“What did you say?”
Isabella’s shrill scream echoed through the hallways of the Bartolini mansion.
“For whose sake? This is not just about me!”
But Count Cesare replied indifferently.
“What are you talking about? Lady de Mare is currently looking after her own interests more than anyone else.”
Isabella could not agree. It was a false charge. Count Cesare must have had something to gain from this situation.
“Absolutely not! By attending the royal ball with me, Count Cesare, you would garner my sister’s attention. Isn’t that a great deal on its own?”
Cesare answered with a dismissive tone.
“Moreover, by bringing Count Cesare to the official event, you can proudly display to the San Carlo social circle that ‘Isabella de Mare is still alive’.”
Isabella’s face turned red.
“Well, I won’t deny there’s some truth to that. But since when did you, Count Cesare, care about the reputation of others?”
He gave a sly grin.
“Well, you got me there.”
“Furthermore.”
Isabella did not stop her pursuit.
“You, Count Cesare, know better than anyone that the rumor about me being the mistress of Duke Campa is completely false!”
“Really? Is that so?”
His feigned ignorance made Isabella furious.
“The rumor spread because I have Duke Campa’s ruby. But you, Count Cesare, know better than anyone that the bracelet and Duke Campa are unrelated!”
“Well. That’s one way to look at it.”
“Then what are you losing? You’ve never cared about reputation criticism.”
Isabella folded one of her fingers.
“You probably don’t mind hanging out with an immoral mistress, and I’m not a mistress, so that’s off the table too.”
Isabella folded another finger. She looked up at Count Cesare with a clear and innocent face.
“There’s nothing to lose and only to gain. Why on earth do you refuse?”
Count Cesare, with his gloved hand, pushed away the overly close Isabella.
“Hey! Don’t touch me!”
“Isn’t Lady de Mare the one who got too close to a strange man?”
He took a half step back, looked at Isabella, and smirked.
“I’m uncomfortable.”
“What did you say?”
“I can clearly see the gears turning in that tiny, pretty head of yours, and I’m uncomfortable being used as a part of your plan.”
He crossed his arms and looked down at Isabella with pride.
“Do I look like such a fool, that I can’t win over a woman unless I meddle with her siblings? I can succeed perfectly well without your help, so let’s each go our own way.”
Cesare turned around.
“I refuse your proposition.”
Isabella, in a rage, let out a shrill scream.
“Count Cesare!”
But he didn’t look back.
[This is the time separator]Larieza de Vallois wasn’t in a good mood since morning.
She was left alone in a foreign palace. Her compatriots were all men. The youngest was twenty, and the oldest up to forty; the attendants, all cold towards Larieza, could not bring her joy.
Nor did she have new friends in this foreign land with a language barrier. It was half due to language issues and half because Larieza didn’t want it. She greatly disliked getting caught in awkward situations amongst strangers.
In Larieza’s opinion, all the noble ladies she could meet in Etruscan were, by social standing, her inferiors.
However, Etruscan, or rather, San Carlo was a fashionleading country with a dazzling culture much richer than Gallico’s, and tended to look down on things from Gallico.
Larieza, who came from a rural territory, was afraid that the young ladies from San Carlo, with far lower origins than her, would look down on her, so she did not dare approach them.
In the Etruscan royal family, there were no princesses her age. The only person who could spend time with her was Prince Alfonso. However, it had been over three days since she last saw Prince Alfonso.
“Where has Prince Alfonso gone?”
At Lariesa’s confident demand, Bernardino, the prince’s aide, tried his best to hide his surprise and responded evasively.
“Lady, you’re here. Prince Alfonso is meeting with the local representative for the ‘Spring Festival’ preparations.”
“I know that. But that was scheduled for around ten in the morning. I’m asking where Prince Alfonso is right now.”
“Lady, there was a minor change in the prince’s morning schedule. He was originally scheduled to meet with the local representative at the royal palace, but an unscheduled local inspection was added, so the prince himself went to the local area. Probably, the rest of the schedule was delayed by the travel time and the added local inspection time.”
Lariesa bit her thin lips. The thickly applied lipstick was wiped away, revealing her bloodless complexion.
She knew that Prince Alfonso had a little spare time around lunch today.
Recently, he had been refusing to meet with her, using his busy schedule as an excuse.
Since Prince Alfonso’s schedule was actually packed, Lariesa couldn’t express her dissatisfaction, but finally, there was a crack in Prince Alfonso’s schedule. She had been waiting for this day impatiently.
“Why didn’t you inform me about such a fact?”
Lariesa was furious. I waited like a fool alone…!
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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