“Since the news of your engagement to His Highness the Crown Prince spread, sales have increased more than threefold.”
Hans reported to Esika in a calm tone.
“Everything is going smoothly. We will expand facilities and recruit more employees. We also need to increase security personnel to protect the goods.”
“Expansion, that’s good news. However…”
Esika, who had been sitting and receiving their reports, crossed her legs and said,
“Trends don’t last as long as people think.”
Hans flinched at Esika’s words.
Her deep eyes seemed to pierce through the future.
“It’s good to expand facilities, but now it’s time to try diversifying beyond just Marnel cakes.”
“By diversification…”
“If we’ve captured demand with the image of Merhin Marnel cakes so far, we need to create demand for new trends in preparation for when the current trend fades.”
“Ah…”
Hans’s eyes flickered as if he had realized something.
It was something he hadn’t thought of yet, intoxicated by the current glory.
Desserts were like dresses.
When someone influential starts wearing a dress of a special design, everyone wears only that dress for a while, and the craze continues for some time.
It takes years for that trend to sweep across the country, and then it quickly fades starting from the capital.
And gradually, by the time the trend fades to distant provinces, a new trend comes around.
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Hans said, looking at Esika with admiring eyes.
As expected of someone from the Briquette baronial family, Esika had an excellent eye for goods and a sense for reading trends that was beyond the reach of people like himself.
How such an extraordinary person could have been suppressed by the Duchess’s energy for three years was still incomprehensible to him.
“Then selling a single item at first was all calculated as well?”
“It was important to make our name known first.”
Now, there was no one with even a drop of noble blood in the Empire who didn’t know about Merhin Marnel cakes.
In fact, Esika had become more famous for this than for her divorce from Duke Klaus.
Earlier, we talked about the trend of dresses, but if a brand that once led a trend doesn’t stagnate in that trend but creates a new one, it becomes an irreplaceable brand.
All ladies come to trust the sense and skill of that shop without doubt.
Esika was trying to achieve that.
**
“…Ugh… Argh…”
Yuri trembled and tensed her whole body.
“It hurts… It’s killing me!!”
“Just a little more push. I can see the baby’s head.”
The irritating voice of the midwife was heard.
Since the midwife was sent by Her Majesty the Empress, she couldn’t tear her hair out, but she was just angry at this overwhelming pain.
But there would surely be a reward for enduring this pain.
The Empress had said she would return Callian and Riona to high society.
Although they had made a big mistake, she had to do so somehow, given that the Empress’s natal family was gone.
The Klaus siblings, who had sold the Klaus duchy to Esika after winning the lawsuit, were driven out of the duke’s castle when they were young and couldn’t even act as nobles because they hadn’t been educated, so the Empress had no choice.
Yes, there’s no way she would leave Callian and herself to live in this tiny hut.
She will surely drive out that Esika and return the Klaus mansion to them.
“Agh…!”
Someday, with the Empress’s protection, this child will become the future Duke Klaus.
And she will be the Duchess of Klaus!
Both Esika’s former position and Riona’s position will all be hers.
Although Riona is still not bringing the marriage certificate from the government office with Callian using some ridiculous excuse, now that there’s a child, they won’t be able to ignore this.
“Just a little, just a little more!”
The midwife’s voice was heard.
Yuri exerted herself, sweating profusely.
Someday, she would repay all the humiliation she had suffered so far!
A moment later, the cry of a baby echoed.
The midwife washed the baby in the prepared warm water.
Yuri panted heavily as if she was about to die.
She didn’t know giving birth would be this difficult and painful. It hurt so badly she could cry.
“It’s a boy.”
A smile formed on Yuri’s lips at the midwife’s words.
The process of childbirth was painful, but the result was sweet.
Soon after, Yuri took the baby handed over by the midwife into her arms.
The baby’s eyes were red like Yuri’s, his hair was darker black than Callian’s hair color, and there was a large black mole on the bridge of his nose.
“…”
At that moment, Yuri couldn’t help but flinch.
