“No!”
“Adi, no. Last time−.”
“Still no! Tell him not to come, he’s a bad person…!”
Aeli expressed difficulty with the child clinging to half of Lutis’ body, screaming.
Just looking at how he acted towards Noel, she expected it wouldn’t be easy to persuade him, but this was truly beyond imagination.
It was clear that what Noel did to them that day was etched as a bad memory.
‘…What is all this, in the middle of checking letters!’
Since morning, someone was sent saying to have tea time together, so she finished preparing and headed to the child’s room.
In a corner of the room with surrounding staff sent away, leaving just the two of them, Lutis appeared from the door connected to the bedroom and handed over a letter.
As she checked the letter with the wax seal already torn off, likely read by him first, the child across from her who was also curious about the contents had already come to her side to read it together.
“He hit and said mean things… I hate him…”
It continued like this afterwards.
To think a short one-line letter with not much content could have this much presence.
The child who suddenly clung to Lutis’ waist, getting up from the couch he was sitting on, seemed to have no intention of letting go until his words were heard.
Even when Aeli tried to grab the child’s back to detach him from Lutis, wondering where such strength came from, he didn’t budge at all.
‘It’s a bit awkward with Lutis right now because of the conversation we had over dinner yesterday…!’
It wasn’t like they fought, but there’s an indescribable atmosphere, isn’t there.
They talked normally and not much changed, but she couldn’t help but be conscious of it.
Aeli gave up on forcibly detaching the child and instead tried to gently persuade him with words.
Even if left alone like this, Noel would visit the mansion as he pleased anyway, and then the child definitely wouldn’t stay still.
It would be fortunate if he didn’t get splashed with water as soon as he arrived.
“Adi, Adi.”
“No! No! Don’t do it!”
“…”
Even though she hadn’t said anything yet.
Feeling like she became a shameless adult, Aeli rolled her eyes.
Even so, with nowhere else to look besides the child’s black and round back of the head, she had no choice but to return her gaze to the same place.
“Last time, you were both just too surprised, it won’t be like that this time. Uncle promises, okay? He says he’ll apologize to Adi too. Let’s meet him just once, hmm?”
“Liar! It doesn’t say that here!”
“Huh? But it’s true? Adi doesn’t believe mommy’s words?”
“N-no…!”
Perhaps from today onwards, he may not believe her.
Needless to say, it was a lie. Noel never said such things.
‘But if I don’t do this, the child’s throat will be hoarse before Noel even arrives.’
It was an unavoidable choice.
Lutis gave Aeli a questioning look at her words.
It was obvious he was asking if this was really something agreed upon with Noel, but Aeli looked up at Lutis with a shrug.
The meaning was that it’s done now, so please just go along with it for now.
‘These days, lies just flow out smoothly whenever I open my mouth.’
Her conscience seemed to sting, but she decided to turn a blind eye to it.
At least Aeli didn’t want Noel and the child’s relationship to be ruined like this.
She may be angry that her life was threatened, but considering the special circumstances, it wasn’t something she couldn’t understand. So for now, she could endure it.
‘…Above all, if their relationship sours like this, it seems I’ll have no ties to the Masons for life, and that also weighs on my mind.’
As parents, isn’t it natural to want one’s child to be close not only with them but also with other family members?
If their relationship had been bad, she wouldn’t know, but as far as Aeli remembered, not only Noel but also her parents and staff quite adored the child.
Especially in the case of Aeli’s father, he went overboard even more than Noel, wanting to preserve the clothes the child was wearing when first held as a family heirloom, only to be scolded by her mother.
‘Since it was to that extent, it probably won’t be much different now.’
Aeli wanted the child to fully receive that affection while growing up.
Moreover, they could become the child’s strength anytime, so no matter what, it would be better than having only them.
Thinking that in an instant,
“Then shall I inflict the same injuries on him?”
“…Huh?”
“If you want, I can do that much. If you don’t like receiving an apology, there’s no choice but to pay him back.”
Looking down at the child clinging to his side, Lutis opened his mouth, and Aeli looked up at the two with astonished eyes.
She asked him to help persuade the child a bit, but he was inciting a fight instead.
“Ah, no, that’s a bit…”
“…”
“…Then daddy has to protect mommy here.”
“Alright.”
“A-and he has to apologize too!”
“I understand.”
“…”
But looking at the result, Aeli was at a loss for words at the point that he was persuaded in the end.
‘This works…?’
Judging by Lutis’ expression that somehow seemed disappointed, it seemed he was half-serious.
She decided to let it slide for now since it worked out even if it backfired.
Anyway, that’s the rational reason up to here.
To list the personal reason, it was because Noel took the brooch, so she couldn’t move freely even inside the mansion.
Lutis’ stance was that it would be fine to go without the brooch since it would be found out anyway, but she wanted to delay the spread of rumors as much as possible.
As discussed earlier, it was that fatal to her reputation.
