“I can’t believe it.”
Lees looked at the man beyond the railing, shaking her head nervously.
Jet-black hair and crimson eyes. Delicate yet somehow sturdy facial features. If you put a dab of blush on the Duke’s sunken cheeks, it would be exactly this face.
It really looked too similar… if only he would open his mouth.
“Um, w-will people d-drag me away?”
Montaner Duke never trembled like that.
Clowin reassured him from the side.
“Don’t worry. We won’t drag you; we’ll escort you.”
It wasn’t a statement that made a noticeable difference, but the man could feel reassured, perhaps due to Clowin’s pleasant demeanor and soothing tone. No, it seemed he felt relieved just by Clowin’s presence.
The man who brought him here was indeed Clowin.
Hersis only told Lees the full plan last night.
Since they had to place both of them in the so-called Star Palace, known as the fortress within the royal palace, it would be better to inform them beforehand.
Hersis said that Montaner Duke would present this man, Bernard, as proof that he didn’t belong to the imperial bloodline.
‘It’s compelling evidence.’
Lees guessed the victory the moment she saw him.
The Duke and Bernard looked like twins born with a seventeen-year gap. Everyone had a slight suspicion whether such identical faces were purely from maternal genes.
It seemed like things could go more smoothly than expected.
Now, if they could just bring that witness, expose him in front of everyone, and make him mention her mother’s name…
“Uh… Sir C-Clowin, c-can I have… a glass of water, please?”
“…….”
Lees looked at Bernard while running her fingertip over her pulse point. The more she looked, the more he seemed to evoke sympathy.
‘Why does he look so helpless? Perhaps because he lived a life of an existence that should never be revealed.’
It felt truly pitiful.
Could a man who shivered in front of kind Clowin and the courteous guards stand properly in front of those ruthless people?
Moreover, they might even be carrying weapons.
What if he had a heart attack…?
‘Ugh, don’t think about it.’
Now is not the time to worry about other people’s concerns.
Lees turned away from the railing. Since the man wasn’t visible, some of her guilt had dissipated.
She looked around.
Rosa and Sanfa were there. They hadn’t left her side even for a moment, perhaps preparing for potential labor.
But Lees’s belly was too calm.
‘The child seems to know exactly when to come out.’
Indeed, those words seemed accurate. Seeing that the baby didn’t come into the chaotic situation without a clue.
“Rosa.”
As Lees called, Rosa approached.
“Has no one arrived at the main palace yet?”
“No, Your Highness.”
“What time is it now?”
Rosa took out a pocket watch to check the time.
“It’s twenty minutes before midnight.”
Lees tilted her head.
Wasn’t there still time left even after summoning the evidence? It seemed too late, even for procrastination.
‘Surely I haven’t been caught without a chance to summon the evidence…’
Lees subtly grew uneasy.
“Um… Wh-when w-will you t-take me… take me away?”
Bernard’s anxious voice reached her ears.
Now, Lees herself was getting anxious.
“Present the evidence.”
The Duke said.
“Whether it’s my mother or a sibling who looks so much like me.”
“…….”
“If you’re plotting against me, you should at least be able to handle that level of evidence, right?”
Contrary to his confident tone, the Duke’s expression showed signs of unease. It was because he wondered if the other party really had evidence.
“Your mother died a few years ago. She’s buried in a public cemetery in the Rashpear region under a different name. And your sibling…”
Hersis’s calm voice abruptly stopped.
Conflict flickered in his eyes. It was the same kind of conflict that Lees, who was looking at Bernard, was experiencing.
After a moment of hesitation, he sighed and continued.
“Not here.”
“…….”
“I found them but didn’t bring them.”
The tension that had sharply risen with his words deflated in an instant.
A ‘whoosh’ sound came from the Duke’s mouth, and he suddenly burst into laughter.
As if he would suffocate if he didn’t laugh.
“Hahaha! Not here… Not here…”
He laughed, hitting the subordinates next to him. Then the subordinates awkwardly joined in.
“Tsk tsk.”
The Duke, who eventually stopped laughing, clicked his tongue as if expressing pity.
“Did you want to live like that? To the extent of babbling unverified claims?”
“…….”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to plead with me? If you did, I might have spared you.”
The Duke raised the corner of his mouth.
“But it’s too late now. You’ve angered me quite a bit, Hers.”
The Duke shouted to his subordinates behind him.
“Kill every one of them here!”
But no one moved. It was because the daggers aimed at their heads were flashing sharply from above.
Then the Duke gently injected courage into them.
“It seems like you all want to go back as gladiator slaves.”
“…….”
“Or you want to survive by plundering marked ones while bearing a brand.”
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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