“Tristan, milady.”
There were no more greetings beyond that.
“……”
That’s a relief.
Rayna rather felt reassured.
He must not be speaking any more superfluous words because he knows the truth in advance.
“……”
In the moment of her relief, Arthur commented.
“He’s quite curt.”
Rayna goggled her eyes and looked at Arthur.
Tristan, without blinking an eye, said,
“That’s just how I am.”
Arthur asked with a small grin.
“Say it longer.”
Tristan sighed a short, silent sigh and looked at Rayna again.
“I am Tristan Gottfried, a counselor to His Highness Arthur Shilden Roas Julius, and a knight of honor in Flamber. I am in my thirties. I am married, and I have a wife who has turned thirty and a fiveyearold son. I became a baron by the merit of this war, and, notably, I am curt.”
“……”
Tristan was about to seal his greeting by kissing Rayna’s hand once again.
Arthur stopped him.
“You don’t have to do that again.”
“Yes.”
Arthur led Rayna to escort her.
Rayna stumbled along.
[This is the time separator]Knock knock.
Tristan knocked on the door.
“……”
The door opened, and a middleaged woman came out with a candle.
She saluted Tristan and Arthur.
It seemed as if she already knew who they were.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Arthur.”
Arthur removed his hat and bowed his head slightly, offering a polite greeting that gave her a little time.
“It’s an honor to meet you, madam. I’m sorry to bother you like this.”
A faint smile crossed the middleaged woman’s lips, then disappeared.
No, it seemed that she tried to smile but didn’t quite manage to.
Arthur shared a moment of silence with the lady and then spoke.
“No matter how much we cherished him, we could not dare to measure your sorrow, but we want to offer you comfort.”
Rayna, who had been standing a little way off, held her breath as she realized the purpose of this visit.
Arthur continued.
“Your son was an excellent knight and a comrade we could rely on. Even in difficult situations, he always joked around and made us laugh. … He still remains in my heart as one of my most wonderful friends.”
A quiet wind blew.
With his hat held against his chest, Arthur continued his words soberly.
“Losing him was a great loss and pain for us. We all do not doubt that God cherished him and called him early. He was the best knight and honorable to the end. I hope that this fact can comfort your heart a little bit. … I’m sorry.”
The woman who had been looking at Arthur bowed her head a moment later, tears flowing.
“……Thank you.”
[This is the time separator]Sometimes a large family with many children came out, and sometimes only one person came out.
Even when a girl about Rayna’s age came out.
Even when a child, excited to see Arthur, came out, holding his mother’s hand and shining his eyes.
Rayna couldn’t hold back her tears.
There were bereaved families dressed in their most respectful, clean clothes, and there were bereaved families who came out staggering in shock.
There were those who accepted their grief stoically, those who couldn’t overcome their sorrow and showed tears or finally broke down.
And there were those who simply looked at Arthur and said nothing at all.
Each time, Arthur conveyed different words of condolences, packing in each story with his subordinates.
Every time she heard it, Rayna cried from behind.
Even though neither Arthur nor Tristan were crying, she, who didn’t even know the deceased, found herself crying, which she thought was absurd and disgusting, and she tried hard to hold it back.
[This is the time separator]Would you like to stay in the carriage?
Arthur suggested to Rayna, whose eyes were red.
Rayna shook her head, clutching the handkerchief Tristan had handed her.
And every time, she got out of the carriage and stood behind him, holding back her tears.
Until the sun set, and twilight descended, and finally under the starry night sky, when the day’s schedule ended.
[This is the time separator]Julius Duke’s mansion. Two in the morning.
“……”
The evaluation of Arthur by the Duke and his wife, who had tasted the “Arthur Special,” had completely changed in just two days.
Arthur was not arrogant.
He knew his worth well.
He wasn’t a creature without a plan.
He knew how to steer negotiations to his advantage.
They looked at the pile of gifts in front of them and the servants who were still struggling to move them after two days, and they remained silent.
Between the evergrowing pile of gifts, a grand piano reportedly made by the most famous craftsman of the time and a large pedal harp highly praised by a famous critic were being carefully moved in.
Despite being gently handled, the grand piano, due to its enormous size, teetered and touched the piles of gifts.
The flustered butler’s cries brought the servants running, who frantically held onto the teetering items and cleared space for the piano to pass through while organizing the other gifts.
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
