The day of the 100th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the Magic Tower.
Demian wore a white jacket over a white shirt densely embroidered with red embroidery on the front.
It contrasted subtly yet matched well with Arasila, who was wearing the all-white Magic Tower uniform embroidered with gold.
Demian was quite familiar with the Magic Tower, having visited frequently for the magic airship business.
However, it was his first time entering a space other than Arasila’s research lab.
A Magic Tower employee stood at the entrance of the banquet hall to check the guest list. Arasila confidently walked in without giving her name like others did.
There was no need to state her name, as the four star badges shining on her chest vouched for her identity.
Demian looked around the banquet hall carefully and asked curiously when he discovered hundreds of magic stones shining brilliantly in different colors on the ceiling.
“How do they shine in such different colors?”
“It’s simple. You just infuse magic into the stones. Everyone has a different color of magic.”
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Magic Tower, the magicians submitted magic stones infused with their own magic.
And those magic stones were now delighting people’s eyes with their brilliant light.
“One of them contains my magic too.”
“Where is it?”
“Why don’t you try to find it?”
Arasila smiled mischievously.
Though she had used magic in front of him several times, he probably hadn’t paid attention to what color her magic was.
However, Demian looked carefully at the colorful glowing stones and pointed to one of them.
It was a magic stone that sparkled in an especially amethyst-like purple glow.
“Isn’t it that one?”
Arasila showed a surprised reaction that he found her stone in one try.
“How did you know?”
“Somehow, it just stood out the most to me.”
“That’s amazing. Out of so many stones, mine caught your eye right away.”
Perhaps he had been paying attention to her magic in his own way. It was astonishing that he pinpointed it accurately even though there were several stones of similar color.
Just as the two were about to take a step further inside, it happened.
“Arasila.”
A familiar voice called Arasila from behind.
When she turned her head, Frederick was standing there with a bright smile. His gently curving eyes were more visible thanks to his forehead being neatly swept back.
“There you are. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive.”
“Frederick, you’re attending today’s event too?”
“Yes. I came to congratulate on behalf of the imperial family.”
He answered kindly as he strode over and grasped both of Arasila’s hands tightly.
“I missed you. Have you been well?”
Demian’s brow twitched at the affectionate question. He stepped in before Arasila could answer.
“I missed seeing you too. I’m glad to see you looking well, Your Highness.”
He deliberately interrupted between the two, making them let go of hands, and shamelessly intercepted the conversation.
Frederick glared at Demian coldly for a moment before quickly turning his head away.
“I was lonely being here by myself since I don’t know any other magicians besides you.”
He naturally ignored Demian’s words and continued what he was saying. He used to at least pretend to acknowledge him before, but now it seemed he was going to treat him as if he didn’t exist.
Arasila showed an extremely indifferent reaction to Frederick’s words.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. So won’t you keep me company all day today? I have no one else to talk to but you.”
Frederick drooped his eyebrows as if whining. Demian felt slightly uncomfortable at the sight.
To ask her to keep him company all day when her partner was right there beside her. It was no different from saying he would snatch away his wife right in front of him.
Just as he was about to protest Frederick’s behavior.
“Frederick.”
Arasila called Frederick in a low voice. Both men looked at her at the same time.
“But you’re the crown prince. Even if it’s awkward because you don’t know anyone but me, you have to endure it.”
“…Huh?”
“Be strong. Hang in there. Persevere.”
She advised Frederick like a stern father and placed her hand on Demian’s arm.
“Above all, I can’t stay by your side because I have a husband. Demian doesn’t know anyone either.”
“…You’re not telling him to be strong?”
Arasila glanced at Demian and shrugged as she answered.
“What for when I’m here?”
“…”
“I’ll be with him the whole time so he won’t feel awkward.”
Frederick’s smile cracked. The corners of his mouth slowly formed a straight line.
Arasila was clearly drawing a line with him right now. That her husband Demian took priority over her friend Frederick.
“If you’re really bored, come talk to us. We’ll welcome you anytime. Well then, hang in there.”
Arasila gave a final perfunctory word of comfort and pulled Demian along.
As he obediently followed Arasila, Demian flashed a triumphant smile at Frederick.
No matter how long they had been friends for 7 years since the academy, one couldn’t covet a husband’s place.
Frederick clenched his fist tightly, his face hardening. He felt no pain even as his skin turned deathly pale and his nails left marks on his palm.
As he glared at Demian who had ostentatiously put his arm around Arasila’s shoulders, he muttered.
“Demian Vandermir, that smile of yours will soon be your last.”
His low murmur disappeared into the air without reaching the two.
Philip, the head of the Magic Tower, was a man who knew things.
Knowing that no one would listen attentively if he gave a long speech, he went up to give the opening address, delivered a very brief greeting, and came down to receive people’s applause.
