When Aeli opened her eyes, feeling as if she had been struck by lightning, the child’s face filled her vision.
The child, who had somehow escaped from her arms, was in the midst of bursting into tears with teardrops hanging from their eyes.
Aeli, utterly bewildered, opened her mouth.
“Ah, Adi? Why are you crying?!”
“Uh… Uwaaa, Mommy…”
As soon as she asked, the child, who had been kneeling on the bed and blinking their large eyes, clung to her tightly. Aeli reflexively patted the back of the child who buried their face in her neck and sobbed.
After a while, her eyes met Lutis’ who had woken up from the sound.
“…”
“…”
How many minutes did they spend exchanging glances, wondering what the situation was?
As the child calmed down somewhat, their sobbing gradually subsided.
Aeli sat up and placed the child on her lap, looking at their face.
“Why did our son suddenly cry? Did you have a scary dream?”
“Sniff…”
“…Hmm, your hands and feet are so cold. Do you want to lie down a little longer with Mommy and Daddy?”
When she asked while wiping the child’s tear-soaked face, the child’s head slowly moved up and down.
Feeling the warm body temperature, as is common for young children who have just woken up, Aeli lay back down on the bed with the child in her arms.
As she rubbed the cold hands and feet, the child kept trying to grab her hands as if playing, so she had to reposition her grip several times.
Aeli stared intently at the child who kept tightly grasping her fingers.
Thanks to the constant rubbing, warmth was returning slowly but surely.
Quietly lifting her fingertips, Aeli gently tickled the small soles of the child’s feet.
“…”
“…Hehe, pfft…!”
“Huh? Adi, why are you laughing? When Mommy rubbed so hard for you?”
“Ahaha, Mo- Mommy is tick- ahaha…! Tickling me, eek!”
Giggle.
The child, who seemed to shrug their shoulders for a moment, then rolled around on the bed, twisting their body and laughing loudly.
After playing a bit more like that, the child’s mood seemed to improve, so Aeli asked while fixing the child’s tangled black hair.
“So Adi, why were you really crying?”
“Uh…”
“Hmm?”
“That, that’s…”
The child rolled their eyes and glanced at Lutis.
Then, after making eye contact with Aeli for a moment, the child buried their head under the blanket and shouted.
“…I don’t know!”
“…”
“…”
…Huh? Aeli blinked blankly and tilted her head.
This reaction was unexpected, and above all, it was because the child’s adorable lower body was fully exposed as they hurriedly tried to hide under the blanket but didn’t cover themselves enough.
Aeli bit the inside of her cheek to hold back laughter, lest the child get sulky, and raised her gaze slightly.
Lutis, who had been watching this scene without blinking an eye, had a faint smile on his lips.
Lutis got up from the bed and lifted the child, who had been hiding their upper body under the blanket.
The child, who had been covering their eyes with both hands and burying their head in the bed sheet, had to awkwardly make eye contact with Lutis.
Lutis slowly opened his mouth to the child.
“It’s already past noon, so we should have a meal first. I’ll have it prepared in the room, so go wash up in your room in the meantime.”
“Then, then can I wash by myself without calling the maid sisters?”
“It will be inconvenient.”
“But if they come and see Mommy, what should I…”
“I won’t call them to this room, so it doesn’t matter.”
“…Then after eating, can I go, go for a walk too?”
“That… Mommy has eyes watching her, so she won’t be able to go out, and I’ll have to check if anyone comes in, so it will be difficult for us to go together.”
There was a hint of warmth in Lutis’ voice as he leisurely made eye contact with the child and moved his steps.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t been like this until now, but rather, the tone of his voice was a bit lower and more relaxed, so to speak.
Unlike his stiff manner of speaking, the tone itself was still kind and affectionate.
‘…Is it because he slept deeply after a long time?’
But if that were the case, didn’t he have even less sleep when he was in the duchy?
Aeli narrowed her eyes in suspicion and rubbed the back of her neck, tilting her head.
In the meantime, she completely forgot about figuring out why the child had cried uncontrollably as soon as they woke up, so she didn’t know the reason even later.
[Timeline Separator]It was the next morning.
The child had a late lunch the day before and spent some time chatting with Mommy and Daddy in the room.
Then, when the time of the most intense sunlight passed, the child said they would have a snack and ran to the room where Sioren was. Unlike usual, instead of taking a walk with them, the child even dragged Sioren out to play in the garden.
