“Hello! Good morning!”
Could it be that the gossip has spread about my greeting with the thirdfloor servant through the window?
Ever since that day, greetings echoed frequently outside Bianca’s window.
If only it had been a servant from the Barlock estate, it would have been fine, but the other party was a merchant.
So, Julie couldn’t exactly be dismissive when dealing with him, providing a kind of halfhearted response.
“Hello. You don’t have to do this, please come in.”
“No, no. Please allow me this much. I beg you.”
I’ve lost count of how many times this has happened.
Annoyed, Julie glared at the window while Bianca soothingly picked up her teacup.
“Julie, come inside. You’ll catch a cold.”
“Catch a cold? Ha. Seriously, if you want to work, do it quietly. Right, ma’am?”
“Why? I think it’s nice, it feels like a lively place.”
“Lively? I just got startled and dropped my pen.”
Startled by the loud greeting, Julie pouted as she cleaned up the paper stained with ink.
“Well, it’s okay to be surprised, isn’t it? We’ve only heard the sound of falling snow all day; it’s a nice change of pace.”
While sipping her steaming tea, Bianca seemed to remember something and called out to Julie.
“Do we really have to do this?”
“Please do it.”
Although her lips were pursed and her brow furrowed, instead of scolding, Bianca added:
“I wish someone would do the same for the Barlock knights freezing outside.”
“Goodness!”
Upon hearing Bianca’s words, Julie exclaimed and dashed out.
No one could say she wasn’t acting like a servant.
Julie’s eyes were bloodshot, perhaps from the cold as she quickly turned around.
‘You must be tired and cold from clearing the snow. Serve some warm tea and something sweet.’
That day, a steaming cup of tea and a painfully sweet cookie were offered to the snowclearing merchant in the name of the Duchess.
“Thank you!”
Bianca smiled softly at the noise that resounded from outside the window.
After Bianca served tea and cookies, the loud greetings from outside seemed to change.
“The snowfall remains, but much of the moisture has gone. It might stop in a few days.”
“The direction of the wind has changed.”
“Who is clearing the snow on the roof?”
“If permitted, I would like to sweep the snow throughout the castle.”
The merchants were engaging Bianca in ‘conversation.’
“See, I told you!”
Haley had politely cautioned, and Raffin had warned, but the merchants smiled cordially, their faces unchanging.
Julie was the one who got angry.
“Either they have no manners, or they’re taking advantage of your kindness! I’ll go out and give them a piece of my mind.”
“It’s alright. They’re trying, aren’t they?”
“Trying what?”
“Trying to infiltrate the North.”
Bianca was also uncomfortable with the audacity.
She was aware it was rude.
But she could be lenient toward these merchants because they were ‘foreigners.’
They were strangers to the Barlock territory, foreigners to this unfamiliar place.
Because she and they were in the same situation, she felt she understood the ‘effort’ that led to their actions. So she couldn’t be harsh toward them.
“How aware could they be? They’re here ignoring warnings of warp blockages, and now they’re staying in a duke’s residence.”
“They’ve brought it upon themselves; they should deal with it.”
The young maid responded with rather harsh eyes.
It was a merciless thing to say.
However, Bianca didn’t add to Julie’s statement.
Hadn’t she come to learn?
How barren and dangerous this place could be.
Even a small mistake could easily cost a life here.
Perhaps the refusal to give an inch was a survival technique they had naturally acquired over time.
So, instead of scolding them, perhaps it was time to give them a little break.
To give the foreigners just a little leeway.
“Hand over just a little. If it starts to snow as you said, soon…”
“What is this commotion!”
Bianca’s comforting words were abruptly interrupted by the harsh voice echoing from outside the window.
“Are you still not aware of what’s going on? This isn’t your jurisdiction, is it? How dare you clear the snow here and interfere with the work?”
The subsequent words were so scathing they made one uncomfortable.
It was then that Bianca, who had been sitting all along, stood up from her seat.
Bianca pressed herself against the windowpane.
Just that much made her cheeks feel the chilly air.
Outside the window, a man covered in snow was seen, leading a group of seven others.
Was it a knight? Turned out it was a footman who had stood beside the thirdfloor servant who had greeted her a few days ago while making a snowman.
“Is it really okay to do this even when the butler and steward are so kind?”
“No, that’s not it…”
A loud yell drowned out the mumbling of the merchant, making it hard to hear.
Soon, the servant also began to speak hastily, diminishing the volume of their conversation against the sound of snow.
Certainly not a pleasant conversation.
Neither the butler nor the steward nor the footman was wrong.
But was there a need to go this far?
Thump.
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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