A hazy mirage made the view opaque.
The boundaries between objects were unclear, and the color saturation was lowered – red turned to light pink, blue to grayish blue.
Perhaps it was God’s consideration to distinguish dreams from reality.
But this only made Edric more anguished.
He did not want to admit it was a dream.
Because Melly was there.
Melly was smiling with rosy cheeks. Had he expected a more haggard face?
Her bright and radiant face briefly irritated Edric. Why did she look so well while he was falling apart?
But it was a dream. The real Melly would be thinner and paler than this.
He was certain of it.
‘Edric.’
Melly calls him. Just like before, friendly and gentle.
At that, Edric’s displeased heart melted.
‘Speak.’
‘I want to go there with you.’
‘Where?’
‘Milord Square. I want to watch the sunset there together.’
‘Alright, let’s go. I won’t go to work today.’
‘Really?’
Melly’s eyes widened in disbelief at his words.
‘Really. I’ll spend the whole day with you.’
Melly smiled again. A happy smile.
Seeing that, Edric was happy too. Why hadn’t he realized before how fulfilling it was to grant such a small request?
‘Thank you. As a reward, I brought you a gift.’
Melly said.
‘What gift?’
‘Look forward to it.’
She smiled brightly and took a step towards him.
She stretched out her hand and showed him something.
A small pair of glasses was held in her tiny hand. Similar to the ones he used to wear. No, they might be identical. It doesn’t matter in a dream anyway.
‘It’s yours. I bought you a new pair.’
Melly smiled prettily and stood on her tiptoes. Edric bent down to make it easier for her to put the glasses on him.
The hazy world instantly became clear.
As the subtle white haze disappeared, vivid and clear colors smoothly took its place.
But Melly was not there.
Melly, who had been the only clear presence in the hazy world, had now turned transparent in the clear world and evaporated like steam.
‘No.’
Edric puts his hand to his temple.
But he can’t take off the glasses. They were stuck to his face as if they were part of him.
‘Don’t go.’
Edric shouted.
A gust of wind blew, making a slender tree sway its branches to one side. But even in the swirling green waves, Melly still did not appear.
‘Don’t leave me behind. Please.’
He called out to her as if wailing.
“Melly-!”
It was then.
A clear voice piercing his ears gave him a somewhat different feeling. The scenery before his eyes changed too.
Looking at the familiar curtain pattern drawn on the ceiling by the sunlight, Edric realized he had awoken from the dream.
“Your Grace!”
“Edric!”
Everyone, including his mother, was looking at him with worried eyes.
He quickly scanned them, searching for Melly among them. But she wasn’t there. No matter how many times he looked, she wasn’t in this room. She probably wouldn’t be anywhere in this mansion.
It would be fine if she wasn’t pale. It would be fine if she looked prettier and brighter than when she lived here.
If only you were here, everything would be fine for me.
“……”
Edric closed his eyes again.
He wanted to go back into the dream. Just like he had for the past month.
[This is the timeline separator]It was a major accident that nearly crushed his entire body.
He needed more than five units of blood transfusion, and his body temperature soared above forty degrees Celsius due to inflammatory response.
He was unconscious for a long time.
The physician told Eida Pelton twice to prepare herself. And even if he miraculously regained consciousness, he was certain that Edric would never be able to get out of bed on his own for the rest of his life.
But as if mocking such pessimistic prognosis, Edric recovered rapidly.
Exactly a month after the accident, he got out of bed, and in less than two months, he was able to walk.
While everyone was relieved and delighted, Edric was different.
He loathed, even cursed himself for recovering day by day.
‘I should have died that day.’
It was a fruitless accident where he gained nothing he sought, only confirming how terribly healthy he was.
Sigh-.
Leaning on his wheelchair, Edric turned his head towards the window with a sigh.
The sky was ashy with clouds.
It was suitable weather for a rehabilitative walk. At least for him.
At some point, he came to prefer such gloomy days over days with bright sunshine.
He didn’t want to expose himself under clear sunlight. Because such weather brought hope. Hope that was like torture to him.
He went outside, leaning on his cane.
It started to drizzle when he had circled the garden about one and a half times.
The butler, watching from afar, was about to run over with an umbrella. Edric raised his hand towards him.
‘Stay there.’
He found it annoying when someone came near. He was sick of the servants who had been monitoring him for the past two months, worried about what might happen to him. He wanted to shout at them to just leave him alone.
