“Duke…?”
As she looked at the duke’s face, sending her a stiff gaze with his arms trapping her, her throat seemed to burn up.
Everything happened so quickly that her thoughts seemed to have broken down.
‘What is my true identity? What does it mean?’
At the duke’s incomprehensible words, Lina stammered and continued.
“I’m Lina. Your maid, Duke…”
“…Lina?”
“Yes!”
But even though Lina had introduced herself, the duke did not seem willing to let her go and narrowed the distance even further.
“Duke? This, please…”
She spoke to the duke, who was on top of her. His disheveled appearance, having just woken up, looked precarious.
Lina began to assess the situation, pushing her confused feelings aside.
A man and woman were together in a closed space, in bed, very close.
‘Something, dangerous.’
Unbidden, memories of that night started to pop into her head.
The sensation of being ensnared by those yellow eyes crept up from her toes.
‘Plus, I’m lying in the duke’s bed, and this man is on top of me…’
Lina squeezed her eyes shut against the impure thoughts crossing her mind, shaking her head.
‘What am I thinking! No! Stop thinking! Stop!’
“You…”
As the duke opened his mouth to speak, the lips that had swallowed her up that night started to overlap in her vision.
“That, stop!!”
The duke’s voice sounded, and the words that had been circling in Lina’s head spilled out of her mouth. Then, as if having a fit, she lifted her legs.
Thump!
Everyone, at one time or another, has kicked the blankets when recalling a shameful or embarrassing memory.
Lina was no different. But unfortunately, her foot hit the duke’s leg.
As Lina’s struggling foot hit the duke’s shin, a low moan was heard.
“Ugh.”
“He, hek. Duke!! Are you alr…!”
Suddenly attacked, the duke fell off Lina. Startled, Lina quickly scrambled to her feet.
Smack!
This time, the duke’s head collided with Lina’s head, unable to dodge in time.
“Ouch! …Heck. Du, Duke?! Are you okay?”
The duke, who had been hit on the shin and head by Lina, did not say anything, just holding his forehead still.
A cold silence lingered in the bedroom for a few minutes.
Finally, the duke moved away from Lina, holding his forehead. Seizing the opportunity, Lina quickly got out of bed.
But her face, having inadvertently attacked the duke, had turned pale.
“Tha, that…! You didn’t move, Duke, so, therefore…”
‘I must be mad…! How dare I touch the duke’s body.’
The duke’s face was hidden by his hand, but it was undoubtedly stiff.
While pondering whether to wait for him to speak, Lina began to step back towards the door.
“I’m, I’m sorry! Duke…! Then, I’ll…I’ll be going now!”
Still showing no reaction, the duke’s figure made Lina want to escape the situation quickly.
‘Ah, I don’t know! Just get out of here quickly…!’
Without waiting for the duke’s permission, Lina rushed out of the bedroom.
Slamming the door behind her, she ran without looking back and arrived at her lodging in no time.
Sliding down the door that closed with a bang, she sat down.
“This time, I might really be killed by the duke…”
Though it was unintentional, she had touched the duke’s body. There was no worse disgrace.
“Moreover, I left the room without even the duke’s permission.”
But in that situation, running away was all that came to mind.
Certainly! Below is the translation for the given passage, taking into account the guidelines and the provided character names and genders:
“Should I go back and apologize now?”
But she quickly dismissed the thought. Going now to apologize wouldn’t change much.
“If I go now, it might just provoke anger… I’ll go early tomorrow morning, kneel down, and beg!”
Apologize unconditionally for being wrong. That was the only way for now.
[This is the time separator]“Lina, did you place the incense in Duke Valige’s room yesterday?”
“What? Oh, yes…”
Waking up to Emma’s call, Lina couldn’t hide her unease.
“Then I’m relieved, I was worried because there was no news after you went to the Duke’s room last night. From now on, don’t just go to the dormitory after finishing work, come and report to me.”
“Yes. I understand. I’ll be careful in the future.”
Thinking that Emma was going to ask about last night with the Duke, Lina cautiously asked, watching her cues.
“Um… But did the Duke say anything?”
“Hm? Was something wrong?”
Emma asked, showing no knowledge. Apparently, the Duke had not given any special instructions or scolded about what had happened last night.
“Ah, no! I was just wondering if the Duke slept well!”
“I’m not sure. Even when he’s tired, he doesn’t show it. But today, something urgent came up in the territory, so he left at dawn.”
‘So he’s not in the mansion now?’
The tight tension that had been squeezing at the fact that the Duke was not in the mansion now loosened.
“So when will he be back?”
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
