Callian flinched momentarily at Esika’s words.
At this moment, only Esika was visible in his field of vision.
Esika, whose beauty was radiating more and more with each passing day, for reasons unknown.
He was in a state where he could agree with anything she said.
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you’re the most beautiful in the empire.”
Esika looked behind Callian and smiled deeply.
That smile was directed at Riona, who was standing behind the duke.
Riona’s tightly clenched fist was trembling.
Callian carefully reached out and took Esika’s right hand.
And then he raised it to kiss the back of her hand.
Esika’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
‘This act doesn’t feel good, but seeing Riona getting sick with anger is quite thrilling.’
Esika didn’t like Callian’s action of kissing the back of her hand.
What good is a handsome face where the bridge of the nose is clearly visible even when bowing?
He’s a man so unsuitable as a husband that even calling him a trash can would be too generous.
Still, it was enjoyable to see Riona’s face turning red and blue, beyond just trembling with her tightly clenched fists.
“……”
Callian, having finished kissing her hand, looked at Esika.
Esika spoke to him with his passionate gaze.
“I should go back to choosing my dress now.”
At those words, a regretful light flickered in Callian’s purple eyes.
Today’s Esika was not only beautiful in appearance, but her voice was also beautiful, and her smile seemed to take his breath away.
If he had denied his thoughts about Esika until now, at this moment he had no choice but to acknowledge his feelings.
“I’d like to have dinner together this evening.”
Callian said to her in a low voice.
Esika shook her head lightly.
“I feel like I’ve gained weight lately, so I’d like to have light dinners for a while. Why don’t you just dine with your mother today?”
At Esika’s words, Riona’s eyebrows trembled again.
She must be about to explode, as Esika was treating herself as a substitute for her precious son.
Riona herself should always have been Callian’s first priority.
That was the main reason why Riona had been keeping Esika in check.
“…Could it be that’s why you rejected my dress gift before? A slim body is a virtue of a wise woman… I suppose it can’t be helped.”
However, Callian’s words were really scraping at Riona’s insides.
His tone suggested that he was disappointed he couldn’t have dinner with Esika, that vulgar and common daughter-in-law, and instead had to dine with his mother.
Callian’s reaction made Riona realize that she had been pushed out of Callian’s first priority.
Callian stared at Esika with deep eyes for a long time before turning his gaze to Riona.
“Mother. Then I’ll be going now.”
At Callian’s words, Riona raised the corners of her mouth, but her eyes were filled with deep anger.
Callian, who saw his mother as a considerate and virtuous woman, couldn’t even guess what was going on inside Riona.
“Alright. Duke, I’ll see you at dinner.”
After Callian left, Riona’s room was enveloped in silence.
Everyone in the room saw the corners of Riona’s eyebrows raise as soon as Callian left.
Esika looked at Riona with a calm smile on her lips.
If there hadn’t been other people around, Riona might have rushed at Esika to slap her face.
“I suddenly feel tired. Just order what I picked earlier.”
As Riona’s lips moved, the shop owner, watching her mood, nodded.
“Understood, Grand Madam.”
“Please order only what I chose earlier as well.”
Esika spoke clearly, receiving Riona’s fierce gaze.
“Understood, Madam.”
Soon after, Esika said to Riona.
“Since you seem tired, Mother, I’ll take my leave now.”
And she turned around.
Behind Esika, Riona’s voice was heard.
“Raphusolleche.”
It was a slightly breathless, rough voice, as if spitting out a curse.
Esika paid no attention and moved her steps.
**
In Esika’s room, the corners of her mouth lifted as she read a dusty dictionary she had opened.
Riona Klaus.
Her original name was Riona Isaberea, known to be a royal of Smichen, a small kingdom that had perished.
The life of a royal who had lost their country could only be arduous.
However, the pride of having noble blood must have sustained her entire life.
To regain the status that everyone envied, she had struggled to become the mistress of Klaus.
To such a woman, a daughter-in-law from a commoner family who bought their title with money was a shame.
“Vulgar blood, how cliché.”
Esika closed the dictionary with a languid voice.
Raphusolleche was a word in the now-extinct language of Smichen, meaning ‘vulgar blood’.
