Who Regressed the Timekeeper? (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 8
Before she could even regain her senses, she felt the cold, damp air cling to her skin. A dreadful yet familiar sensation crept up her spine. The moment she instinctively opened her eyes, she met Lady Esmain’s gaze, brimming with hostility.
In that instant, Amy realized. Ah, this is the dream from my past life—the one from back then.
“You’re the witch who supposedly manipulates His Highness the Crown Prince like a puppet on her palm, aren’t you?”
Lady Esmain snarled, her eyes flashing an eerie blue light.
“It’s a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? His Highness himself said he’s been waiting for you.”
Amy muttered under her breath.
“You’re such an idiot—didn’t I tell you not to say anything…?”
“What did you just say?”
Pretending not to hear, Amy quickly changed the subject.
“It was merely a childhood infatuation. Haven’t you been seeing His Highness quite often lately?”
At Amy’s placating tone, Lady Esmain haughtily lifted her chin.
“Indeed. And unless something unforeseen occurs, I shall become the Crown Princess.”
“Then why are you… doing this to me?”
“You irritate me. I have no intention of sharing the palace with a woman His Highness has taken a liking to.”
Never had Lady Esmain’s icy words sounded so welcome! Amy cried out joyfully.
“I’ll gladly leave right away.”
“Who said you could walk out on your own?”
The young lady sneered. With a single gesture from her, both of Amy’s feet were shattered with a sharp crack. As Amy groaned in pain, trying to endure the agony, a grating, goat-like voice came from behind.
“Is this the one?”
“Baron Dorian, what brings you here?”
Amy realized that Baron Dorian—the younger brother of Lady Esmain and heir to the Duke of Esmain—had come to the prison.
Rumors abounded that Baron Dorian, small and frail in stature with an obstinate personality, was so obsessed with bizarre ancient superstitions that he kept recklessly draining the ducal family’s fortune.
Moreover, since childhood, he had secretly harbored feelings for Amy and would always seek her out at banquets to make lewd advances.
The moment he grinned and looked at Amy, her already battered face—beaten senseless just moments before—crumpled in despair.
“Sister, this isn’t her.”
“What did you say?”
“She’s the one I told you about—the maidservant who made eye contact with me.”
Even amidst excruciating pain, Amy felt dizzy. Am I going mad? Eye contact with you?
Apparently, Lady Esmain thought the same and casually dismissed her brother.
“What nonsense are you spouting, you lunatic?”
Like any man devoid of ability yet overflowing with pride, Baron Dorian flew into a rage. Suddenly, a fierce sibling brawl erupted right outside Amy’s cell.
In the midst of this chaos, Amy sank into deep contemplation.
She stood at a crossroads: should she admit the maidservant who made eye contact with Baron Dorian was indeed her, sacrificing her conscience—or deny it with dignity and sacrifice her life?
But before she could decide, their fight abruptly ended. Lady Esmain seemed to have won. When she turned her gaze toward the defeated brother, Amy saw his face looking even more boar-like than usual—and made her belated choice.
Better to sacrifice her life.
After all, Amy was the kind of person who could forgive a man for having no money—but never for being ugly.
Lady Esmain fluttered her fan and spoke.
“His Highness the Crown Prince said you toyed with his affections.”
“!”
Amy silently cursed inwardly. That half-wit actually said something that ridiculous?
“I have never acted in a way deserving of such outrageous accusations.”
Since she was going to die anyway, she resolved to meet her end with grace—and replied politely. But her composure shattered instantly when Lady Esmain sneered and added:
“Do you even know I orchestrated this? Her Imperial Majesty gave the order, but His Highness the Crown Prince gave his silent approval—to punish you.”
“!”
Amy felt so wronged and furious she thought she might vomit blood.
Good heavens! After all the sweat and blood she’d poured into shaping that ungrateful wretch into someone halfway decent, he repays her kindness with betrayal? Calling it “toying” and “punishment”?
Lady Esmain glared at Amy with eyes that seemed ready to devour her.
“You held a secret rendezvous with His Highness at last spring’s banquet, didn’t you? And when I confronted you about it the next day in the Crown Prince’s quarters, what did you say then? ‘Don’t accuse an innocent person,’ wasn’t it?”
“You’re still accusing an innocent person now. Is that your hobby?”
Amy felt utterly deflated. Of course, she hadn’t met the Crown Prince secretly at the spring banquet.
