“What I want to hear is not an apology, but why Rozete was there in the first place.”
“Huuk.”
Joseph, who had been incessantly crying, soon composed himself and began explaining the situation.
“I swear, I didn’t join Adrian’s knighthood as a spy with ulterior motives. I can assure you of that much.”
“If you’re not a spy, then why did you do it?”
“My sister, Melody, was taken hostage.”
He explained the situation as calmly as he could while panting.
People who kidnapped Melody while she was playing in the fields threatened him to sprinkle a magic potion on the duke’s carriage. And recently, Daniel realized something was amiss and urged him to advance the plan.
And then.
“But I couldn’t do it. I swear.”
Duke Adrian, assuming for a moment that his story was true, asked.
“Then how did you end up following me with Rozete?”
“I had suspected there was another spy in the mansion other than me. Thinking that person might have tampered with the carriage according to the original plan, I went to check the carriage house and found the lady there.”
“Rozete?”
“Yes. She already knew all the plans and tried to stop me.”
Duke Adrian, confused, wiped his face dry.
“How did Rozete know about it?”
“I’m not sure of that. But, the lady thought the target was the young master.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes. And when she realized the actual target was you…”
“She came to save me.”
“That’s right.”
Joseph Oser hesitated for a moment before asking.
“Is the lady alright?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“That…”
Joseph fumbled with his words, unable to bring himself to ask if Rozete had mentioned saving his sister, Melody. But as if reading his mind, the duke asked.
“What happened to your sister?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Joseph cried again.
“They said if I failed the mission, I would never see Melody again. But Lady Rozete said she would be safe.”
“…”
“I hope she is safe, but I wonder if Melody can really be rescued…”
The duke’s heart softened. As he knew, Joseph’s sister, Melody Oser, was the same age as Rozete, eight years old.
Moreover, if Joseph’s story was true, he had risked losing his sister to help him.
If all this was true, he ought to help the loyal Joseph. He couldn’t keep him at Adrian’s house after having once attempted treachery, but he had to save the innocent Melody.
However.
“I can’t trust your words yet. But I’ll look into it.”
“Duke, really?”
Instead of answering, Duke Adrian signaled to the knights waiting behind.
“Take him away.”
“Yes.”
The knights’ faces were grim as they escorted Joseph, their former comrade.
After they disappeared, Duke Adrian instructed his spy hiding in the ceiling.
“There’s a rat in the mansion. Find it quickly.”
The spy leaped down from the ceiling and prostrated before him.
“Understood.”
“And investigate the mastermind behind this incident.”
“Yes.”
After the spy left, the duke sighed.
He had done all he could for now. All that was left was to wait for Rozete to wake up.
[Beep, beep!]The bird, missing since morning, flew in fluttering. Lucas, who had been secretly looking for the bird, welcomed it.
“Hey, Cheep-cheep! Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.”
Over the past week, he had grown quite fond of this little bird that never left Rozete’s side and had even named it ‘Cheep-cheep’ himself. It was because its chirping sounded like a chick.
[Cheep!] Every time he called her by that name, Cheep-cheep would counter, ‘My name is Cheep-cheep!’ but he was oblivious to it.“Yeah, Cheep-cheep. It’s an honor that you were worried about me.”
[Peep!]“But what’s that?”
[Chirp!]Cheep-cheep landed on Rozete’s chest, placing a small, white flower it had been holding in its beak.
This flower, unlike those cultivated in the greenhouse of Adrian’s estate, was a wildflower that grew in the fields.
Lucas looked at the flower as if it were a curiosity.
“Oh, are flowers blooming already?”
[Chirp!]It had been a week since Rozete fell asleep. During that time, she had not awakened.
In the meantime, the month had changed to March, and the season had shifted from winter to spring.
“I had planned to take the little one out for fun when spring arrived.”
Lucas muttered gloomily and then placed the flower brought by Cheep-cheep near the ear of the sleeping Rozete.
“Silly little one, wake up soon. Cheep-cheep even brought you a flower.”
[Peep! Chirp!]“We need to train together soon…”
Unable to continue, Lucas bowed his head. Tears dropped from the child’s eyes, his chin crumpled like a walnut.
“Don’t die, little one.”
Adrian, the duke who usually did not express anger, had even pressed the attending physician and Celine as to why Rozete hadn’t woken up.
Celine replied, “The lady originally had much more internal mana than I anticipated, so her recovery seems to be slow.”
Internal mana is a measure of a magician’s ability. The more internal mana one possesses, the more talented they are considered to be.
This meant that Rozete had more exceptional skills than Duke Adrian had thought.
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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