“Come to think of it, I’ve heard that the gardener has some skill in crochet. Have you met him?”
“Yes.”
I explained that I had taken a break at Heide’s house while walking and shook the doll.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. Um…… It resembles the lady, though.”
“Blonde hair and a red dress are common, but does it look that way to you too?”
“……”
Philip, who suddenly closed his mouth, nodded with an inexplicable expression.
I was about to ask why he looked like that.
“She’s here, Mother.”
Turning around, I saw Laila, who had arrived with Marlboro, politely greeting.
Marlboro was also, like Philip, without a cravat and with a couple of buttons undone.
Laila was dressed in a negligee that reached her ankles, wearing a cardigan over it. Her beauty was as usual, but she looked much more comfortable and familiar.
“You’re having a negligee party?”
“Yes, thanks to Mother.”
Laila’s eyes sparkled shyly as she gently nodded her head.
“Since there weren’t many people gathered, the conversation progressed quickly. A negligee party is a place that can only be created with very close friends, so I’m thrilled to be able to do it today.”
From her reaction, it seemed that she would have a very harmonious time with the guests today.
“Mother, please come and join us.”
I honestly refused the invitation to join the negligee party.
“I’m pleased with the offer, but I’ll rest.”
The walk had been tiring, longer than I thought, and I wasn’t looking forward to meeting Dalina again.
“There’s the boutique opening ceremony tomorrow, so no classes either. Enjoy the party tonight with peace of mind.”
Laila stepped back at this fairly reasonable reason.
Women in negligees were visible across the corridor.
Their clothes were not thin, but it might have been a bit embarrassing to show the negligeelike attire to Philip and Marlboro.
“It would be best for the men to clear out now. Laila, have a good night.”
I gently patted Laila’s shoulder and headed to my room.
I glanced back after a few steps and saw Philip entering the room where the men were gathering.
And Marlboro was kissing Laila goodnight.
He also waved to Laila and entered the room where the men were gathered.
Even from afar, he looked utterly smitten with his wife, Laila.
I smiled spontaneously, warmed by the sight of the happy couple.
Just then, Philip suddenly came out of the men’s room and followed me closely.
“Why, why are you following me?”
“I’m going to escort you on your way to rest.”
“What?”
It’s not outside; it’s inside the mansion, so there’s no need for that?
“Let’s go.”
But Philip stepped ahead without giving me a chance to refuse.
It wasn’t far to my room, so I thought, why not, and stood by his side.
Walking side by side, Philip glanced briefly at my hand and coughed awkwardly.
“Did you buy the doll that resembles the lady?”
He seemed to want to continue the conversation that had been interrupted earlier.
“I was going to buy it, but they just gave it to me.”
“They just gave it to you?”
“…….”
Instead of answering right away, I examined Philip’s expression. His eyes were slightly widened.
Seeing that, I thought I understood the meaning of his unknown expression earlier.
I had been quiet for a while, and it seemed he was suspicious that I was slowly revealing my true colors.
“Then did I steal it?”
Philip coughed again at my question, picking at his thoughts.
“Hem! No, it’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t mean that.”
Philip’s face was truly bewildered.
I nodded once and turned my eyes forward again, then stopped my feet.
“Lady, I just…”
Philip hesitated to speak.
“To be honest, I don’t feel very good about that doll.”
“…Yes?”
“It doesn’t resemble the lady.”
“…Well, but it’s cute, isn’t it?”
“It is cute. But I worry that the gardener may have special feelings for the lady.”
I couldn’t understand why Philip was saying this.
When I looked at him blankly, he struggled to say,
“If you exchange such an item with the gardener, strange rumors might arise, and it might be worrisome.”
Ah, as I’m still before the divorce, he is advising me to be careful not to spread any rumors. But I found it so absurd that I laughed.
This was an overreaction from Philip, so I shook the doll at him in a showy way.
“Such an item? It’s just a doll.”
Who would worry about rumors because of a pincushion doll? Literally, the blondehaired doll in a red dress was so common.
“Besides, strange rumors? Even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter, does it? The divorce isn’t far off, is it?”
“Well, of course that’s true.”
An overly flustered Philip was silent for a moment and then sighed deeply. And he gently pressed his forehead with his finger.
“Lady, even though you’ve stamped it, there is something called a divorce contemplation period. It’s a system that means to think carefully about whether you really need to divorce.”
“……?”
I didn’t know why Philip was saying this. As I rolled my eyes in silence, Philip emphasized his words.
“So, can’t we not divorce?”
I shook my head without thinking.
“Why not?”
Philip’s attitude towards me had become more relaxed since he hadn’t been treating me as an outsider lately.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t go through with the divorce.
It wasn’t just one or two days that Philip had suffered from Ellen.
Besides, there was Dalina, and the original story’s flow.
In the original, Philip proceeded with the divorce resolutely. Even if it weren’t the original, I had stamped the final decision for divorce.
Philip may be wonderful, but I don’t have the heart to challenge reckless love like the original Ellen.
“Even though there is a contemplation period, our divorce cannot be invalidated.”
“Yes?”
“I sent the final divorce stamp to the court.”
Philip’s hesitant expression was strange.
He probably thought I was only saying that, and it wouldn’t actually happen.
Just as I was about to assure him that it was no joke, my attention was drawn away from the conversation.
Philip also turned his head. He must have seen Dalina, dressed in negligee, and her maid standing in front of my room.
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.]