Frederick, who followed to give a congratulatory speech on the podium, didn’t take up much time either.
People scattered throughout the banquet hall, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. The atmosphere was so free that it felt like a festival rather than an official event.
Spotting her juniors far away, Arasila raised her hand and called out to them loudly.
“Sally, Rudy!”
“Ah, senior!”
Sally and Rudy, who were approaching her with glad faces, flinched when they noticed Demian’s presence.
Though they had met him a few times during the magic airship project, his impression wasn’t friendly, so he still felt unfamiliar and awkward whenever they saw him.
The two bowed their heads to Demian, fidgeting and clasping their hands.
“H-hello.”
“It’s, it’s been a while.”
Demian silently nodded his chin to acknowledge their greeting. He deliberately didn’t say much, seeing how uncomfortable they were with him.
Arasila burst out laughing at the sight of her juniors twisting their bodies like pretzels, unable to stay still.
“What’s this, why are you acting so awkwardly? Is it because Demian makes you uncomfortable?”
Sally and Rudy jumped up and denied it, having been hit right on the mark.
“No, senior! Th-that’s not it at all!”
“H-how could that be when His Lordship treats us so well!”
However, contrary to their words, they couldn’t even look in Demian’s direction.
Finding their restless appearance both cute and pitiful, Arasila finally sent the two juniors away. Sally and Rudy bowed and left hurriedly with bright faces.
Surprisingly, even after they left, people kept coming around Arasila and Demian.
“Senior, congratulations on your successful project.”
“Thanks.”
“At this rate, you’ll surely become the next head of the Magic Tower, senior!”
“That goes without saying.”
They were mostly junior magicians who came to greet Arasila and make a good impression.
Also, contrary to expectations, not a single person picked a fight over the knight Demian standing next to Arasila.
“Wow, Arasila. You look good with your husband!”
“I heard you two get along really well as a couple, and seeing it with my own eyes makes me a bit envious.”
Rather, those who were Arasila’s peers or superiors showed a friendly attitude.
Demian, who had been worried that fights might break out because of him, felt relieved. He didn’t want to ruin an important occasion for Arasila.
Just as they were having not-so-bad conversations with other magicians.
“Lady Arasila, the Tower Master is calling for you.”
An employee quietly approached and informed her. Arasila nodded slightly and whispered to Demian.
“I’ll go see the Tower Master for a moment, so you take a rest too.”
“Alright.”
While Arasila went to meet Philip, Demian also left his spot to go to the restroom.
And a little while later, when he returned, Arasila had not yet come back.
Demian was heading towards where he originally was to wait for Arasila, when he spotted the group of peers he had talked to earlier.
As he briefly contemplated whether he should greet them, an unpleasant sound soon flowed into his ears.
“Doesn’t that Arasila girl annoy you so much? Always pretending to be rational and cold.”
“What kind of person doesn’t know humility. When you compliment her, she just nods as if it’s only natural.”
Those who had acted so kindly in front of Arasila and Demian had changed their faces as if they had never done so, once the two were away.
Demian deliberately suppressed his presence and continued to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“But does she really believe she can become the Tower Master?”
“That might have been possible before she got married. Who would support a married woman as Tower Master? Who knows when she’ll have a baby and quit.”
“Looking back now, it seems like she only learned magic to marry well. She wasn’t truly passionate about magic like us.”
“Sigh, from my perspective, I’m just envious that she was born into a good family, dabbled a bit in the Magic Tower, and made a good marriage.”
“Hey! Don’t be envious. She’ll never rise above where she is now anyway. That’s when you can rise up instead.”
Low-quality laughter erupted. At first Demian was bewildered, but gradually anger rose up.
Arasila had never been negligent in her Magic Tower work or magic to deserve such backbiting. Wasn’t she always overflowing with pride as a magician?
What do they know to speak so carelessly.
Unable to endure any longer, he rushed towards the group without hesitation.
“On what grounds are you spouting such nonsense?”
As the low, heavy voice resounded fiercely, people simultaneously stopped talking and froze.
Turning their heads slightly to confirm Demian’s presence, they hiccupped in fear at his cold, beast-like face.
Where was their excited chatter from earlier, now cowardly shutting their mouths upon being caught. Demian approached them closely and said.
“My wife will not quit the Magic Tower, and has never been insincere about magic. And it’s not that she lacks humility, but that she has good self-awareness.”
It’s true that she succeeded in business, it’s true that she made achievements, and it’s also true that she’s exceptionally capable.
He couldn’t understand why denying objectively evident strengths was considered humility, while acknowledging them was considered arrogance.
Those who saw it as the latter were already so twisted inside that they would have cursed Arasila even if she had actually responded humbly.
Demian swept his cold gaze over the people who couldn’t meet his eyes, and threw his final rebuttal.
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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