He was none other than Ruphilm, the Marquis of Manoco.
“I heard a little while ago that Count Arteas and Lady Brellof set off for the palace.”
“Is that so?”
For the first time, a faint smile appeared on Seruna’s expressionless face. Her eyes didn’t smile, making the upturned corners of her mouth somehow eerie.
As if confirming, Seruna asked,
“Have you finished preparing to welcome the guests?”
“Don’t worry. Today, I’ve assigned all the servants and maids working at the party from our side. Whatever Lady Brellof eats, there will be a sleeping potion in it.”
Hypnosis couldn’t be applied in crowded places.
So, to hypnotize Tanasia, we had to move her to a quiet place with no one around, rather than the bustling party venue.
If Tanasia, who has taken the sleeping potion, feels drowsy, the merfolk working at the party venue will guide her to the prepared room.
Once she’s placed there, the game can be considered over.
“I heard rumors that Lady Brellof is quite cunning. She might already be aware of what we’re aiming for, given the failed assassination. She might not eat the food in the party venue, so prepare other traps without any hesitation.”
“Don’t worry. We have dozens of merfolk inside the party venue. Even if she doesn’t eat the food, she won’t be able to escape.”
The prepared trap was not only the sleeping potion. Tanasia had no choice but to fall into the trap they had set when she let her guard down.
It would be better to eliminate Tanasia before she accepts Helsion’s proposal. After becoming the empress, it would be difficult to take any action.
Seruna finished arranging her hair, which had been dressed up, and said,
“If Lady Brellof were alone, there would be no need to worry. However, since Count Arteas is constantly by her side, you must not let your guard down. This is the chance to take care of her, so that I can sleep comfortably in the future…”
Thud.
A small sound of something dropping interrupted Seruna’s words, and she turned her head.
There was a maid trembling with fear. It seemed that she accidentally overheard the conversation while dropping her hairbrush.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I didn’t hear anything.”
“That’s fine. It’s my fault for not being cautious around me.”
The expression of the maid, who seemed terrified at the seemingly compassionate words, momentarily showed a sign of relief.
Glancing at Ruphilm with a subtle look, Seruna said in an indifferent tone,
“Father, please handle this.”
Handle?
Given the atmosphere a while ago, it seemed like forgiveness would be granted, but the words uttered by Seruna now had an entirely different meaning.
The maid, perhaps out of concern, hesitated and retreated.
Ruphilm walked toward the maid with an expressionless face. He took out a coin with a hole in it and a perfume bottle from his pocket.
“Hmm, Master, I really didn’t do anything…!”
Tchk!
First, Ruphilm covered his nose with a handkerchief and sprayed perfume on the maid’s face.
It was a specially concocted fragrance by the Manoco family. It had an excellent effect of making the mind hazy and concentrating the consciousness.
“Please, please spare me.”
The maid pleaded, but Ruphilm, with an indifferent face, shook the coin tied with a string in front of her face.
“Hush, watch this.”
The maid, who seemed about to burst into tears, suddenly looked at the coin with a vacant expression. Her eyes followed the coin swinging left and right.
Observing the maid, Ruphilm whispered in a low voice.
“When I count to three, you will now move according to my words. One, two, three.”
Interestingly, as Ruphilm’s words ended, the maid sat there blankly, as if the emotions had vanished from her. She looked like a doll with severed strings.
“Now, go to your room right away and write a farewell letter. It should convey that the duties at the palace are too demanding, and you want to take a break.”
The maid replied with unfocused eyes, like someone enchanted.
“…Yes.”
“After writing the letter, find a long rope and hang it on the ceiling. Then, tie it around your neck. Understand?”
“…Yes.”
“Go now.”
The maid staggered to her feet and began walking towards somewhere, as if under a spell.
One could guess that she would go to her own room, write the farewell letter with her own hands, and then hang herself.
After completing the task, Ruphilm approached Seruna again and said,
“Be careful.”
“I thought Father would come here. I forgot about asking him to comb my hair a while ago. Since it’s just a trivial life, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it’s just a cheap life. It doesn’t matter if hundreds die. However, it’s just in case our words leak outside.”
“Don’t worry. My palace management is not that careless.”
Ruphilm nodded as if he trusted Seruna’s words.
At that moment, a knock accompanied Eula, the chamberlain, who was guiding Seruna, entering.
“The Empress is coming this way.”
Upon hearing that, Ruphilm tilted the picture frame in the room to the right and turned the glass decoration upside down with a familiar gesture.
Krrrk—
Soon, the place that looked like just a wall opened, revealing a new space. It was one of the secret rooms Seruna had secretly set up.
After finishing his task, Ruphilm turned to Seruna and said,
“Then, see you later.”
“Yes, Father.”
With that conversation, Ruphilm disappeared into the secret room. Shortly afterward, the entrance returned to its original appearance as if nothing had happened.
A while later, when Helsion entered the room, Seruna was alone, grooming herself in front of the mirror.
Looking at Helsion’s reflection in the mirror, Seruna seemed surprised, as if she knew nothing.
“Your Majesty, what brings you here?”
“I came to see you.”
“Oh my, such joyful words…”
“I’m curious about what you and Count Arteas are plotting.”
…”
At Helsion’s following words, Seruna’s expression cooled down.
Helsion didn’t know about the existence of a secret room in this room, but he wasn’t oblivious to the true intentions of Seruna and Ruphilm.
“I warn you, it’s better not to touch Lady Brellof.”
Despite Helsion’s threatening words, Seruna smiled faintly. Her appearance seemed like an angel in a painting, but her words didn’t match that image.
“If someone hears, they might think Your Majesty has fallen in love.”
“Hehe.”
Upon hearing those words, even Helsion laughed.
They were bound by a strategic marriage, but Helsion and Seruna already knew each other’s personalities too well.
“It’s amusing to hear such words from the Empress’s mouth. Aren’t both of us too cold-blooded to harbor passionate emotions like love? Let me make it clear; I need the weapon made by Lady Brellof.”
“Your Majesty, I merely wish for my child to become the next emperor.”
Helsion summoned Askan and Tanashia for a conversation during the evening meal. However, it could be discerned that the discussion had leaked.
While Helsion and Seruna maintained smiles on their faces, their eyes reflected an intense, predatory state.
“Empress, it’s better to abandon greed. If you quietly accept what I give, there won’t be any trouble.”
“Speaking of greed makes me feel resentful. When Your Majesty ascends the throne, I am simply guarding the rights I should rightfully have.”
There seemed to be an invisible spark between Helsion and Seruna, who didn’t back down from each other.
Helsion, looking at Seruna with a mocking expression, said, “Empress, it might be unsettling for you to let go of your ambitions. If you quietly accept what I give, there won’t be any trouble.”
In response to that, Seruna also replied with an angelic smile.
“It’s quite ordinary, Your Majesty.”
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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