The Runaway Female Lead Doesn't Run Away (13 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 10
Two days later, a long line of carriages stretched before the main gate of the Landrofil Marquisate, all arriving for the party.
As footmen opened each carriage door, guests dressed splendidly for the spring garden party emerged one after another.
Yet among them, two figures stood out unmistakably—
none other than the Duke and Duchess of Seyear.
“Oh my, isn’t this the first time the Duke and Duchess of Seyear have attended such a private gathering together?”
“Indeed! They’ve only ever shown up at official imperial events before. No wonder the Marquis Landrofil looked so tense today—there was good reason for it.”
Dahlia, appearing perfectly composed under everyone’s gaze, sighed inwardly.
‘I’m already exhausted, and we haven’t even properly arrived yet.’
Worried her posture might falter, Dahlia straightened her back and stole a glance at Clayton, who was escorting her.
Despite the sun already being high in the sky, he looked better than ever—clear proof that contact with her was having a marked effect.
But unlike Clayton, who seemed perfectly fine, Dahlia had been feeling tired since the moment they’d stepped into the carriage.
‘Surely he’s not siphoning off all my energy or something?’
Her gaze sharpened toward Clayton, but she quickly looked away.
Truthfully, she already knew. Her exhaustion had nothing to do with some absurd notion of her vitality being drained.
‘Why on earth did the carriage suddenly break down…!’
She sighed inwardly, recalling what had just happened inside the carriage.
The replacement carriage, hastily arranged after their original one broke down, was far narrower inside than it appeared from the outside—
barely meant for one person, really.
And yet, she and Clayton—whose broad frame took up considerable space—had somehow both squeezed in,
leaving her pressed awkwardly against a man whose presence alone made her feel suffocated.
Naturally, she was drained both mentally and physically even before their arrival.
Throughout the ride, Dahlia had desperately kept her eyes fixed out the window, trying not to think about the male lead,
but she couldn’t help noticing the intermittent brush of his leg against hers.
Of course, from her current standpoint, she ought to be rubbing against him deliberately to win his favor—but after days spent trembling at the mere thought of him visiting her room again, Dahlia had neither the strength nor the will for such efforts.
‘Sigh… I just want to crawl back into bed and sleep.’
Pushing aside her weariness, she forged ahead through the crowd’s heated stares.
Eventually, the couple arrived before the Marquis and Marchioness, who were personally greeting guests.
Upon spotting Clayton, Marquis Daniel immediately approached with a warm greeting.
“Thank you for coming despite your busy schedule, Your Grace. I never imagined you’d attend my humble garden party—I’ll have to brag about this at the club later.”
Clayton, wearing his usual amiable smile toward the Marquis—who had just entered his forties—gently wrapped an arm around Dahlia’s shoulders.
“My wife apparently enjoyed the previous picnic quite a bit. When she heard about your garden party, she insisted we attend.”
Hearing this, Dahlia—whose only role so far had been to wear a polite, professional smile—quickly turned to stare at Clayton in bewilderment.
‘Huh? Since when did I say that?’
Yet Clayton’s face showed no trace of falsehood; he delivered this entirely fabricated statement as if it were the plain truth.
“My goodness, how affectionate!”
Whether or not they sensed Dahlia’s true feelings, the watching ladies couldn’t help but sigh aloud—
because Clayton looked every bit the devoted, doting husband.
Noticing the palpable shift in the couple’s dynamic, the Marquis turned to Dahlia with a smile.
“You won’t regret coming to our garden party. The Landrofil gardens are famously beautiful. In fact, my wife has been eager to speak with the Duchess of Seyear herself…”
With those words, the Marquis introduced his wife standing beside him. The Marchioness, her hair elegantly coiled, offered Dahlia a gentle, knowing smile.
“Thank you for coming. We didn’t get a chance to greet each other properly at the picnic. I’m Michelle Landrofil.”
“A pleasure. I’m Dahlia Seyear.”
Watching the two ladies exchange pleasantries with evident satisfaction, the Marquis then approached Clayton.
“Your Grace, guests from the Philoje Duchy have just arrived. Shall we go greet them together?”
Signaling it was time to move on to the main purpose of the event now that important guests had arrived, the Marquis gestured toward a group conversing in the distance.
Since Clayton had his own political motives for attending, he readily nodded in agreement—
then, as if it were only natural, took Dahlia’s hand and followed the Marquis’s lead.
This action, however, left the Marquis momentarily flustered.
Although garden parties were ostensibly about couples strolling the gardens and sharing tea, they carried strong political undertones.
Typically, men and women separated to mingle in their own circles.
Thus, it was surprising—and awkward—that Clayton would bring his wife along to a discussion meant only for men.
Masking his confusion, the Marquis casually turned to Dahlia with a practiced smile, subtly signaling his wife with a glance.
