Could it be that Cassel had never seriously thought about a future with her?
Although she believed he was not that kind of man, Riena became anxious.
Noticing her tension, Cassel finally opened his mouth.
“I…”
However, he could not utter a proper sentence.
“It’s so sudden…”
In the end, Riena spoke in a sullen voice.
“Is discussing our future together such a sudden matter to you?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Instead of speaking, he hugged Riena so tightly as if he would crush her.
“I didn’t think you would stay by my side in the future.”
“What do you mean by that? Do you doubt my affection?”
“That’s not it!”
“Then what?”
“It’s just that such a happy future felt somewhat unrealistic to me.”
Riena nodded in agreement.
“Certainly, I feel the same way. I can’t quite imagine myself having a happy family. Although I received my father’s love, I didn’t exactly grow up in a harmonious family, so I worried if I could create a good family myself. As I said, after my father passed away, the future seemed bleak.”
“You will surely be able to create the good family you desire.”
“I didn’t say that to hear such words. What I mean is, the uncertain future started to fill with conviction little by little after meeting you. It feels like adding vibrant colors to a picture drawn only in pencil.”
Riena continued, looking a bit embarrassed.
“It’s all thanks to you. If it were another man instead of you, I wouldn’t have felt this way.”
“…”
“So I hoped you would feel the same way as me.”
After hesitating for a moment, Riena carefully brought up something she had not said before.
“Cas, you also deserve to enjoy such happiness, and you have the ability to do so.”
“…!”
Riena lifted her head and smiled.
“So I’d like you to tell me your honest feelings without any worries.”
When Riena heard Cassel’s answer, she was quite surprised. It was because she had no doubt that the answer she wanted would come out of his mouth.
After some thought, she could understand Cassel’s feelings to some extent.
‘Cas must be afraid because he received even less family love than me.’
On the outside, he was a perfect man.
As the head of the Winkler ducal family, he had power, and he was an unrivaled master of swordsmanship in the empire.
Was that all? Objectively speaking, he was a handsome man who would make anyone exclaim in admiration.
Although rumors circulated in a rather unfavorable direction, he was someone women dreamed of dating at least once, and their fathers considered him as a potential son-in-law.
However, only Riena knew well what kind of life he had lived.
Just because he was a being who could threaten the sturdy heir, he was neglected by his parents who should have loved him the most.
His older brother, who at least tried hard for him, died when he was young.
Perhaps Cassel was afraid of the harmonious and warm family he had never had before.
And the moment she saw Cassel wavering, Riena realized her thoughts were correct.
“There’s no need to be tied to the past forever.”
“I…”
Cassel buried his face in her shoulder.
“As long as you stay by my side like you have until now, I don’t need anything else. But…”
His voice trembled finely.
“Just imagining the future you mentioned makes me very happy. So I’ll go and resolve the matter quickly.”
He quickly gathered his shaken emotions.
“So please wait a little longer. Until I can stand before you with pride.”
“Alright. I can wait forever.”
Riena smiled while patting his back.
[This is the timeline separator]The anxious Bianca eventually caused an accident. Unable to endure it any longer, she attempted to escape but was caught.
“Jumping out of the window! Are you in your right mind? Even if it’s the second floor, what if you got hurt?”
Countess Dyke, who found out everything, threw a fit. However, Bianca also fought back without backing down.
“Then how long are you telling me to stay only in this mansion? Mother and Aaron may be satisfied, but I’m not! I didn’t come all the way to the capital to be stuck here! If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have followed through that hardship!”
“You should be grateful for not returning to the estate right away! Riena and Grand Duke Winkler are paying so much attention to us!”
“I have something to say about that too! Are they really caring for us? This is just confinement! Riena, she’s taking revenge on us in this way!”
“Bianca! You’re going too far! What if someone else hears it!”
Countess Dyke shouted, mindful of outside the room. She was currently having a private conversation with Bianca first, asking Riena for understanding.
Although she had asked everyone to leave, if they shouted this loudly, the sound would echo outside. Even if people didn’t intend to eavesdrop, they would all know the content of their conversation.
She shouldn’t do anything that might offend Cassel or Riena.
“Let them hear it then! Did I say anything wrong? It’s not like I made it up!”
“Bianca!”
Unable to control her anger, Countess Dyke eventually raised her right hand high. In an instant, Bianca, who was slapped by her mother, held her cheek with a betrayed expression.
“Mo…ther?”
Countess Dyke loved her biological children, Bianca and Aaron, terribly. Of course, she had never slapped her before, and even when Count Dyke tried to discipline them, she took her children’s side.
But now she hit her while being mindful of Riena! Bianca couldn’t believe the current situation.
Countess Dyke was equally flustered. She looked down at her stinging palm and quickly apologized.
“I’m sorry, Bianca. I was so angry that I unintentionally… Are you alright?”
Bianca roughly pushed away Countess Dyke’s hand that tried to check on her. That made the already anxious Countess Dyke even more on edge.
Countess Dyke started to urge her daughter again.
“Bianca! You’re an adult now. How long do I have to put up with your whining? It’s not like you can’t come to the capital again, you can go sightseeing a little later! Even Aaron, who is much younger than you, is staying put, why are you the only one making a fuss?”
“Aaron has friends his age and can do what he wants here, so he must be happy! But I’m different! What can I even do here?”
“Then…”
“Don’t tell me to get close to Riena. Since when have I been friendly with her?”
“…”
“And this happened all because of you, Mother!”
Countess Dyke was momentarily startled and even stopped breathing.
She thought Bianca might have noticed that Johannes Belliard was targeting them, but what actually came out of her mouth was different.
“If only you hadn’t gambled! If only you hadn’t gone into debt, none of this would have happened!”
“What?”
“Look at me, Mother. Riena is engaged to Grand Duke Winkler and living so high and mighty, but what about me? As you said, I’m an adult now, so I should get married and have a family, but because of you, there are no marriage proposals coming!”
Bianca’s eyes were filled with resentment.
“Honestly, what have I gained by following you to the Dyke family? At least Aaron is Count’s biological son, but what about me? I’ve been thoroughly treated as an outsider, and now even you are holding me back.”
“…”
“If it was going to be like this, you should have left me with the Byunter family! How can you keep holding me back, Mother?”
“How could you say that…”
Countess Dyke sat down on the sofa as if collapsing, holding her forehead. Far from being shaken, Bianca only glared at her and left the room irritably.
‘Being able to come to the capital again? That’s nonsense! When will we ever be able to come to the capital again?’
Even this time, due to lack of funds, let alone using a magic portal, they couldn’t even properly bring maids or escorts.
If she was dragged back to the Dyke estate like this, she might have to rot there for the rest of her life.
She could run away, but with nothing to her name and no skills, she was likely to suffer on the streets and die of illness or starvation.
The only way to escape Dyke was to marry into another family, but even that seemed far-fetched.
Who would want to take her? Riena had Grand Duke Winkler, but realistically, there was no such man for Bianca.
If a marriage proposal came in, it would probably be as a remarriage for an old and sick man like Baron Rothman.
She didn’t want that.
‘So I have to do something while I’m in the capital…’
Bianca, who had returned to her room where surveillance had become even stricter, was biting her nails when the maid assigned to her entered.
“Lady Byunter, you have a guest.”
“A guest for me, what guest!”
Bianca answered bluntly, but she immediately jumped up from her seat at the name that followed.
“He said you would know if I told you it was Jonathan Persi.”
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.”
