“Good. I look forward to it. Come to think of it, isn’t the Duke already over twenty years old? Now you should marry and firmly establish your lineage.”
The Emperor subtly whined.
“…I have no thoughts on that yet.”
“Ah, don’t say that. There’s only the Duke in the Vicander direct line, after all. At times like this, you must strengthen the bloodline.”
At the Emperor’s words, the fist under the robe was clenched so tightly that the tendons stood out. The Emperor, intoxicated by his mood, didn’t notice and rambled on.
“I think the Duke didn’t even have a debutante ball. I know the knighting ceremony was done simply, too.”
The Emperor feigned forgetfulness at the end of his words.
During the debutante ball, he was defeating the Seruachi tribe crawling to the East, and the knighting was hastily received after turning over the blood of a fleeing royal commander. He knew it all too well, even though he said so.
Tsk, if that guy hadn’t run away, Vicander’s name wouldn’t have spread this much.
The Emperor clicked his tongue in regret. And so, his desire grew.
So far, the Duke obediently wandered the battlefield as I directed, but now he was a mature twentyone. Vicander’s reputation was already high in the Empire, and at some point, the forces had gathered.
I never knew when the victor might crawl up to me. Therefore, I had no choice but to add one more secure leash.
“Still, a knight must surely have a lady. The princess has prepared a flower for you at this victory feast.”
And the shackles of marriage, an indestructible and satisfactory move. If the Duke, resembling the former Duchess, becomes my family. It would be satisfying indeed.
If the princess of the fallen nation, who had ignored me until the end, sees it from the afterlife, she might even vomit blood.
The Emperor, amused, lowered his voice and spoke as if coaxing.
“…There is one piece of news that the Duke would like. That Lowell white crystal mine has now become the princess’s share, you know.”
The mine that she, the former Duke’s wife, cherished as the last asset of the Lowell Kingdom. At the same time, a leash that ensnared the Duke.
The Duke’s eyes sparkled at that one word.
Only then did the Emperor add with a leisurely smile.
“Although the title is not unimportant, if they’re a married couple, they can look around the mine without the approval of the palace, can’t they?”
The obsession with the crystal mine, taken as compensation for the missing former Duke Vicander in the battlefield, who would have thought he’d be so fixated on it?
He was so naive, being one who only roamed the battlefields. Over twenty times he’d brought up the ‘crystal mine,’ yet every time his eyes would shine like that. Even though it’s a mine that’s been dried up for a good 15 years.
The Duke’s continuous obsession was strange, so they had searched the crystal mine thoroughly. Outstanding magicians and geologists were dispatched, but the only answer that came back was a report of an abandoned mine.
Last year, thinking it was the last, they entrusted the investigation to the princess. The princess, who had grown noticeably in a few years, not only thoroughly restored the struggling territory during the spring season but also investigated the crystal mine thoroughly.
But again, the report was the same as before, saying that it had been long since the mine lost its vigor. The Emperor bestowed the crystal mine to the hardworking princess.
Although it was an abandoned mine whose crystal production had already run dry, he must have wanted to inherit his mother’s last legacy since he had been campaigning from the age of ten, thinking of his parents.
There was not a single point in giving it. The plan was to use it as a bait, filled with hope, to keep the Duke moving.
…Forever, that is.
The Emperor laughed, soaked in arrogance. That arrogance clouded the Emperor’s eyes.
Who knows whether the Duke was looking at the laughing Emperor with scornful eyes?
And that day, a proclamation was made throughout the Franz Empire.
The joyful news that the war with Hepherity, in which Duke Vicander had seized the victory, had ended in triumph.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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