The Klaus family’s sword training ground.
The family’s private soldiers were training in unison with shouts.
Callian was watching their synchronized movements.
Beads of sweat rolled down the soldiers’ necks with each gust of wind.
“Your Grace.”
Callian turned his gaze slightly to the side at the knight’s voice and paused.
For a moment, his eyebrows furrowed lightly.
Because he saw a figure approaching from afar.
“I wondered if…”
Callian’s lips moved slightly.
“Indeed.”
It was just a few days ago when he was slightly shocked by Esika’s behavior, as if she had lost interest in him.
Who is Esika Klaus?
Is she not the woman who used to follow him around tirelessly?
She used to come to his office four or five times a day under the pretext of bringing refreshments.
She would come to the training ground and constantly try to talk to him, acting as if they were close.
Even when he tried to take a walk, she would follow Callian around, and whenever he got angry, she would whimper with a stupid face like this.
“I just… need to talk to you, Callian. We are…”
How frustrating her mumbling mouth was.
“…husband and wife.”
Every time he saw that face, he only felt wearier.
Conversation? That’s something people who can communicate do.
She, from a merchant family who only knew about money, was ignorant of the conversation topics and etiquette of the nobles in the capital, Torres.
So Callian didn’t want to talk to Esika.
He had no intention of understanding Esika’s pleas about why he should even have casual conversations with a woman who bought her position as his wife with money.
But then the words she had carelessly uttered.
“I think this might be a waste of time for both of us.”
And then she stood up with cold eyes.
He should have felt relieved, but it was strange. There was an oddly twisted feeling inside.
An irritating and unsettling aftertaste lingered in his chest for a long time.
But at this moment, Callian only felt his previous irritation rising again.
“…”
Esika stood in front of Callian.
The red dress she always wore, but today she wasn’t wearing the ill-fitting jewels.
Her face somehow seemed clearer and her eyes colder, but her purpose for coming here must be the same.
Callian opened his mouth.
“I don’t have time to deal with you…”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t come to see Your Grace.”
For a moment, Callian’s eyebrow twitched.
Esika lowered her gaze to Callian slightly, as if greeting him.
And then she walked past Callian immediately.
Callian stood still, recalling the situation that had just occurred.
Esika came to the training ground. The reason for coming to the training ground was undoubtedly to talk to him.
However, today’s Esika cut off even his words and moved her feet.
“…?”
Callian hurriedly turned towards the direction Esika was going.
He could see Esika’s back.
Esika was heading towards the weapons storage next to the training ground.
As Esika stood in front of it, an elderly soldier came out and greeted her.
And they could be seen exchanging some words.
Callian stared at Esika’s back.
Esika didn’t even glance at Callian, as if he wasn’t of any concern to her.
As if she really came for her own business…
‘That’s impossible.’
Callian shook his head.
What reason could the duchess have for coming to the training ground?
Esika was an incompetent woman who could hardly handle even the household affairs.
So she couldn’t possibly be interested in matters related to the military and private soldiers.
‘Is she trying to use her brain in a different direction to get my attention?’
There were occasionally such women.
Women who pretend to be interested in fields that ordinary women don’t care about, wanting to appear special to men.
He thought Esika wasn’t even smart enough for that, but this was unexpected behavior.
‘Should I praise her? How ridiculous.’
Callian twisted his lips and turned his gaze away.
At times like this, the best thing to do is to show no interest.
If you don’t show interest, she’ll get frustrated and give up on her own.
Callian thought that Esika would not leave the training ground in the end.
Not before he said even a word to her.
“…”
But after watching the soldiers’ training for a few more minutes, when he shifted his gaze back to the weapons storage, there was no one there.
Callian’s eyebrows hardened at another incorrect prediction.
As Callian hurriedly turned his gaze, he could see Esika already as small as a dot in the distance.
Callian’s lips parted slightly.
Did she really have business here? It was hard to believe.
Callian strode towards the weapons storage.
However, the elderly soldier who had been talking to Esika earlier came out and hurriedly bowed his waist.
“I greet Your Grace!”
“What did she say?”
The soldier seemed a bit surprised by Callian’s question.
But after a moment, he calmed down and opened his mouth.