“Madam.”
Hans was standing in front of Esika.
In his 40s, Hans had worked at Klaus since his early teens, so he had witnessed the entire history of Klaus, starting before Riona became the Klaus madam.
“You know what?”
“Yes?”
“Usually, you can tell about a person by the insults they use on others. People tend to use the insults they think are most fatal to themselves on others as well.”
“…Is that so?”
“If I’m lacking in education, I might call others ‘this ignorant fool’. If there’s economic pressure, ‘beggar-like bastard’ might come out first. What comes out of a person’s mouth when they’re furious is their own weakness, you see.”
“Now that I hear it… it does seem that way.”
Even in the Central Plains, the old man who was the head of the Kaifang used the word ‘beggar bastards’ incessantly.
He was an old man who would get a bushel of lice from combing his hair once, and he came looking for Yeonryeong with a club because Yeonryeong had beaten three beggars in a tavern.
Of course, upon hearing the word ‘beggar bastard’, Yeonryeong took that club and beat the old man until dust flew on a rainy day.
Esika recalled Riona’s blazing eyes and continued.
“But when the Grand Madam was furious to the tips of her hair, she used the words ‘vulgar blood’ in her native language. The feeling was very different from usual…”
The corners of Esika’s lips curled up.
“…An interesting thought occurred to me.”
Hans felt a chill down his spine every time he saw Esika’s smile.
How could someone with such a beautiful appearance make such an evil smile?
“You mean you want me to investigate?”
“Yes, thoroughly. Search through every record there is and gather testimonies too.”
Hans bowed his head.
“I’ll do so. But…”
After hesitating for a moment, he said to Esika.
“Does this mean you fully trust me now? Is your test over?”
Esika burst into laughter at Hans’s slightly nervous question.
Then she said to Hans.
“Congratulations on passing, Hans.”
There was no pretense in Esika’s words. The composure of a naturally born strong person was evident in her attitude.
“You are now my person.”
“I won’t disappoint you.”
“Yes, not disappointing me would be good for you too.”
The evil smile was a bit creepy, but it contained trust in him.
Ordinary subordinates tend to be drawn to masters with such attitudes.
In ability, spirit, and insight, she was beyond any master he had served.
**
Crash−
A glass barely missed the maid’s side and hit the wall, making a loud shattering sound.
The shattered glass was scattered like her broken heart.
The maid trembled but didn’t dare approach Riona.
She had always seen Riona get annoyed, but this was the first time she had seen her so furious.
A terrible fire was blazing in Riona’s eyes.
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you’re the most beautiful in the empire.”
The image of her son whispering with eyes as if falling for that vulgar Esika was vivid in her mind.
It was truly the last thing she wanted to hear from Callian’s mouth after bringing Esika into this family.
“Damn wench… fox-like wench…”
Who is Callian Klaus? What kind of heart did she give birth to that child with?
Riona had made tremendous efforts to make that child the Duke of Klaus.
Using vicious methods, she had driven out the legal wife and her children, and only then could the mother and son enter this Klaus mansion.
But Esika, that girl, was born into a family with nothing but money, and she smiled her way into the position of the duke’s wife.
She was a woman far inferior to her son, who was excellent and intelligent.
She couldn’t accept such a child as her daughter-in-law and Callian’s match.
Yes, in fact, even the noblest woman in the empire would be insufficient to stand beside Callian.
Even if she were the daughter of an archduke’s family, how could she be suitable to be by Callian’s side?
So Esika should always have been grateful to Callian, herself, and Klaus.
What’s the essential difference between the maids who only tremble when Riona slaps and tramples them, and Esika’s position?
She’s just a lowly woman who should cry and wail when trampled by her mother-in-law!
But now, she was openly insulting her.
More beautiful than her mother?
For Callian, and for Klaus, there should only be one queen.
Riona’s patience had run out for tolerating a maid who openly coveted the queen’s position.
“Impertinent thing, a woman who will fall into hell.”
Riona’s eyes were shining with a chilling killing intent.
She gritted her teeth with a grinding sound.
“I will surely drive you out. If I can’t divorce you, I’ll kill you if I have to.”
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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