Aeli, who was watching that scene from inside the bedroom through the window, couldn’t help but be surprised.
The child, who had been almost inseparable from her, was now playing well on their own. It made her happy but also a little sad…
She felt an indescribable emotion.
‘Is it because they made a friend…?’
Although Sioren looked older than the child in every way to be called a friend.
Still, just the fact that there was a peer in the ducal castle, which was usually filled with only adults, seemed to satisfy the child greatly.
If Sioren had been burdened by the child, Aeli would have restrained them, but although seeming slightly troubled, Sioren didn’t look very displeased, so Aeli decided to let them be.
“Lutis.”
“Yes.”
“…Do you want to try making friends too?”
While having such thoughts, Aeli turned to Lutis and suggested the same solution to the new separation anxiety sufferer as the child.
He had an expression that clearly showed he was reluctantly preparing to go to the temple for consecration, although he didn’t really want to.
Lutis, who had dismissed the servants and was changing clothes alone, hurriedly buttoned his shirt when his eyes met Aeli’s and said,
“…What are you suddenly talking about?”
“No, I just…”
“…”
“No, it was just something I said.”
Aeli gave up cleanly, thinking that if she said more, she would only get rejected.
If it seemed possible with just one suggestion, Lutis would have already made acquaintances with all the peers in the empire even before entering the academy.
She awkwardly smacked her lips, and Lutis, who had been glancing at Aeli’s light indoor attire, opened his mouth.
“If you don’t start getting ready soon, the sun will have set by the time we return.”
“Yeah. So we should hurry.”
“Indeed.”
“…”
“…”
“…?”
Blink blink.
Aeli, who had been blinking her eyes quietly, belatedly pointed to herself with her finger.
“…Me?”
“You think I’m going alone?”
“No, that’s obviously, well…”
“…”
“…Hey, realistically, how can I go?”
Does he think she’s been hiding in the bedroom all this time because she wants to play hide-and-seek? Aeli raised one corner of her lips, feeling absurd, and waved her hands restlessly before doing a dry wash of her face.
If she went to the temple in this state, it would be no different than saying, “Please catch me.”
Even knowing that, Lutis asked her what she was doing if not preparing now, which was ridiculous.
Lutis, who had been quietly looking at Aeli, continued.
“They said a parent or equivalent guardian can go in together, clearly.”
“So you have to take Adi and go! If I go and say I’m Adi’s mother, we’ll all be heading to the chopping block. Even if I say I haven’t used maintenance magic or black magic, who would believe that after seeing me like this?”
“…We can go as guardians.”
Lutis said after a pause.
“Creating a suitable identity or two isn’t a difficult task. Didn’t you have some jewelry with perception-lowering magic among the ones you put in the jewelry box before?”
“When did I… Ah.”
Come to think of it, there was.
There was a brooch that Aeli’s elder brother had given her over a decade ago, saying he had made it as a test.
‘…But how does he remember that?’
If she wore the brooch and draped a cloak, people wouldn’t immediately ask who she was, but at least no one would think it was Aeli.
If she had truly come back to life unscathed, she couldn’t hide forever like this.
There would be limits, so if it was something she had to face anyway, it might not be too bad to go out into the world now without regrets.
However…
Aeli, who had been quietly listening to Lutis’ argument, let out a deep sigh.
What he said wasn’t wrong, but the most important fact was missing.
“…That magic makes it difficult to remember faces, but it can’t change hair or eye color.”
Even if she hid it with a cloak, her eyes might go unnoticed, but with this hair, she was bound to stand out.
Just the fact that she was one of the few with black hair in the empire would draw attention, let alone if she was next to a member of House Rathleaf.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to watch and congratulate the child on receiving the consecration, but she was still anxious.
Aeli, who had been agonizing for a long time, was about to refuse, saying it wouldn’t work after all, when it happened.
“Uh, then, then will I go with just Daddy…?”
“…Adi?”
The child asked, looking up at them from between Aeli and Lutis, having entered at some unknown point.
Aeli was startled for a moment, putting aside the seriousness, and was moved.
It was evident that the maids had dressed the child diligently as they were going to receive the consecration, and the child looked so adorable in that attire.
A cape with a white background and gold embroidery on the collar and hem. Matching white shorts and top. Knee-high socks with a beret as an accent.
Finally, seeing the ribbon beautifully decorating the child’s neck, Aeli unknowingly bent down to meet the child’s eye level.
That’s when the restless child shouted first.
“I thought, I thought Mommy was coming too…?!”
