The Tyrant's Terminally-Ill Childhood Friend (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 10
A look of doubt surfaced on her face, and Anette answered Noah’s unspoken question as if she had read his mind.
“It’s nothing serious. You just seemed a bit more flexible.”
“Oh, did you meet Simoren?”
“He was easier to find than you. Though I didn’t gain much from it.”
“I doubt it would’ve been much different if you’d come looking for me. I have nothing to tell you either.”
“Is that so? I don’t think so.”
Anette gave a faint laugh at Noah’s words. The black-haired woman’s fleeting smile reminded him of ripples dancing across the river’s surface. Her ethereal, almost vanishing presence only deepened that impression. Seizing the brief moment when Noah’s attention wavered, Anette continued.
“You’re the person most connected to Lowell Hessen after His Majesty himself. Noah Ernst, top graduate of Blueau Private Academy’s 14th class. I know your elder brother burned along with the Hessen estate.”
“……!”
“Your brother must have been very close to the Hessen brothers, judging by how he’d visit their home during holidays himself. Or rather—since both you and your brother were commoners—it was probably more natural for you to spend holidays at a friend’s house…”
“Enough. Please stop.”
Hearing Anette’s steady stream of words, Noah’s expression hardened unlike ever before. Until now, he had merely looked uncomfortable—but now his face had settled into the cold, tempered stillness of a honed blade.
“How do you know that?”
“There’s always a way to find things out.”
Noah felt his blood run cold. Even if Anette was a Martinek and had Operta backing her, she couldn’t possibly know more than the Emperor himself. Yet what she had just revealed was information no one from Operta should have been able to uncover.
That he’d been born a commoner—that might be excusable. But no one had ever known about his deceased brother.
Except Peter, who had helped cover it up, and Simoren, who’d been close to him since private school.
‘Unless she’s a survivor of the Hessen family…’
It was utterly impossible knowledge—so how on earth did Anette Martinek know?
When Noah stared at her with a rigid expression, Anette gave a faint smile.
“I suppose I startled you too much. There’s no need to be so guarded.”
“Are you… asking me to believe that?”
“What choice do you have if you don’t?”
Anette’s previously gentle demeanor instantly turned sharp. Her expression and posture hadn’t changed at all, yet in an instant she transformed from an innocent, unknowing young lady into someone radiating the cold ruthlessness of an assassin.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t come here to threaten you. The secrets I know will stay buried.”
“But… what on earth…”
“I only want an answer. No one has ever given me one.”
It was such a trivial question, really. Anette lowered her gaze with a hint of regret, then smiled again.
What slipped out was truly just a single, simple question.
“If Lowell were still alive, would His Majesty look for her?”
Yet it was a question no one could answer.
“Anette Martinek… what exactly do you want?”
When Noah asked in shock, Anette smiled with a trace of loneliness.
“I suppose I won’t get an answer this time either. Don’t be so wary.”
After all, our goals are the same.
“I will quell His Majesty’s madness.”
[This is the timeline separator]‘Noah Ernst was the last one.’
Lowell mentally reviewed everyone she’d met that day.
After realizing Peter would never answer her question, Lowell had posed the same query to several others. To an observer, it might seem she was stubbornly seeking Peter’s reply—but the question itself was merely a pretense.
What Lowell had truly put forward was the premise preceding it: “If Lowell were still alive.”
‘Peter thinks I know something about Lowell.’
Strictly speaking, he seemed to believe she’d heard something about Lowell from someone else—but the core idea remained the same.
At this moment, she was the only person who knew anything about “Lowell.”
If she, who supposedly knew something, subtly hinted around about Lowell’s possible survival…
‘Surely, a signal will come from somewhere.’
Rumors in the Imperial Palace spread quickly, and within this beautiful court, countless desires were tangled together—someone would surely bite the hook Lowell had cast.
All that remained now was to wait.
Lowell returned to the palace quarters assigned to her—and found an uninvited guest waiting.
“Lady Anette, while you were away, the Former Empress… came to visit.”
It was impolite to enter someone’s quarters uninvited. Knowing this, the maids showed clear discomfort.
