Leaving Meteo behind, Count Calliet departed. Shamdil’s people, who had been following Meteo, followed the prince’s decision as if it were natural. Cassius stood in the restored watchtower, watching them leave for a long time.
“Count Calliet. I’ve lived on the battlefield merely as Sir Cassius. I am inevitably inferior to you, Prince Meteo, or even the emperor. I am merely a tool to fulfill what Lady Renisha desires. However, I don’t want to stop at just that.”
Cassius had a deep conversation with Count Calliet last night.
Without even properly closing his eyes.
“I need your help.”
Cassius sincerely requested assistance.
While Cassius was on the battlefield, Count Calliet had been someone who had experienced the flow of the world on the island.
He had different experiences.
Count Calliet accepted Cassius, who honestly sought knowledge.
“I have no son to teach. Only my worn-out grandsons are left. I have no intention of letting those kids hold a sword. I will teach you as my son, Duke. I will pass on everything I have. The one who wields a sword and the one who wields a pen have different tasks. After that…”
“…”
“Someday, when I need help, please help me once.”
With a heavy, sinking expression, Count Calliet spoke.
Cassius knew how dangerous it was to assume something abstract.
It was no different from stepping into an invisible trap.
However, Cassius couldn’t refuse Count Calliet’s outstretched hand.
It was something he ardently desired as well.
It was a desire to become a more fitting companion than anyone else.
“Come to the island, Your Grace. I will be there.”
Shamdil’s party would take a ship from the nearest port.
That was Count Calliet’s task.
And that evening.
At an appropriate time and moment, an invitation arrived from the Imperial Palace.
It was an invitation from Canary to Renisha.
Lexis chuckled slyly.
“You are the loser.”
Purple eyes flashed with a bizarre light.
A transparent ghost with a bluish aura stood silently, glaring at Lexis without saying a word.
“I even gave up on your daughter. In the end, you couldn’t protect anything! I will… and that woman, Renisha, I plan to bring her back to my side. I overlooked something you didn’t like. You never liked me. Even though you hated having Renisha by my side, you still hated it.”
Lexis laughed gleefully.
“I’ve decided to do everything you dislike, so this time, it’s only natural to do so, right? Renisha will be delighted to return here. How long do you think a woman raised so delicately can endure in such a place? She’ll surely take Count Calliet’s hand and fly back. What can you do with that slave child?”
Lexis’s face, tangled with anger, jealousy, and an unknown emotion, was a mess.
The ghost said nothing.
It just stared at Lexis.
Blood flowed down the ghost’s face and dripped onto the floor.
Lexis ran his tongue over his lips.
“I’ll ruin your daughter in front of your eyes. I won’t let her rest in peace even in death. Say something, anything!!”
When he first sent Renisha away, he was engulfed in the joy of defeating Duke Rotera.
Because Duke Rotera, who looked down on him as if teaching him, had never left his mind.
In Lexis’s imagination, Duke Rotera continued to climb the stairs and looked down at his head.
Standing on an endless summit.
Lexis’s jaw trembled.
“Say something, damn it!!!”
Lexis clenched his fist.
It was a lifelong fear.
Those around him whispered in Lexis’s ear.
Since they made Lexis the emperor, Rotera could turn the tables at any time.
Wasn’t he afraid?
Lexis began to believe that Rotera wanted to become the emperor himself.
The suspicions and fears that seeped into his heart grew as the days went by…
“You damn child! What are you going to do by looking at me with those eyes! Even if you look at me like that, what can you do in this pathetic state!”
Lexis threw a glass into the air.
Suspicions and fears became Lexis’s illness.
Lexis paled and trembled. It felt like his breath reached the tip of his throat.
It was like struggling, reaching out, and breathing in the cold water from which there was no escape.
Once, twice, three times.
Lexis grabbed his head.
“Aaaaah!!!”
Those who watched Lexis struggling quickly stepped back.
At times like this, if Lexis noticed someone looking at him, there would be trouble.
Without any guilt, he could lose his life.
“Sigh… I miss Sir Henry’s presence.”
“I think it would be a good idea to contact Sir Henry. The Imperial Palace is in such a mess… It seems necessary to seek advice. As the days go by, His Majesty seems to…”
The attendants stopped talking.
The fact that Lexis’s mind was falling apart was a secret that the attendants were hushing up.
Lexis, from the outside, was seen doing his official duties and meeting people.
The fact that Lexis was originally insane was known to everyone, so excluding that…
Anyway, nothing had changed from the past.
However, everyone agreed that the Imperial Palace was in danger.
In this state, the royal family, their positions, were in danger.
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.”