Apparently, someone else had been meeting him in secret. Puzzled by this unknown affair, she quickly searched her memory—and recalled the Crown Prince had indeed acted suspiciously around that time.
Back then, Amy had assumed he was merely upset over the Empress Consort’s scolding and generously granted him a day of freedom.
What an ungrateful cur!
Though she hadn’t loved him, she’d devotedly raised him like a younger brother—and now he’d sold her out just to hide his secret lover!
Amy wailed in anguish.
“I offered my loyalty, hoping only that His Majesty the Emperor—(who would secure my prosperous and comfortable future)—would ascend the throne!”
No wonder she’d ignored even the Second Prince, who used to follow her around pretending not to care, and devoted all her energy solely to the Crown Prince’s safety and advancement. Amy remembered the brass hairpin the Second Prince had once placed on her head with his tiny hands—it still dangled in her tangled hair now.
“If only I’d stuck with the Second Prince instead.”
She beat her chest in regret, but it was far too late.
Thinking of the Second Prince made Amy’s heart feel oddly unsettled.
He truly was strange. Amy swore she’d never treated him kindly or shown him affection, yet whenever he saw her, he’d always run over cheerfully to greet her.
She knew he’d grown up lonely and deprived after losing his mother, the Empress Consort—but she’d always considered it none of her concern and shamelessly accepted his greetings. Could it be that her indifference was precisely what he’d liked?
Suddenly, it struck her.
“Now that I think of it… didn’t the Second Prince give me a gemstone yesterday?”
They’d bumped into each other in the palace gardens, and he’d insisted on handing her a tiny gemstone no bigger than a pinky nail before hurrying off. Since it looked dull and lacked luster, she’d casually stuffed it into her pocket—and was kidnapped shortly after, so it should still be there.
“What about that gemstone, though…?”
If she died like this, it would be buried uselessly in the ground too. Amy wiggled her hips, trying to feel the outline of the gemstone in the hidden pocket of her dress with her bound hands—thinking it’d be better to leave it as a keepsake for the jailer who’d kept her company during her imprisonment.
Just then, suspecting she was up to something suspicious, Baron Dorian suddenly lunged forward and shoved her. As her body wobbled and fell, something tumbled out of her pocket and rolled across the prison floor.
Thud-thud-thud…
What came to rest on the floor were the gemstone from the Second Prince—and a silver coin.
“Oh, that was there too.”
Amy’s eyes locked onto the silver coin. It was her lucky charm from when she’d run away from her family as a child and made her way to the palace. She hadn’t truly believed in its luck, yet somehow she’d kept it all this time. Amy gave a weak smile.
“You’ll be buried with me too, then.”
Meanwhile, Baron Dorian, who’d been staring blankly at the objects, suddenly widened his eyes in shock.
“What is this?!”
His face turned ashen as he lunged toward the gemstone. Startled, Amy quickly shuffled backward on her rear—she had no desire whatsoever to touch that boar.
“How… how did this end up here…?”
Baron Dorian paid no mind to Amy’s obvious disgust. His attention was fixed entirely on the gemstone. Trembling, he picked it up and gazed at it with rapturous eyes.
“What’s so special about it that you’re making such a fuss?”
Lady Esmain grumbled, covering her mouth with her fan. Her furrowed brows showed clear disapproval of her brother’s lack of decorum.
Baron Dorian spat as he shouted,
“This—this is an extremely rare magical artifact even in the southern regions…!”
He abruptly clamped his mouth shut and suddenly whirled to face Amy. His button-like pupils burned with intensity. Amy quickly averted her eyes, inwardly recoiling—if he kept staring like that, he resembled not just a boar but a toad as well. A horrifying hybrid.
Baron Dorian pressed her urgently.
“You—where did you get this?”
“Why should I tell you?”
Did he really expect a polite answer? Amy smirked at the corner of her mouth and replied with insolent arrogance. Enraged, veins bulging on his forehead, Baron Dorian trembled with clenched fists and snarled,
“Do you think I’m joking? How could a mere maidservant like you possibly possess something like this? You’d better tell me honestly where you got it.”
Ah, so that tiny gemstone must be something truly extraordinary. While Amy wondered why the Second Prince would give her such a thing, she firmly resolved never to reveal it to these brutes.
She brazenly declared,
“I found it.”
“…What did you say?”
Amy stared straight into his toad-like face and enunciated each syllable clearly.
