The Duke had detected all the observers sent by the impatient imperial nobles who couldn’t catch me, beheaded them all, and sent them back as gifts.
Along with a letter of thanks.
[I don’t think it’s polite to just receive, so I also send a gift. I’m not sure if you liked it. But, the gift is not to my taste. Please send something that I like next time.]The nobles trembled in fear at the counterattack of the young Duke, whom they had taken lightly. But that was just the beginning.
Duke Artem paid back those who touched me to the point where the label ‘evil’ would be attached to them.
He was born with a mild temperament, but had to become toxic to survive.
Rather than getting angry at the Duke’s actions, the imperial faction took advantage of the situation and fanned the rumors about the Duke.
In order to make an excuse to kill him in the future, they exaggerated his rumors, as they couldn’t kill the royal without any reason.
The young Duke didn’t make an effort to stop the exaggerated rumors spreading like wings. After the rumors spread, the number of people bothering him decreased.
He endured it for 10 years.
Regardless of the truth of the rumors, no one in the empire could easily confront Duke Artem. Upon hearing the Duke’s name, they trembled in fear.
The Duke, seeing Rosé blinking her large eyes like a rabbit, opened his mouth.
“Why are you making such a face. Was your word a lie?”
“What?! That can’t be! Absolutely, completely, it’s not a lie. I can swear on my life!”
Rosé contradicted the Duke’s words with all her might. She waved her hands and head at the same time, emphasizing that there wasn’t a hint of falsehood in her words.
Unknowingly, a smile appeared on the Duke’s face at Rosé’s actions.
‘You, who like me, wouldn’t lie.’
He believed that Rosé liked him, so he never doubted her words from the beginning.
Rosé, who had no idea about the Duke’s inner thoughts, started to ramble to prove that her words were true.
“So how do I explain… I went to the library a while ago and found some documents there, from there…”
“I trust you.”
His short and powerful word precisely stuck in Rosé’s ear.
Rosé, who had been rambling with a sense of duty to make the Duke trust her, finally closed her mouth at his voice.
“I trust you. So you don’t have to try so hard.”
The Duke’s baritone echoed quietly in the room. Rosé’s and Duke Artem’s eyes met in midair.
Despite his sharp eyes staring at her, he was looking at her with the eyes of trust.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
The difficult situation found its place thanks to the Duke’s trust.
“Well. I’m curious how you knew I was going to die.”
Duke Artem’s eyes twinkled towards Rosé. He guided the atmosphere so Rosé could calmly tell her story.
“Let’s sit down and talk.”
Duke Artem sat down on the sofa first and gestured to Rosé. Rosé nodded her head and sat down.
“Bring new tea.”
The Duke saw Rosé’s empty cup and called for a maid. Soon after, a maid entered and Rosé spoke to her quickly.
“I would like a glass of iced water, please.”
She felt so hot from the tension that she could feel the heat coming off her body. She wanted to gulp down cold water to cool down her body heat immediately.
“Yes, I understand.”
The maid began to pour water into a long cup filled with ice. As soon as Rosé took the cup, something happened.
A heavy, golden something covered Rosé in the blink of an eye.
“Ah!”
The iced water cup in Rosé’s hand slipped and spilled on the floor.
With a loud noise, the cup that fell to the ground shattered into pieces.
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]Meanwhile, at the same time in the Earl of Wens’ house, one of Rosé’s maids was holding her place.
“Sigh… He said he’d be here soon, why isn’t he coming?”
It was Jane, Rose’s personal maid.
Jane sighed as she turned over the sheets on Rose’s bed. Staring at the ticking second hand of the clock, she looked very anxious.
“He said he’d be in before dinner… It’s almost 7 PM already…”
Jane had spent the whole day lying in bed, flipping over her pink wig in an attempt to dismiss suspicion, making the excuse that she was sick.
Creak.
The sound of the door handle turning was heard.
Jane turned her body, dug into the sheet and cleared her throat.
“I’ll take the medicine later. Just leave it there.”
Completely unexpected who came in, she just thought it was a maid who had come to deliver medicine for the sick mistress.
“Are you very sick? Your voice sounds strange.”
The sound of a voice from behind made Jane’s heart thump wildly.
‘…Wh, why is the Earl in my mistress’s room?!’
Thump Thump.
Jane’s heart began to beat wildly at a terrifying speed.
It was the Earl who had not sought Rose even once since the incident with Doana.
Why did he come into Rose’s bedroom?
‘…It can’t be. Unless…’
Jane clenched her eyes shut, going pale. She fervently prayed that it wasn’t what she was thinking.
“Where does it hurt?”
The sound of Eric’s limping footsteps approaching made Jane’s ears stand on end.
The footsteps stopped. Jane felt a heavy gaze from behind her, she swallowed and couldn’t say anything.
Eric lay down next to Jane, who was lying down with her back to him. He then wrapped his arm around the maid’s waist.
Realizing that her assumptions were not wrong, the maid froze on the spot.
‘…My lady, what should I do!!’
Jane, stiffened, let out a silent scream.
The maid was on the verge of going crazy at the touch of Eric’s hand wrapped around her waist.
Believing in Rose’s words that she would return soon, she just wanted to fill her place for a moment…
The scenario where Eric visits Rose’s room was totally unexpected for both the maid and Rose.
“… Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Eric whispered as if tickling the maid’s ear who was lying on her back. The maid flinched at Eric’s breath.
Eric stroked the maid’s pink wig, who gave no response. The slender neck of the maid, covered with hair, was exposed.
Eric’s hand, which had been softly stroking her hair, gradually stopped.
Eric, who had been staring intently at her exposed neck, pressed down on Jane disgustingly.
An immense terror engulfed Jane in an instant. Jane grasped the bed sheet with her trembling hands, writhing around.
Whether it was Eric’s actions that brought on the terror, or the symptoms of an attack, it manifested. Unable to bear the overwhelming fear, she frothed at the mouth and gasped for air.
‘I, I can’t… breathe…!’
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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