The battle of wits among women is as fierce as that of men.
Most of the ladies gathered there were clearly ignoring Esika Klaus.
Although Esika was a duchess and those trying to bully her had lower titles than her husband, their gazes and tones were condescending, as if being mean had become a habit.
Someone must have taught them bad manners.
“……”
Resban Deon Lucein, who had come here to intimidate the count, was merely intrigued by the conversation in the garden.
He was not certain whether the white butterfly that he once desperately sought, once dismissed as a mere illusion, and then again fluttered in his heart like a fever, truly existed in Klaus.
Apart from watching bloody wars, it was the only thing that had recently piqued his interest.
He was holding a wine glass.
Every time he swallowed the wine as red as blood, his protruding Adam’s apple moved.
Even in the midst of his wavering gaze, her presence was distinct.
Her blue eyes were calm.
Her noble bridge of nose and chin also displayed her dignity.
Only the faces of the other women turned red and blue, then white.
At times, Esika Klaus extended her slender fingers to grasp the teacup.
And she slightly parted her red lips to savor the tea.
Seeing the neat shape of her nails, Resban felt a little thirsty and took another sip of wine.
Like a white rose among weeds, Esika was noble and poisonous.
As the situation of being pricked by nails and retaliated with thorns repeated, the ladies who were desperate to criticize her slowly closed their mouths.
Like beasts that become frightened after comparing their size, they seem to recognize whose jaws are dangerous.
The outcome was so clear that it felt more boring than initially anticipated.
“L-Let’s go.”
“Yes. Huh.”
Forgetting that she was a guest, the losers left the arena first.
‘She’s not even a match.’
He recalls a few trivial battles he had fought.
A deep smile appeared and disappeared on Resban’s lips.
Esika did not rise from her seat.
His gaze remained fixed on her.
When she revealed the purpose hidden in her calm blue eyes, he felt his throat dry again.
And the next conversation was perhaps a little more interesting.
How does she know even that child’s identity? What could be her purpose? He becomes more intrigued to eavesdrop on the conversation.
“Love is bound to change. No matter how sweet words a man whispers, he cannot stop the power of time. If you give up the glamorous and warm life in the imperial palace and choose him, you might regret it until you grow old and die.”
Her red lips moved.
Although it was a low voice, Resban could hear her voice clearly.
The lips that were looking into her eyes twisted slightly.
Her sorrowfully beautiful and lonely mark mixed with venom.
That fingerprint he had long searched for was quietly shining in her blue eyes.
Indeed, she was that child from 20 years ago who had left an indelible impression.
“Y-Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
The Crown Prince ordered Count Alhemitz to correct and bring back the military supply defect report, as it did not match the data.
And after a while, Count Alhemitz hurriedly stood before the Crown Prince with a bundle of papers.
Sweat was running down his bald forehead.
As Resban’s cold gaze turned towards him, he flinched and lowered his eyes.
“There seems to have been a mistake. I apologize.”
Count Alhemitz, like other nobles, feared Resban, the young and cruel war demon.
He was not only belligerent but also very meticulous, especially towards nobles who tried to profit through the national treasury.
“Your family is interesting inside and out, Lord.”
The Crown Prince frowned as he examined the sloppy bundle of papers.
Is this not the same as confessing to corruption on his own?
At that voice of rebuke, Alhemitz flinched again.
He couldn’t predict the Crown Prince’s next action. If only he could somehow please him…
“While the husband is worried about where to fill the gap after writing off a hundred pieces of war equipment as rusted, the wife is inviting guests for an informal tea party.”
“Y-Your Highness.”
The timing was bad. If he had known the Crown Prince would come, he would have canceled the party.
Damn it, he resented his wife for inviting the ladies and upsetting the Crown Prince’s mood on this day of all days.
Alhemitz bowed deeply and begged for mercy.
“I will sternly reprimand my wife. And I will surely restore the war equipment, even if I have to empty my private residence.”
**
It took Riona two more days of suffering from an upset stomach before she came to her senses.
