The dim light of false dawn was slowly pushing away the darkness from the east, but it was not enough to wake the sleeping land.
Humans and beasts alike were still in the time of slumber.
There was nothing to stop the man wearing knee-high boots as he approached the stable, parting the tall grass. Only diligent beetles were awake, fluttering about, but even if they shouted at the top of their voices, the sleeping people would only hear a faint lullaby.
The man paused for a moment, then stooped down, heading towards the stable entrance while pushing aside the tall grass. Two guards were sitting on either side of the entrance. They were clearly deeply asleep, their heads and arms slouched.
The man straightened up again and slowly approached the entrance.
When heard from a distance, it seemed like the sound of beetles, but now it turned out that it was the snoring sound coming from the two guards. Smiling silently at this fact, the man murmured.
“Sorry, friends. I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
It was an apology for giving them a drink laced with a sleeping potion, rendering them unconscious.
The man reached out to the key bundle tied to his friend’s waist. Suddenly, the friend grabbed the man’s hand.
“….!”
The man was startled, but he felt relieved, knowing it was a reflexive action like that of a sleeping person. His friend was still in a deep sleep.
As the man removed the fingers one by one, they fell off. He finally got hold of the key bundle. There were two keys.
He used one of them to open the stable lock.
Upon entering, except for a few, most horses were sleeping standing up. Although they pricked their ears momentarily at the sound of an unfamiliar person entering, they didn’t react too sensitively.
The man slowly walked through the space between the stalls, and as he did, a space blocked off with wooden planks came into view. Through it, two horses were visible in the distance. Locks surrounded by iron chains filled the area around the wooden fence. The man inserted the remaining key into the lock.
The lock easily opened, allowing the man to enter the stable within the stable.
Upon hearing the sound of chains being removed, two horses, sleeping individually in their stalls, perked up their ears and opened their eyes.
With a majestic appearance and a well-balanced physique, their eyes overflowing with spirit, even at a glance, they were clearly thoroughbred horses. It was evident who their riders would be.
The man stood still, alternately looking at the two horses, recalling the stories he heard from his comrades overnight.
“The one with a white cross mark on its forehead is said to be chosen by Her Majesty the Queen to ride.”
He exchanged a brief glance with the horse with the cross mark on its forehead, then shifted his gaze to the other side.
Observing the glossy fur and smoothly combed mane of the black stallion, the man remembered the Duke’s horse.
“Do the opposite of what you’ve heard. That guy is someone nobody trusts except for his close aides.”
The man was convinced that the horse chosen for the queen to ride did not have a cross mark.
He reached into his right pocket, pulling something in and out. When he unfolded his hand, two sugar cubes lay there. He extended them towards the black and gentle horse.
Though his fingertips trembled slightly, it wasn’t crucial for the horse. It approached, sniffed the man’s palm, and then licked it with its tongue.
In an instant, the sugar cubes vanished.
As if expecting more, the horse exhaled through its nostrils. The man, without hesitation, took out two more from the same pocket. The horse enjoyed them again. Even though it seemed to be expecting more, it didn’t protest when the man showed his empty hands as if to say there was nothing left.
Hehehe!
Suddenly, the horse with the cross mark next to him began to show some temper. It meant it wanted some too.
Judging by its behavior, it seemed it would cause a disturbance if not given quickly.
“Seeing this, it’s definitely not the queen’s horse.”
The man confirmed his judgment once again, cautiously moving towards the adjacent stall where the one that claimed there was nothing a moment ago was standing.
He stood on the left side of the cross-marked horse, invisible from the other side, and reached into his pocket. When he pulled out his hand, there were two sugar cubes delicately placed in his palm.
In terms of size, shape, and color, they were exactly the same as those given to the other horse a while ago. The only difference was that they came from a different pocket, but… the horse seemed unlikely to notice that distinction.
The horse with the cross mark happily accepted the sugar cubes. Thinking it was fair to give the same amount, the man gave two more. After eating them all, the horse quickly became docile.
⭐⭐⭐
A pink belt gently unfolded above the mountain ridge, but on the opposite side of the sky, stars were still visible.
Although it was such an early morning,
“Something’s strange.”
Rene’s head, who was looking at Liz’s bedroom window, tilted to one side.
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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