“Stop right there.”
At Ariana’s cold command, the man who was just entering stopped in his tracks.
A slender figure with a blank face. Seeing the man’s face, Ariana sneered to herself.
She knew that man.
A vile man named Raundar, who had impregnated a naive young lady of a count’s house and succeeded in marriage. Although he had risen in rank, his nature did not change, and he teased many ladies.
It was the same with Ariana.
Whenever they met at big or small parties, he approached Ariana, and her husband, Ingou Alfrehi, the Viscount, misunderstood that Ariana was having an affair and beat her when he returned home.
Every time she was hit by her husband, Ariana resented Raundar.
Why did he talk to me? Why did he smile at me? Why did he show me kindness?
She never dreamed she would meet him like this at this time. She thought they would never meet again in this life.
Raundar gave Ariana a sly smile. To the casual observer, it might have been a likable smile.
“Second Princess, you don’t need to be so wary.”
Raundar took a step closer.
“I told you to stop.”
“I’d like to, but.”
Another step closer, Raundar.
“I have something for you.”
Ariana drew her dagger, and almost simultaneously, Raundar grabbed Ariana’s arm and pulled her close.
He skillfully twisted Ariana around and hugged her waist, and Ariana stabbed his arm that was holding her waist with her dagger.
“Ugh!”
But Raundar, used to this sort of thing, only groaned and didn’t let Ariana go. On the contrary, he tightened his grip on her waist with his left arm.
Ariana tried to stab again with her dagger, but.
“Such a… dangerous thing you carry.”
Raundar roughly caught Ariana’s wrist with his right hand. Ariana put strength into her hand to hold on to her dagger.
“Don’t resist and just let go. You won’t beat me, Second Princess. You think I’ve been through this once or twice?”
Yeah, that’s likely.
‘But I haven’t been through this just once or twice either.’
Ariana lifted her foot and stomped hard on Raundar’s instep.
“Ugh!”
Raundar only groaned, and it didn’t seem like a significant blow, so she stomped again and again, continuously. The relentless, concentrated attack seemed too much for Raundar, and the strength in his arm weakened.
At that moment, Ariana didn’t run away but instead spun around.
If she had fled, Raundar would have tightened his grip on her waist again, but turning toward Raundar was unexpected. Now facing him, Ariana forcefully lifted her knee.
Ariana’s knee struck his vital spot.
“Gak!”
This attack, Raundar could not withstand.
Without even screaming, he sucked in his breath and threw Ariana aside, bending over.
Ariana stood upright, gripping the dagger with both hands as she glared at Raundar, who was bent over, groaning.
“How much did the Duchess promise you?”
In this situation, Raundar looked up at Ariana’s calm voice.
Ariana was looking down at him, not a hair out of place, like a woman who had suffered no rough treatment.
“6 gold.”
Ariana was taken aback at Raundar’s answer.
A mere 6 gold. To be traded for just 6 gold.
‘How pathetic you are, Ariana.’
Her heart turned cold.
She had no more expectations, not even as small as a grain of sand, for Rachel, who sold her daughter for 6 gold.
“If you disappear quietly here, I’ll give you twice that.”
Now recovered from the pain, Raundar straightened up. He looked down at Ariana, who was proposing the deal, as if amused, then said.
“Do you have that kind of money, Second Princess?”
“I do. Plenty.”
“Ha, twice would be 12 gold, but….”
“It would be best if you accepted. If you try anything nasty to me here, you won’t be able to leave unscathed.”
“Maybe. I could become the husband of the second princess. There will be no nobleman who will accept the second princess with a flaw.”
“Big dreams. Do you think you could marry Duke Bronthe’s second daughter?”
“You never know. Isn’t it possible? If we love each other.”
Rounder attacked Ariana again. Ariana swung her short sword, but Rounder dodged it lightly and slapped Ariana’s wrist.
Clang[Dash]
The short sword fell to the floor.
Rounder pinned Ariana down, laying her on a sofa inside the pergola. Rounder, who climbed on top of her, gently grasped her neck and whispered.
“If you’ve been doing this, I must marry you. Is there a problem?”
“You’re going to die.”
“No. I won’t die. Don’t you see I’m alive?”
“No, you will die. Because I’m different from other noblewomen and princesses.”
“It’s the same.”
Rounder brought his face closer. His damp breath brushed Ariana’s nose.
“No, am I worse?”
“…….”
“People like us are quicker with rumors than high people.”
Rounder’s hand gently caressed Ariana’s neck.
“People who need to know know that the second princess of the Bronthe family is treated worse than a maid.”
“So marrying something like me is not a problem?”
Rounder smiled.
“Yes, that too, but……. I like the second princess. She’s much prettier, more mature, and much more confident than I heard. This is the first princess who is not afraid in such a situation. Ouch. Don’t do it.”
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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