“…Well, Adi. Mommy’s hair is too eye-catching, so I don’t think-”
“Just- Just for a bit! I can change it! I can change it…”
“…Huh?”
Aeli blinked at the child’s words.
Before the child could say anything more, they stretched out their hand in a flash. The gesture was full of urgency, as if they were afraid Aeli would still say no.
Aeli rolled her eyes as she realized that what unfolded in the child’s hand was color-changing magic.
“Uh, well, but we need to do this with a specific color…”
“…Adi, wait! Not that! Dark brown! Let’s do dark brown!”
She muttered softly, but failing to specify the color, she witnessed the moment the color designation was fixed to transparent and shouted to dissuade the child in horror.
‘B-Bald is a bit…!’
The child’s face turned pale for a moment upon hearing Aeli’s cry.
And at that moment.
Flash!
Light burst forth.
Male lead Asks for a Divorce Every Day
It’s not often you come across a plot like this in the female-dominant genre — make sure to check it out!
This is a novel I’m planning to reread as well.
The male lead is strong, skilled in martial arts, and not the usual fragile type you often see in matriarchal novels.
Meanwhile, the female lead is a scientist—rational and logical. Even when she falls for the male lead, she doesn’t let her emotions cloud her decisions.
If you push through the first few chapters, you’ll gradually find the story really intriguing.
It has a mix of mystery, detective elements, and romance.
The author’s writing style is like crafting a puzzle—except they deliberately leave out a few pieces, making it hard to predict what happens next, yet keeping you hooked.
In the end, everything will come together and be explained.
One-sentence summary: Wife, stop playing with beakers and look at me!
In a laboratory accident, research scientist Zhu Wansheng accidentally travels to a matriarchal world. The original owner of the body is an eighteen-year-old only daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant, already married with a handsome young man.
Zhu Wansheng grins: Nice! She always said she was heaven’s favorite granddaughter. After a life of toil in her previous life, she can enjoy blessings in this one.
However, her joy lasts no more than three seconds as bad news arrives: the original owner’s family is about to go bankrupt, and her husband wants a divorce.
Even worse, she’s stuck with a research system full of restrictions.
Zhu Wansheng: ? Is this the destiny of a research dog?
——
Faced with this mess, Zhu Wansheng pours herself a bowl of wine to drown her sorrows. In her drunken haze, her husband arrives.
His figure is imposing, holding a long sword, with a dignified air that captivates Zhu Wansheng.
Gu Yingqing, however, looks at the alcohol-reeking Zhu Wansheng with undisguised disgust and coldly asks, “Divorce or not?” The intoxicated Zhu Wansheng mumbles vaguely, “I think… it’s not… it’s not… impossible!”
——
The next day, after sobering up, Zhu Wansheng is full of energy, rolling up her sleeves ready to make a big move. As for yesterday? She has no memory of it.
Zhu Wansheng is ambitious; a research dog fears nothing!
Upgrading rouge, extracting fragrances, producing perfumes, researching lipsticks… all shall bow to the power of modern technology!
The original owner’s dying rouge shop is revitalized. Her mother is pleased and with a wave of her hand, passes on the family business to her. As she takes control and her experimental results gain popularity, it’s the pinnacle of her life…
——
But there are always those who can’t stand to see her doing well. Jealousy, scheming, assassination attempts – they want nothing less than her life.
The person who has always kept his distance from her suddenly holds her tightly in his arms, eyes full of concern.
She is unharmed, but he falls into a pool of blood…
Zhu Wansheng feels guilty, “I can grant you one wish.”
Gu Yingqing tentatively circles his arms around her, carefully resting his head in the crook of her neck, pleading softly, “I regret it. Can we not divorce?”
Zhu Wansheng: ? When did I agree to a divorce?
[Small Theater]
The newly developed rouge is beautifully packaged, and Zhu Wansheng is eager to try it.
Gu Yingqing suddenly appears: “My lady, may I apply it for you?”
Cool fingertips lightly brush her lips. His Adam’s apple bobs as he leans in for a light bite.
Zhu Wansheng: ?
Gu Yingqing: It smells so good, I wanted to taste it…
On a warm spring day, Zhu Wansheng tries a new perfume: “Spring Night.” Gu Yingqing corners her against a wall.
Warm breath lingers on her neck.
“My lady, from now on, may I test the fragrances for you?”
[Humorous female scientist vs scheming live-in son-in-law male lead]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
