Rose put down her fork without finishing her food. She lifted the napkin from her lap and delicately wiped her mouth.
Getting up from her seat, Rose quietly left the room.
She had to meet Nervan.
Upon reaching the garden, Rose looked around.
Nervan was nowhere to be seen.
“He should be returning after taking Pin for a walk…”
At the designated time, he always took Pin for a walk. Rose had often seen them coming and going.
Rose’s expectation was not wrong, as in the distance, the sound of Pin’s barking could be heard.
Did Nervan notice that she was in the garden?
Pin came running at a frightening speed.
[SFX] Woof woof!“Pin!”
Rose reached out her hand towards Pin.
Nervan, who was holding Pin’s leash, looked somewhat annoyed at how fast Pin was running.
As if not to lose the leash, Nervan briskly followed behind Pin.
[SFX] Woof woof! Woof woof woof!Pin came loudly and rubbed his body against Rose.
Rose lowered herself and gently petted Pin’s fur.
“Did you have a good walk?”
Pin’s tail shook continuously, seemingly pleased with Rose’s touch.
“Am I someone who doesn’t care even though I’ve been taking you for a walk every time, Pin?” complained Nervan.
Muttering discontentedly, Nervan approached Rose.
While enjoying the reunion with Pin, Rose stood up and faced him.
“Did you have a good walk?”
Rose spoke with a somewhat different atmosphere than yesterday.
Furrows appeared on Nervan’s forehead as he looked at her.
‘…What’s going on? Until yesterday, she looked like she was about to die. How did she recover so quickly in just a day?’
Julius appeared, and everything seemed to be going according to his plan.
Normally, Rose should be lying down by now…
‘I thought she would be suffering, not eating anything in the morning, but it’s not like that at all.’
A strange premonition crept in.
“As you can see, he had a good walk.”
“I see.”
Rose looked at Nervan with a relaxed expression.
“I’ve been waiting.”
“Waiting for me… you mean?”
Nervan questioned as if doubting his own ears.
“Yes. I have something to confirm.”
Nervan’s eyebrows twitched uncomfortably as he looked at Rose.
‘…What is it? Until yesterday, she was practically dying. She recovered in a day.’
“Speak.”
“Is Mederion Princess the Duke’s fiancee?”
Rose’s direct question made Nervan exhale a deep breath.
He arrogantly raised his head and then agreed with Rose’s words.
“Yes. That’s correct.”
There was not a hint of hesitation in his response.
“It seems like that was on your mind.”
Nervan’s shameless deception left Rose feeling annoyed.
‘As expected, it was all a lie.’
Observing Rose’s silent response, Nervan added a word.
“Do you really need to know? Princess Mederion and the Duke have a very intimate relationship, visible to anyone.”
He shamelessly lied without even wiping his mouth. Rose calmly stared at Nervan.
“Stop pretending to be disinterested in the Duke. Princess Mederion is a very jealous person.”
Nervan, noticing Rose’s silence, continued to mutter incessantly.
“As an aristocrat of a fallen family, you are in a position that can be easily eliminated without anyone noticing.”
Nervan’s words were threatening.
Rose, silently listening to him, calmly raised the corners of her mouth.
‘Smile?’
Nervan couldn’t understand Rose’s action of smiling with a relaxed expression.
Then, Rose’s words that followed made his face involuntarily loosen.
“Alright. I guess I should stop.”
Finally, he got the answer he wanted.
Rose giving up on the Duke!
Nervan inwardly cheered.
And without knowing what Rose was going to say, he smiled brightly.
“I’ll stop deceiving myself now.”
Along with Rose’s words, Nervan felt that something was wrong.
His mouth, which had been raised to the sky, gradually turned cold.
“…What are you saying?”
“I mean, I’ll be honest about my feelings now. I won’t deny my feelings anymore.”
With Rose’s words, Nervan’s expression sank heavily.
“Are you saying that you can’t give up on your feelings even though you have an engagement partner?”
He looked at Rose with a cold gaze.
“Does your statement about staying in this mansion sound like you want to be a part of the Duke’s government? Are you saying you want to be his mistress?”
“Nervan, speak straight.”
Rose cut off Nervan’s words and spoke boldly.
“Your Grace, there is no fiancée.”
“……!”
How could that be?
At Rose’s piercing words, Nervan couldn’t hide his confusion.
“Though you knew I didn’t like you, you didn’t seem like a person who would tell lies.”
Rose stared at Nervan with an unwavering gaze.
“It turns out it wasn’t me who used tricks, Nervan.”
Nervan’s dilated pupils were caught off guard.
“You shamelessly tried to paint me as a deceiver. Truly despicable.”
He muttered, grinding his lower lip, unable to say anything.
Nervan was a person of high pride.
To keep the family’s name from being tarnished, he had carried the burden of those who left first and had run forward without looking back.
Certainly, he could boast of living without shame.
But not at this moment.
The words he spat out to drive Rose away suddenly felt embarrassing.
Rose opened her eyes wide and looked at Nervan.
“Still, thanks to you, I realized something.”
She clenched her fist and spoke towards Nervan.
“The fact that I had feelings for the Duke.”
“!”
“Nervan, I found out because of you.”
Rose spoke methodically, syllable by syllable.
As if making a statement, directed at him.
Rose, with a faint smile, continued her words.
“And, I hope you come to the conference that will be held in two days. I want to show you how sincere I am about this project.”
She would firmly show Nervan, who had ignored her efforts until now.
With those words, Rose turned away from Nervan.
Seeing Nervan, who couldn’t say anything, her tense heart loosened a bit.
Since there was no longer anything to worry about.
‘I don’t have to worry about being misunderstood anymore.’
She didn’t know how much she had suffered emotionally from being misunderstood as being involved in an inappropriate relationship.
As someone who had suffered emotionally from her ex-husband’s infidelity, she didn’t want to inflict the same pain on Princess Mederion, even if it was just a misunderstanding.
Moreover, she hated being framed as someone who steals another person’s man for no reason.
Being someone who detested cheaters, Rose found it truly unpleasant to be treated the same way.
Rose’s steps leaving the garden seemed very light.
Uncomfortable emotions were swept away into the distance.
‘The statement about having a fiancée was indeed a lie.’
Both Princess Mederion and Nervan admitted it.
‘Then who on earth is the Duke’s marriage partner…’
He had mentioned having a wedding, but…
Rose recalled her conversation with the Duke, where they discussed when to hold the wedding.
Rose, walking at a fast pace, momentarily stopped. Then, she stood still.
‘If I marry you.’
Rose stared into the air with trembling eyes and muttered.
“No way… Is the marriage partner me?”
Rose’s voice carried a sense of confusion.
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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