“Your Majesty, how am I supposed to find out just from this potion bottle?”
Raphael looked bewildered as he examined the empty potion bottle in front of his nose.
“You’re capable, aren’t you?”
“I am a capable secretary, not a magician.”
“So don’t be arrogant and try harder to find out.”
Raphael, who expected to hear the words ‘it’s going to be difficult,’ sighed in response to the emperor’s always positively framed order.
Then, Lionel took out another potion bottle from the desk drawer and handed it to Raphael.
“Ah! No wonder I felt like I’ve seen this bottle somewhere.”
Raphael alternately looked at the potion bottle in his hand and the one Lionel had taken out of the drawer, then slapped his forehead.
What he had just taken out of the drawer was a magical potion to prevent the rapid drop in body temperature that had been continuously consumed since receiving the curse of hypothermia.
“Seeing that the bottles are the same, it must be a potion purchased at ‘Dangdang Night’ clinic, right?”
“Yes, go and find out what was inside.”
“But there’s nothing inside, and there’s no smell. How can I find out?”
Raphael opened the cork and sniffed at the entrance of the potion bottle.
“There’s a date under the bottle. You’ll figure it out by digging up the potions sold on that day.”
“Oh, I see. Huh? Isn’t this the day before the national marriage? We also went to the clinic on that day…!”
Raphael said, looking at the date written under the potion bottle.
“Yeah, it’s the day you got a stomachache, and I ended up sitting crumpled up in the clinic waiting room, so I got the potion instead.”
“Right. I remember you were quite upset.”
“What?”
“On that day, Your Majesty, you were sitting crumpled up because of your stomachache, and then some strange woman picked a fight with you, right?”
The strange woman was Zelda.
“Uh, well, she wasn’t that strange.”
When Lionel coughed awkwardly and muttered, Raphael burst into laughter.
“Oh, no, that’s not it. Your Majesty, when you came back from that day, you were upset and cursed the whole time until we arrived at the palace in the carriage, saying it was the most unpleasant and strange woman you had ever met. What are you talking about?”
“Raphael. Don’t say such things in front of the empress.”
“What? Why suddenly about the empress? Huh! Uh, wait, maybe this potion bottle?”
Lionel nodded.
“It’s from the empress’s bedroom.”
“Then maybe… that strange woman who argued at the clinic that day…?!”
Raphael widened his eyes and covered his mouth with his hands.
“Now that you know, be careful with your words in front of the empress.”
He mimicked zipping his mouth shut, and Raphael followed suit.
“Yes, I’ll be careful! But… did you secretly bring this potion bottle without the empress knowing?”
Raphael asked, imitating his hand movements.
As he walked towards the window, deep in thought for a moment, he replied.
“Yes, I brought it secretly. It was next to the rose vase. But, you know, the color of the roses I gave her…”
“The color… why?”
Raphael asked, looking at his paused expression.
“No, anyway, find out what kind of potion bottle it is.”
He pondered, looking down at the red rose garden visible outside the office window.
“This is Sharon, a lady-in-waiting; she’s also in charge of my outfits. Here’s Sollye, a gardener by birth, responsible for my hairstyle. And Theresa, an artist, draws on my face every morning.”
After leaving the dining room, they moved to Bonis’s temporary bedroom in the palace, chatting all the way. Then, they moved back to the reception room and introduced Bonis to my attendants.
I hoped that Bonis, the maid who would always be with me from now on, would get along well with the three attendants.
Bonis introduced herself to Sharon, Sollye, and Theresa one by one, and the attendants seemed genuinely welcoming.
“You’ll probably have a lot to learn; please take care of me.”
“No, Bonis, I heard you’ve been with the empress for a long time. We’ll learn a lot from you.”
“That’s right. We haven’t fully grasped the empress’s preferences yet, so please tell us a lot.”
“Welcome! If there’s anything uncomfortable, please let us know anytime!”
I quietly observed the four people for a moment, then clenched my fist and threw a casual remark.
“Looks like someone else will be seeing my dark side? Now we’re even.”
The attendants were startled and stopped laughing, but Bonis, who knew me well, burst into laughter.
“Why are you so happy?”
At that moment, Lionel opened the door to the reception room and walked in.
As he appeared, everyone’s voices stopped abruptly, as if they had made a promise.
“Was I being cursed? Why did everyone stop laughing when I came in?”
He squinted his eyes and asked with a resentful expression.
His expression, without a smile, was intimidating enough for others, but he was completely unaware of this fact.
Except for me, the expressions of the four people froze simultaneously.
“Everyone, leave now.”
I said to them with a smirk.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“We’ll leave now.”
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.”
