The underlings of Count Pigmen had found Raehwan quicker than Etienne expected. She sighed, realizing she should have taken Raehwan and left immediately upon finding him.
“You there.”
Etienne bit her lower lip as the leading man stepped forward.
‘Count Pigmen himself has shown up.’
The situation was moving in an unfavorable direction, and no good ideas to resolve it came to mind. Count Pigmen addressed Raehwan.
“How dare you steal a noble’s property.”
“I was just trying to get what’s rightfully ours. You didn’t pay for my father’s treatment after injuring him.”
“How dare you accuse me of causing his injury!”
Raehwan’s desperate outcry was met with Count Pigmen’s furious response.
“You did it on purpose. Ever since that day, my father can’t even get up.”
Raehwan’s emotional voice filled the warehouse.
“Stealing my property as payment for treatment because the stable master was kicked by a horse? What a ridiculous excuse.”
“Exactly. You did it…”
“Silence! How dare you falsely accuse someone!”
As Count Pigmen roared, Lani held Raehwan tighter.
“Hand over my property now! And you will pay for your crime. Seize him!”
As Count Pigmen stepped back, two knights advanced, ready to forcefully take Raehwan. Lani and Raehwan braced themselves against the knights.
“Shall we stop there?”
That’s when Etienne intervened. The knights, as if awaiting her command, halted. They must have noticed her from the start, standing at one corner of the warehouse.
Count Pigmen did too. He only pursued Raehwan to make a point.
“A familiar face.”
“I’m Etienne Claire.”
“Do you realize the situation here?”
“Yes.”
“And yet you choose to side with this thief. I wonder if the Earl of Claire shares his daughter’s sentiment.”
Count Pigmen implied he’d escalate the issue to a conflict among adults, a threat for her to back down. But Etienne stepped forward one more step.
‘If I back down now, these kids will be in danger.’
So, Etienne couldn’t retreat.
“Are you suggesting involving my father?”
“It wouldn’t be impossible. He is a respectable man, surely he’d want to see justice done in a matter involving his daughter.”
“Shall we go ahead with that, then?”
Count Pigmen frowned at Etienne’s bold demeanor.
“What are you so confident about?”
“The item Raehwan took isn’t actually stolen.”
“What? Ha, what a ridiculous claim.”
Count Pigmen scoffed in disbelief. However, Etienne, who already knew what Raehwan had taken, asked calmly.
“Is that item yours, Count Pigmen?”
His expression distorted at her question.
‘It’s fortunate that Raehwan brought it.’
Count Pigmen had held a banquet and explained a lot, but Etienne had only half-listened, disinterested and already aware of the details.
“It might have come into your possession by chance, but that doesn’t make you its owner. It’s a very rare item that chooses its owner.”
Count Pigmen clenched his teeth, unable to refute her words. If he did, it would mean he lied at the banquet.
“Even so, it’s not not mine. Currently, as it has not chosen an owner, I am its temporary keeper. That thief took something from my house.”
Count Pigmen logically responded, trying to label Raehwan a thief again.
“But what if the true owner appears now?”
“What?”
“If the owner is decided now, shouldn’t the situation be resolved according to their wishes?”
“You think you can become its owner? You’re very confident.”
“There’s no reason I can’t.”
As Etienne shrugged, Fernando took his place behind her. Recognizing him, Count Pigmen shifted his gaze slightly.
He didn’t want to clash with the formidable House of Schupraucher.
“Etienne, you think you can become the owner of that item?”
Whispering in her ear, Fernando heard Etienne’s reply with a smile meant only for him.
“No.”
“Then why are you so confident? What if the owner doesn’t appear?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
She knew the item had no owner. Some had tried to claim it, but no one was chosen.
Not needing to share this fact with Fernando, Etienne explained her plan.
“Anyone can try to become the owner until the right one is found. Meanwhile, we’ll highlight Raehwan’s father’s story. That way, Count Pigmen won’t dare harm Raehwan or his father anymore.”
People might rush in, but Etienne planned to escalate the situation.
“Shall I go first, Raehwan?”
Responding to Etienne’s call, Raehwan cautiously reached into a box, pulling out an item covered with cloth.
Etienne moved slightly backward, keeping her eyes on Count Pigmen.
‘But what happens if it doesn’t recognize an owner?’
She didn’t remember that part well. Originally, she had heard of the golden pottery but never showed interest.
“Here I go.”
Unveiling the item, a golden glow emerged from a transparent box. Etienne slid the lid aside.
Trying to act nonchalant, she smiled brightly at Count Pigmen and… reached out to touch the item.
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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