‘She doesn’t give off the feeling of an empress dowager.’
Callian resembled the emperor that the spirit had loved in her past life.
From his gaze to his manner of speaking and habits.
So she tried to recall if Riona, Callian’s mother, perhaps resembled the empress dowager.
But Riona did not resemble the empress dowager she knew.
‘Then is Callian’s resemblance to the emperor just a coincidence?’
The resentment that had boiled in her soul was clear, but the moment of death did not come to mind clearly.
Would she come to know the circumstances of how she came here once everything was remembered?
‘In any case, this body is ill-fated, both in this world and the next.’
Yes. Whether this place was another world or hell, it was clear that she had made a bad marriage both then and now.
It was the same with her husband’s mother being obsessed with tormenting her.
The empress dowager had persecuted the spirit, expressing displeasure at her being a wench from a family of unknown origin.
Only her noble and beautiful son was the empress dowager’s pride, and the concubines were merely tools for continuing the lineage.
Not being the daughter of a meritorious subject, and possessing only martial arts skills and beauty useless for an emperor’s woman, she was a thorn in the empress dowager’s side.
She suffered many petty things while being hated by the empress dowager, but…
‘I never lost to the empress dowager. At least not until the moment I remember.’
The corner of Esika’s mouth twisted.
‘Let alone to a mere mistress.’
It wasn’t for nothing that the concubines feared her, calling her the most vicious woman under heaven.
She was one who responded to petty acts with petty acts, to insulting acts with even more insulting acts.
Of course, her schemes were more perfect than anyone else’s.
She dreamed of becoming the only woman for the man she loved.
It was only in her later years that she realized even that dream was insubstantial and futile.
‘I don’t care if this is hell. But one thing is certain…’
Esika, who had lightly landed on the window and entered the room, gently shook off her clothes.
‘They will receive twentyfold what they did to me.’
It may take time, but making her enemies wail like beasts in a slaughterhouse will be achieved.
Because she was no longer the ignorant Esika from before.
**
Hemos faced the greatest crisis of his life.
He was caught by Emilia, the mistress’s maid, while preparing food and medicinal potions.
Juicy meat, fresh vegetables, and an orange drink that looked like carrot juice… Annie narrowed her eyes into triangles and looked back and forth between the plate and Hemos.
“What’s going on here, chef?”
Of course, Riona had never openly ordered rotten bread to be served for Esika’s meals.
She merely clicked her tongue at the neat food being served to her, saying it was not frugal enough, and after this happened a few times, Esika’s meals became terrible.
Everything provided to Esika went through such a process to reach this point.
Preparing such an excellent meal in the midst of this was an act of defiance against Riona.
“I can’t believe my eyes. I know you’ve been unhappy that the mistress hasn’t been paying attention to the chef lately, but to openly rebel like this…”
The maid cried out in a sharp voice.
“It seems you no longer wish to work at Klaus, chef.”
Sweat trickled down the back of Hemos’s neck.
He also felt regret, thinking what a mess this was over just a few pearls, but the milk was already spilled.
Hemos called out to stop the maid as she was about to turn away.
“Wait.”
The maid turned back to Hemos with a sharp gaze.
Hemos handed the cup from the tray to the maid.
The maid frowned and asked back.
“What are you doing? Are you telling me to drink the carrot juice meant for the duchess and keep my mouth shut?”
“Don’t say that, just taste it and then talk. Really.”
When Hemos spoke in a strong voice, the maid who had flinched for a moment took the cup.
Whatever the scheme was, there was nothing to do but taste it.
The maid slowly tilted the cup to taste the carrot juice inside.
“…”
And after pausing for a moment, she spat out the juice in her mouth.
“Pfft!”
Hemos barely caught the cup as the maid was about to drop it.
The face of the maid who had spit out the juice was flushed red and blue.
The taste of the juice she had tasted was truly indescribable, beyond words like terrible.
How in the world could this be called juice?
Even juice squeezed from trampled garbage would taste better than this.
“Ugh…”
The lingering scent of the juice that had briefly flowed into her mouth made the maid retch a few times.
Seeing the maid’s reaction, Hemos could understand what Esika had meant.
“Make the medicinal potion according to the formula, but never taste it. It’s something too much for an ordinary person like you to handle.”
He thought he had done well to listen.
“Also, if someone suspects the food being served to me, let them taste it. Then they will not doubt.”
The maid gulped down water.
Tears even welled up in her eyes.
