The Beast Swallowed by the Flower (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15
Gauzer emerged with a sullen expression, still half-drunk, looking nothing like the Gauzer from Lisi’s memories.
Back at the ducal estate, Gauzer had always worn formal attire, his pomaded hair perfectly in place without a single strand out of line, giving him a sharp and immaculate appearance.
But the Gauzer now standing before Lisi had unkempt, uncut hair, a thick beard, and wore clothes that were wrinkled and dirty from days of wear.
Had it not been for Gauzer’s distinctive amber eyes, she might have turned around thinking she’d come to the wrong person.
“What is it?”
Even his tone had changed.
Gauzer was looking up not at Lisi, but at Kai.
Without a word, Kai simply pointed at Lisi with his palm turned upward.
Only then did Gauzer’s gaze shift to Lisi.
Shock flickered in his previously dazed eyes.
“Oh… Miss…?”
Gauzer was one of the few people who still addressed Lisi as “Miss.”
Remembering Gauzer’s rigid demeanor and how he’d always called her “Miss,” Lisi gave a bitter smile.
In her past life, she’d only known that Gauzer had become the Imperial Treasury’s financial administrator—she’d had no idea how he’d lived before that.
‘So this is how he lived. After his wife and child left him, lonely and suffering, he wandered like this until he finally gathered himself and rose to that esteemed position.’
“Are you… truly… truly Lady Iris?”
When Lisi didn’t answer, Gauzer asked again.
Just as Gauzer couldn’t recognize her now, she barely recognized him either—so different from the man she’d known at the ducal estate.
“Yes. I’m Iris. Though I’m no longer a ‘Miss’ now.”
“What? So… so they really drove you out, didn’t they? No, no—perhaps being cast out was better than enduring that kind of treatment…”
Still half-drunk, Gauzer pressed his temples firmly and rambled on.
“I didn’t get driven out—I left on my own. I got married. To this man here, Count Kaelbrant Green.”
Gauzer’s eyes widened as if they might pop out as he looked up at Kai.
“Count Green… Huh…”
His lips parted as he stared at Kai’s face for a long while; tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.
Sniffling, Gauzer suddenly grabbed Lisi’s hand.
“Thank goodness… thank goodness, Miss. To marry someone so handsome and wonderful… truly, thank goodness… *sniff*… *sob*…”
Kai, who had been glaring at Lisi’s hand clutched in Gauzer’s grip, softened his expression at the words “so handsome and wonderful.”
“Oh—forgive me. I’m just so overwhelmed… I was about to curse those damn bastards—ah, excuse my language—but anyway, those people from that household treated you like… No, never mind.”
Lisi understood what Gauzer had been about to say.
You probably thought they’d sell you off to someone like Alford.
He must have stopped himself because Kai was present.
“For now—for now, please come inside. Ah… I haven’t cleaned the place yet… just a moment…”
“Gauzer. Wait.”
Lisi called out to stop Gauzer as he moved to enter the house.
“I came because I have something important to discuss with you. Once you’ve sobered up a bit, meet me at the tavern beside the central square.”
+++
In her past life, Alford, who later came to manage the continent’s largest trading company, loved taverns.
It wasn’t just about the alcohol—they were places where all kinds of rumors could be heard, and if filtered wisely, those rumors could greatly benefit his business.
Lisi had also liked that Alford frequented taverns.
After all, whenever he went to a tavern, he wouldn’t return home for a day or two.
She hadn’t cared in the slightest what Alford did there or which women he met.
As Lisi and Kai entered, the chatter of patrons seated around the tavern fell silent all at once as they turned to look at the two refined newcomers.
Instinctively, Lisi pressed down firmly on the brim of her fedora to hide her face and followed closely behind Kai to a corner seat.
“See? I told you we’d stand out.”
Kai spoke as he took his seat.
“It’s because of you. You’re just too tall.”
“I doubt it.”
“Then it must be this hair color of yours. It’s quite distinctive.”
Lisi twirled a strand of her reddish-silver hair around her forefinger as she spoke.
“If you don’t want to stand out, you should wear a hooded robe, Lisi. From head to toe, you’re the kind of person people can’t help but keep looking at.”
As if to prove his point, Kai’s eyes never left her.
Strangely, every time Kai stared at her with that intense gaze, Lisi felt fidgety—her chest tingled, her waist tensed, and her toes curled inside her shoes.
“Anyway…”
Thankfully, Kai turned his gaze aside.
“Do you realize, Lisi, that the rumors about your secret affair with Viscount Alford Fuchs are gradually becoming accepted as truth?”
“I’m aware. It even made the papers recently.”
“You surely know the source of these rumors… How long do you plan to let this continue?”
“Has this rumor caused you any direct trouble?”
“Not yet. But who knows what might happen in the future?”
“Then let’s wait a little longer. Things taste better once they’ve fully ripened.”
Since it was still before the main meal, they glanced at the menu, planning to order something light.
“How about salted mutton, cheese, rye bread, vegetable stew, and dried mushrooms roasted over the fire? Oh—and I’m thinking of having a mug of beer. What about you?”
Kai asked.