“Ah… Do you mean the duchess? She asked about the swords.”
“…Swords?”
“She asked if she could touch the swords, and expressed admiration for their quality. She said something about the forging technique being good… And she asked where we purchase the swords here. I told her that today was the day new swords arrived, and she just touched those before leaving. She seemed to like the rapier.”
Callian frowned one eyebrow and asked.
“This wasn’t the first time?”
The soldier nodded.
“Yes. She first came five days ago.”
Callian’s fist twitched slightly.
Then does that really mean she came to the training ground not to see Callian himself, but out of interest in the swords?
No, surely that can’t be the case.
Esika was just a noble lady who would scream in shock at the mere sight of blood on a sword.
“Well… the duchess seemed to know a lot about swords. Things like the direction of the blade and durability. It wasn’t just superficial knowledge.”
However, the soldier continued to speak about Esika as if she were impressive.
Callian’s eyes wavered for a moment before regaining their calmness.
Being from a merchant family, she might have studied various things.
Among those could have been weaponry.
But what was irritating Callian now wasn’t that Esika had asked about swords.
“So…”
Callian’s lips moved as he turned around.
His purple eyes were shaking quite intensely.
“…she really didn’t come to see me?”
Callian’s face had a mix of strange resentment and displeasure.
**
Yuri changed the bandage on her leg with a sweat-soaked face.
The bandage was stained with blood, as the wound had not yet healed.
It was because the salt water Esika had poured had aggravated the wound.
Yuri gritted her teeth.
“Esika… I’ll never let this go.”
Yuri’s eyes gleamed with venom as she thought of Esika.
That stupid girl was acting up as if she’d eaten something wrong, but she would surely make her know her place again.
Then there was a knock, knock, knock.
After a moment, the door opened and Rusa, one of the three maids of the grand duchess, entered.
She was young and timid, with a weak spirit.
“Are you alright, Head Maid?”
“Does this look alright to you?”
Yuri unnecessarily lashed out at the maid.
The things happening to her lately were too much to bear without getting angry.
“Um… it’s just that the grand duchess…”
Yuri, who had been raising the end of her eyebrow, flinched for a moment at her words.
Although the grand duchess had done this to her leg, she couldn’t hate her.
Because she was Callian’s birth mother.
No matter how she tried to seduce Callian, if she didn’t get in her good graces, the process of taking Esika’s place would only become more distant.
“…Did she say she was sorry?”
Yuri asked the maid with eyes filled with a little hope.
After all, she had always diverted Esika’s jewels to give to the grand duchess.
She had been favored and even appointed as head maid, so maybe she felt sorry for hitting her so severely.
But Yuri’s hopes were immediately shattered.
“No. She said she’s been looking for a suitable marriage partner for you, Head Maid…”
The maid pulled out a crumpled paper from the hem of her skirt.
The ends of Yuri’s eyebrows twisted miserably.
The maid approached and read from three crumpled pieces of paper as she spoke.
“First, the first potential groom candidate is the son of a famous butcher shop owner in the bustling district. If you marry him, you’ll have a lot of work to do, but you’ll be able to live without want.”
The maid’s eyes were filled with envy.
From her perspective as a commoner, it seemed like quite a good match.
But for Yuri, who had even a trace of noble status, it was mind-boggling.
“And… the second potential groom candidate is a farmer who supplies wheat to House Klaus. He’s fifteen years older than you, Head Maid, and has two children. He had a wife, but she died last year from a strange disease. He’s older, but…”
“…Ha…”
Yuri’s face turned red and blue.
The ideal type she had dreamed of was Duke Klaus.
Commoners could never meet her standards.
“The third potential groom candidate is a government clerk. The salary is low, so the wife would have to do piecework sewing, but…”
“Stop it!”
When Yuri shouted, the maid flinched and shrunk back.
And then she looked at Yuri with bewildered eyes.
As a maid, she couldn’t understand why Yuri was angry.
She didn’t know how highly Yuri was evaluating herself.
‘They’re trying to match me with men of that level? Esika… even that stupid Esika married Duke Klaus, but for me, just…’
“Get out!”
Yuri yelled at the maid.
Yuri’s eyes were filled with anger, venom, and jealousy.
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
_____
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