“Since you believe you’re not that young, I won’t hold back. Brother Darius? Lady Temery, start by correcting your manner of speaking. What exactly is your relationship with the Duke?”
“You!”
I snatched Rose Temery’s fan and opened it.
Oh, it’s a feathered fan. Quite fitting, isn’t it?
Lifting my head languidly and covering my face with the fan, I now embodied the perfect villainous character.
“Such insolence again. I am the Duchess, am I not? Don’t take me lightly just because I arrived today. If you continue with such disrespectful remarks, I will ban you from the Duke’s castle.”
“What right do you have!”
“Sigh… Due to your unpleasant words, Lady Temery, I’m banning you from the castle for a week. Go home and reflect. Next time, I hope to see you with a demeanor fitting of a noble’s daughter.”
I was about to pull the bell rope to call a maid, but then it happened.
“Lady Anette, please forgive Rose’s rudeness.”
The door burst open, and a woman entered the room with a concerned expression.
“Lady Egrette!”
“I’m sorry to greet you like this. My name is Egrette. I assist the busy Duke by managing this castle. Please, feel free to call me Lady Egrette, Lady Anette.”
‘Ah, what timing?’
Rose, who had been upset, suddenly seemed triumphant, as if she had found an ally.
“Yes, I’ve heard about you.”
Egrette appeared to be in her thirties or forties, with a face too youthful to easily determine her age.
When Darius became the Duke, his relatives from the Inkheart family, concerned about his youth, appointed a guardian. Egrette was chosen at that family council. She had been managing the castle’s internal affairs in Darius’s stead.
In stories, when a lonely Duke brings a sunshine-like female lead to the castle, characters like her usually say, ‘I always believed there was a warm corner in the master’s heart. The female lead will discover it. Please bring spring to this cold castle!’ But…
‘She doesn’t look like she’d say that.’
Rose was cornered, and then she suddenly appears.
It seems she spurred Rose Temery to come to my room and then watched from behind.
‘This woman, according to the original story…’
Ah, that would be a spoiler.
“Lady Temery has been adored here as a daughter in a castle without one. She’s still immature. I’ll teach her well, so please show her some leniency.”
“Lady Temery may be young, but you, being older than me, should have prevented her from speaking rudely.”
She probably thought a newlywed like me would meekly respond with ‘Yes, I’ll do that.’
Lady Egrette’s face hardened.
“The servants are watching. It’s crucial for the new lady of the castle to establish her authority, especially now. Lady Temery openly challenged my authority. My first order after arriving was for her to reflect on her actions, and now you’re asking me to rescind it.”
I looked down as if disappointed.
“The Duke said Lady Egrette would assist me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Lady Anette, that’s preposterous.”
“What’s preposterous? You’re asking for forgiveness for Lady Temery without considering the disrespect to my authority?”
“I first apologize for causing you worry. And I ask for punishment for both Rose and myself.”
“Egrette, what are you saying?”
Perhaps she’s a more cunning villain than Rose. I was slightly impressed. True, a mere apology isn’t a genuine one.
“I, who work in the castle, cannot be punished by being denied entry like Lady Temery. Since I seem to have forgotten proper manners, as a sign of reflection, I will copy a book on etiquette and submit it to you, my lady.”
Then, Lady Egrette turned to Rose with a compassionate expression.
“Lady Rose, I’m not forcing you, but if you copy the book of etiquette following my example, it will help in your moral and mental cultivation.”
“But, but…”
Rose, at an age where sitting at a desk is the last thing she wants, looked utterly dismayed, as if she had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Is this a tactic to give herself a heavier punishment than the one imposed, to burden my conscience?
“You make me out to be very strict from my first day in the castle. If word gets out that I, the Duchess, made Lady Egrette, who has managed the internal affairs until now, copy an etiquette book, what will people think of me?”
“Not at all. Regardless of status, I must reflect on my mistake.”
“Really?”
I didn’t really want to give a punishment…
“Because of my dignity, I can’t ignore your sincerity. Although I might be criticized, I will accept your copied book of etiquette.”
I tapped Rose’s villainous fan in my hand and said,
“I will choose the thickest book on etiquette for you to copy for your moral and mental cultivation. Ah, I have to start with a book right after getting married.”
You thought I wouldn’t give you a punishment? No, you’re wrong.
“Lady Rose?”
As Rose Temery, who was about to flee, turned stiffly at my call, her face said, ‘If Lady Egrette has to copy a thick book on etiquette, what about me? I can’t even enter the castle, and I have to copy too!’
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
