She vaguely thought that there would be a chance to encounter her at least once.
However, she had never imagined a scene like this, not with Erzé by Raul’s side.
The moment Valia saw Erzé standing beside Khalid, a sinister premonition enveloped her once again, as if everything would be taken away from her by Erzé.
‘Valia. Pull yourself together.’
Now was not the time to fall into this abyss.
There was something to be resolved, and time was running out.
Valia closed her eyes tightly, organized all her dark emotions internally, and then opened her eyes.
She walked towards them and, as usual, greeted them with a friendly face.
“Khalid. It seems you were in the middle of a conversation with a guest?”
“Ah, Valia. I was just about to come find you.”
“Is that so? I also have something to discuss with you right now.”
As Valia finished her words with a bright smile, Khalid also smiled back and pointed to Erzé next to him.
“This is Viscountess Kinétra.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I am Erzé Kinétra. I ended up being in charge of the flower supply for this time!”
The place that supplied the flowers was Viscount Kinétra’s? Valia thought the person in charge was someone else according to the documents she had examined.
When Valia’s gaze narrowed, Erzé, startled, explained.
“Oh! Originally, Viscount Chafin was in charge of the supply, but he fell ill, so we came instead. Flower cultivation is a joint effort of our Kinétra, Chafin, and two other families. We were worried about having too many flowers left this time, but thanks to you, Princess, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you very much!”
In response to Valia’s gratitude, Erzé blushed, waved her hand, and greeted her back.
Erzé had done nothing wrong at the moment.
But did that mean the anger and fear she felt now would disappear?
‘Unlikely.’
Valia chuckled inwardly.
With no desire to continue the conversation with her, even though she was kind, Valia drew a clear line and turned the conversation.
“Thank you for supplying the precious flowers for such a good cause. I’ll send separate letters of thanks to each family later. But more urgently, we have some pressing matters, so…”
“Is it because of this?”
Interrupting her words, Khalid, with a cool smile, pointed to an item held by the attendant.
It was undoubtedly the magical tool sponsored by Viscount Caprié.
Valia asked in surprise, “How did you…?”
“Viscountess Kinétra came back to return it, saying it was mistakenly inserted while preparing to leave.”
Valia, looking at Erzé with a surprised face, Erzé, with a cheerful smile, scratched her cheek.
“No! No… We were worried that our mistake might have caused trouble!”
Smiling brightly, Erzé’s expression was no different from when Valia first met her.
Radiant, pure, and undeniably lovely, her bright energy could be felt just by looking at her.
She was a person completely different from her calm and quiet self.
With mixed feelings, Valia looked at that figure and then instructed the attendant to quickly move the items to the auction house, turning away.
“… The auction will end soon. I’m sorry, but can you wait until then? I want to express my gratitude properly.”
“Of course!”
“Then, I’ll go ahead.”
She also had to inform Susan and Rachel about the discovery of the magical tool. However, she didn’t want Khalid and Erzé to be together.
Seeing Valia hesitating, Khalid reassured her, telling her not to worry and focus on what she needed to do.
“You should do what you need to do. I’ll take care of Viscountess Kinétra.”
He was clearly stepping in to help her.
But Valia felt worse about it.
He was usually indifferent to others.
Why a different attitude towards Erzé?
‘…I’m terrible for having such thoughts.’
It had been days since she repeated to herself that he would be fine, that she could trust him.
She hated herself for doubting him just because she encountered Erzé.
After a moment of hesitation, Valia barely thanked him and left the place.
“Valia, look closely. That woman will be my empress.”
Stop.
“The person I truly love is not you, but Erzé. So, move aside.”
Stop it.
“I wish you would just die, Valia.”
Stop!
Valia stood still.
The countless words whispered by Raul circled around her like a curse. It was as if no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake them off.
Valia clutched her chest and took several quick breaths.
“It’s okay.”
It will be okay.
Instead of worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet, Valia thought it was more important to solve the problem at hand.
To protect her wounded self, covered in a dark inner turmoil, she needed an even stronger armor.
After the art auction ended, the nobles who everyone had been waiting for started presenting their items one by one. From jewelry to precious furniture and art pieces, everything appeared.
Thanks to Erzé safely finding Viscount Caprié’s sponsored items, there were no issues with the proceedings.
‘Thank goodness.’
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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