Olivia pointed at the bookshelf with a disconsolate face. She took medicine, slept well, woke up, and the walltowall bookshelf was completely gone. The books that had been there were gone too.
The Duke raised his brows slightly, as if pricked. His handsome appearance seemed as pitiful as a wet puppy. But Olivia did not let it go.
“I should be reading books during my rest!”
“Who reads books during rest? You need to lie down quietly.”
“That’s convalescence! I’m all better now!”
Olivia smiled confidently.
Seeing that, the Duke barely swallowed his words that even reading books might be too taxing for her now.
Meanwhile, Olivia coughed loudly as if to prove that she was better.
“See? My voice is fine, and I’m not dizzy anymore.”
Her silent demand for the books to be returned was ignored by the Duke, who turned his head. Olivia thought he would have placed different furniture there if she had slept a little longer.
“… It does feel empty. Shall we go shopping for something else?”
“I liked the bookshelf that was there, so a new one is not needed. But I’ll gratefully accept new books.”
Olivia was quite pleased with her own response. She had handled it smartly, so now the Duke would put the bookshelf back.
But the Duke only stared blankly at Olivia. His long eyelashes blinked slowly. His face was astonished and surprised, as if he had encountered something unexpected.
“…Your Highness?”
“…Good.”
“What is?”
What could be good in this situation? Olivia was momentarily puzzled.
The Duke closed his eyes briefly and smiled. It was a bright and beautiful smile.
“You’re demanding a gift yourself. Doesn’t that make you feel bad and embarrassed?”
“I’m not! Demanding a gift!”
“Don’t worry. Since you liked the bookshelf, I’ll return it as it was.”
The Duke’s face spread into a contented smile, as if he were really happy. Although she wasn’t really asking for a gift. Olivia gave up on responding.
If he wants to give a gift, then so be it. I knew how he felt.
Olivia’s face clouded with a soft chuckle. She remembered the past when she had always prepared gifts for her family and Leopold.
Jewels, cufflinks, handmade sword decorations, and rare old books. Those gifts, prepared in the hope that they would accept at least those, were always left untouched at the door.
Without a single touch, as if to prove it.
She had even entrusted Leopold’s gifts to the head servant, but now that she thought about it, she never saw them worn or used.
They were prepared with the hope that they would wear them at least once.
Unable to help herself, her mood dipped, and a heavy sadness gnawed at Olivia.
What happened to the pink diamond left in Esella’s room? The boutique reserved for Esella… had it been sent back?
Swallowing the bitter emotions rising within her, Olivia looked back at the Duke. Meeting his eyes, patiently waiting, he asked slowly.
“Are you all right? You’re not sick again, are you?”
Olivia chuckled softly. Though the correct response to the question “Are you alright?” would have been “No,” I had to move on now. That’s why.
“……It will be all right.”
Everything.
I will overcome this sad memory.
Only then did the Duke smile gracefully.
“A wise answer.”
It was a marvelous smile that sparkled. For a moment, Olivia was frozen, enough to temporarily forget her melancholy feelings.
What’s this?
Her heart thumped at this unfamiliar emotion.
Olivia quickly lowered her head.
It must be gratitude. After all, how could she not be thankful for all he had done for her?
Olivia suppressed this strange feeling. Even if I had expectations of the Duke, I didn’t want to open my heart so quickly.
And, honestly, I was scared.
My heart, rejected twice by family and fiancé, was still shriveled.
“Shall we have a meal since we’re talking about it?”
The Duke changed the atmosphere. Olivia’s mouth naturally curved into a smile.
“Meal, sounds good?”
My stomach was growling since I woke up after a deep sleep. I felt like I could eat a whole bowl of soup. The Duke winked mischievously.
“You have to eat better than before. Otherwise, I’ll feed you again.”
Suddenly, I remembered his earlier image. My face felt hot, so Olivia glanced at the Duke grumpily.
His white and fine face was flushed, but the little earlobes that were newly visible under his hair were red. The Duke offered his hand to Olivia, hiding his amusement.
“Shall we go then?”
“……Please stop joking around.”
Even so, Olivia took his hand. That’s when there was a knock at the door. At the word to enter, Sobel opened the door and came in.
“I apologize for the urgent matter.”
Sobel didn’t look rushed, handing over three letters.
“Letters have arrived from the palace. One for Your Highness, two for Miss.”
Olivia instinctively checked the seals on the letters. The stamps on the three letters were diverse: Emperor’s Palace, Empress’ Palace, and the Crown Prince’s Palace where Leopold was.
“……It would be nice if the family sent them together.”
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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