The Duke, who was casually looking into it, looked down at Lina and asked.
“Here’s your last chance to make excuses.”
In a room full of suffocating, tense air, only a lazy voice quietly echoed.
Lina spoke calmly, trying hard to steady her trembling voice.
“It’s true that I went to Alina Forest, but I went because Mei was injured and needed herbs for treatment. If you go to my room, you’ll find the herbs left over from then.”
“You went to the forest to get herbs when there’s a perfectly good medical room in the mansion…”
To the Duke’s words, Lina, steadying her voice once again, said,
“Yes. I really went to the forest to get herbs. And while someone saw me coming out of the forest, no one saw me burying anything there. It’s unfair to be suspected as the culprit just because I went to the forest.”
“If it’s so unfair, bring evidence that you’re not the culprit.”
The Duke’s ensuing words made Lina’s eyes narrow as if they were ridiculous.
“The evidence is right in front of you! You have it!”
The words she couldn’t quite spit out tickled Lina’s throat. The energy she felt from the crystal in front of the Duke. It was undoubtedly magic.
And there was only one case where magic could be felt from a crystal.
“But… can I say it?”
Hesitating for a moment, she soon spoke to the Duke with a determined, calm voice.
“The evidence is right in front of you, Your Grace. That crystal, isn’t it a recording stone?”
“A recording stone… why do you think that?”
“Normally, a crystal can’t come out like the clean sphere in front of you, Your Grace. It’s hard to trim with human hands. If it’s processed with magic, it must be a luxury item to show off the nobles’ wealth, or a recording stone for magic. But a luxury item that usually suits ladies doesn’t suit Your Grace’s office, so I guessed it was a recording stone made to record the room.”
Moreover, it was an office that looked too humble for the head of the Duke’s family.
A luxury item used by ladies in the room of the frugal Duke? There couldn’t be a more inappropriate thing.
The Duke, looking at her sharply as she spoke with clear voice on her knees, said,
“…Yes. You’re right. With this crystal, I can know what happens in the room while I’m away.”
As soon as the Duke reached out and touched the crystal, a white light began to flicker.
The light burst out above the ceiling, and the room filled with a foglike, hazy smoke. And then, small images began to shine above the smoke, like pictures.
In the black and white image, the Duke’s office seemed empty and quiet. The Duke moved his finger once again, and the image began to speed by.
And a moment later, the door opened with a start in the otherwise quiet space, and Susan entered.
After looking around the office for a while, Susan approached the place with the crystal, and then the video ended.
With a bewildered expression, Susan watched the image, then jumped as her own figure appeared in the emitted light.
And then, unable to close her wideopen mouth, she stammered,
“It, it can’t be…!”
“Cullen.”
At the Duke’s voice, sharp as a razor, Susan knelt down and began to beg.
“Pl, please forgive me just once!! Please. Just once…! Your Grace!”
“Execute her according to the imperial law.”
“Yes. Your Grace.”
When Cullen gestured, the knights who were standing nearby grabbed Susan, who was begging desperately, and dragged her away.
Beyond the door, her pitiful scream rang in the ears like tinnitus.
Tap. Tap.
Once again, in the quiet room, the Duke who had been tapping the desk with his finger looked at Lina with an indifferent gaze and asked,
“And you.”
“…Yes. Your Grace.”
“How did you know that this is a recording stone? It shouldn’t have been something a commoner like you could easily see.”
The Duke’s suspicion was natural. A recording stone is a magic tool.
Since only the royal family and the nobles had exclusive access to it, the fact that a commoner who had little exposure to magic recognized the magic tool didn’t make sense.
“My mother was a maid in an old noble family. She told me what she heard from the lady she served.”
The Duke, who had been stroking his chin for a moment at Lina’s plausible excuse, responded,
“Well, it’s not a satisfying answer, but for now, let’s leave it at that. However, the fact that you entered the forbidden forest is true.”
‘Could it be… So he kept quiet about knowing it was a recording stone because I went into the forbidden forest?’
Anger flared at the thought that the man might have pretended not to know until the end if she hadn’t known the nature of the crystal.
But she was a commoner, and that man was a noble. Therefore, she had no choice but to beg.
“…I’m sorry. I will accept any punishment for going into the forest.”
“Any punishment?”
“…Yes.”
As he looked down at Lina kneeling, the Duke, supporting his chin with his hand, spoke,
“Do you know what punishment I will give?”
The man’s arrogant, mocking eyes seemed to clutch at Lina’s heart.
“Cullen.”
“Yes. Your Grace.”
“Send that maid out of the mansion from today.”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
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