This is the kind person who allowed our master to have breakfast. Elma led them to their seats with a satisfied feeling.
“Please come in, please!”
Seated at the table in the dining room, Ansi looked around for a clock. She needed to check what time it was.
“What are you looking for?”
Ansi turned her head towards Damion sitting opposite her. His gaze was fixed on her.
“Well…”
Ansi was about to make an excuse when she spotted the clock.
The clock was on the wall behind him.
5:35.
Ten minutes left.
“It’s my first time here for breakfast.”
“Don’t you usually eat breakfast?”
“Recently… it depended on my work hours, but I mostly didn’t.”
“Oh my. You should eat breakfast to keep your mind sharp, Ansi.”
Damion said teasingly. Realizing he was repeating what she had said earlier, Ansi’s cheeks turned slightly red.
“It’s not that I never ate. Sometimes, I did.”
“Then sometimes eat with me too.”
A relaxed reply came back. Somehow, it felt like she had been manipulated towards that conclusion.
Soon, sandwiches were placed in front of them. Ansi bit into one that was cut in half for easy eating.
The texture and taste were soft and fresh. However, she couldn’t focus on the food. She was worried he might quickly finish his meal and leave.
But Damion’s movements were all leisurely – from picking up the sandwich to quietly chewing and swallowing.
Like someone who knew nothing of urgency.
The clock hands kept moving.
And before she knew it, it was 5:45.
The time she had seen in her dream had arrived.
Ansi stared at the clock, holding her breath.
It felt like what she saw in her dream could happen at any moment.
Even though this house wouldn’t suddenly collapse like that poorly constructed bridge.
‘…It’s 5:46.’
But in the end, nothing happened.
It was only when it became 5:50, then 6:00, that Ansi’s tense body relaxed. She became certain that what she saw in her dream wouldn’t happen, and that he would return safely today.
With great relief, she felt like she might melt into her chair.
Now that she felt relieved, she started to worry.
Is it okay for that man to be this relaxed?
“…Is it alright to be this late for the meeting?”
“My wife gave me permission. She said it’s fine to be a little late.”
“I think you should go now.”
“I thought Ansi was on my side, but changing your words like this is troublesome.”
“It seems to be becoming more than just a little late.”
“Well, I guess I have no choice then.”
Damion stood up with a sigh as if he had been pushed. Ansi felt somehow like she had become a bad person.
So without thinking, words spilled out.
“I… like tarts.”
It was an answer to his earlier question.
[This is the timeline separator]Unlike usual, Ansi came out to the front gate to see Damion off.
Damion, who had waved to her even just before getting into the car, erased his smile as soon as the car started.
“Would you drive slower than usual today?”
“Understood, sir.”
Damion gazed outside with dry eyes. The scenery passed by slowly. It was an unremarkable view.
A view where one couldn’t imagine anything happening.
But Ansi had looked noticeably anxious.
At first, he thought it was just because she had a nightmare, but through her behavior this morning, he realized it might not be that.
She wasn’t the type of woman to say it’s okay to be a little late for a meeting, nor to cling to him asking to stay together like that.
Anyone could see it was different from usual.
So, it was reasonable to think there must be a proper reason.
And that reason was probably…
‘Was I supposed to die today?’
And that woman, who had foreseen it, had saved him.
If that was true, then this marriage was indeed profitable.
But how could he prove it?
Asking her directly if she had seen his death seemed too blatant.
If Ansi had mentioned the cause of death herself, it might have been different. But hadn’t she just acted like a wife who didn’t want to part from her husband?
Asking if she had seen his death in that situation would only create unnecessary tension.
Ansi doesn’t know that he is aware of the secret of Rubella. She thinks he accepted her out of simple emotional goodwill.
But the moment she realizes that Damion knows about her ability.
She will become wary of him. Naturally, she will suspect whether he married her because of that ability.
Then… there might not be a next time.
The human heart is fickle, with a habit of trying to give back as much as it receives.
