“She was no ordinary woman. A few thugs tried to make trouble, but she handled it herself, quite neatly.”
A faint smile graced Claudia’s lips as she seemed to enjoy the thought.
“She did have guards, but she didn’t rely on brute force. She carried herself with dignity and poise.”
“…”
“She must be clever. Judging by how she kept her guards hidden, prepared for danger.”
“Radia, have you found out who that woman is?”
“I didn’t see her face. But I had a good feeling about her. Maybe it’s empathy.”
“You felt empathy?”
“Handling men as a woman isn’t as easy as it sounds.”
Claudia felt an odd attraction to the mysterious woman.
If given the chance, she wanted to share a drink and converse with her.
It was the first time she’d felt that way toward another woman, not a battlehardened comrade.
“Radia, by any chance, did she have flamelike red hair?”
Douglas suddenly asked, as if something had just occurred to him.
“Why do you ask about her hair?”
“The woman you saw… might be Elizabeth.”
Douglas said, his tone both serious and certain.
“That sounds unlikely.”
“Elizabeth was asking Susan for the location of a herbal shop. I intended to buy herbs that day.”
“She might have red hair, but it couldn’t have been Elizabeth.”
“And that day was the very day Elizabeth took a vacation!”
Claudia hesitated for a moment and then furrowed her brow.
“She wouldn’t be wandering the slums where neither parties nor jewelers are found. She wouldn’t dress modestly like the commoners.”
“Elizabeth has completely changed. She’s not the woman you knew.”
Something hot surged within her, but she pushed it down.
Elizabeth was merely the former fiancée of a friend.
Jealousy was not permitted under any circumstances.
Could the woman who deftly commanded armed guards and captivated the crowd really be Elizabeth?
She felt ashamed that she had momentarily felt a liking for her.
And she was disappointed in Douglas for demeaning Elizabeth.
“People don’t change easily, Doug.”
“This time it’s real. You saw with your own eyes, didn’t you?”
“You’d like to believe that, having been betrayed so often.”
“Claudia.”
“Elizabeth is causing upheaval, even in the royal family now. Skillfully using the Emperor’s favor.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“Then explain how she became the tutor for the Crown Prince.”
Douglas, who had been silent, finally gave a curt answer.
“Because she has the ability.”
“A woman who lived for parties and alcohol? Besides her fickleness and playing with other men?”
Claudia sneered.
Though his face darkened, Douglas didn’t back down.
“I told you. Elizabeth has changed.”
“How did she become a sword instructor then? Heavier than a fork?”
“She was the one who revealed that the Crown Prince was being poisoned.”
“She could be the one who poisoned him.”
“What are you saying?”
Douglas raised his voice.
Claudia twisted the corner of her mouth.
“She would have wanted to manipulate His Highness. She gained his favor by exposing the poison. It actually happened, didn’t it?”
“Radia…”
“Didn’t they fail to catch the culprit? Is it all coincidence?”
A heavy silence fell upon the meeting room.
Douglas took a few deep breaths and then spoke with a flushed face.
“I know you’ve never thought well of Elizabeth, perhaps because you’re my friend. But don’t slander her.”
“Why would I slander her?”
“I’m asking you, Claudia.”
Why did Douglas, the man she secretly yearned for, defend Elizabeth so fervently?
Her mouth tasted bitter, as if she had chewed bile.
Douglas treated her as if she were some cheap imitator, defending the treacherous Elizabeth.
A boiling rage surged within her.
She wanted to cast away her expressionless face, her false composure.
She wanted to spill hot blood.
The blood of the villainess who deceived Douglas and even looked down on the Emperor.
Even in moments of high emotion, Claudia remained a knight, perpetually selfreflecting and adjusting.
“Killing someone out of jealousy is the worst thing you can do, both as a knight and as a human being. Even a villain’s life is precious; don’t act hastily.”
But what if the person wasn’t worth sparing?
Then, without hesitation, she intended to draw her sword.
The lake was deep and still.
She searched for Nikolai, breaking through the dark azure currents.
Had there not been unusually bright moonlight, she wouldn’t have found him.
Upon seeing his pallid face, almost like a corpse unable to close its eyes, she felt her limbs go rigid.
“Why isn’t he swimming? Could he be dead?!”
His hair floated darkly, like underwater weeds.
Soontodisappear air bubbles ominously hovered around him.
Thump, thump, her heart pounded against her ribcage.
In her past life, she had seen many people lose the will to live.
People exhausted from struggling to survive.
Souls hoping to lay down all their burdens and pass on for good.
She had been one of them, so she couldn’t not understand the emptiness in Nikolai’s eyes.
Exhausted, lonely, and longing for peace.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