“If you wish, we could send her away now and arrange a proper appointment later…”
“No. It wouldn’t be proper to turn away someone who came to see me.”
A flicker of interest lit up Lowell’s dark eyes.
“I’ll meet her. Please show her in.”
Her first prey.
[This is the timeline separator]The Former Empress, Monique de Montmorency.
Her reputation could be summed up in one line: since the current Emperor had killed everyone upon his ascension, leaving no one alive in the imperial family, she had somehow luckily secured a palace for herself and pretended to be the Former Empress. In other words, she was full of vanity—and yet, despite holding a palace, she was utterly insignificant and posed no threat whatsoever.
Of course, someone might wonder if Monique enjoyed a good relationship with the current Emperor.
“He should’ve consulted me before bringing home a bride. I can’t understand how Peter managed to proceed with everything while completely leaving me out. I’m practically like a mother to him.”
Even someone who knew nothing about Monique would realize within ten minutes of meeting her that she and Peter did not get along.
“Still, I thought Lady Anette would understand proper etiquette and come see me, so I waited—but you never contacted me at all. It’s disappointing. The Duke and Duchess Martinek were truly good people.”
“…They were indeed good people.”
Lowell replied with a faint smile. The remark that the Duke and Duchess Martinek had been good people carried the subtle implication that their daughter, Lowell, was anything but.
‘She rushes over here just two days after her own crisis and already has so much to say.’
Lowell felt slightly irritated—an unusual feeling for her. Though she’d never met the Duchess Martinek (who had passed away long before Lowell entered the Martinek household), Jurgen had been her undeniable benefactor.
Without Jurgen, Lowell would never have made it this far. In fact, she might have already been captured and executed right in front of the burned-down estate.
Thus, Jurgen meant far more to Lowell than just an adoptive father. Even if Monique didn’t know that, it was still inconsiderate to bring up deceased parents in front of their child.
Monique had lived as Empress and polished her social graces to perfection—so she wouldn’t possibly be ignorant enough to mention the Duke and Duchess Martinek so bluntly in front of Lowell unless she had a reason.
“Exactly. They truly were wonderful people. Since we’re old acquaintances, it’s nice that we can share such memories.”
“…Old acquaintances?”
“We met when you were very young—around three years old, I think.”
Ah.
Lowell finally understood why Monique had deliberately brought up the Duke and Duchess Martinek in front of her.
‘She wanted to emphasize that we have some connection.’
‘Anette Martinek’ wasn’t merely a fabricated identity for Lowell’s social reinvention—she had been a real person. A girl of the same age as Lowell, with black hair and eyes, who had died of illness before reaching her thirteenth birthday.
Lowell hadn’t heard many details beyond that. Since both the Duchess and ‘Anette Martinek’ were already dead, all Lowell could infer was that ‘Anette Martinek’ likely wasn’t Jurgen’s illegitimate child—because if she’d been born to the Duchess, her hair wouldn’t have been black.
‘Either way, I got lucky.’
‘Anette Martinek’ had been frail since childhood and, aside from her earliest years, had never left the house. That made it easy for Lowell to take her place.
Martinek—especially Operta—was a closed-off place. If the Duke himself had decreed it, concealing a child’s death would have been trivial.
Thanks to that, Lowell had been able to maintain her noble status. Had she been known as an adopted daughter, she never would have gained entry here.
“It’s such a joy that the daughter of a family I’m close to is becoming Peter’s bride. I’d like to become close friends with Lady Anette.”
“It’s an honor, Your Highness.”
Seeing Lowell’s obedient demeanor, Monique’s attitude softened slightly.
In other words, she became a bit more informal.
“I’ve been so worried about Peter’s affairs, but now that you’re here, Miss Anette, I can finally rest easy. I never liked how he was so obsessed with that woman Lowell—especially since no one even knows if she’s alive or dead… Don’t you agree?”
“Well… one never knows what fate holds.”
Lowell smiled faintly as she traced the rim of her teacup. Her lowered eyelids concealed the thoughts behind her dark eyes, rendering her smile utterly dry and hollow.
“Somewhere out there… she might still be alive.”
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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