Ariana realized only after returning to the room that she hadn’t brought any food. The food she meant to bring would be rolling around under the display case.
Even the thought of not having eaten properly because of Cyrus’s sudden appearance made her feel stifled.
‘I didn’t expect to meet the Northern Duke so soon…….’
She had expected that living differently might someday lead to meeting the Northern or Southern Duke. However, she had never dreamed of meeting the Northern Duke who had secretly entered the Bronthe Duke’s mansion.
‘Why has the Northern Duke entered this mansion?’
There was no relationship at all between the Northern Duke and Duke Bronthe.
Even recalling the past, she had no memory of Duke Bronthe or Rachel talking about the Northern Duke.
‘Ah, Helena…….’
At this time, she remembered when Helena was blathering about wanting to marry the Northern Duke.
Helena fell in love at first sight after seeing the portrait of the Northern Duke sold by a merchant while staying in the capital.
So she lived with the words that she wanted to marry him, whom she had never seen, and even made Duke Bronthe and Rachel uncomfortable by pestering them to send a marriage proposal.
[Dash]”The Northern Duke has a suitable status and he’s a man who lacks nothing. Why can’t I marry him?”Around this time, she remembered hearing Helena whining while cleaning the corridor.
It was rare for a noble lady above the rank of Earl to propose marriage first, and it would only become a laughingstock if known, yet Helena acted so childishly.
‘Did Helena actually send a marriage proposal to the Northern Duke? So, did the Northern Duke find out the truth about Helena’s birth while inquiring about her and sneak in to find out more?’
It was a possibility, but thinking of Cyrus’s gaze she had met earlier, it did not seem to be the reason.
Though he tried to hide it, Ariana could clearly feel the hatred in his eyes. Even when she was pressed between the display cases, his eyes directed at Ariana were filled with cold loathing.
Such a man would not sneak into the Bronthe Duke’s mansion just to find out about a marriage proposal.
There must have been some other reason that Ariana couldn’t grasp.
‘This is troublesome.’
The Northern Duke was a difficult opponent.
If she collided with the Northern Duke without any preparation, it would be a great hindrance to her future plans.
In a situation where she did not know the Northern Duke’s intentions, she must avoid getting involved with him at all costs.
+++
Helena, true to her origin from the capital, had slightly dark skin, thick double eyelids, black hair, and brown eyes.
She was not ugly, but compared to Ariana, who resembled the Eastern Duke, or Victoria, who resembled Rachel, she greatly resembled her father, Jacob, and fell into the category of plain.
She was standing in the corridor wearing a refreshing light green dress, glaring at the door of Ariana’s room.
The servants who saw Helena deeply bowed and greeted her as they passed by. It was a completely different attitude from when they dealt with Ariana.
‘Ariana.’
Yesterday was the first time she was scolded by her mother, Rachel, because of Ariana.
It was the first time Rachel had shown a stern expression in front of Helena.
‘Ariana, Ariana.’
Helena’s feelings toward Ariana were intricate.
Before Helena knew the secret of her birth, she felt inferior to Victoria rather than Ariana.
Helena, born of a countess.
Ariana, who, despite being the daughter of the Eastern Duke, followed her mother and had a different father.
Victoria, born between both parents, having a normal family, and even resembling the beautiful Rachel.
Even in her young heart, she sensed that her parents discriminated against Ariana, but she disliked Victoria more.
Rather, she even felt a sense of solidarity with Ariana, who was in a similar situation.
So Victoria stole what Helena had and tormented her, hiding from her parents’ eyes, but Rachel, who noticed the fact, not only scolded her, but hugged Helena and said.
At that time, Helena did not know why Rachel was treating her better than her own daughters. She just noticed that Rachel didn’t like Ariana very much.
If she made the same mistake, Ariana was scolded several times more, and sometimes she was locked in a room, having a meal only once every two days, and writing a reflection.
At first, Ariana was pitiable, but the parents’ cold attitude was contagious to the children.
So Ariana became a target for Helena to vent her anger when she was in a bad mood.
But on the other hand, there was also a thought that Ariana was pitiful, so she secretly took care of Ariana when she was feeling generous.
That was the case until Rachel revealed the secret of her birth.
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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