Layana was on the verge of falling asleep.
Just as she began to drift off, she felt an eerie chill. When she opened her eyes, there stood a masked man, knife held to her throat.
She had no idea when he arrived, or how he even entered the room.
Swallowing her fear, Layana looked straight at the two men standing before her.
“What do you want?”
While the Krisha family did not wield power to the extent of the Brelof family, they were nonetheless one of the noble families in the Arwen Empire.
Seeing the calm atmosphere around them, no one else must have noticed the intruders. Those who could infiltrate despite their heavy security were certainly no ordinary people.
Layana was convinced that they had a specific purpose for coming after her.
The two men standing before her had their faces concealed, but they were Tendai and Andro, dispatched from the Kalua Empire to pursue Askan.
Silently, Tendai handed her a piece of paper, with information he had gathered from a tavern.
“[15yearold boy, slave, fire manipulator.]”
As soon as Layana saw the paper, she recognized it. It was the investigation on Askan that they had been conducting through the back alleyways.
“Why is this…?”
She couldn’t understand.
She had considered countless possibilities, but the idea of someone coming after her for a mere slave had never crossed her mind.
Tendai responded curtly to the surprised Layana.
“Tell us who this is.”
“That is…”
While Layana had no idea who these intruders were, one thing was certain. They did not have good intentions.
They wouldn’t have come to her room in the middle of the night, concealing their faces, if they didn’t have something to hide.
Her mind was racing.
This was an opportunity.
She didn’t know who these people were or where they came from, but she had an intuitive feeling that she might be able to take revenge on Tanashia through them.
There was no reason to hesitate then. On the contrary, Layana grinned and slowly pronounced her words.
“He’s a stepbrother of Tanashia, the first daughter of the Brelof family. His name is Askan.”
Upon hearing the unexpected name of a great noble family, Tendai’s eyes widened in surprise. But that was it.
Tendai and Andro exchanged glances and nodded.
Once they had pinpointed Askan’s location, they had no further use for Layana.
In fact, Tendai and Andro could have easily killed Layana, who knew nothing, in her room and erase all traces. However, they didn’t.
If a noble lady were to be murdered in her room, it would attract people’s attention and lead to a largescale investigation.
Tendai and Andro could slip out of the Krisha mansion unnoticed, just like how they entered, so creating a big scene would be a disadvantage for them.
Andro spoke in a low voice.
“Close your eyes and count to ten. If you don’t, we’ll kill you.”
Layana obediently closed her eyes and nodded.
1, 2, 3…… 10.
The moment she finished counting to ten and opened her eyes again, the two men, who had been right in front of her, had disappeared.
She turned on the light in her dark room. It was as if she had been dreaming.
“Huh, I don’t know who they are, but it’d be great if they could also take care of Tanashia.”
It was then that Layana murmured with a cheerful smile.
As the light suddenly came on in her room where she was supposed to be asleep, a maid who was standing by outside rushed in with a surprised face.
“Miss, is something wrong?”
“No, rather, something good happened. Some unidentified intruders just asked me about Askan and left.”
“Whaaat?”
The maid’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it.
Laughing at the maid’s surprised face, Layana wasn’t saying it because she thought the maid would know anything.
“That’s enough. You can leave.”
“Ah, yes. If there is anything you need, please call me.”
The maid, bowing deeply, left Layana’s room.
Layana said it without any particular thought, but the maid didn’t take it that way.
Her name was Sally, a spy Tanashia had planted in the Krisha mansion.
‘I don’t know what she’s talking about, but since Miss Tanashia told me to report even the smallest thing, I should report this.’
Without anyone noticing, Sally wrote down what she had just heard from Layana in a note. And handed it over to another contact hidden in the Krisha mansion.
They had been working in the Krisha mansion for a long time. But they were the ones Tanashia secretly captured after the academic festival was over.
Because Layana treated these people of lower status like servants, no one truly pledged their loyalty to her.
Tanashia exploited this, promising them good compensation and employment once they left the Krisha mansion.
In return, they reported every movement of Layana to her.
For Tanashia, it was a natural move. She couldn’t just leave Askan’s identity exposed to Layana without any countermeasures.
Finally, something caught in her network of information.
So, the night in the capital without Tanashia and Askan passed very busily.
[This is the time separator]After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
