“Cough, cough.”
As the Emperor was reviewing state affairs while coughing, Resban Deon Lucein approached and paid his respects.
The Emperor coughed a couple more times, then looked at Resban with a face clearly showing signs of illness.
“So, last night at Breighton’s birthday ball, Marquis Gaven Pellope was detained.”
“Yes. He insulted the Crown Princess with behavior unbecoming of a sound mind.”
“Tsk, that rascal. I thought his eyes looked rather empty.”
The Emperor continued solemnly.
“The laws of the imperial family must be strict. Show weakness and you’ll be looked down upon. Tell Count Riheim to thoroughly investigate this matter.”
“I will convey Your Majesty’s command.”
At Resban’s response, the Emperor smiled on his wrinkled face.
If only that Breighton had followed even half of Resban’s example, there would be no worries.
“By the way, how was the Crown Princess?”
“She seemed shocked by Marquis Pellope’s rash words, but I comforted her well.”
“Judging by that child’s temperament, it seems it would be the opposite… No, nevermind.”
At the Emperor’s words that seemed to hit the mark, the corners of Resban’s mouth moved slightly.
Certainly, the Emperor was good at discerning people’s true nature.
He must have recognized Esika’s ability to maintain composure even if a boulder were to roll down at her feet.
But for the sake of strict punishment for those who commit the crime of insulting the royal family, that level of jest is not difficult.
“I know that Your Majesty does not touch the Empress surely because of Breighton.”
Resban opened his mouth and spoke in a low voice.
Instead of answering, the Emperor turned his gaze to the pile of documents on the desk.
Such an action implied affirmation.
“Her Majesty the Empress…”
“She and I made a promise. Not to cross the line.”
The Emperor picked up a quill pen and began signing.
The documents the Emperor was looking at contained a mix of major budget executions and minor matters.
“……”
Resban stood watching the Emperor. Emperor Oriat Lucein’s eyebrows were thick, and his eyes were as deep as the years he had lived.
His hands were withered from illness, but the tendons stubbornly protruded.
“If the line is crossed, I would have nothing to say even if everything were taken away.”
Elegant handwriting signatures appeared following his movements.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but now I must pray to Tameron for the Empress to act wisely.”
Resban knew where his own coldness came from.
Soon, the Emperor’s sharp gaze turned to Resban.
“However, it’s not just the Empress I hope won’t cross the line. The Crown Princess is quite clever, but if her confidence turns into arrogance and indulgence, it will become a weapon that destroys herself.”
“……”
“Isn’t that right, Resban.”
As always, the Emperor desired balance and thought it was closely related to the peace of the empire.
Placing vast military power in Resban’s hands, pardoning Callian Klaus’s crimes so quickly, not opposing Esika’s marriage, leaving the dissolute Breighton alone…
It was all part of his idea of balance.
“I will keep it in mind.”
Crown Prince Resban Lucein paid his respects to the Emperor and turned around.
The tall shadow stretched far, and in his cool eyes, the golden eyes, the mark of the Lucein imperial family, shone.
The Emperor’s words also meant that he would allow everything as long as it did not cross the line of balance.
**
Resban returned to the imperial palace after inspecting several noble houses in the afternoon.
The sun that had been high in the sky was now slowly heading towards the distant landscape, and the red light of sunset was shining down on the earth.
His feet would soon head to his own room, and after that, to Esika.
When he entered the corridor, someone jumped into Resban’s arms.
Resban immediately pushed away the woman with a smaller build than himself, furrowing his brows.
“Ah…!”
The woman was pushed back and fell on her bottom.
Resban’s figure, with the sunset behind him, was chilling, and his golden eyes were creating a cool aura, so the woman couldn’t help but be frightened as soon as she faced him.
A white dress that was barely see-through and shoes with open little toes.
Her wavy blonde hair fell to her chest.
“Are you one of Breighton’s courtesans?”
The Emperor had forbidden courtesans from entering and leaving the palace, but nonetheless, Breighton would hide and bring them to play.