“I. Found. It.”
If she admitted it came from the Second Prince, it was obvious what these ruthless people might do to that poor boy. Amy might be selfish, but she wasn’t heartless enough to betray someone who’d shown her kindness.
So she made her decision: since she was going to die anyway, she’d take the secret to the grave.
She goaded him further.
“Where did I find it again? The stables? By the pond? Or maybe… the latrine?”
Realizing she was mocking him, Baron Dorian’s face flushed crimson.
“You insolent wretch!”
Slap! His thick hand struck her cheek. Amy, slammed brutally to the floor, spat out blood and laughed. Did they really think a few broken bones and beatings would change her mind? She was gravely mistaken if they did. Her eyes gleamed with venom.
“You still dare—!”
Unable to contain his fury, the baron raised his leg to kick—just as Amy tightly shut her eyes.
Male lead Asks for a Divorce Every Day
It’s not often you come across a plot like this in the female-dominant genre — make sure to check it out!
This is a novel I’m planning to reread as well.
The male lead is strong, skilled in martial arts, and not the usual fragile type you often see in matriarchal novels.
Meanwhile, the female lead is a scientist—rational and logical. Even when she falls for the male lead, she doesn’t let her emotions cloud her decisions.
If you push through the first few chapters, you’ll gradually find the story really intriguing.
It has a mix of mystery, detective elements, and romance.
The author’s writing style is like crafting a puzzle—except they deliberately leave out a few pieces, making it hard to predict what happens next, yet keeping you hooked.
In the end, everything will come together and be explained.
One-sentence summary: Wife, stop playing with beakers and look at me!
In a laboratory accident, research scientist Zhu Wansheng accidentally travels to a matriarchal world. The original owner of the body is an eighteen-year-old only daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant, already married with a handsome young man.
Zhu Wansheng grins: Nice! She always said she was heaven’s favorite granddaughter. After a life of toil in her previous life, she can enjoy blessings in this one.
However, her joy lasts no more than three seconds as bad news arrives: the original owner’s family is about to go bankrupt, and her husband wants a divorce.
Even worse, she’s stuck with a research system full of restrictions.
Zhu Wansheng: ? Is this the destiny of a research dog?
——
Faced with this mess, Zhu Wansheng pours herself a bowl of wine to drown her sorrows. In her drunken haze, her husband arrives.
His figure is imposing, holding a long sword, with a dignified air that captivates Zhu Wansheng.
Gu Yingqing, however, looks at the alcohol-reeking Zhu Wansheng with undisguised disgust and coldly asks, “Divorce or not?” The intoxicated Zhu Wansheng mumbles vaguely, “I think… it’s not… it’s not… impossible!”
——
The next day, after sobering up, Zhu Wansheng is full of energy, rolling up her sleeves ready to make a big move. As for yesterday? She has no memory of it.
Zhu Wansheng is ambitious; a research dog fears nothing!
Upgrading rouge, extracting fragrances, producing perfumes, researching lipsticks… all shall bow to the power of modern technology!
The original owner’s dying rouge shop is revitalized. Her mother is pleased and with a wave of her hand, passes on the family business to her. As she takes control and her experimental results gain popularity, it’s the pinnacle of her life…
——
But there are always those who can’t stand to see her doing well. Jealousy, scheming, assassination attempts – they want nothing less than her life.
The person who has always kept his distance from her suddenly holds her tightly in his arms, eyes full of concern.
She is unharmed, but he falls into a pool of blood…
Zhu Wansheng feels guilty, “I can grant you one wish.”
Gu Yingqing tentatively circles his arms around her, carefully resting his head in the crook of her neck, pleading softly, “I regret it. Can we not divorce?”
Zhu Wansheng: ? When did I agree to a divorce?
[Small Theater]
The newly developed rouge is beautifully packaged, and Zhu Wansheng is eager to try it.
Gu Yingqing suddenly appears: “My lady, may I apply it for you?”
Cool fingertips lightly brush her lips. His Adam’s apple bobs as he leans in for a light bite.
Zhu Wansheng: ?
Gu Yingqing: It smells so good, I wanted to taste it…
On a warm spring day, Zhu Wansheng tries a new perfume: “Spring Night.” Gu Yingqing corners her against a wall.
Warm breath lingers on her neck.
“My lady, from now on, may I test the fragrances for you?”
[Humorous female scientist vs scheming live-in son-in-law male lead]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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