Night fell in Princess Astia’s room.
Her eyes were a somewhat dark color, a mix of gold and brown.
Since the characteristic gleaming golden eyes, known as the royal family’s mark, were not prominently displayed, she had been able to live as a maid without incident until meeting Esika at the count’s house.
And now… she finally returned to the imperial palace. She had no choice but to return.
Astia was sitting in a chair writing a letter.
The moonlight cast shadows on her somewhat pale, freckled skin.
[Are you making sure Aiden is taking his medicine well? I asked Isabella to take care, but I’m still worried so I’m writing again. The frost season will soon come to Maroun, and I miss you so much.]She reluctantly put a period, as if reluctant to end the letter she didn’t want to stop writing.
[From Heremiya, who loves you.]After finishing the letter, Astia folded and sealed it.
It was a letter to send to her husband in the Maroun plains.
Night must have fallen there too. She worries every day that the baby might miss his mother too much.
In the dark night, on the desk illuminated by a soft lamp, a ring was visible.
The emerald, signifying a long-standing promise, gleamed in the darkness, reflecting the light.
Astia put it inside the envelope.
Then she dripped wax to seal it and pressed her seal.
It was when Astia stood up from her seat.
Knock knock-
There was a knock from outside. Maids should be guarding, but it wasn’t a maid’s knock.
Astia took a few steps towards the door and slowly opened it.
And she was startled by the face revealed, covering her mouth with her hand.
The maid guarding the room was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, and at the door stood Esika, the former Duchess Klaus who had become the Crown Princess.
Looking at Esika with trembling eyes, Astia opened her mouth.
“…Come in.”
Esika entered Astia’s room.
The door closed, and the lamp’s light was still flickering.
Astia looked at Esika with anxious, trembling eyes.
Esika asked Astia with a calm expression.
“You seem to have been very busy lately, I feel hurt that you didn’t respond to my invitation?”
Astia’s fingertips twitched at those words mixed with a cold aura.
“Your Highness, the Crown Princess.”
After a few seconds of silence, Astia clenched her fist.
Then, looking at Esika with clear eyes, she said.
“The situation has changed a lot. I don’t think I can move easily.”
Esika was well aware of the difficulties Astia was facing now.
Including what the Empress was doing to get a hold on Astia’s neck.
Astia’s baby was born somewhat sickly and weak.
“The fact that Your Highness is my benefactor hasn’t changed, but I am my husband’s wife and my child’s mother.”
What about the Empress from her previous life? Esika recalled.
“If it’s discovered that I’m directly involved…”
So, even the Cheon Young Ryeong, called the most wicked woman in the world, had her supporters.
While she was cruel when needed, there were women who followed Young Ryeong, who rewarded those who kept their loyalty.
But the Empress… she threatens and forces betrayal by taking their families or closest people hostage.
And this was, of course, within the range of what Esika had anticipated.
“…Later, when everything is revealed, my family might face retaliation. What should I do?”
Esika quietly extended her hand in front of Princess Astia.
On it lay a small note.
“…What… is this?”
Astia asked Esika with frightened eyes.
Esika placed it in Astia’s hand and said.
“The medicine sent by the Empress is certainly the most effective in the empire. But it can’t prevent the deterioration of a baby’s health who can’t digest milk. It only prolongs life day by day.”
Astia’s eyes wavered sadly at Esika’s words.
“Did I make the wrong choice by accepting medicine from the Empress?”
“It wasn’t the Princess’s choice. All those things that look like choices offered by the Empress are all traps.”
Astia couldn’t understand what Esika was saying.
Esika just planned to let her compare. Which lifeline is stronger.
It’s not uncommon for even those who have received favors to betray due to weakness for family matters.
The Young Ryeong of her previous life sometimes made such mistakes, and gave a terribly cruel end to those who betrayed her.
But now she knew from those experiences.
An effective way to cut off the seeds of betrayal before they sprout and transplant the soil.
“If your husband goes to the place written on the note with it, he will be given finely ground powder. Mix it with water and feed it to the baby. Instead of the milk and medicine that are killing the baby.”
“…Pardon?”
Astia looked at the paper with fearful eyes.
“But, knowing what it is, for me to…”
Astia shook her head, but Esika cut her off.
