I was dumbfounded, and Mikael stumbled over his prepared words.
“I’ll try not to burden you and your wife. I’ll even abandon my status as a prince, if you wish. So, please….”
“Hold on. Calm yourself.”
Mikael caught his breath hastily.
I waited for him to settle down before asking again.
“Is there something you wanted to say?”
“Yes, I’m here to say that I intend to become independent.”
At my words, Mikael gave an awkward smile. There was a bruise on his left cheek.
‘He must have gotten hit by the Empress.’
Raising a hand to a child who is trying to become independent is the worst thing a parent can do.
“Did you mention your destination?”
“I didn’t because you didn’t ask.”
He had no opportunity to explain.
I was relieved he hadn’t mentioned his destination, but I was worried all the same.
“What will you do if I refuse?”
“I’ve prepared myself for that too. But… even if it means becoming a servant, I hope you’ll accept me.”
“A prince becoming a servant?”
“I could be more useful that way.”
Mikael’s eyes were downcast. His eyelids were already red.
“I want to live not as a loathed prince but as Mikael. I realized this after hearing what your wife said yesterday.”
He wanted to be someone who is called by his name, whatever form that life takes.
I couldn’t bring myself to send him away after he said that.
“But….”
I was hesitating with my answer.
Behind me, Kashar pulled me closer, raised my head, and pressed his lips to my forehead.
“Aileen, weren’t you scolded enough yesterday?”
“……There are people here! Shh!”
“People? Where?”
Kashar looked around as if he saw no one.
Mikael seemed desperate, as if he were being treated like a ghost.
“Please accept me, Brother. Any role is fine.”
I thought he would be ignored again.
But.
“In my castle, everyone serves a purpose.”
A cold voice.
It was asking what he could do here.
I thought Mikael would be hurt by that, but he seemed already prepared.
“If you wish, I can spend time with the children to make your wife’s life easier.”
That role sounded familiar.
Wait a minute.
“Excuse me, isn’t that my role? I’m the nanny….”
Looking after the kids was entirely my job.
Even though Eshtra and other servants helped, I was the main caregiver.
I shot Kashar an incredulous look.
When our eyes met, Kashar silently laughed, then spoke without mercy.
“Alright. You’re hired.”
“……Thank you! I will do my best!”
Mikael repeatedly expressed his thanks.
Watching him, Kashar called a servant.
“Dracu, prepare a room.”
“Yes, come this way.”
“I look forward to working with you.”
Mikael followed Dracu.
As he entered the castle, the children came out first.
“Hey, it’s Brother Mikael!”
“Starting today, he will be your new nanny.”
“Really?!”
At Dracu’s explanation, Louis joyfully jumped around.
Mikael blushed, then shyly spoke about his successful employment.
“Yeah, thanks to you guys.”
“I’ll teach you well, Brother.”
“Thank you, Evan.”
Everyone seemed warm.
Except me.
Mikael got the job.
Traditionally, there’s only one nanny position.
So, what about me now?
I looked at my employer, of course, it was Kashar.
Under Reinhart law, a guardian has more authority than a nanny.
As our eyes met, Kashar kindly informed me of my termination.
“Aileen, congratulations on being fired.”
I had become unemployed in an instant.
‘Give me back my job!’
Hey, little princes? I’ve been fired. Are you listening?
My empty gaze met the children’s.
It seemed like Louis remembered me, and pointed at me.
“So, Aileen isn’t our nanny anymore? She’s our real stepmom?”
“Aileen hasn’t married yet.”
“Then she’s our future stepmom.”
“That’s right.”
The kids huddled their heads together.
Kashar put his hand on each of their small heads as if they were amusing.
“It looks like the little ones are confused. Let’s clarify this for them.”
As if speaking to children, his gaze was directed at me.
“Wait a minute! Where does it say that’s the rule?”
I couldn’t stand idly by as my job was being taken away.
‘This is a violation of labor laws!’
As my mind began to fog, he extended a small box toward me.
“……Cassard?”
“Marry me.”
I ended up accepting an engagement as a token of my lost job.
“Oh my God, congratulations! You were going to be my sisterinlaw anyway, but this is different!”
“What’s engagement?”
“It’s something you do before marriage. Like a temporary marriage.”
“Wow, Aileen. Congrats! When I grow up, marry me too!”
“Congratulations, future madam!”
Cheers from everyone showered over me.
Gathering my senses, a ring was already placed on my left ring finger.
The vibrant red diamond, exceeding 14 carats, resembled Cassard’s eyes.
As if content with the ring on my finger, he fitted a glove over it.
Cassard was also wearing a similar ring.
‘Even the attire.’
On his wrist were cufflinks that I had gifted him.
Cassard attached a brooch, part of the same set, above my chest.
‘When did he find this?’
I was too embarrassed to even mention that ‘these are couple items.’
Seeing my form, Cassard smiled as if satisfied.
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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