“That’s quite strange.”
“That not a single person committed a crime?”
Melvin scratched the back of his head awkwardly and chuckled.
“Well, the worst we had was someone peeing in a honey pot, hammering nails into pumpkins, and spilling trash in the vineyards… A few slaps from Captain Morton and a round of scolding while walking through the village were usually enough.”
“……”
Amy blinked silently, astonished at the innocence of the village.
‘Boisterous crimes amount to just peeing in a honey pot? Is this what the countryside is like?’
Having lived in the city and faced all sorts of situations, Amy found both the biting cold and the warm atmosphere of this place unfamiliar.
‘Certainly better than plots and schemes.’
Just then, as she nodded at these thoughts, Captain Vernon’s voice caught her attention as he was inspecting the interior.
“Oh, the inside is blocked?”
Amy hurried to the spot he indicated and saw the wall of stone broken and crudely piled up.
“Melvin, is this direction north?”
“Ah…”
The butler quickly visualized the structure in his mind and nodded.
“Yes, it seems so.”
“Is there a lower level?”
“No, this basement is the last floor.”
“Good.”
As soon as Melvin finished speaking, Amy began to carefully feel the stone wall. Vernon and the butler joined her in puzzlement.
“What should we look for?”
“Just… check if there’s anything unusual.”
For a while, the three meticulously searched the wall, pressing on it until their backs ached and their palms became numb from the damp and cold. Eventually, Amy’s fingertips sensed something.
It was a small protruding stone. She pressed it with her hand, but the wall remained unchanged. However, when she absentmindedly pulled on it, a click sounded, and a round hole appeared in the wall. It was small enough for only a hand to fit through.
“……”
Amy swallowed dryly and cautiously reached her hand inside, feeling around. The hole was too perfectly circular to be natural, convincing her this was the right spot.
Suppressing her excitement, she explored carefully until her hand grasped something resembling a handle. Amy pulled it immediately.
Kukukukung.
With a small rumble, the edge of the stone wall collapsed, revealing another hole. Vernon and Melvin quickly moved to protect her.
They waited for the dust to settle before approaching the hole. Vernon held the torch into the hole to inspect the interior. Amy spoke up.
“I’ll go in.”
The two men protested in alarm.
“It’s dangerous.”
“It’s okay. There won’t be much.”
Reluctantly, Vernon handed her the torch and stepped aside. Amy, holding the torch aloft, carefully entered.
“……”
Inside, she saw a room of modest size, with a table propped against the opposite wall. Slowly, she approached it.
“This must be it.”
On the table was a statue the size of a child’s head. It was completely black, with a small hole in the center surrounded by several others.
Amy took out a piece of hemp cloth from her pocket, wrapped the statue in it, and carefully lifted it.
“Let’s go now.”
As Amy emerged with something in her possession, Vernon and Melvin were inwardly startled but did not show it. They helped her out, lighting her way with the torch. And the moment they stepped back onto the ground, Melvin sighed deeply and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“May I ask what that is?”
Barely containing his curiosity, Vernon spoke up as soon as they started ascending the stairs. Melvin, too, eagerly awaited Amy’s response, his eyes shining with inquisitiveness. Amy glanced down at the object tightly wrapped in her arms.
“You’ll find out when the time comes.”
Amy headed towards the ducal office in the outer castle. It was a place she frequented, taking care of affairs for the still-learning Duke Noah. Upon entering, she locked the door and carefully placed the statue she was holding onto the table, then unwrapped it.
“…….”
Even under the dim light of the dungeon, she had sensed it, but now in the sunlight, the object seemed even more peculiar. The metal texture was neither iron nor copper, and its entire black surface didn’t appear to be painted.
Amy gazed at it, her lips twitching slightly.
“It really existed.”
She swallowed dryly and reached out to gently touch the top of the object. Her fingers delicately traced the cold, hard surface downward.
When her hand reached the flat base, a click sounded, and a lid about the size of two fingers opened.
“What’s this?”
Inside was a slender rod with a faint yellow hue. Amy held her breath as she cautiously extracted it.
“A gemstone…?”
In the sunlight, it sparkled like a diamond.
‘Is this the power source? How does it operate?’
Curious yet clueless, Amy rotated the mysterious object before carefully placing it back. She resumed her exploration of the statue. Soon, her fingers touched a slightly protruding semi-circular part.
She hesitated briefly before pressing it down.
“…….”
Nothing happened.
“What a letdown.”
Amy exhaled the breath she’d been holding and brushed back her hair in disappointment. Just then, a knock sounded on the door.
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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