“Princess, you have to choose one of two paths anyway. It’s clear that the end of one is a cliff.”
Astia’s hand trembled at those words spoken without even a change in eye expression.
This is why she never wanted to enter the imperial palace again.
“So I’m giving you a map. Whether the map is correct… you’ll know when you check for yourself.”
A map, at the familiar word Astia blinked.
That reaction caught Esika’s eye. She smiled slightly.
Astia’s gaze turned to the paper in her hand.
And soon it moved to the letter she had written to her family.
“If I don’t choose.”
“There is no future. What hope is there at the bottom of a cliff?”
Esika said calmly, looking at Astia.
Astia stared at Esika for a long time before opening her mouth.
“Give me time.”
**
“Then from today, we will begin the education of Her Highness the Crown Princess.”
Priest Eryl Fuse stood in front of Esika.
With a ponytail, his height was similar to Esika’s, his eyes were slightly slanted, and he had sanbaekgan eyes with a lot of white showing.
“There are four most important events in the Turesean imperial family. Do you know what they are?”
“His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday, the Founding Festival, and the Hunting Festival.”
When Esika answered three, Eryl twitched his eyebrows.
“You missed one.”
Esika just looked straight at Eryl without opening her mouth.
Eryl frowned his nose bridge and emphasized.
“The Thanksgiving Festival.”
Esika remained silent even at Eryl’s words.
Eryl’s sanbaekgan eyes flashed at Esika’s reaction.
“It’s a very important event to worship Tameron, the lord of Turesea and all things, and show gratitude by offering sacrifices.”
Esika’s lips twisted slightly.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I know that unlike the three festivals mentioned earlier, the Thanksgiving Festival hasn’t even been elevated to a national holiday, so why do you, Priest, consider it equal to the three festivals?”
At Esika’s light rebuttal, Eryl frowned and said.
“The elevation to a national holiday is not important. The fact that Her Majesty the Empress laid the foundation for the Thanksgiving Festival, and that Your Highness the Crown Princess…”
Eryl brought his face close to Esika and said in a strong tone.
“Should willingly accept it is what’s important.”
But despite Eryl’s threatening voice, Esika’s face remained calm.
Seeing this, Eryl turned around abruptly and continued speaking.
“In one of Tameron’s lesser-known prophecy books, there is a record of a witch who will endanger the empire in the future. She will disregard Tameron’s will, harm Tameron’s faithful servants… and eventually taint this country with evil energy.”
Was there such content in the official scriptures? Esika shrugged her shoulders.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
The Empress’s forces had already taken control of the state religion, and thus the religion of this country had been corrupted to become half like a cult.
The priests were in collusion with power, and especially the nobles called the 2nd Prince faction were manipulating the people’s minds using the name of the Empress and the power of religion.
To them, the Empress was treated as a prophet.
And this would be a powerful weapon for the Empress to wield, while at the same time becoming her weak point that Esika could strike.
“I just believe in one single will of Tameron.”
Eryl spread his hands towards the ceiling.
There seemed to be a hint of madness in his voice full of conviction.
He slowly turned back towards Esika and said.
“That everything in this world will be according to Tameron’s will.”
Justice will prevail, how ridiculous.
After a moment, Eryl handed Esika the thick scripture he had brought and said.
“In my judgment… Your Highness the Crown Princess seems to lack faith. So I’ll give you the task of transcribing the Tameron scripture. It might be good to… gain faith while transcribing each letter of the Tameron scripture, the gift given to us by God.”
Eryl’s sanbaekgan eyes were glowing ominously.
Esika willingly accepted the Tameron scripture. It was an ordinary scripture.
She opened her mouth and said.
“I will gladly engrave it in my heart. The teachings of Tameron.”
After the lesson ended, Eryl Fuse came outside.
He felt good thinking about the Crown Princess struggling to write the scripture.
I have something to report to the Empress.
It was the moment he turned a corner.
“……”
A heavy and chilling killing intent grabbed his ankle.
Frozen for a moment by the intense aura he had never felt before in his life, Eryl barely turned his head.
It felt like the terrible killing intent was strangling his neck.
“……”
Eryl twitched his eyebrows.
Because there was no one around him.
Did I feel it wrong, no, that presence was too intense for that.
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.]
