‘It’s natural, I suppose.’
No matter how much the servants swept and wiped, there would be a limit.
As she leisurely looked around, Carina stopped walking.
And she flung open a tightly closed door.
A spacious room appeared, obviously a reception area.
“Madam, if you wait here for a while, the princess will come soon.”
Carina pointed toward a table in the center of the reception room.
“Yes, I understand.”
Lamein answered lightly.
“Madam, I’ll wait here.”
Looking at Jane, who spoke behind her, Lamein nodded her head and headed into the reception room.
“I’ll prepare tea soon.”
“Yes, take your time.”
While looking around the reception room, Lamein gently smiled at Carina.
Carina left, and Lamein, sitting on the sofa, set down the gift she had prepared for Lucia.
‘I’m not sure if she’ll like it.’
Worries about the gift she had prepared began to creep in slightly. Though young, Lucia was still a nobleman’s daughter.
She hadn’t had particularly good taste in her previous world, nor any specific preferences.
“What’s important about taste? It’s the heart that matters.”
She was trying to put herself in a positive mindset when it happened.
Knock, knock.
A heavy knock resonated in the otherwise silent reception room.
‘It seems the Duchess Haribo has arrived.’
Lamein straightened her posture and stood up.
The door to the reception room opened slowly.
“I greet the beautiful lady once again.”
It was not the waiting Lucia but Duke Haribo who appeared.
Lamein’s calmly fluttering eyelids suddenly flew wide open.
The man who had elegantly dressed in a white formal suit at Lucia’s birthday party.
With a dignity befitting his status and an air that was not easily approachable.
‘He looks completely different like this.’
Today, he appeared in a plain white shirt with a black jacket that fell to his knees.
As Duke Haribo drew near, Lamein realized something new.
‘It’s not that I have no taste.’
Her eyes were wide open at the naturally fashionable vibe emanating from a man who seemed both dressed up and not.
‘A boyfriend look, perhaps?’
The faint smile at the corner of his mouth and the goodquality hair that swayed slightly as he walked.
‘No, it’s more like seeing a celebrity’s airport fashion.’
In any case, she pressed her lips together as she looked at the man who had helped her discover her taste.
“I present my greetings to Duke Haribo.”
With a courteous greeting, she raised her slightly bowed head.
“Please, have a seat.”
The man’s pleasant bass voice flowed out.
‘His voice is really good.’
Reaffirming the fact she had noticed at their first meeting, she sat down on the sofa.
The man, sitting straight with his back, stared at her quietly.
“…….”
“…….”
And neither spoke.
The awkward silence began to freeze the edge of her lips, which she had been trying to keep uplifted.
“When will Lady Haribo arrive?”
Lamein couldn’t bear it and broke the silence.
The Duke of Haribo, who slowly lifted his eyelids, concealed a languid smile at the corner of his mouth.
‘Why is he smiling like that?’
At that moment, puzzled by the ambiguous smile.
“Lucia doesn’t know that you’re here.”
……Is he joking?
Such words flew out, wanting to ask that.
Lamein, who momentarily twisted her lips, slowly opened her mouth with great effort.
“I heard that Lady Haribo invited me.”
So, did our mother lie to me?
When she asked with a clear voice,
“Yes. That’s what I wrote in the letter.”
Duke Haribo cleared his mother’s innocence.
“Why?”
With a voice full of wonder, Duke Haribo tilted his head slightly.
He seemed to be saying that he’s asking because he doesn’t know.
Lamein, who had been staring straight, suddenly lifted her eyelids tightly.
“Is it because of my husband?”
When she asked if it’s because the two of you don’t get along,
“I didn’t think you wouldn’t know, but indeed, you do.”
He informed her that he was the answer.
“If Cedric knew that I invited my wife, I would not have had the occasion to sit here and meet her.”
“…….”
“I thought you might come together today since you looked quite close that day, but it’s unexpected.”
She immediately realized that he was talking about the kiss that day.
Cedric’s words reminded her that a single kiss was more certain than a hundred words.
“He wanted to come with me, but unfortunately, my husband had an appointment today.”
Lamein, who suddenly recalled the contract, spoke with a regretful expression.
“Fortunately.”
The man, who apparently didn’t cultivate any empathy, spoke lightly.
Knock knock.
At that moment, with a knock, a servant came in with the prepared tea.
A fragrant tea was placed between the two facing each other.
“It’s tea made from a flower called Sharel, which grows only in the Western Kingdom. It helps calm the mind and clears the head.”
As if asking her to take a sip, Duke Haribo pointed with a straight palm to the teacup placed in front of Lamein.
‘Sharel flower?’
Taking a sip of tea that somehow smelled of luxury.
The flavor filled her mouth, richer and cleaner than any other blended tea she had ever tasted.
“It’s used for tea, but it’s also used as a raw material for medicine to relieve headaches.”
Lamein slowly lifted her eyelids, which were fixed on the teacup in her hand.
The smile on Duke Haribo’s lips was somehow ominous.
Swallowing slowly, she put the teacup in her hand down on the table then.
“You said through Luther that you wanted to meet me?”
The man who summoned her here by invoking Lucia.
“What are you so curious about me?”
Her eyes sparkled sharply, unlike anything she had shown before.
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.”
