Once a fortnight passed from the beginning of her cycle, she threw herself at Epolito desperately. Epolito, who knew nothing about it, enjoyed her initiative and naively found it amusing.
Maleta gritted her teeth. If only she could conceive, she could finally settle in! That one shot just wouldn’t fit.
Maleta had her reasons for being certain that if she became pregnant, the young master would take responsibility.
“Maleta, you don’t have anyone else but me, right?”
Epolito, after returning to San Carlo, cherished Maleta dreadfully, contrary to his attitude in Taranto. Maleta’s stay in Taranto was surprisingly disappointing.
Epolito often, no, quite frequently, left Maleta alone and went out to enjoy parties with his friends in Taranto.
On his way out, Epolito, who shouted sternly, ‘Maleta, I’ll definitely take you to the winter social circle!’, never took Maleta to a formal party that required a partner.
What Maleta could follow was a card game gathering that Epolito’s friends made, under the name ‘Salon’.
Entering the ‘Salon’ with a dressed up and excited heart, it was full of men puffing cigars indoors, except for Maleta. Oh, there were women. Courtesans or serving maids.
Maleta, who imagined being introduced to the social circle as the ‘future Mrs. De Mare’, almost lost her temper at Epolito due to the upset. What comforted her heart a bit was one of Epolito’s friends.
“Who is this lady?”
A nobleman, whose name she didn’t know, made polite formalities and pretended to know Maleta. At his words, Maleta blushed and was carried away. Unfamiliar with the language of the nobles, she did not realize that his excessive formality was sarcasm.
“Ah, why, the one I talked about then.”
Unfortunately, Epolito, who was next to her, understood the man’s nuances perfectly and responded appropriately. Contrary to what Maleta had expected, he did not mention that she was the woman he was going to marry, not even using the word ‘lover’.
“Oh, that?”
The nobleman raised one of his fingers. Epolito laughed and nodded his head. The nobleman slapped Epolito’s shoulder with his hand.
“I’m looking forward to the fun.”
“What fun? You’ll see when you see.”
“Still, haha. I’m going first.”
After that, whether it was a rumor among the male guests about Maleta’s position, there were guys who came to touch her once, guys who poured alcohol, and guys who asked her to hold their coats.
Even the thickskinned Maleta almost gave up on the young master that day.
But then, Epolito De Mare changed.
“Maleta, you only have me, right? You can’t live without me, can you?”
Maleta, who used to be as flexible as Epolito’s tongue, had built up some things over time, so she glanced and answered.
“Did you eat something you shouldn’t have, sir? Why are you suddenly like this?”
“Oh, Maleta. You only have me. Say it.”
“I don’t know.”
Maléta saw their conversation as a signal of a reversal in their relationship. However, she failed to realize that Epolito’s eyes had narrowed, like a snake observing something.
[This is the time separator]After hearing Bernardino’s explanation, Alfonso heaved a long sigh.
“No, Dino… How could you do such a thing in my absence…”
In Prince Alfonso’s absence, Archduchess Lariesa continually sought meetings. She exploded when she heard that she couldn’t meet him because he had gone to see his cousin Bianca, who was the cousin of Prince Alfonso, and was not present.
She caused a ruckus, saying, ‘Am I lower in priority to you than your cousin?’
It was a riot in name, but in reality, Bernardino shook his head, as it was like a natural disaster.
“Couldn’t you have handled it differently?”
“I did my best.”
Bernardino replied gravely.
Bernardino was acting as Prince Alfonso, responding to the morning letters from Archduchess Lariesa. But being a bachelor in his late thirties who knew nothing of a woman’s heart, he couldn’t possibly match the whims of a fickle 18yearold girl.
So, Bernardino accepted everything that Archduchess Lariesa demanded.
“Your Highness, how have you been managing that time bomb so smoothly?”
Bernardino surrendered to Archduchess Lariesa’s request, ‘We’re about to get married, let’s make a nickname that only the two of us use’, and as a result, they became ‘Lari’ and ‘Al’.
This terrible nickname was something that Alfonso had never allowed to Ariadne in the past. Prince Alfonso shivered.
“Do you think I’m easy?”
“You are the prince, Your Highness!”
There was more that Archduchess Lariesa demanded. She said she wanted to visit the daffodil garden, a famous spot in Palazio Carlo, alone with Prince Alfonso when she returned to San Carlo.
It was a romantic place where a story of King Stefano I, one of the former kings, proposing to Brigette of Taranto, a royal lady, in that daffodil garden had been passed down.
Bernardino, of course, had no authority to enforce a schedule on Prince Alfonso.
But he was so desperate to prevent Archduchess Lariesa’s threat of storming into Prince Alfonso’s bedroom from becoming a reality that he accepted it, planning to make an excuse to refuse later.
“Where do you see managing people like this as a royal talent? It’s a vassal’s talent.”
It was Alfonso’s rebuke that Bernardino should have taken care of soothing Lariesa himself.
“Just as you tame and govern fierce subordinates with virtue, it’s naturally a talent of one who will become a king.”
Bernardino decided to flatter as much as he could today. After all, Prince Alfonso had to deal with the aftermath of canceling a date he didn’t promise while being called a nickname he hated.
To make Alfonso feel a little better, he said a word of comfort to Prince Alfonso.
“Your Highness. Once you get married, you’ll eventually get a nickname. Think of it as getting the beating you’re going to get a little early.”
Alfonso looked at Bernardino with a strange expression. Bernardino felt uneasy and looked back at his young lord.
“Don’t tell me….”
Bernardino also heard the news almost immediately after the prince left. The story was that the dead daughter of Cardinal de Mare was the youngest Arabella, not the second Ariadne.
“Please say it isn’t so, Your Highness.”
“You’re right. I will not marry Archduchess Lariesa.”
Leaving the shocked secretary alone, Alfonso rose from his seat.
“I’m going to see my father and mother.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
