The gathering was breaking up, and people were rising from their seats one by one. Etienne, who was sitting quietly, waiting, noticed Leharth standing tall in front of her.
“Went to give flowers to Bajon.”
“I came to do flower arrangements. I had some trimmed flowers, so I gave them to a friend.”
Etienne wondered why she had to explain. After all, Leharth had only mentioned giving flowers to Bajon. Yet here she was, elaborating on the situation.
“Good job.”
“I did well?”
Leharth’s natural praise for the explanation of why she gave flowers to someone was even more bewildering.
“Why was it good?”
“Because you didn’t give them to Fernando.”
Understanding why he praised her, Etienne sighed, realizing she couldn’t hold back.
“If you keep making it so obvious, what should I do? Just now, you didn’t let go of my hand…”
“Love and sneezes should never be hidden.”
“Such words…”
Even if my words crossed the line when others hear them, Leharth added more. Since it was expressed so directly.
“My lord.”
“I’m telling you in case you forget my feelings.”
“Leharth reached out to Etienne again, telling her not to worry. This time, his hand wasn’t open wide but clenched in a fist. However, Etienne, with a suspicious expression, asked, ‘You’re not asking me to catch something here, are you?’
‘It would be great if you could catch it, but I know you won’t.’
Saying that, Leharth unfolded his hand, revealing a piece of paper on his palm. Etienne looked at it carefully and picked it up.
‘Take a look.’
Leharth said as he sat directly opposite. Several attendants who were about to leave for home turned to look at Leharth and Etienne.
‘It’s a document about the items Ludvy took from Viscount Pigman’s house. However, as you can see, most of the paper has been cut out. Viscount Pigman says he received only this torn paper from the beginning, so he can’t identify the nature of the items. That’s why I brought it.’
Even after hearing everything, Etienne seemed puzzled.
‘Just send it to the restoration room. If we can extract any content from even a part of it, that would be great.’
‘Ah…’
It seems like he’s not asking me to use my restoration ability.
Leharth stared at Etienne’s face intently and said jokingly,
‘Do you happen to know? This torn paper might be a clue to the prank Ludvy was planning as soon as he came out.'”
So, there was an expression on Leharth’s face, as if handing it over to Etienne. However, Etienne’s expression was not one of wanting to receive the paper.
“I’ll take it to Father. It’s not our business, no matter what.”
“Do as you wish. I just gave it to you, so the subsequent choices are yours, Etienne. But before that, I have something to ask….”
Leharth immediately changed the subject, not really caring anymore about the paper given to Etienne.
“Do you happen to know what Ludvy is up to?”
“What?”
Etienne couldn’t answer right away, as it was an overly vague question.
“He occasionally asked me to tell him about the future. I asked if Ludvy was trying to find out how he would turn out.”
Leharth added a bit more explanation, but Etienne’s expression changed as if she really didn’t understand. Later, when she grimaced, I wondered if I had said something wrong.
“Don’t you understand my question?”
“It’s not that I didn’t understand, but there’s nothing to answer. The uprising was never supposed to happen. What if His Highness, who created it like that, asks about the future?”
Even if the person who shook up the future asks such a question, there’s a subtle irony in Leharth’s tongue that he wished he could just stay quiet.
“It’s not like I had another way. Or maybe, did you secretly hope I would be the one to suffer?”
“It’s not like that. I just don’t know how things will unfold in the future. I think we had a similar conversation two years ago. Well, it seems like our conversation is over now, so I’ll get up.”
As Etienne stood up, Leharth also stood up as if he intended to follow her but was blocked by someone.
It was Fernando, who had just been elsewhere until now. Seeing Etienne getting up, he immediately approached.
“This kind of interference is unnecessary. Why do you keep intervening?”
“Please don’t make Etienne uncomfortable.”
“Fernando has such a good temperament. He just repeated the annoying words a while ago kindly again.”
Leharth expressed that he shouldn’t have intervened like that. Fernando pretended not to understand and turned away.
“Don’t follow us.”
Then he followed Etienne. Seeing that, Leharth muttered to himself.
“Why don’t you think that Etienne might be uncomfortable because of you?”
But what’s the point of saying this to Fernando? My mouth just hurts.
Leharth, watching the two men and women leaving the garden, was approached by Alex. He asked Alex with the same gaze he used to watch the couple.
“Where is Ludvy?”
“He is at the fountain.”
“Is he in town rather than at the castle?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the chance of running into him while Etienne is on her way home?”
Alex answered as he watched Etienne boarding the carriage.
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.”
