Balt Portman’s shadow fell over Ileon Gredrick’s head as he read the holy scripture.
“Does reading the scripture make answers pop up out of nowhere?”
Balt sneered.
“What’s the matter, Balt?”
Ileon asked in a slow voice, not lifting his eyes from the scripture.
“Today’s newspaper.”
Thud.
Balt pulled a newspaper from his coat and tossed it onto the scripture.
Ileon looked down at the newspaper.
[The Shocking Secret of the New Emperor!]That was the headline on the front page.
Ileon’s eyes narrowed as he saw it.
Below the headline was an article claiming that Ileon was responsible for a massacre conducted under the guise of a ritual dedicated to the gods in the Grand Temple, as well as poisoning the face of the Crown Prince of Abelon.
Every detail of Ileon’s actions, including raising executioners in the Grand Temple’s basement to offer as sacrifices to the gods, was laid bare in the newspaper.
“What are you going to do? You’re not the only one who owns a newspaper.”
“…….”
“Who would’ve thought Dietrich Calypso, without even a single estate, would buy a newspaper? And under someone else’s name, no less.”
Instead of getting angry, Ileon smirked as he looked at the newspaper.
“I judged from the start that a man who came to destroy Abelon wouldn’t surprise me with whatever schemes he pulled behind the scenes. This is so predictable it’s not even surprising.”
Balt, expecting a sharp retort, was unusually quiet today.
In the boutique, where the touch of the late Madam of Boutique Eclairean still lingered, only the sound of Ileon turning the pages of the scripture could be heard.
Balt’s lips parted after a long pause.
“Here’s the thing, Ileon.”
Balt pulled something from his coat and held it up before Ileon’s eyes.
What Balt presented was a scrapbook filled with clippings of Ileon’s various deeds.
“When you became emperor, something felt off, so I did some digging of my own.”
The scrapbook contained even more details than the newspaper.
“The ingredients for the poison that melted Jeremy’s face are grown only in the southern territory, where the climate is warm year-round… Isn’t that curious? As far as I know, the ruler of the southern territory is Ileon Gredrick.”
Balt stroked his chin.
He tapped at a plant with red berries in the scrapbook.
“It’s called Aquinep. A strong anesthetic used on human sacrifices, right? They say even an elephant wouldn’t wake up after a whiff.”
Ileon pulled his lips into a faint smile. His mouth smiled, but his eyes did not.
“……I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
“Really? A clever guy like you doesn’t know what I know?”
As Ileon leaned in to examine the scrapbook, Balt swiftly tucked it back into his coat.
Balt tilted his head toward Ileon.
“Do you know why I got you out of prison?”
At Balt’s words, Ileon looked at him. Balt’s ash-gray eyes held unmistakable disgust as they met Ileon’s.
“I didn’t say it, but I enjoyed our chess games. Beyond both of us being from the Three Dukes, I didn’t want to believe you’d done such vile things.”
“…….”
“If you’d shown even a hint of remorse for what you’ve done, I might have helped you raise an army. I would’ve done my best to keep Abelon from falling.”
Ileon quickly grasped Balt’s meaning.
“……So, you, one of Abelon’s pillars, are saying you’ll stand by and watch it fall?”
Ileon’s blue eyes turned icy.
Unfazed by Ileon’s cold gaze, Balt calmly surveyed the boutique.
Dresses showcasing the late madam’s craftsmanship and high-quality fabrics hung around the shop.
“Did you know? The madam of this boutique was completely innocent. She lost her husband early and had only a daughter as family.”
“So what? Are you saying I should apologize for killing her now?”
“……You’re utterly hopeless.”
Balt shook his head, as if completely fed up.
“As long as someone like you exists, Abelon has no future.”
“Balt.”
Ileon’s chilling voice settled in Balt’s ears.
“Do you think nobility alone can protect Abelon? I’m merely bearing all the burdens as its guardian. Meanwhile, what exactly are you doing for Abelon?”
Balt, arms crossed, let out a long yawn.
He looked utterly unconcerned, as if this situation had nothing to do with him.
“Don’t justify it as being for Abelon, Ileon. You’re just acting on your own desires.”
At Balt’s words, Ileon felt as if his entire life had been negated.
“Don’t expect my help. I’m done getting involved in this filthy mess.”
Balt looked at Ileon with a face free of any lingering attachment.
Ileon’s jaw tensed, veins standing out.
“Are you saying you’re fine with Abelon’s downfall? You, of all people?”
“……Look here, Your Great Majesty. There’s something you don’t know.”
With a mocking tone, Balt propped one arm on the table and curled his lips.
“I don’t really care if Abelon falls. If a new dynasty rises, that’s fine by me. I’d be a hero for helping establish it.”
At Balt’s words, Ileon let out a scoff.
“……Are you truly mad? You, one of the Three Dukes, saying such things?”
“Seeing the vile things you’ve done makes me want to repent to the gods myself.”
With exaggerated gestures, Balt brought both hands to his chest and closed his eyes in a prayer-like pose.
Opening his eyes wide, Balt replied.
“The gods just answered with great mercy, granting forgiveness.”
“…….”
“But here’s the thing—they forgave only me, not you.”
Balt stood up, as if he had nothing more to say.
Turning his back, Balt began to walk away. After a few steps, Ileon’s cold voice echoed behind him.
“You trust them more than me, after all our years of camaraderie. Or perhaps, like so many men, you’ve fallen for the princess?”
Balt ignored Ileon’s words and kept walking.
“Or is it that you’re afraid of the ‘power’ the princess possesses?”
At Ileon’s provocation, Balt stopped in his tracks.
Turning his head slightly, Balt let out a short laugh and retorted.
“You’re the one who’s afraid, Ileon.”
“…….”
“I have no reason to fear, since I haven’t done anything to her. But you? That’s a different story.”
Balt grinned, pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Ileon, with a pitying click of his tongue, said.
“You don’t trust me at all.”
“Look, Ileon. Think about it logically. Why would I trust you after you fed your only sister to a beast?”
“…….”
Ileon fell silent. He hadn’t expected Balt to uncover that.
Ileon’s lips parted slowly.
“You’ve gotten quite clever. But every choice you make is as foolish as ever.”
Balt shrugged nonchalantly and replied.
“You once told me there’s no need for my brain to be made of muscle.”
“…….”
“And I don’t think my choices are all that foolish.”
Ileon asked Balt one final question.
“Won’t you regret this? If I win this fight, you’ll die by my hand.”
“Who’s killing who? You, me?”
Balt threw his head back and laughed.
“I’ll be waiting for the day you kill me. If that day ever comes.”
With light steps, Balt left the boutique. Ileon glared at Balt’s retreating figure with icy eyes.
As soon as Balt disappeared, one of Ileon’s subordinates, who had been hiding and holding their breath, stepped forward.
“Master, it might be best to deal with Duke Portman now.”
The subordinate cautiously suggested, looking at Ileon’s darkened expression.
This subordinate, Ileon’s loyal confidant, was also the one who had dealt with Ben, Empress Erpia’s former guard knight.
Thanks to Ileon sending him outside the castle as a spy long before his imprisonment, he had escaped Dietrich’s blade.
Ileon, resting his chin on one hand, tapped the table with his fingers.
“……Troublesome.”
Overturning public opinion swayed by a single newspaper is no easy task.
But the scrapbook in Balt’s possession clearly contained nearly every deed Ileon had committed.
“I thought he was on my side, but this complicates things.”
Ileon’s blue eyes turned to his subordinate.
“For now, keep watching. The important ones aren’t Balt, but the two in the palace.”
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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