Because she remembered a man who had a black mole on the bridge of his nose.
The investigator who had interrogated her when she was investigated at the government office due to Shupert Briquette’s accusation.
Yuri’s hand holding the baby twitched.
But soon after, she smiled, her lips quivering slightly.
And she said to the midwife.
“He looks just like the Duke.”
Anyway, the hair color could be a bit darker. If you trace back Callian’s ancestors, wouldn’t there be at least one grandmother with black hair?
Even the bright blonde Riona gave birth to brown-haired Callian.
Regardless of the truth, what mattered was that this child was Yuri’s ticket to success.
“…”
The midwife nodded silently.
To her brief glance, the baby didn’t seem to resemble Callian, but still, he must be the Duke’s child since he was born to his new wife.
**
“Callian Klaus’s child was born?”
The midwife bowed her waist and answered the Empress’s words.
“Yes. Although he hasn’t been registered in the Klaus lineage yet because the marriage relationship with Yuri Anesis hasn’t been established, he is certainly Callian Klaus’s son.”
A deep smile settled on the Empress’s lips.
Although Callian Klaus had lost his title and was driven to a hut, Callian was her nephew and Klaus was her family.
She couldn’t help but be happy about the birth of a new child to continue the family line.
Rather than being happy about the birth of the child, she was happy that a sprout had grown that could be planted in the empty Klaus mansion after pushing Esika off a cliff.
“Callian must be happy too.”
“About that…”
The midwife’s face darkened somewhat.
“It seems he still can’t forget the former Duchess and is wandering. He is very cold towards Yuri Anesis and hasn’t even held the baby.”
“What?”
The Empress frowned.
“Well… As soon as he saw the baby, he refused to hold it, saying he somehow couldn’t feel affection.”
The midwife had inwardly clicked her tongue, wondering if there could be such a heartless father in this world.
But Callian had left, and she had to comfort Yuri.
However, Yuri Anesis, true to her reputation as an extraordinary woman, didn’t seem to care much about Callian’s reaction.
“That boy, he still hasn’t come to his senses.”
Esika was just a witch-like being rebelling against Tameron’s will, but men are so foolish, both the Crown Prince and Callian.
“Anyway, you may go now.”
The midwife bowed her head in greeting and withdrew from the Empress’s presence.
The Empress furrowed her brow and fell into thought.
Raising the Klaus family again was her mission.
She had received an answer from the Emperor about Callian’s amnesty, so timing was important…
“Yes, that time would be good.”
The corners of the Empress’s mouth twisted slightly.
Soon after, she called for her ladies-in-waiting.
**
After the cold season passed, on a bright morning when buds were sprouting.
“…Wow…”
The maids covered their mouths with their hands even though they had dressed her themselves.
On this special day, Esika’s appearance was especially beautiful.
A golden dress with beautiful curves, sparkling with a brilliant diamond necklace and earrings.
Anyone would probably be speechless for a few seconds.
“Does it suit me?”
“It suits you perfectly. Everyone will only look at you and praise…”
The expression of one of the maids darkened as she continued speaking.
She had remembered what day it was.
“What could Her Majesty the Empress be thinking? Why on the same day…”
But Esika looked at her reflection in the mirror as if she didn’t care about this.
The decision-making power for royal events lies with the Empress.
The Empress was only interested in religious events and had no interest in leading royal events, but this time was an exception.
It was clearly the Empress’s plan to combine the Crown Prince’s engagement party with Callian Klaus’s amnesty.
“…”
But Esika’s expression remained calm.
Because she knew that the Empress’s goal was to disturb her.
A moment later, a servant’s voice was heard.
“His Highness the Crown Prince has come to escort you.”
Esika descended the carpeted stairs.
And halfway down the stairs, his figure came into view.
Tall stature and broad shoulders, well-groomed black hair and golden eyes.
Resban, dressed in the imperial uniform, greeted her courteously like a knight waiting for his lady.
“…”
Resban gazed into Esika’s eyes and brought her hand to his lips.
And he lightly kissed the back of her hand.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
