In the perilous silence that was almost dizzying, Esika opened her lips.
“Your Highness has no shame.”
A cold smile flitted across Resban’s lips.
Taking a step closer to her, Resban spoke softly at a distance where their skin could almost touch.
“Are you saying it looks unsightly to bring the duke’s wife here for an affair?”
“……”
Esika was suddenly at a loss for words at Resban’s even more explicit statement.
A man with jet-black hair and dangerous golden eyes, Esika could not guess Resban’s next move or thoughts at all.
Unaware that her wary eyes were stimulating Resban’s interest, Esika faced him without averting her gaze.
A raw smile once again flashed across Resban’s lips.
“It’s true that I have a great interest in you.”
He reached out his hand toward Esika.
Esika’s eyebrow twitched, but what his hand touched was not her body, but the comfortable outer garment that the servant had hung earlier.
Resban began to put it on.
Was he just trying to change clothes from the beginning?
Though it was a small movement of putting on the top, his height and build made even that look imposing.
Anyway, Esika was inwardly somewhat relieved as one hurdle of this unpredictable man’s actions passed.
“I have quite strong patience.”
He soon added to the end of that.
“If you had said you loved Klaus, it might have run out.”
Esika’s eyes wavered slightly.
And after a moment, she asked Resban.
“What kind of dream did you have about me?”
Resban, now wearing the outer garment, leaned in close to whisper to Esika.
“…You who were always turned away from me.”
In his dream, she turned twelve, then fifteen.
And at some point she stopped growing taller, but he couldn’t see her face.
Because she was always looking elsewhere.
“Turning to me and realizing. Who I was, and what you did to me.”
Esika’s eyes trembled.
What was the truth of the feelings he had for her?
He didn’t seem like he would tell her.
“And me.”
Though the words stopped, where they were heading was clear.
Esika just looked at Resban without answering.
Her heart was pounding, and various thoughts were floating in her head.
Resban showed a faint smile and turned around.
And with nonchalant steps, he sat down on the luxurious, plush sofa.
“……”
Resban’s declaration of war was never mere arrogance.
All wars go as he wishes.
Esika felt her heart pounding.
“The Crown Prince……”
“Yan.”
As Resban called out a name, the door opened and the servant who had left earlier appeared.
He said to the servant.
“Guide my guest to the imperial library. It’s Klaus, so the third section should be appropriate.”
To Esika, who looked a bit dazed, Resban continued speaking nonchalantly.
“You’ll be able to find materials that will help with your plans.”
“……”
Suddenly, Esika’s eyes wavered.
Then was this the reason for bringing her to the imperial palace?
Looking at Resban’s face, which was annoyingly calm, she couldn’t tell anything.
Then the servant bowed to Esika and guided her.
**
Yuri, who had put down her luggage in front of the mansion, spotted two maids who had just come out for ventilation.
These girls were the Grand Madam’s direct maids, and the head maid was their superior.
“You, bring my bag.”
One of the maids stopped.
She glanced at Yuri, then blatantly ignored her and left.
Yuri’s face quickly turned red and blue.
“You! Can’t you hear me?”
But they just snickered at Yuri mockingly without looking back.
“Ha…… Even those things ignore me?”
Yuri gritted her teeth in a low voice.
She was aware that she would have fallen out of the Grand Madam’s favor after being investigated at the government office for three months.
But for mere commoner maids to dare ignore her, Yuri was furious.
Inevitably, Yuri entered the mansion staggering with her heavy luggage.
She barely climbed the stairs and opened the door, where Lucy, the Grand Madam’s direct maid, was.
That place…… could no longer be called a bedroom as it was filled with all sorts of household items from the mansion.
Lucy, who was taking out a rag, flinched when she saw Yuri.
Lucy was the most timid among the Grand Madam’s maids.
“……”
Slap-
Yuri struck her cheek hard enough to turn her face.
As the surprised Lucy widened her eyes, Yuri slapped her other cheek with her other hand.
And with eyes burning with anger, she asked.
“Who made my room like this?”
