Erina had woken up a little earlier and was hurriedly starting her day, as it was the day the Imperial Knights were departing for the frontier.
For the past few days, Erina had been experiencing many conflicting thoughts and emotions.
Peiron was going to leave to regain his honor by volunteering for the war on the frontier.
But Sandes said it looked like he was going to his death.
She thought there was no way that selfish and weak person would do such a thing.
But the messenger from the Iolls County said.
Rose came to see Peiron almost every day, he said.
Upon hearing the news of her pregnancy, he must have been desperately trying to regain his honor according to their plan.
But she didn’t know why she couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling somewhere.
His image of kneeling before her asking for help with Rose and Sandes’ words that he looked like a man going to his death overlapped, making her dizzy.
Finding it difficult to continue her thoughts as her mind felt heavy, she went out to the terrace to breathe in the early morning air.
From the terrace, the entrance of the mansion was visible at a glance.
As Erina stood blankly leaning on the railing gazing at the rising sun, she heard voices talking loudly.
Moving her gaze towards the main gate, she saw Peiron arguing with a knight.
It was strange that he was here when he should be busy preparing for his departure.
Moreover, he was wearing a pitch-black suit instead of the Imperial Knights uniform he should have been wearing.
It was a dark, deep black suit that one would wear to a funeral.
Though not clearly visible from afar, there didn’t seem to be any decorations at all.
As Erina was staring at him quietly, she saw Peiron reach through the gate and grab the knight’s collar as the voices grew louder, and she hurriedly moved.
Not having time to dress properly, she threw on a robe and went out.
On her way out, she heard Bertrel’s surprised voice calling out.
“My lady!”
“Ah, Bertrel.”
“Is something the matter?”
Perhaps her somewhat urgent footsteps were noticeable to others as well.
“An uninvited guest is causing a disturbance.”
Bertrel alertly surveyed the surroundings at Erina’s words.
Just then, the commotion at the main gate was clearly visible through the large glass window in the hallway.
Maintaining his composure, Bertrel bowed to Erina and moved.
“I will call for Baron Semul.”
“Thank you, Bertrel.”
Erina resumed her steps, exiting the mansion and walking towards the main gate.
“I told you, it’s a very important matter.”
Erina hurried towards the knight whose collar was grabbed through the gate, looking distressed.
Standing at some distance from the gate, Erina warned Peiron.
“Let go, Count Iolls.”
At Erina’s words, Peiron loosened his grip on the knight’s collar.
The knight’s face was flushed red, having been held for quite some time.
The knight dusted off his collar that had been grabbed, not hiding his displeasure towards Peiron.
“Erina.”
Peiron seemed to see neither the knight’s reaction nor Erina’s angry face, simply staring at her.
“What are you doing now, Count Iolls?”
Even at Erina’s cold voice, Peiron didn’t budge and called out to her while gripping the gate.
“Erina, let’s talk.”
“Sir, are you alright?”
Ignoring Peiron who was only saying what he wanted to say, Erina took care of the knight first.
The knight, seemingly grateful that Erina cared for him first, quickly tidied his clothes and answered.
“Yes, my lady. Thank you for your concern.”
“I’m sorry to ask this early in the morning, but could you call for Sir Barun?”
“Of course. I will move quickly.”
The knight bowed with a bright face at Erina’s request and moved almost at a run.
“Erina.”
Erina felt no need to respond to Peiron’s words and turned her body away from him, tightening her disheveled robe.
Seeing Erina turning away without even looking at him, Peiron called out to her again loudly.
“Erina!”
As Erina continued to ignore him until the end, Peiron desperately grabbed the gate and shook it, calling her name repeatedly.
“Erina, please talk to me for a moment. Erina!”
Seeing this scene, Erina was reminded of Mirea who had caused a fuss shaking the gate and demanding her child back.
Like mother, like son, they both came unannounced and caused a scene.
Feeling that he wouldn’t leave until they talked, Erina turned to face him.
When she finally looked at him, Peiron called out to Erina with a voice full of joy.
“Erina.”
“I thought you were departing today.”
“…That’s right.”
“Then I don’t understand why you’re here at this early hour. And being so rude as to lay hands on my guard knight.”
Peiron looked at Erina as he spoke, but couldn’t answer and gripped the thick iron bars of the gate tightly.
