However, Duke Arlington seemed not at all curious about Belia’s personal impressions, quickly asking about what he wanted to know.
“Um. There weren’t any particular issues.”
“You didn’t experience headaches every time you recalled memories?”
“No. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Oh! I see, I see!”
Duke Arlington’s satisfied laughter seemed oddly warm, not matching his youthful appearance. After organizing something in his mind for a moment, he smiled kindly and asked Belia.
“Do you have any questions for me? Since you’ve provided valuable information, I’ll share something with you. Anything is fine!”
“Well then…”
Belia opened her mouth with a serious expression.
Duke Arlington and Khalid looked at her, curious.
Even though she hesitated for a moment, Belia’s curiosity grew stronger.
Seeing a real wizard in front of her, Belia’s thirst for knowledge kept burning.
“Did you really shoot fire from your hands when you came from the north to here?”
“What? Ahahaha!”
Duke Arlington burst into loud laughter at Belia’s innocent question.
His laughter didn’t settle for a while.
Belia felt a bit uncomfortable, thinking he might be making fun of her. She asked because he told her to ask, and yet he laughed so much in front of her.
With a chuckle, Duke Arlington turned his body on the sofa, buried his face, and wiped away tears, composing himself shortly after.
“Yeah. Right. I did come shooting fire. Like this.”
Duke Arlington spread out his palm, extending it forward.
Suddenly, sparks gathered on his palm, rapidly forming into flames, and soon those flames merged into a round fireball.
Belia’s eyes twinkled in an instant.
Without uttering any spell, magic unfolded in his hands.
How did he do that? Belia couldn’t hold back her curiosity.
As if understanding Belia’s curiosity, Duke Arlington answered.
“It’s calculating and implementing the elements naturally present. Uttering spells is mainly for the comfort of the spellcaster to unfold magic a bit easier. When casting larger spells, like I do, I might say the spells, but for creating small sparks like these, it’s entirely feasible through calculations.”
“Wow…!”
An admiring sigh unintentionally escaped Belia’s lips.
Duke Arlington, who looked at her with a warm gaze as if watching his granddaughter, responded as if understanding Belia’s curiosity.
“Do you have an interest in magic, by any chance?”
“Yes!”
“I never originally thought of teaching magic to anyone, but if you have the aptitude, Princess Consort, I might be able to teach you something simple.”
In response to the Duke’s words, Belia nodded eagerly with a face full of anticipation.
The prospect of learning magic thrilled her, as if she had returned to being a 12-year-old child.
Duke Arlington gently held Belia’s fingertips, letting his magical power flow through her. However, after a while, the Duke pursed his lips and spoke with a somewhat disappointed expression.
“It’s a pity, but learning magic might be difficult. It would be challenging for your body to accept magical power when it’s already filled with divine power.”
“Ah…”
Arlington’s words implied that Belia couldn’t learn magic in the first place.
“Haha. It was a mistake on my part not to realize that you were someone beloved by the Divine. The Princess Consort is the granddaughter of the Regent and the daughter of a priestess.”
It was regrettable.
Belia thought she could learn magic.
Then Duke Arlington, with a look of realization, spoke.
“Don’t be too disappointed. If you weren’t someone beloved by the Divine, it would have been impossible to return to the past.”
“What do you mean…?”
Even with Belia’s puzzled question, the Duke didn’t provide an answer. He simply closed his eyes for a moment as if lost in deep thought and then opened them again.
“It seems like it will be quite interesting with the Princess Consort. I never thought I would return to the palace before I died, but…”
The Duke’s face was filled with immense joy.
“I’ll make sure to keep all the promises I made to the Second Prince. From now on, the northern regions will officially support Prince Khalid.”
Khalid nodded in thanks. Then, with a playful expression, Duke Arlington said,
“I’ve sent my gift to the Princess Consort. Now, let’s fulfill the contract.”
A gift? A contract…?
While Belia looked at Duke Arlington without understanding the meaning of his words, he spoke with a gentle smile.
“You’ll know everything when the time comes. Don’t be too impatient.”
But Duke Arlington just smiled gently as he spoke.
In the northeast of the Empire, a sudden blizzard began.
The Emperor declared a state of emergency, and meetings continued all day.
Despite the contingency plans prepared by the imperial side, the situation was so severe that it could not be described.
Over fifty villages were isolated, with communication cut off.
“Did you receive any news from Lisetten?”
In response to Belia’s question, Rachel shook her head.
“Communication was lost after the last letter a few days ago.”
With a desperate answer, Belia put her hand to her forehead and bowed her head.
Despite efforts to establish clinics and prepare for winter in areas that had previously suffered damage, it seemed impossible to overcome natural disasters with human strength alone.
Belia bit her lip tightly.
“Conditions have improved around the capital a few days ago, so communication should gradually resume in other areas.”
Rachel said with hope, containing her wish that the Empire’s citizens would endure.
Even with areas that couldn’t send magical messages, communication had to be established through regular mail. However, there were still many places where roads had not been repaired, and the probability of communication being cut off could not be ignored.
Road maintenance was gradually expanding from the capital’s center. Soldiers worked to quickly melt the accumulated snow with the help of magic from the mages of the Matop, and then they spread sand on top.
Everyone, including those working in the biting wind and air, was tired, but they all did their best for those who were isolated.
‘I wish Duke Arlington could help…’
However, Belia immediately shook her head.
Only Khalid and herself knew that he could use magic.
This had to be kept as a last resort.
“I need to get more magical tools. I should visit the Matop.”
Belia stood up from her seat.
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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