‘…There’s nothing to say if asked what’s important between sooner or later for a reputation that will be ruined anyway.’
She just wanted it that way.
She was contemplating whether to somehow make or search for a magical tool that would change her appearance if there was no response from Noel.
Seeing Noel respond much earlier than expected, Aeli wiped her palm on the hem of her skirt, thinking she would get an answer either way.
Whether that answer would be a gain or loss for her seemed to remain to be seen.
[This is the timeline separator]Noel, who sent a letter that he would visit in the afternoon, kept his notice.
“…”
“…”
If there was a non-issue issue, it would be that the ‘afternoon’ was really right when noon came.
Thanks to that, the child who faced Noel at snack time after lunch glared at him with a displeased face.
“…”
“Aren’t you going to apologize?”
“…?”
“You ruined my clothes, hurt mommy, and said bad things too. Aren’t you going to apologize?”
Aeli was a bit surprised when the energy felt from Lutis when he was in a bad mood was reminiscent in the child glaring at Noel.
Even though his face resembled Lutis a lot, she had been off guard thinking his personality, taste, and magical skills took after her.
No matter how kind and cute the child is, how could the child of a Sword Master be ordinary?
The child who stubbornly insisted on sitting together sat in the center of a long couch with Lutis and Aeli on either side, narrowing his eyes.
On his small knees, he noticeably placed a rabbit doll that Lutis gave him as one of his birthday presents.
“…Fine. I apologize. Happy now?”
“I really don’t like it…”
Still, perhaps because it was in front of the child, Noel opened his mouth in a much gentler tone than last time, albeit reluctantly.
Of course, even that didn’t seem satisfactory, as the child just mumbled softly and kept fiddling with the ears of the rabbit doll on his lap.
After making a displeasured expression for a moment, Noel took a sip of black tea and said as he put down the cup,
“Anyw-”
“Don’t eat that! It’s mine, I said it’s mine!”
“…”
Correction. He tried to pick up the eclair in front of him after putting down the cup, but was scolded by the child.
The child who was pouting suddenly shouted, making Aeli turn her head in surprise.
Needless to say, Noel also closed his half-open mouth and retracted his hand.
Aeli opened her mouth while looking at the child.
“…Adi, you can just ask him to bring more. Wow, there are a lot of snacks here. Right?”
“No, it’s mine! Uncle can’t eat any!”
“T-then these cookies are?”
“Those are mine too!”
“The canapés too? Adi, you don’t eat canapés when they come out with desserts because you like sweet things.”
“T-those are for mommy and daddy.”
“…”
“…”
Oh my.
Aeli, who couldn’t hide her astonishment for a moment, opened her mouth slightly.
She felt cold sweat running down her back in the suddenly awkward atmosphere.
“…I’ll let you eat pudding later instead. How about it? Adi, you said last time you were disappointed you only ate the milk flavor, right?”
“…”
“Let’s eat two today. We’ll eat the milk flavor and also the custard pudding topped with chocolate syrup and fresh cream.”
“…Tha-”
“-Enough, stop it. I won’t eat it.”
Perhaps because she was trying hard to make eye contact with the child and persuade him, Noel opened his mouth, interrupting the conversation between Aeli and the child.
Aeli inwardly snickered at Noel, who wrinkled his eyebrows saying he didn’t really want to eat it anyway, unable to show it outwardly.
‘When we were young, we would fight over who ate more when there was only one cookie left while eating snacks together?’
For reference, when they checked later, it turned out the cookies just came out in an odd number.
For Aeli who knew Noel liked desserts no less than her, his appearance of putting on airs in front of his nephew was just amusing.
The child glared at Noel and stuffed the eclair he was about to pick up earlier into his mouth in one bite, mumbling.
Watching that, Noel sighed and placed something that appeared in the air on the table.
A palm-sized crystal orb that must have been taken out from a dimensional storage was glowing a light gold color.
Aeli widened her eyes and looked at Noel.
“This is…”
“It’s the result of an experiment I did with the hair I took from you and my hair, though I’m not sure if I did it right. If you’re really Aeli as you claim, we’ll be able to tell.”
“…”
Aeli was flustered looking at the crystal orb in front of her.
The crystal orb, which only glows in a gold color in the case of close blood relatives, emitted a clear light only for parents and children, and siblings.
As the relationship becomes more distant, the light becomes murky, and if they are complete strangers, it takes on a black color-.
‘I already knew it would match anyway, so let’s say that. …He did this overnight?’
The test result is very simple, just dripping a drop of liquid extracted from each hair into the crystal orb, but it takes 10 hours just to extract that liquid.
Since you can’t take your eyes off it for a moment, you can only extract one liquid at a time, so it basically takes about four days.
‘-No wonder the area under his eyes is dark!’
It seemed he experimented without even sleeping as soon as he returned.
Aeli, moved by Noel’s drive, ended up hitting her forehead with her hand.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
