Esika slowly reminisced.
About her past life.
Esika Brigitte was born as the only daughter of a merchant family that bought a baron title through great success in the jewelry business, and grew up like a flower in a greenhouse.
Her two older brothers learned the business, but Esika had no interest in such things.
Like ordinary noble ladies, she had a life goal of marrying into a good family, having pretty children, and living a life full of love and happiness.
And when she went to the capital Torres, she fell in love at first sight with the handsome appearance and formal behavior of ‘Duke Callian Klaus’ whom she encountered by chance, and always begged her father to let her become his wife.
Her father tried to dissuade her, saying ‘His mother Riona Klaus’s temperament is not ordinary’, but Esika did not back down.
In the end, in exchange for a huge dowry for the Klaus ducal family in financial difficulty, Esika was able to fulfill her dream of marrying Callian…
“And thus began a dog’s life.”
Looking at the dark window of the north-facing small room, Esika muttered in a refined tone.
Putting aside the contempt of the duchess and the disregard of her in-laws, Callian had never once treated her as a wife.
The life Esika had dreamed of crumbled with a crash, and she only confided this situation to her childhood friend Yuri in letters, asking her to come.
Yuri, who had been her playmate since childhood as the daughter of her wet nurse, gladly entered the Klaus ducal family as her maid…
In this place where she had nowhere else to turn, Esika relied only on Yuri.
Somehow her reputation seemed to have fallen even further after Yuri came in, but still, she was the only person Esika trusted.
“If I had regained my memories earlier, I wouldn’t have been fooled so stupidly.”
When she lived as a celestial spirit, there were countless humans who stabbed her in the back.
If that sense had been alive, she would have noticed just by the way Yuri blinked her eyes… but stupidly, she lived for years being deceived.
Esika sat at her dusty old desk.
And she began to write in characters she used in the Middle Kingdom, so that no one could recognize it.
‘First, regain my power.’
Originally, the celestial spirit in her past life had powerful martial arts as the daughter of the Heavenly Demon Sect leader.
‘I know that I cannot protect myself with a man’s love.’
This body, which had never trained before, was weak, but fortunately, the spiritual energy here seemed to be much denser than in the martial arts world.
At most 10 years, at least 5 years, and she would be able to regain half of her previous strength.
‘Second, I will uproot this family, pickle them, eat them all up and throw them away.’
Callian and the Klaus ducal family had instilled too much resentment in her to be easily divorced and forgotten.
Here, in the way of this place, she would elegantly eat away at their souls.
Because she had memories of reading books, she knew the weaknesses of the Klaus ducal family well.
The memories of what she had seen and heard while living as the fish-eyed Esika were also coming together like puzzle pieces, from small things to big things.
It would take time, but the results would certainly be satisfactory.
‘Third…’
As Esika thought about the last plan, the corners of her lips rose in a wicked shape.
This life must be different.
It must be completely different from the fate that Esika Klaus was supposed to experience, which she had read about in that book.
And then, there was a knock on the door outside.
“I’m coming in.”
It was the half-hearted voice of Cella, one of the maids who had been tormenting her.
**
“P-please… spare me…”
Cella definitely thought that an outside assassin had entered.
The duchess was nowhere to be seen, and someone with an unknown aura was holding something sharp to her neck.
Her whole body was trembling and she felt like she was going to die from shortness of breath.
“Do you know who I am?”
A chilling voice she had never heard before came from behind.
It was a voice that seemed to be neither male nor female.
Cella closed her eyes tightly and whispered in a trembling voice.
“I… I didn’t see anything… Please spare my life…”
The Klaus ducal family had solid security and vigilance.
If someone had broken through that, they must be an incredibly skilled assassin.
“If I spare you, you’ll run straight to the devil of Klaus and report what happened here.”
The devil of Klaus was a slang term referring to the duchess.
“N-no. If you let me go, I won’t say a word. Please… have mercy just this once.”
Cella shook her head vigorously in denial.
The sharp something touching her neck felt like it would pierce her flesh and take her life at any moment.
“Cella.”
And for a moment, hearing her name from behind, she flinched.