Although she had eaten as usual, her stomach hurt so much that she felt dizzy.
Callian, being filial, came to check on Riona’s condition three times a day.
Anyway, after five days of illness, she somehow recovered, but she still felt weak.
The doctor said that her indigestion had worsened because her body had weakened due to lack of exercise, but this had never happened before.
“How was Marshal’s tea party, they say?”
Riona asked, sitting pale on the bed while receiving a foot massage.
Dark shadows had formed under her eyes.
Marshal’s tea party, originally Riona herself was supposed to go, but she sent Esika.
It’s obvious that she must have been embarrassed in her haste.
Anyway, it’s about time to divorce her soon.
‘I’ve been patient for a long time.’
Marshal and Bolan are smart friends who keenly understand my intentions.
Many women would have seen how terrible Esika was.
They would also see that there is only one queen of Klaus, Riona Klaus.
It would be one of the reasons to drive Esika, who tarnished the Klaus name, out of Klaus.
A wife responsible for the breakdown of marriage need not be returned her dowry upon divorce.
That was what Riona was keenly aiming for.
“Well… about that…”
Emily, the maid standing beside her, awkwardly opened her mouth.
She began to relay what she had heard about the events at Marshal’s tea party.
How Marshal and Bolan were humiliated, and the circumstances that forced them both to apologize to Esika.
The incident reportedly spread widely in social circles through the ladies’ gossip.
Several ladies who were planning to entrust their daughters to Marshal and Bolan for expensive lessons had canceled their appointments.
Moreover, for some reason, Count Alhemitz, Marshal’s husband whose medal had been revoked, became furious with her, and they were unable to invite guests for the time being.
Riona’s eyebrows twitched intermittently and moved greatly,
By the end of the story, the ends of her eyebrows had risen sky-high.
Slap-
Finally angered, Riona reached out and slapped the maid’s cheek.
“You’re saying it’s a complete mess?!”
The slapped maid knelt down, sobbing.
Though it wasn’t the first time, Riona’s hand was harsh enough to bring tears to her eyes.
And as a maid, the only action she could take towards an enraged mistress was to beg.
“I… I’m sorry, my lady.”
“Esika… no.”
Riona stopped speaking as she looked at the back of her pale hand.
The doctor had said.
Stress accelerates aging.
If she were to see that unsightly and stupid girl’s face, her body, which had just recovered, would worsen.
So she should first clarify the reason for her sudden severe indigestion.
“Bring Yuri here.”
“Pardon?”
“The head maid! Yuri Anesis! Are you deaf?”
Riona was very cruel and merciless to those who went against her will.
“I… I’m sorry… Understood! My lady.”
The maid sprang to her feet.
Yuri’s appearance was a lifeline for her.
Whether Riona ordered Yuri to torment Esika, or vented her anger on Yuri, she could escape.
As she immediately left Riona’s room to find Yuri, the maid thought about what she had heard about the tea party.
‘The duchess stood up to them?’
Even thinking about it again, it was behavior Esika simply couldn’t do.
Esika Klaus, the shabby and unhappy duchess. How could she, whose situation was worse than the maids’, have defeated the two wicked countesses?
‘But… that gaze at that time…’
When she went with Yuri to pour cold water on Esika, Esika’s gaze was truly chilling.
Just receiving her gaze felt like a sharp ice pick approaching close to the heart.
‘…What was it really?’
The maid bit her lip and shook her head.
No way, even so, the duchess is under my lady’s feet.
A pitiful woman who doesn’t even receive her husband’s love… ignored by everyone.
“Where is Esika now?”
However, at the soft voice, the maid suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Turning her gaze, she saw Duke Klaus standing in the corner, talking with a servant.
Duke Callian Klaus, the perfect and excellent master, so handsome that even maids who had worked for years would blush at the sight of his face.
She knew that he had cut off his interest in the duchess, whom he had been cold to since their last clash, but what could be the reason?
“My wife, I mean.”
He was asking the servant about Esika’s whereabouts.
With a somewhat anxious expression.
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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