However, in the end, it was true that while it was easy to say, the process of resolving it was complex. Ansi tilted her head to the side.
“Are you going to go abroad to get married?”
“No. Since your precious people are in Belgader, we should also get married in Belgader.”
“There has never been such a thing in the history of Belgader. But is that possible?”
In response to Ansi’s question, Damion shrugged his shoulders and casually replied.
“Nothing is impossible.”
[This is the timeline separator]“I’m telling you, it can’t be done.”
Rudchaos made a sad face and waved his hand at Damion. A married couple not combining their surnames and using separate ones. It was something he had never even imagined. Not once had a similar thing happened since the founding of the nation.
Yet now, this Marquis Laurel had come boldly and was making such an absurd demand.
“A married couple should naturally use the same surname. In the Roubelsa family, the count’s elder brother is also in good health…”
“If one side must follow the other, I will change my surname to Roubelsa.”
Damion spoke without batting an eye, as if presenting a very simple and clear solution.
Of course, there were times when the husband followed the wife’s surname. This was the case when the wife’s side had a much higher title, or when they brought in a son-in-law to live with the wife’s family.
But wasn’t Damion’s surname Laurel?
The surname bestowed by the emperor with great care. A surname declared to the empire as a symbol of victory, and most glorious.
Yet he was going to abandon it overnight?
“Do you really want to trample on my dignity to such an extent?”
“Then I will continue to use Laurel, so have Count Roubelsa also use Roubelsa. Doesn’t that align with the new era Your Majesty desires?”
Rudchaos let out a deep sigh.
He couldn’t refute it because everything Damion said was right.
If this precedent could bring good change to the empire and create a better world as Damion said, perhaps he, who was bound by custom and saying it couldn’t be done, was the biggest obstacle.
In the end, Rudchaos nodded his head.
Damion turned to leave only after receiving a letter stamped with Rudchaos’ seal, permitting them to use their respective surnames. Rudchaos clicked his tongue at Damion’s tenacity.
Regardless, a victor’s smile was plastered on Damion’s face as he left the imperial palace.
[This is the timeline separator]The fact that Ansi de Roubelsa, the partner of Marquis Laurel, was not changing her surname quickly spread throughout the empire.
The gazes of those who saw this were not all favorable.
Although they did not openly criticize it since it was something the emperor had approved and they knew how much influence the two currently held in the empire, many expressed concern about it.
Damion unfolded the morning newspaper. An interview on this issue was published. It was an interview with Marquis Mice, a man who loved being in the spotlight.
“Count Roubelsa, who doesn’t want to unify surnames, clearly lacks a foundation…”
One of Damion’s eyebrows raised. It wasn’t that he hadn’t anticipated the public’s noisy reaction, but his patience was starting to wear thin.
Ansi would definitely not pay much attention to such interviews. She would think that listening to people who knew nothing was a waste in itself.
But Damion was different. He found the current situation quite irksome.
Marquis Mice.
It seemed he would have no choice but to keep an eye on him.
[This is the timeline separator]It was only the next day that he realized there was no need to take care of Mice.
“Did you say the Roubelsa company severed ties with Mice?”
Damion asked in surprise upon receiving a report from his secretary, Max. Max nodded and added an explanation.
“Since Roubelsa has the exclusive import rights for Bloom fabrics, it seems Mice’s ready-made clothing manufacturing business will take a big hit.”
“But wasn’t Mice one of Roubelsa’s biggest clients?”
“That’s right. That’s why Mice didn’t anticipate it at all and seems to have not prepared any countermeasures.”
It made sense. Even Damion hadn’t expected it.
In the end, Damion wrapped up work early and left the company. He couldn’t understand for what reason and with what plan Ansi had made such a decision.
‘Could it be because of that interview?’
Damion soon shook his head. Given her personality, she wouldn’t rashly sever ties just because Mice criticized them.
However, the moment he arrived at the Roubelsa estate, he realized this assumption was also wrong.
“Yeah, well done! Let them get what they deserve!”
Through the open door, the voice of Elize de Bailys, Ansi’s friend, could be heard.
He quietly peeked into the room through the crack in the door. Ansi was nodding her head with a nonchalant expression.
“Well, the company’s directors didn’t object either. Saying how could they deny the name of the count when it’s the new count’s business. There will be a brief gap, but we can find another client of that scale again.”