“…Your Highness the Crown Prince…”
The blonde courtesan looked up at Resban with sorrowful eyes.
And she knelt down.
“…Please help me.”
Resban’s eyebrow twitched as he looked down at her with an arrogant gaze.
As Resban kept his mouth shut, she began her full story.
“My name is Gina, Gina Oswin. As you can see, I’m a courtesan. I’m doing this work because of my father’s debt, and I caught the eye of the Second Prince and entered the palace.”
Her wrists were thin, and she wore a bracelet with a small emerald embedded in it.
“But I…”
Gina crawled on her knees towards Resban and grabbed his leg.
There were tears in her eyes, and one that fell trickled down her collarbone to her chest.
A seductive scent wafted from her body as if she had applied perfume.
It was a smell that Resban already knew.
“Please help me.”
“……”
Resban had been looking down at Gina with cold eyes for a long time.
The courtesan who introduced herself as Gina Oswin was more beautiful than any other courtesan who had frequented the palace.
“Please show me mercy.”
The necklace with tears on it sparkled in the sunset.
Resban lowered his body while fixing his gaze on Gina, who was holding onto his leg.
The closer he got to her, the stronger the scent became.
“…Alright.”
Resban’s lips moved.
With the sunset behind him, his face was as beautiful as a sculpture, and his cool eyes were like the sun, so Gina looked at Resban with wavering eyes.
A low voice flowed from his mouth again.
“I’ll help you.”
As his voice flowed into her ears, she looked at him and reached out her hand.
**
Esika closed the small notebook sent by the Grand Duchess Heinz.
The meticulous data analyzing the nobles of the Second Prince’s faction and investigating how far the Empress’s religious roots extended was something that couldn’t be bought with money.
Hans had thoroughly analyzed the contents and confirmed that it was accurate information.
How much time and cost must have been spent to find out about the Empress.
Such efforts by the Grand Duchess Heinz must have stemmed from the goodwill of a prospective daughter-in-law wanting to get into her mother-in-law’s good graces.
But that notebook had lost its use, and someone’s resentment had become a weapon in Esika’s hands to attack her enemies.
Outside the window, dusk was already falling.
It would soon be dinner time.
Although she had to endure an uncomfortable dinner twice a week, today the Emperor was dining with other nobles, so she didn’t have to attend the royal family dinner.
That means it’s a good day to focus on qi cultivation. At least until Resban comes.
Just as she was closing the notebook, a maid’s voice was heard from outside.
“Lady Merhin has arrived.”
“Tell her to come in.”
At Esika’s command, the door opened, and a welcome face greeted Esika.
It was Lady Merhin, wearing a beautiful dress.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
“Welcome.”
“I’m sorry, I should have come earlier, but I got distracted for a moment and was delayed.”
Lady Merhin smiled awkwardly with a bewildered expression.
In her hand was a cake box, which was probably the new product she had mentioned before.
But the bottom of the cake box was pitch black.
As if it had been dropped on the dirt ground.
“Ah, this is because I dropped it while fumbling. I was going to let you taste it… I’ll bring a new box next time.”
“We’re not eating the box, so what does it matter?”
Esika reached out and took Lady Merhin’s box.
And she took out a round green cake from inside and placed it on the table.
The green cake, decorated with edible grasses, smelled of green tea.
“It’s nice.”
Lady Merhin looked at Esika, who was calmly smelling and evaluating the cake, with complicated eyes.
Then she turned her gaze elsewhere.
Esika, who had been smiling while looking at the cake, opened her mouth.
“You seem to have been worrying a lot since earlier, my lady.”
At those words, Lady Merhin’s hand twitched, unable to hide it.
She rolled her eyes with a flustered face.
“Like someone who has seen something they shouldn’t have somewhere.”
At those words, Lady Merhin’s hand trembled again.
Esika knew Lady Merhin’s heart.
Even the fact that she truly liked and cherished her.
Lady Merhin looked at Esika for a long time with eyes that seemed about to cry, then opened her trembling mouth.
“Men are all untrustworthy humans, that’s for sure.”
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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