“Why don’t you go ahead?”

He tilted his head, urging Lea, who had hastily prepared, to proceed.

“Count, I think there’s a misunderstanding….”

“Why? Wasn’t this what you were going to do?”

The count’s warm breath tickled her cheeks. Trapped in the man’s embrace, Lea couldn’t move a muscle.

Lea, who had been wondering how to show the Count, let out a small sigh.

“Count, could you please close your eyes for a moment?”

“Why should I listen to you….”

But even before she could hear Akkia’s response, Lea’s hand moved first. Each time her pale fingers moved, her white skin was revealed against the contrast of the black dress.

“You…!”

Did this woman have no sense of modesty? Or did she have a separate agenda from the beginning?

His face crumpled helplessly as Akkia let out a short, astounded breath.

And finally, the moment Lea put her hand inside the dress, Akkia grabbed her wrist, blocking her audacious act.

No, he tried to block it. But.

“…I was trying to show you this?”

What caught his eyes was.

“Gold coin?”

Lea took out a gold coin from a sachet inside her dress.

“Yes. This is the gold coin given to me by the one who requested me to watch you, Count.”

The light of the gold coin, shimmering even in the dark room, filled the awkward silence between the two.

“I don’t know what you were expecting, Count, but I’m sorry if I disappointed you.”

Lea whispered softly with an awkward smile.

“…….”

“…….”

Silence flowed between the two.

Akkia, who had been staring at Lea with an inscrutable face, got up. As if nothing had happened.

“Is there a problem with that gold coin?”

Lea got up at the count’s question and handed over the gold coin.

“As you can see, it’s a gold coin guaranteed by the Parchia merchant guild. However, the person who gave me this today was in contact with the Magnolia merchant guild. And on his day off, no less. It means that this has nothing to do with the mansion.”

“So?”

He raised an eyebrow, as if asking her to continue.

“In my opinion, the Magnolia merchant guild might be involved behind the scenes.”

“…….”

“Perhaps the Parchia and Magnolia merchant guilds, which appear to be rivals, may actually have a close relationship.”

The count, who had been watching Lea speak confidently, let out a brief sigh.

He picked up a blanket lying next to him and tossed it over Lea.

“First, cover yourself a bit? It’s unsightly.”

‘What? Unsightly?’

At his words, Lea reflexively looked down at herself.

‘Where is it unsightly?’

Whether objectively or subjectively, her body was definitely not unsightly. Lea pursed her lips and wrapped herself with the blanket the count had given her.

“For now, the fact you told me today. It’s a plausible assumption. I’ll give you that.”

“Then the advance payment……”

“But it’s just a suspicion. There’s no evidence, is there?”

“Huh?”

One corner of his mouth twisted up.

“Bring some more plausible evidence. Then. I’ll give you the advance payment.”

‘Ah. It’s ridiculously hard to get paid.’

Lea was mentally gnashing her teeth at Akkia.

“Oh, and I’m saying this in case you misunderstood.”

Then he looked up and down at Lea, whose appearance had been thoroughly disheveled.

“I’m not attracted to women.”

‘What?’

Lea’s eyes widened at the count’s words. With that, he walked away from the bed with a dignified stride.

But Lea, she froze, shocked by his words.

‘He’s not attracted to women.’

That meant, could it be.

Looking at the back of Akkia, who had turned around, Lea covered her mouth with her hand.

‘Does he have a problem with his sexual function, or does he like men?!’

Or both.

Thus, the identity of the count in Lea’s mind was changing day by day. Unaware that it was all a misunderstanding.

Lea, recalling the events of last night, frowned as if her head hurt. No matter how much she thought about it, she had a long way to go.

If things went on like this, not only the trust of the count, but she would also not know when she could get the remaining payment. Lea let out a low sigh.

“Sigh.”

She didn’t want to go this far…….
Lea stopped in front of the bedroom, briefly looking down at the trolley she had pulled along. It was the Count’s lunch.

On her way to the Count’s bedroom, Lea ran into the maid who usually tended to him. At her offer to relay the message, the maid handed over the trolley as though she had been waiting for it.

Rumor had it that the maids who delivered the meals were often rudely dismissed at the door.

‘Well, with that kind of temperament, it’s plausible.’

Lea, nodding as if understanding, knocked on the bedroom door.

“Count, it’s Lea. I’m coming in.”

Lea now opened the bedroom door as she always did. Then she led the trolley closer to the sofa where the Count was sitting.

“What’s this?”

Assuming she was here for the routine checkup, the Count furrowed his brow when Lea appeared with the meal.

“It’s your lunch, Count.”

“Who asked you? Why are you bringing it?”

“I brought it along for the checkup.”

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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