“Wouldn’t you prefer strolling through the gardens with the other ladies, Your Grace? What do you think?”
“Yes! Our estate has a particularly lovely pond—I’d love to show it to you. Would you walk with me?”
Dahlia studied them carefully.
She might not know the intricacies of high society, but even a child could tell it wouldn’t look right for her to accompany the Duke.
‘We’ve been stuck together the whole ride here—surely a brief separation won’t hurt.’
Though she hesitated at the thought of leaving Clayton alone in broad daylight, his apparent well-being reassured her, so she gently pulled her arm free.
“Alright. Please lead the way.”
Just as she began to follow the Marchioness away, however, Clayton abruptly grabbed Dahlia’s wrist.
“Your Grace…?”
Meeting her puzzled gaze, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders once more.
“My wife dislikes being left alone in unfamiliar places.”
‘Me?’
Dahlia, who cherished solitude more than anyone, nearly gaped in disbelief.
“As you may recall, at the picnic a few days ago, I left her alone for just a moment—and something quite unfortunate occurred.”
Though he didn’t specify the incident, everyone present instantly understood what he meant:
the scandalous misconduct of Baron Molden and his daughter.
Unbeknownst to Dahlia, her explosive remarks at the picnic had sent shockwaves through high society.
As the saying goes: “Rumors travel a thousand miles without feet.” By now, everyone who mattered knew the full story.
“So I intend to stay by her side until she feels comfortable here. I hope that’s alright.”
“Oh my…”
A collective murmur of admiration rippled through the surrounding crowd—
because to all appearances, Clayton was the epitome of a caring, protective husband.
“I had no idea you were such a tender-hearted man, Your Grace.”
“Indeed! To think you’re so considerate of your wife…”
At a time when whispers of marital discord between them had been quietly circulating, Clayton’s words were more than enough to quash those rumors entirely.
In fact, from this day forward, they would surely be known as the model couple.
“You truly are fortunate, Your Grace.”
At the Marchioness’s sincere remark, Dahlia forced an awkward smile and mumbled a vague reply—while inwardly cursing Clayton.
‘He’s the one who can’t stand being alone, yet he’s selling me out for his own image?’
How shamelessly brazen could he be?
His sudden, flip-flopping attitude—using his wife to bolster his own reputation—left her utterly speechless.
But what could she, powerless as she was, possibly say? All she could do was plaster on an awkward smile and play along.
Lost in such bitter resignation, Dahlia was putting on a lifeless performance—
when a man observing them muttered under his breath,
“Seeing you two so clearly in love truly lifts one’s spirits.”
The man, whose hair had just begun to gray, regarded Clayton with a slightly arrogant expression.
“Ah, Duke Chamberg. I didn’t realize you were here as well.”
Loteil Chamberg.
The Chamberg Dukedom was, alongside the Seyear Dukedom, one of the empire’s few remaining ducal houses.
And everyone in the empire—even children—knew that relations between Duke Chamberg and Duke Seyear were anything but cordial.
Ignoring Clayton’s polite greeting, the Duke stroked his mustache and continued,
“But I recently heard a rather odd rumor. They say a mysterious black carriage enters your estate every night…”
Clayton’s eyes instantly sharpened—but no one noticed.
‘A black carriage? What’s that about? It sounds vaguely familiar…’
Frustrated that nothing specific came to mind despite racking her brain, Dahlia was just about to give up—
when Clayton calmly smiled and replied,
“…It seems you remain as interested in my family as ever, Duke Chamberg.”
“I merely worry about you, having inherited the dukedom at such a young age.”
As tension thickened between the two dukes, the Marquis stepped in to mediate.
“Ha! My apologies for interrupting, but we do have guests waiting—shall we move along?”
Thanks to the Marquis’s booming voice, the awkward atmosphere eased and returned to normal.
Carried along by the renewed bustle, Dahlia quickly pushed the matter of the black carriage from her mind—
completely unaware that she would soon become entangled with its occupant.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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MANGA DISCUSSION
1 Comment
Chapter Comments (16)
On the fence about this, but na yeon is probably avoiding intimacy due to contraception
Good for you designer! Then let’s move to the next location
She is lost in her own world… lol. The bug went plop
Inline Comments (67)
Clayton murmured with a cold, sharp smile.
You ignored her first. To me ,you don’t have rights to anything about her
And so, unintentionally, Dahlia ended up ditching Samantha and Daniel yet again.
Noo. They won’t trust you again girl. Anyway I am still mad at Clayton
Unlike the Duke, who didn’t even care whether his own wife was being humiliated
Yes. So I want you to become male lead. Clayton did a lot of mess. But there is bot a chance for you🥲
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VKotaku28
It is the carriage bringing the not-mistress Dalia.