“I’ve never drunk alcohol before.”
“Oh, really?”
For some reason, Kai’s eyes lit up with delight.
“Why that look?”
“What look?”
“The look of someone scheming something.”
“Scheming? I’m just thinking I’d like to share an experience my wife has never tried before.”
“Oh, I see.”
Lisi thought she understood what Kai had in mind.
Since she’d never drunk before—and given her delicate appearance—he must have assumed she’d be highly sensitive to alcohol.
Most likely, he was hoping she’d get tipsy so he could enjoy watching her antics.
There was one thing Lisi hadn’t told Kai.
Though she’d never touched alcohol in this life, she had in her previous one.
And quite a lot, at that.
She knew exactly what happened when she drank.
“Let’s leave it for today. Gauzer will be here soon.”
Just as they were nearly finished eating, Gauzer walked into the tavern.
“Oh, who’s this? Gauzer? I barely recognized you!”
“You were drinking heavily until this morning—now you’re back already? You’ll drink yourself to death.”
“And why dressed so nicely? Trying to charm Zelin or something?”
Gauzer seemed to be a familiar face here; everyone recognized him and chuckled.
Gauzer gave them a half-hearted reply and walked over to Lisi and Kai. As all eyes followed him, Lisi regretted choosing this place for their meeting.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss.”
Gauzer spoke politely.
“You’re quite popular, Gauzer.”
Gauzer flushed with embarrassment.
“Well… I’ve just been drinking to forget the shock…”
“Sit down.”
As soon as Gauzer sat, Lisi cut straight to the point.
“Gauzer. Work for me.”
“What?”
“I… La…”
Lisi began to speak but quickly closed her mouth when she noticed everyone around them straining to hear.
“This place clearly won’t do.”
After settling the bill, they headed into the bustling marketplace.
Ironically, a crowded place like this was better for secret conversations.
Walking between Gauzer and Kai, Lisi spoke in a low voice.
“There’s a gold mine in Lavent.”
“Yes, Viscount Fuchs’s property.”
“It’s mine now.”
“What?”
“I want you to manage it.”
“Oh…”
Gauzer stared at Lisi as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“You keep surprising me, Miss—no, Countess. The Lavent gold mine belongs to you now?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re entrusting it to me?”
“Yes. Everything—from hiring laborers to managing the extracted ore—I’m putting it all in your hands.”
“Goodness…”
Gauzer rubbed his jaw with his palm, looking both delighted and troubled.
“I’m grateful you trust me so deeply, Miss—but I simply can’t take on such a heavy responsibility. As you can see, I’m just a drunkard now.”
“Whether or not you can handle it isn’t what matters.”
“What?”
“What matters is…”
Lisi stopped walking and looked up at Gauzer.
“I want to entrust you with the only asset I have. That gold mine, Gauzer—you must manage it.”
Her tone was gentle, yet it was a command.
Some might have taken offense, but Gauzer didn’t.
He remembered Iris Wittelo from the ducal estate—the girl who’d lived in shadows.
A Wittelo by name, yet not truly one—pitiful, sorrowful.
A child never even permitted to lift her gaze to the sky.
Buffeted by the wind, shrouded in darkness, she’d seemed on the verge of crumbling into dust.
Now that very girl stood before him as a confident countess, giving him orders.
Overwhelmed by emotion, Gauzer’s eyes welled up again.
“You’ve changed so much, Miss—no, Countess.”
Lisi smiled.
“Do you like what you see?”
“Very much.”
Gauzer squeezed his eyes shut tightly, then opened them.
He’d once pleaded with the Duke to improve Iris’s treatment—and for that, he’d been falsely accused of various crimes and expelled from the ducal household.
Because of the Duke’s fabricated charges, no one would hire him.
His wife, worn down by poverty, had left with their child.
As the child departed, holding his mother’s hand, he’d cast Gauzer a look filled with humiliation and resentment.
With nothing left, Gauzer had drowned his pain and loneliness in drink, hoping only that the world would end when he awoke.
But the world hadn’t ended—and in this relentless world, the pitiful little girl had returned as a dignified woman to find him.
The child who hadn’t dared meet even a maid’s eyes now looked at him with unwavering confidence and said:
“I trust you enough to give you everything I own—live for me.”
There was only one possible answer.
“I shall live for you, Countess.”
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.]
Most Commented This Week
The Villain Has Gone Mad For Me (Completed Main Story)
I’m The Lowest-Ranking Daughter Of A Martial Arts Villain (2 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Became the Assassin Family’s Foster Daughter (Completed Main Story)
Men of the Harem (137 Chapters Left to Complete)
The Duke Only Needs My Child (Completed Main Story)
At the End of Ruin, There You Are (56 Chapters Left to Complete)
She’s a Villainess but her Husband is Handsome (Completed Main Story)
People Aren’t Meant to Be Fixed! (4 Chapters Left to Complete)
My Discarded Fiancé Returned (Completed Main Story)
Summer Must Die (16 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Received The First Time Of My Extraordinary Superior (9 Chapters Left to Complete)
Regret With All Your Might (Completed Main Story)