How trash-like must the taste be for her to suffer like that?
And how on earth does the duchess drink that?
Hemos felt goosebumps.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve tasted something so bitter and disgusting.”
The maid said to Hemos with the ends of her eyebrows raised.
Hemos, who had been dazed, came to his senses and cleared his throat.
“Well, when a person eats rotten things every day, they get used to it. So you have to change it up sometimes.”
The maid nodded and looked at the food to be served to Esika.
Like the carrot juice with its strange taste, those normal-looking foods must taste terrible too.
“How fun would it be if you excitedly put it in your mouth expecting something, but it tastes awful?”
It was something worth reporting to the mistress for praise.
She had thought this Hemos fellow was a completely boring person, but maybe not.
The maid smiled, unlike before, and said:
“I’ll be sure to tell the mistress about the chef’s cute prank.”
Hemos nodded with an awkward smile.
“Right. Don’t suspect people carelessly from now on.”
“I’m sorry about earlier. The food just looked so good…”
“Want to try a piece of meat?”
“Ugh, get that horrible food away.”
The maid recoiled in disgust as Hemos deliberately held out the plate.
“Then I’ll be going. Oh, the mistress is planning to go to the garden in the evening, so bake some cookies.”
And she turned and left the kitchen.
Only a few seconds after the maid disappeared did Hemos place a hand on his chest and let out a sigh of relief.
The deception had been perfect. A smile appeared on Hemos’s lips.
Now no one would suspect him for a while.
**
“…I see.”
Esika smiled faintly at the corners of her mouth as she heard Cella’s report.
She had expected the mistress to check on the food.
As a result of her meditation and breathing exercises, her complexion had noticeably improved.
Of course, it was also because she had eaten truly fresh food.
Before, when she had to make do with meals of poor quality, hard bread, she would fall ill every other day.
Getting hives all over her body was commonplace, but she had no choice if she didn’t want to starve to death.
There were times when she begged Yuri to exchange jewels for fresh food, but Yuri pretended to worry about her and said:
“The mistress is punishing you… If she finds out you’re avoiding punishment, she’ll be greatly disappointed. What if she says bad things about you to the duke?”
She thought it was inevitable to be hated by the mistress.
But when she thought about her relationship with her husband Callian… getting worse, she decided she had to endure and eat even rotten bread resolutely.
That was before she regained her memories as a spirit, when she was stupid and naive and knew nothing.
“Anyway, now no one will be suspicious even if a lavish meal is set out.”
Cella said, as if relieved.
She had been anxious trying to bring good food to Esika while avoiding watchful eyes.
“…”
Esika looked at the scenery outside the window.
The mansion’s vast garden stretched out.
It looked beautiful like this, but this place had always been a prison for her.
A prison where she couldn’t properly obtain even one thing to wear or eat.
The things she initially thought unfair gradually became familiar and made her lethargic.
She had only gone out of the Klaus mansion twice since getting married.
And that was only in the beginning of the marriage, standing like a folding screen under Riona’s surveillance before coming back in.
Other than that, Riona did not allow her to go out personally.
Even when news came that her father was sick, even when a letter arrived saying her sister-in-law had given birth.
“Esika Klaus. Even if it’s a matter of your maiden family, leaving the mansion privately without my permission is no different from disrespecting Klaus.”
With piercing eyes and a cold voice, Esika, who had become accustomed to it, lived like a sick dog in the house.
Meanwhile, Riona herself went to all sorts of events and parties inside and outside Klaus, engaging in social activities, while tying up Esika’s feet.
No, she subtly cut Esika down to make her tie up her own feet.
“You want to go to a tea party? How much do you think the ladies of other families would look down on Klaus with a country bumpkin from Frihatz province sitting there pretending to be a duchess? Are you trying to bring shame to Klaus?”
Yuri, who was by her side, was the same.
“Esika… The mistress is right about this. They say the noble ladies of the capital Torres hide razor-sharp true intentions beneath smiling faces and refined language. If you, unfamiliar with the capital’s etiquette, fail to understand their true intentions, you’ll become a laughingstock.”
Because of this, even while receiving such unfair treatment, she couldn’t think of letting her family or outsiders know even a speck.
At some point, she became accustomed to the shabby space and rotting meals as if they were her due.
She had become completely tamed to the abuse in the confined space called Klaus.
After thinking for a moment, Esika picked up paper and began writing something.
Then she crumpled it and gave it to Cella.
“Take this to Hemos.”
Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.
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.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
