongues properly. Ensure that there’s no talk that I stayed here long. You understand what I mean?”
Recalling the icy blue eyes that seemed to grip his throat, the viscount involuntarily shivered.
That stern face was nothing like the saintly princess he had heard of. The suddenly silent viscountess seemed to think the same.
“…But, it’s really okay for us to go to the banquet, right?”
The viscountess, looking anxious, glanced up and down the corridor before speaking in a low voice.
“You know, yesterday, the chamberlain heard a strange rumor. Her Highness, well, concerning our Viscount’s territory…”
“Oh come on, nonsense. You’re worried about such trivial matters with this great opportunity ahead?”
The viscount cut off his increasingly secretive wife with a scolding. The viscountess shrugged sheepishly.
“No, I mean, just…”
“We must go to the summer banquet. The summer banquet you’ve always wanted to attend.”
The Viscount’s voice lowered as if it were about to crack, and the Viscountess made a dazed face.
“So, as Your Majesty has said, keep a strict control over the household. You understand?”
Neither the enthusiastically nodding Viscountess nor the Viscount, who was pleased with her reaction, knew at this moment.
“My goodness. The princess who is said to be like a saint?”
The story of the princess, thought to have only spread within the Viscount’s house.
“That’s right. Last night, she was screaming at the palace maid like that.”
Like an uncontrollable wildfire, it spread to the neighboring domain, then to the next domain.
“I heard it too. You think that’s all? Thanks to her throwing the dish I brought her, calling it dirty, the maids had to carry plates directly from the kitchen, you know?”
It had spread as far as the threshold of the capital where the imperial palace was located.
(This is a time separator.)
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.”