Now that he was face to face with her, all the firm resolutions he had made throughout the night seemed to crumble.
Peiron slightly avoided her gaze and spoke again.
“Just for a moment, I want to talk for just a very brief moment.”
“Here and now, of all times?”
“Yes… I have something I must say before I leave.”
His words, spoken as if facing a long journey ahead, were somewhat contradictory.
Erina frowned, rubbing her throbbing head that had been deep in thought all night.
“Ha.”
Letting out a hollow laugh, Erina was disgusted by the man who showed how selfish a person could be.
Erina deliberately slowly looked Peiron up and down as he showed an increasingly anxious appearance.
It was he who was anxious, not her.
“Then, speak from there.”
“Erina.”
“We’re not on good enough terms to have a friendly face-to-face conversation, are we?”
Peiron bit his lip hard at Erina’s words that firmly put up a wall.
Contrary to his expectation of moving quickly before his resolve wavered, the sky that had been dark was now bright with sunlight.
Seeing the sun shining brightly on the world, Peiron felt like he was going mad.
Erina’s figure, free from him and shining brightly, was so radiant that it made him anxious.
He was afraid that this darkness he harbored might fade away in that light.
“I have something, something to give you.”
“Something to give me?”
Having already received everything she was supposed to through the marriage annulment process, there was nothing more for her to receive from him.
There shouldn’t be anything he could give her either.
She knew that he had settled many things to prepare what he had to give her.
She had heard that as a result, the mansion had already become almost abandoned.
Mirea, who used to enjoy social activities, was now said to be holed up in the mansion, and there was not a single place properly doing business with the Iolls family anymore.
“You, to me?”
Erina openly mocked him, finding it ridiculous.
But Peiron showed no reaction to her mockery.
He simply quietly put his hand in his pocket and took out an envelope.
“This.”
Erina tilted her head without moving from her spot to see the envelope hidden behind the solid iron bars of the gate.
The envelope bearing the seal of the Iolls family gave no hint as to its contents.
Erina frowned deeply.
“Mother, there was something left among the things she took from you.”
For some reason, she could guess what he was trying to hand over, which irritated her.
“It’s the building deed you asked Mother to return, the one you said you received from your parents.”
“Ah, that building.”
It was a deed of both love and hate, the reason why her entire married life had fallen apart and something she couldn’t forget.
It was a building she wanted to keep until the end because it was the only thing her parents had left in her name.
But it was also a building that her uncle had transferred under the family name just before her marriage, and Mirea had taken possession of.
When she found out about this, she had begged Mirea to return the building, but in the end, all she got was a miserable married life.
“I wanted to apologize while giving you this.”
“Apologize?”
Erina was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t say anything more.
She was astounded that he would now apologize, something she had once desperately wished for, perhaps out of fear of dying before the war.
“Yes, I wanted to apologize by giving you this before I left. So please, the door…”
“I don’t need it.”
“Wh-what?”
Peiron stuttered in surprise at Erina’s firm answer.
“I said I don’t need it.”
“B-but, Erina, this is the building deed you said was your parents’ keepsake.”
“So what?”
Peiron was taken aback by Erina’s words, spoken as if she truly didn’t care.
This deed was virtually his last resort to draw Erina in.
He had been certain that with this building deed, she would definitely agree to meet him.
He had also thought that since all misunderstandings started with this building, they could end with it too.
“Why? Did you think I would sit down for a friendly cup of tea with you just because of that piece of paper?”
Peiron stared at her blankly with a bewildered expression.
“You’re quite foolish, aren’t you?”
But his dazed mind quickly returned at Erina’s icy insult.
“J-just now.”
“Do you think I would meet with someone who makes me nauseous just by facing them, all because of a single piece of paper?”
As the situation unfolded completely differently from what he had expected, Peiron strangely began to feel increasingly angry.
It was supposed to be over quickly.
He thought that if he could just have a moment to face Erina, he could proceed with what Rose so desperately wanted.
But nothing was going according to Peiron’s imagination.
Finally, unable to bear the frustration, Peiron shouted at Erina.
“A single piece of paper! This is the building you said was your parents’ keepsake!”
“Yes, and so what?”
“What do you mean ‘so what’!”
“That building, I can just buy it later if I want to. Why would I need to receive it from you in such a troublesome way?”
A sharp and cold smile appeared on Erina’s face.
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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