From early morning, the lavish carriage bearing the emblem of the Net Duke’s House hurried along the road to the royal palace.
Lelia bit her lower lip as she took in the distant view of the royal palace, and tightly clenched her chest.
Since meeting the empress last evening, the chest pain that had started hadn’t let up, even as night turned to dawn. It was so distressing that she had hurried her maid and coachman as soon as it was light.
She couldn’t bear the anxiety. It felt as if everything had come to an end. Even though she had concluded her meeting with the empress somewhat amicably, she still felt this way.
The only one who could put her anxiety to rest was Liurian. Seeing him seemed like it would make everything all right. She felt she would be fine once she fully captured him in her eyes.
It seemed her perpetually constricted breath would be relieved even if just a little then.
“……Your Highness.”
Lelia murmured the title she had always been familiar with. Despite it being a word and title she’d repeated countless times, her mouth felt unusually dry today as she uttered it. For a moment, it was so painful that tears welled up.
“No, nothing has changed yet. So, don’t get scared for no reason. Everything will be fine. Nothing will happen. It will all turn out well.”
Lelia clenched her fist tightly and strained her eyes. Though rage welled up, she couldn’t cry. Crying now would be too much of a blow to her pride.
She had neither been scorned by the empress nor abandoned by Liurian. Therefore, there was no reason for her to cry.
Still, if she couldn’t hold back and dropped her tears, it would mean acknowledging that she had ultimately lost to the crown princess.
Lelia gritted her teeth. Hostility filled her narrowed eyes. Even so, swallowing her tears wasn’t easy, so she shifted her gaze beyond the small window.
The contour of the palace that had noticeably drawn closer was clearly visible. He was there in that place. Liurian, the man she so dearly yearned for, was there.
She wanted to see him soon. She had never not yearned for him, but today she exceptionally did.
She yearned terribly for Liurian.
“Leighton!”
While on a walk, Evelia hurried her steps toward the familiar face she spotted in the distance.
“Your Highness.”
“It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I was surprised when father suddenly took you away. Did the issue with the soldiers’ training get resolved?”
“……Yes, that issue was concluded without any problems. I apologize for my absence these past few days, Your Highness.”
“No, Layton. I had to leave my seat due to a request from my father, so don’t think otherwise.”
Evelia comforted Layton warmly. She seemed brighter than before she had left her seat. However, unlike Evelia, Layton appeared somewhat pallid.
Evelia found it odd but chose not to ask. Layton was not one to answer such questions, and there were other maids including Phalen behind her.
“The weather is incredibly nice, and I was out for a walk. Would you like to join me, Layton?”
Pretending not to know, Evelia invited Layton to accompany her. She didn’t know the reason, but she thought that the warm wind might improve his mood.
Instead of responding, Layton moved to stand behind her. It was the position he always took, a gesture equivalent to agreeing to accompany her.
Evelia’s lips curved into a bright smile. Then she took her next step.
With each step, the cozy weather seemed to embrace her. She couldn’t help but smile.
If she had known it would be this good, she would have asked Liurian to join her for a walk. The thought came to her belatedly.
Evelia glanced around for no particular reason. She always walked in the Crown Princess’s garden, but today she was wandering through the Royal Palace’s garden.
So perhaps, if luck as perfect as the weather accompanied her, she might run into him by chance. She indulged in such frivolous thoughts.
Somehow she felt that today, some unprecedented fortune might come her way.
Holding onto that hope, Evelia took lively steps forward. Whether those steps were for the walk or in search of someone waiting, it was unclear.
Within that ambiguity, Evelia walked for a long time. Suddenly her steps stiffened and came to a halt. She had spotted someone approaching her.
“……I greet Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
At the unusually formal greeting, Evelia hesitated for a moment. The one who had stopped in front of her was Rellia. Unlike the last time they had met, Rellia’s face harbored an indescribable gloomy atmosphere.
Without realizing it, Evelia took a step back. Only then was she able to respond to her greeting.
“Your Grace.”
“Where were you headed?”
“No, I was just out for a walk since the weather seemed exceptionally good today.”
Evelia stiffened at Rellia’s response and slowly tilted her head back, as if confirming her comment about the good weather by staring piercingly at the clear blue sky.
“So it is. The weather is… quite good.”
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.”
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