He seemed to think so, seeing Edric intently gazing at his daughter.
Edric informed him in an indifferent tone that his judgment was mistaken.
“I just met her eyes because the princess was looking at me.”
He thought as he looked back at Princess Gloria, who was staring at him with a face red from tears.
Child.
To Edric Pelton, a child was not something he wanted to have because they were cute.
Just to continue the family line long ago, once as a means to hold onto Melly, and now……
He only wanted to have one to show Melly the sight of carrying a child on his shoulders to pick fruit hanging high on a tree.
If it’s a boy, he wants to have one to make Melly smile as she watches them play ball and emit transparent beads of sweat in the sunlight, and if it’s a girl, to be a playmate for dollhouse games, pretending to eat the sand food the child made with her tiny hands.
Only for that……
“Luce.”
Lucius and his daughter turned with the same expression towards Edric, who suddenly called out in a resolute voice.
“I should head back now.”
“……Already?”
Lucius’s eyes widened.
He had said he would let him leave work, but he didn’t think he would actually go.
“Um…… Edric. Even if you’re leaving, couldn’t you at least look over the afternoon report before you go? His Majesty the Emperor……”
“Lucius.”
He called his friend’s name stiffly, as he habitually did when decisively cutting off cumbersome things.
“Handle that much on your own.”
“……”
Leaving behind Lucius, who shrugged his shoulders with an awkward face while looking at the child, Edric turned around.
There was no reason to accommodate his circumstances. He had important things to do.
The fleeting image of a family that came to mind was so sweet.
He wanted to give that happiness to Melly as soon as possible.
She will be a good mother.
And he will be a good father as long as she wants him to be.
Not parents like the previous duke and duchess who didn’t pay attention to what the child said unless it was a topic that suited their taste, but parents who carefully consider the child and listen to the child’s words.
Parents who carefully catch and support what the child truly wants, rather than focusing on the child’s studies or abilities.
And they will be faithful to each other as a couple. Not just a plausible pretense in front of others, but a happy couple that doesn’t withdraw affectionate gazes even when no one is watching.
He will no longer neglect his family with foolish behavior.
“To Rotria estate.”
Edric ordered as soon as he got into the carriage.
The coachman cracked the reins and the horse slowly increased speed. It was too slow for Edric.
“No, to the duke’s residence.”
He changed his order. He planned to switch to a car at the duke’s residence. His heart was much faster than the slow carriage speed. At this rate, his heart might spontaneously combust on the way.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The coachman, realizing his intentions, increased the speed a bit more. The sound of carriage wheels shook the crisp autumn air.
[This is the timeline separator]Edric intended to order the butler to bring a car as soon as he arrived at the duke’s residence.
But he couldn’t.
“Y-Your Grace.”
Behind the butler standing at the entrance of the main building, Wilson was hiding with a pale face.
Edric’s gaze was unkind as he looked at Wilson, who was not where he should be.
He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to keep a close eye on Melly?”
“……”
At those words, Wilson hung his head low.
An ominous feeling enveloped Edric.
“Speak.”
The authority in his voice drew Wilson out from behind the butler’s back.
He immediately knelt on the ground when facing Edric.
“Please kill me, Your Grace.”
The emotions that could be called human slowly drained from Edric’s face as he silently stared at him.
He spoke in a calm voice like a machine.
“Let me hear it first.”
As if to say he would decide after that.
Whether to kill him or not.
“……”
Wilson’s clenched fists on his knees were trembling. Tears began to fall like raindrops onto the back of his hands.
After a moment, he lifted his head with a grave expression and reported.
“My lady’s whereabouts are uncertain.”
“……”
“She has disappeared from the shop since three evenings ago.”
Silence pressed down on everyone’s heads like an iron weight. Oz, who had approached due to the commotion, clutched his chest with a pale face and tried to calm his breathing.
Edric spoke in a composed voice.
“Continue.”
“I definitely saw the lights turn off three days ago…… But after that, the lights never came on again and the shop door didn’t open, so I went to check, and my lady had already left. It seems she left while I…… was asleep……”
Wilson couldn’t finish his words and hung his head low again.