Lucy, whose spirit was somewhat broken by Yuri’s intensity, answered with an indignant expression.
“The Grand Madam said to use it as a storage room. She said there’s no need for a rice bug that just eats food in the mansion……”
“What?”
Yuri’s eyebrows moved greatly.
‘How many jewels have I brought her……’
She had given her about 50,000 rings worth of jewels so far.
But she couldn’t be discarded like this just because it stopped for four months.
“I’m going to the Grand Madam.”
Yuri turned around, throwing down her luggage.
Lucy’s seemingly mocking voice was heard.
“You won’t see anything good.”
But Yuri headed straight for the Grand Madam with her eyes wide open.
**
Riona, who said ‘I don’t have time to talk to the likes of you today’, seemed particularly anxious than usual.
It seems she’s waiting for some other news, but I don’t know what it is.
However, Yuri didn’t give up and knelt before Riona.
When Riona approached with a sharp voice as if she would slap the bothersome Yuri, it was then.
“If you divorce Esika, you’ll have to return the dowry.”
Riona paused at those words.
And she answered sharply and coldly.
“Do you think I’m doing this because I don’t know that? Useless thing.”
“There are two ways to separate His Grace the Duke and Esika without returning the dowry. One is for Esika to die.”
Riona’s eyebrow twitched as if struck.
Right, Yuri wouldn’t know why she was anxious now.
She would never know what news she was waiting for.
If Esika dies, she becomes Klaus’s person forever. So there’s no need to return the dowry.
It was the best way to separate the impudent and vulgar Esika, who doesn’t know her place and tries to climb up, from her precious and valuable son.
“And the second is…… divorce due to Esika’s fault.”
Yuri raised her head and lit up her red eyes.
Riona frowned.
There was some certainty in Yuri’s eyes, so she thought it was worth listening to her words instead of chasing her out of the room.
“If they divorce due to adultery, you don’t have to return the dowry, and you can even receive compensation from her family.”
The word compensation certainly appeals.
But…… Riona twisted the corner of her lips as if mocking Yuri.
“Are you suggesting to induce adultery? Not worth listening to.”
Callian Klaus, what kind of person is her son?
In the empire, the only man who could match her son’s looks would be Crown Prince Resban Deon Lucein.
Having become the wife of such a Callian, how could her eyes turn to another man?
It’s impossible unless her eyes are on the soles of her feet.
And soon she called for the maids who would be guarding outside the room.
“Come in and drag this crazy girl out.”
But Yuri immediately grabbed onto Riona’s feet.
And in a low voice, she said to Riona who was about to kick her away.
“I saw Esika meeting another man!”
At those words, Riona momentarily paused her foot.
The door opened and her maids entered, and Riona, who had been looking at Yuri’s confident eyes for a moment, gestured for the maids to leave again.
When the door closed, Yuri began to speak.
“Earlier, on the way from the government office to the central district, I saw a man and woman riding a horse together, and it was definitely Esika.”
“……What did you say?”
Yuri nodded vigorously and continued.
“A gray dress without decorations and silver hair, I clearly saw her face too.”
The color was draining from Riona’s face.
If she saw Esika in that area, it meant her plan had failed.
“Pe… Perhaps it wasn’t my brother Shupert Brigitte?”
If the plan failed and they were caught by Shupert, it would be a big problem.
If the Brigitte family steps in, the situation will become even more difficult.
But fortunately, Yuri denied the second question.
“I grew up with Esika and know her brother. Her brother has silver hair like Esika. But that man had dark hair. The place they passed by was shaded so I’m not sure of the exact color, but……”
Yuri said with a voice full of certainty.
“It definitely wasn’t His Grace the Duke.”
Riona’s head was complicated.
Did someone help Esika? An outsider?
Or maybe one of them betrayed.
“……Get out.”
“Grand Madam……”
“Get out before I kick you out of my mansion forever!”
Startled by Riona’s sudden outburst, Yuri retreated from her presence with a resentful expression.
Riona’s appearance looked particularly anxious.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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