Edric slowly walked along the stone path.
As the stones became slippery from the rain, the tip of the cane he was holding kept slipping.
Tsk-.
Thinking it might be better without it, he threw the cane away.
While the servants watched, unable to do anything, Edric slowly walked towards the entrance relying solely on the strength of his two legs.
Due to his incomplete recovery, his pace was slow, and occasionally he had to endure by biting his lower lip as pain surged, but he safely reached the entrance.
People sighed in relief while also admiring him.
Despite the harrowing daily life of the past few months, his dignity as Duke Pelton remained intact.
No, rather than when he was the arrogant and ill-tempered Edric Pelton of before, he now looked even stronger and more dignified.
As he passed by, the servants’ heads bowed naturally.
It was a gesture of respect for a strong person who may be shaken by trials but not broken.
Edric passed through them indifferently and returned to his quarters.
As soon as he opened the door, the glasses on the side table caught his eye.
It was the tenth pair of glasses the butler had brought for him.
After Melly left, he had refused to see the world clearly and broke every pair of glasses the butler brought.
But the faithful butler persistently brought new glasses.
‘I thought he was only good at flattery.’
Edric saw the butler in a new light. At least he was much more worthy of keeping around than that Wilson fellow who feared and avoided him because he was broken.
He held the glasses in his hand and looked down at them quietly.
They seemed similar to the ones Melly had placed in his hands in the dream.
‘Melly……’
Suddenly, he felt resentful.
News of his accident had made the front pages of special editions for a while.
People flocked to the mansion almost daily to inquire about his condition, and when news of his critical condition spread, even the imperial family stepped in to cancel important events, causing a stir throughout the empire.
So she couldn’t have not known, yet she never came to visit even once.
The Melly he knew wasn’t that kind of woman.
‘Don’t get sick, Edric.’
She used to tear up and worry whenever he got even slightly hurt.
Has her heart completely left now?
Even so, shouldn’t she at least come to see her husband who she was once so intimate with when he’s injured? Shouldn’t she at least send a letter inquiring about his well-being?
Edric’s eyes grew sharper. His lower lip turned white between his teeth, and his hand gripping the glasses tightened.
But this time, he didn’t break them. He put the glasses on.
And from now on, he will look at the world straight on. He will see everything clearly, not missing a single blade of grass, grain of sand, or insignificant insect.
And he will find her.
‘You dare leave me? You dare abandon me?’
He will find her somehow, and bring her back even if he has to chain her.
[This is the timeline separator]“Edric.”
In the evening, Eida carefully approached her son’s room.
“May I come in for a moment?”
“Yes, Mother.”
Edric put down the documents he was holding and greeted his mother.
Eida knew those documents were identity records of single women in their 20s gathered from all over the empire.
Her son had now decided to find his daughter-in-law through the most labor-intensive, but most accurate method.
That obsession had transformed her son’s face from one ravaged by anguish and illness to one full of vitality.
“What brings you here?”
Eida sat across from him and said with a gentle smile.
“How is the search for Melissa going?”
“I’m working on it. And… it’s Melly, not Melissa, Mother.”
Edric corrected her with a smile. Meeting his brightly shining eyes, Eida felt a chill for a moment.
Those blue eyes were filled with a manic affection that would not forgive anyone who denied Melly’s existence, even if it were his own mother.
Eida swallowed hard and said in a soothing tone.
“Y-yes. Melly. I actually preferred that name too.”
Eida continued in a calmer voice.
“And don’t worry too much. I’m also searching for her in every way possible, so we should be able to find her soon.”
“Thank you.”
Edric replied briefly as if not relying on his mother’s help, then lowered his eyes to the documents he was holding. After examining a few more names and turning to the next page, he asked in an indifferent tone.
“By the way, Mother, did Melly really leave without saying anything to you either?”
“……Why do you suddenly ask that?”
“I’m curious.”
Edric said as he turned another page of documents.
“You and Melly were as close as a real mother and daughter, weren’t you? Although not at first.”
“……”
“Even if she left the house feeling resentful towards me, it seems unlike Melly to leave without a word to you, not even leaving a letter.”
“I… I feel hurt about that too. She could have at least told me if she was struggling. How cold of her.”
But while Edric was scanning the documents, Eida’s gaze wavered and settled several times.
‘Mother, it’s me.’
Eida had received a visit from Melly on the day she left the house.
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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