There, too, the nobles of Tienda were gathered. Among them were those who were secretly peeping at this VIP seat occupied by the high nobles.
With Count Montera’s mediation, Dukes Laurel and Bayon reluctantly turned their heads.
And Zion had been swallowing his humiliation alone, ignoring all of that.
Laurel, Bayon, Montera. They were all called noble high nobles, but their disposition was no different from the lowly scum in a cheap tavern.
Zion was sick to his stomach just being in the same place as them.
Yet the only reason he was clinging to this stifling seat was one.
Evie Ariate, his longstanding debt.
“Ah, it seems to finally be starting.”
At that moment, the savvy Count Montera pointed to the lake, lightening the atmosphere.
As he said, the purifiers were coming out onto the platform one step below the terrace.
The platform where the purification ceremony was to be held was laid right above the lake. So, the waves of the lake splashed up and washed over the platform, and perhaps because of that, the purifiers were all barefoot.
“Look there, our Evie.”
Count Montera discovered Evie among the purifiers and chuckled. Then, he spoke familiarly to Zion.
“Evie Ariate’s true worth can only be seen at the purification ceremony. If you see that, perhaps your heart, Count, will be eased.”
He intentionally spoke ambiguously to attract attention, but Zion did not fall for the bait and kept his silence.
As the purifiers stood on the platform, boys with cups appeared around them. They scooped up the lake water with cups and put it into baskets attached to each terrace, pulling on ropes.
Then, like buckets, the baskets were pulled up, and cups filled with lake water were handed to the nobles seated on the terrace.
Even in the seat where the high nobles sat, cups came up, and Count Montera took one out and handed it to Duke Laurel.
The Duke, still in a bad mood, reluctantly touched the turbid water in the cup with his fingertip and tasted it.
Then Duke Bayon and Count Montera did the same.
“It’s salty.”
“Hmm.”
Duke Bayon and Count Montera slightly frowned after tasting the water.
As the Count said, the water was salty and bitter because it was seawater scooped up from the sea.
“If we send this out as it is, there will be chaos in Vis.”
“People and animals alike will die quite a bit.”
“In the past, it often happened. Because they didn’t purify the saltwater properly, all the fields in Vis dried up.”
Count Montera chuckled lightly and rested his chin on the railing. Then, he whispered subtly, looking at Evie.
“It seems overly smooth these days, thanks to our lovely Evie.”
At the Count’s insolence, Zion narrowed his eyebrows.
A soft, gentle song was heard from below. It was the sound of the purifiers singing a lullaby.
The purification ceremony began, and the nobles stopped their chatter to listen to the girls’ voices.
But their song had no lyrics.
It was because it was a song that mimicked the cry of Manyanya.
Manyanya is the name of the dragon that sleeps at the bottom of the lake.
Rain scarcely falls in Tiendavis, which is higher than the clouds. Furthermore, because it was suspended in the air, the water dried quickly, and it was land that would perish in half a year if left alone.
Tiendavis, flawed for straying from the natural order.
For this imperfect world, the god created Manyanya, modeled after a clear morning.
Manyanya, who rules the morning, a dragon of purification that washes away all filth.
That beautiful dragon used its divine ability to turn murky seawater into clear freshwater. And it sent it to the land to quench thirst.
Benevolent Manyanya ruled Tiendavis that way, but like the blessings of other dragons, his purification ended 300 years ago.
It was because Manyanya had fallen into a deep sleep after exhausting its strength in the war against the rebellious dragon, Noche.
Fortunately, just before falling asleep, Manyanya promised to lend its power to the pitiable humans.
But there was one condition for doing so.
Sing with a voice like his to resonate with Manyanya, who sleeps deeply.
Those who borrow the blessing of purification through song were the purifiers of Manyanya’s tower.
Clear voices of the purifiers resonated over the calm lake.
And Zion thought the song was quite monotonous.
“Is this all?”
He expected to see Evie Ariate’s true value, but the spectacle now was not much different from the purification ceremony he had seen as a boy.
Elegant young ladies singing, not bad to look at, but that was all.
So Zion looked at Evie with suspicious feelings and discovered an unexpected sight.
Facing the lake, Evie’s mouth was still closed.
Unlike other purifiers who had already begun to sing, she was just looking at the lake, not singing.
As if searching for something, or wishing for something.
For a long while, when the singing purifiers took a breath, Evie Ariate finally opened her mouth.
At the same time, a voice as clear as to make one’s hair stand on end pierced through the other purifiers’ song.
At that moment, Zion involuntarily held his breath.
A deep and clean timbre, too incredible to believe it was human, overwhelmed Zion.
And Zion was not the only one captured by that voice.
Even other nobles who had seen Evie’s purification several times were spellbound and lost in thought.
Even Count Laurel, who disliked Evie, was holding the armrest of his chair tightly, suppressing a shudder.
With just one verse that captivated the nobles, Evie poured her song toward the calm and murky lake.
When Evie sang, the other purifiers added their voices following Evie. But Evie’s voice did not get buried but stood out even more.
The purifiers’ song was for Evie, and Evie gathered that sound to make her song.
Manyanya’s mournful cry began to ripple the surface of the lake.
Sensing the movement, Evie raised her voice.
As Evie’s tone crossed the void, the lake rippled greatly.
Along with it, Evie Ariate’s black hair was dyed with an enchanting water light.
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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