Even if she prevented his death now out of a desire to repay the pure love he gives.
The moment she realizes he had a purpose in mind. She is likely to act the same way.
From then on, it’s no longer moving out of care for the other person… but using it as a card that can be wielded expecting something in return.
‘It’s quite troublesome to use.’
If that woman doesn’t speak, he won’t know what she saw until the moment of his death. It was undeniably a difficult ability to utilize.
Then, how could he prove that woman saved him today…
“Um… sir.”
At that moment, the driver suddenly stopped the car.
Damion, who had been lost in thought with his chin resting on the back of the sofa, slid his gaze forward.
“What’s the matter?”
“I think we need to take a different route.”
In front, several people who looked like civil servants were controlling the road. It was just before the entrance to the bridge crossing the river.
The driver checked his watch once and then spoke as if troubled.
“If we turn left, we’ll reach the Ringa Bridge. It will take about 15 minutes longer than usual, but shall we go that way?”
“Wait.”
Damion lowered the window. And he called out to one of those blocking the way.
“What’s going on?”
“Ah, noble sir. Actually… the Enpalso Bridge over there has collapsed.”
The Enpalso Bridge was the bridge he should have crossed today to cross the river.
“When did this happen?”
The man replied, watching Damion’s expression.
“According to witnesses, it was about 30 minutes ago. They say… signs were visible from yesterday. It seems to be due to poor construction, but, but don’t worry, there appear to be no casualties…”
Ah.
A tingling sensation like electricity ran up from the tips of his toes.
A faint elation crept up Damion’s body like a snake, gripping him tightly.
The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Here it is.
The place where I should have died today.
Damion closed the window. The car started driving towards another bridge to cross the river.
“Haha…”
Inside, he burst into laughter.
To think that woman really saved him.
This marriage was indeed profitable.
Ansi de Orphe. The woman he had carefully packaged was indeed a gift for himself.
[This is the timeline separator]When Ansi arrived at the place she had seen in her dream, the bridge had collapsed. Fortunately, there were said to be no casualties.
It meant that man hadn’t died.
“…Thank goodness.”
Even though the time she had seen in her dream had passed, she was still anxious and ended up coming here. It wasn’t difficult to find this place. There was a clue that it was a bridge built two years ago.
Only after seeing that man wasn’t here did she feel relieved and got back into the carriage.
“Shall we return home now?”
“No, please go to the Rubella mansion on Cheberin Street.”
The fact that the bridge had collapsed meant that what she had seen was indeed real.
If so, she needed to learn more about this ability.
‘Would mother know?’
She considered it but concluded that she wouldn’t. If she had, she would have explained about it when Ansi got married.
Moreover, if there really was a price for this power, it was highly likely that her father hadn’t told her mother the whole truth.
“Please stop here.”
Before reaching the gate of the Rubella mansion, Ansi got off the carriage. Then she walked alone along the fence surrounding the mansion.
The gate of this place, which had become an empty house a year ago, was closed. So she was trying to enter through another route.
When she shook one of the fence boards closest to the thick plane tree, it immediately fell off with a thud.
Ansi entered through the gap and leaned the fence back up before heading towards the mansion.
If the front door was locked, she’d use a window.
That thought proved unnecessary as the door of the house was open. She let out a wry laugh at the sloppy lock, but understood the moment she stepped inside.
“Right, it’s an empty house…”
It was more miserable than the last time she had seen it before going south. Even though they had cleaned out the mansion before, claiming to confiscate the family property, it seemed they had swept through once more after that.
It was empty, utterly empty.
To the point where it was hard to believe this was where she had lived until just a year ago.
Could she really find the information she wanted here? Such doubts arose, but thinking about it wouldn’t lead to any conclusions.
Ansi made her way to the library on the first floor. The Rubella library was quite large, and among it might be clues about this strange power…
“That’s not possible.”
Ansi loved books. The mansion’s library was her playground, and from a young age, she had searched every corner of it. If there had been any record of that ability here, Ansi would have known.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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