It would be correct to say that she was so surprised that she almost opened her eyes wide.
‘How does this person know my name?’
“Your mother and younger sister live in Achem. You send half of your monthly salary there, but sometimes you’re not satisfied and put your hand in the duchess’s storehouse.”
Cella’s heart was beating like crazy.
The list of gifts coming to the duchess was so vast that it was difficult for the duchess to keep track of.
So it was nothing to steal small, worthless rings or bracelets from among them.
“Your colleagues Anis and May are also involved in this, and yes, Dave is covering for you.”
When Dave’s name came up, Cella felt like she was going to faint.
Dave, one of the senior soldiers, was in an ambiguous relationship of mutual interest with Cella.
“If you bother me, your crimes will be exposed in detail and you and your friends will be kicked out.”
“…”
“Then there will be four whose lives I can easily take.”
At the assassin’s words, Cella’s whole body trembled.
Four would mean… her family living in Achem, Dave, and herself.
The only place she could be protected was within the Klaus ducal family.
‘This assassin… might be an insider…’
Otherwise, there’s no way they would know about the petty thefts happening among the maids and soldiers.
Cella’s heart was pounding.
“I will absolutely not say anything. Please believe me.”
Cella bowed her head with her eyes closed.
She didn’t know why such a person was in the duchess’s room, but to preserve her life and prevent the ruin of her life, she had to be submissive.
“I’ll let you live, so instead of that rotten bread, bring warm soup and good food and leave it in front of the door.”
Finally, the sharp thing that had been pressing against her neck was removed.
“Food, you say?”
“Yes, bring the best for every meal.”
The place where it had been pressing still stung, but Cella now felt like she would live.
It was too ordinary a request for an assassin, which made her suspicious.
‘Perhaps this assassin… is a friend of the duchess?’
That can’t be. The duchess only has her maid Yuri Anesis as a friend.
It seems their relationship has also completely ended after the duchess assaulted her in front of the duke.
‘Or maybe they’re blackmailing the duchess after getting hold of her weakness.’
This inference would be more reasonable.
Such a skilled assassin who even knows internal affairs would probably have a handful of weaknesses of the stupid and lazy duchess.
They might be staying here together by blackmailing her, who needs recuperation for a while after injuring her head…
Seeing that the duchess is not visible in the bed, they might have tied her up.
‘But it’s none of my business… I have my own problems to worry about.’
Cella will have to faithfully carry out the orders of the assassin in the duchess’s room.
Anyway, no one in the ducal family is interested in the duchess’s condition.
She slowly left the room, still holding the dry bread and water she had brought.
**
“A relief fund for Sorbet? Isn’t the Crown Prince’s attempt to extort money too blatant? The situation in Pellope isn’t good either. Damn it, there’s no business ethics.”
In the rose garden of the Klaus ducal residence.
Gaven Pellope, a friend of Callian Klaus who rules the Pellope territory, frowned and complained.
Instead of answering, Callian only showed his agreement with a hardened expression and silence.
Although Sorbet’s food shortage is said to be at its extreme due to a bad harvest, Klaus’s financial situation was not plentiful enough to give away their own granaries.
The funds required to maintain and train troops were always enormous in scale.
“By the way…”
Gaven, who had been looking at the rose garden, asked Callian casually.
“I heard that your wife was injured. Is the situation a little…”
“Let’s talk about that another time.”
Callian cut off Gaven’s words with a cold gaze.
At the chilly tone, Gaven’s hand holding the teacup flinched for a moment.
Callian Klaus was inherently a cold-hearted man, but even more so towards his wife.
‘No matter how bad the relationship between husband and wife is, to show such dislike…’
Callian stared at the distant scenery with his eyebrows furrowed.
That terrible woman, Esika, who had rushed at him with her eyes rolled back.
They say she regained consciousness after suffering from high fever for a week.
It’s been ten days since then.
That woman, who was busy showing off her luxurious jewels while walking around the garden, hasn’t come out of her room even after regaining consciousness.
There’s no reason to be curious about what wind has gotten into her.
‘I wish she would never come out of her room.’
Callian thought, frowning.
‘No, I wish she would just die.’
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