His shoulders shook with sobs as he blamed himself for the mistake.
The faces of the servants were also stained with concern. Fear also flashed that the peace that had just arrived would be shattered and things would return to how they were before.
But Edric was different.
Except for tightly closing his eyes for a moment and clenching his fist, his attitude was calm as if he had expected this situation.
“I see. I understand.”
He ordered the butler, leaving Wilson looking up at him with a face that seemed to ask if that was all.
“Have the car ready.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Send a few more people in another car to track her movements.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Distribute flyers to the village guards. Tell them to politely escort any woman who looks even slightly similar.”
While calmly giving instructions, the car was prepared.
Edric got into the car with dignity as if going to work at the imperial palace, and opened his pocket watch to check the time as if trying to allocate time for work.
The servants were reassured by his calm and restrained attitude.
‘Of course he wouldn’t show a shaken appearance over something like this. How did he endure the past three years?’
That was what they all thought.
But it wasn’t so.
Edric Pelton simply thought that if he went there first, he would find some clue. Just as a person driven to despair suddenly becomes positive.
“Let’s go.”
At his command, the driver started the car. Though he had switched to a car to go faster, now even the car felt slower than a carriage.
It felt like his heart was burning up, slowly emitting smoke.
Feeling an unbearable sense of frustration, Edric brought his hand to his neck. The elegant tie crumpled and was pulled violently in his hand.
Suddenly he felt like smashing everything. He also felt like stomping to death everything in sight.
Even the peaceful afternoon sunlight felt too aggressive to him.
He pulled himself together so as not to collapse.
‘Melly is somewhere around there.’
She’s just staying temporarily at the home of an acquaintance.
It’s unlike her to leave the shop she treasured so much empty for three days, but there’s no reason she can’t do that either.
No one is always consistent. Isn’t it human to change according to the circumstances of the moment? Isn’t it?
Edric tried hard to come up with plausible reasons to comfort himself.
Within the limits of human ability and modern conveniences, all he could do was control his mind.
“……”
Suddenly he laughed at himself.
Twenty days ago, he confidently handed Melly the divorce papers. And he felt satisfied seeing her hesitate.
Five days ago, he was convinced his choice was right as he heard Wilson’s report about Melly.
Just an hour ago, he was planning to appear before Melly to let her know that if she didn’t hold onto him now, she might lose him forever.
And he intended to put unbreakable shackles on the hand she extended in alarm.
Looking back now, those moments seemed so ridiculous.
‘I’m not someone who makes the same mistake twice.’
No. He had made such a stupid and fatal mistake twice.
The past three years since Melly disappeared. How could he forget the time he spent so painfully?
How could he be so confident that she would never leave him again, intoxicated by the relief of finding her again and the certainty that she still loved him?
The only way to make a bird return to its cage is to do as the bird wishes?
Yes. Maybe so. Because birds don’t remember what happened three years ago.
But Melly wasn’t a bird, she was a person. And her past wounds still remained unhealed.
‘Why did I marry you? Back then I thought that was love.’
She must have hesitated for fear of repeating the same thing. She must have wanted a man who would remain consistently kind over time, not just a kind man right now.
Therefore, he should have given her certainty, not shaken her with clumsy schemes.
The certainty that he would continue to remain unchanged in the future.
“……”
Exhaling a sigh heavy with regret, Edric leaned his head back against the headrest.
He wanted to fall asleep like this. And when he woke up, he wished he would be in front of her shop.
‘You came?’
He wished she would greet him with a smile as soon as he got out of the car. No, that’s not it.
‘What brings you here? You said you’d give me time.’
He wished she would reject him with a displeased face. He felt he could endure any cold treatment as long as she was there.
He put his hand in the inner pocket of his jacket.
With a rustling sound, a packet of medicine came out.
It was medicine he had requested a prescription for from his doctor after deciding to keep his distance from Melly.
Without realizing it, he had taken that medicine in the evening for fear he might run to her. And then he would fall into a deathlike sleep and wake up in the morning.
Now he needed that strength again. To keep from going mad on the way there.
He tore open the medicine packet.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