“But it’s a bit unexpected, Ansi. I thought you would have stopped the directors even if they suggested it. How come you didn’t?”
“He lacks a foundation. I was being considerate of Marquis Mice, who would have been reluctant to do business with someone like me.”
Ansi smiled with her eyes closed. Even though she was smiling, a chilliness seeped from her eyes. Seeing that, Elize laughed and lightly hit Ansi’s arm.
Ansi took a sip of tea and spoke again. Her voice sounded as if she was speaking of something obvious.
“I will gain more support with the Roubelsa name. I will constantly remind them that this is something I can do because I am Count Roubelsa. After just one year, everyone will acknowledge it. How fortunate it is that Ansi de Roubelsa did not abandon her name.”
“You’re right, Ansi! I’m really looking forward to how fearsome you’ll become.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Of course!”
While listening to their conversation, Damion’s mouth was slightly open.
Honestly, he was a bit surprised.
He had thought she wouldn’t sever ties with Mice for personal reasons, but Ansi had clearly acted for such reasons.
While thinking it was unlike her usual self, a smile soon rose to Damion’s lips.
It was clear that the woman named Ansi de Roubelsa would steadily build a solid future, even more than he expected.
Damion turned around. To avoid disturbing the two women’s pleasant conversation, he quietly left the mansion.
“Damion!”
Just then, Sofia, who was walking from the garden to the mansion, noticed Damion and greeted him.
“Are you here to see Ansi? She’s probably spending time with Elize.”
“I’ll come again next time. I didn’t come with an appointment.”
“Then can you spare a moment for me? I want to show off the greenhouse.”
“It would be an honor.”
Sofia smiled brightly. Damion followed her steps.
The greenhouse was located not far away. The meticulously filled spaces made one realize how much dedication the person tending to it was putting in.
“Did you cultivate all of this, ma’am?”
“Most of it. Of course, I received help from the gardener, but I still spend a few hours here every day tending to the flowers.”
“It’s beautiful.”
Damion uttered a genuine exclamation. At this, Sofia excitedly explained about the flowers. As she did, Damion’s gaze fell upon one flower.
A white flower tinged with a light violet hue.
It was the lily of the valley that Ansi had gifted him. He had wondered where she got that flower that bloomed from spring to summer in late winter, but it seemed Sofia’s greenhouse was the source.
“It’s Ansi’s favorite flower. Despite its appearance, it’s poisonous, so you shouldn’t touch it carelessly. But if used well, it has good effects and is also used as a medicinal ingredient.”
Damion stared at the flower intently.
Even when he received it from Ansi, he had thought about how it possessed such a pure yet fierce poison. Somehow, that flower with its unique charm seemed to resemble Ansi.
“What is… the flower language?”
He suddenly became curious about that. At Damion’s question, Sofia clapped her hands in delight.
“Oh my. Ansi was right. She said Damion was a sentimental person.”
“……”
“Ask Ansi about the flower language. She wanted to gift that flower to Damion after hearing its meaning.”
What on earth was the flower language? A crease of wonder formed between Damion’s brows.
Seeing that, Sofia chuckled as if it was amusing and spoke in a calm voice after pausing for a moment.
“…Actually, I almost came to hate Damion a little.”
“I thought you might.”
There was no way she couldn’t have. Because he was the younger brother of her enemy and the one who had hurt her daughter. So at first, he thought it would be rude to frequent the Roubelsa estate.
But seeing Sofia welcome him from the start, Damion matched her reaction as if nothing had happened, feeling that apologizing first or bowing his head would seem like a deception on his part.
However, if Sofia brought up the subject like this, it was time for Damion to apologize now.
“I know it’s difficult for you to accept my existence.”
“If you’re thinking of apologizing, don’t.”
Sofia warned sternly.
“There’s nothing you need to apologize to me for, Damion. Ansi chose you. A life with you is Ansi’s life, not mine, so I trusted her choice. And I think that choice was right too.”
“…Thank you.”
In the end, that was all Damion could say.
Sofia smiled kindly and hugged Damion to comfort him. The pure and ordinary warmth he had felt before. Damion realized he was in it again.
Becoming family with Ansi meant that her family also became his family.
Reflecting on how precious that value was, Damion smiled.
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
