Quick Transmigration: Saving The Crazy Villainess

Chapter 219: Su Luxi (18) <2-in-1>

When the coachman told the father-daughter duo through the small window that they were now at the entrance of the Wade Mansion, Rumina peeked out into the distance and saw that the place was already starting to turn dark. There were guards lighting up the lampposts outside. A carriage bearing a violet rose crest just passed by the tall and wide green arch.

The female lead's eyes narrowed. 'Someone from the House Lilac visited before us?'

Duke Bolden also watched as the other carriage passed by theirs. The symbol belonged to another ducal house so he was intrigued who was the person onboard. A while later, the man said to his daughter. "I think the other ducal houses are also interested in being relatives with the prophet's House."

The female lead kept her silence.

With her being the main candidate for Empress, the other heiresses and ladies from various prominent families must be feeling threatened. Everyone wanted to retain their social standing or help elevate their own Houses in ranks. There was no more hope for them to enter the palace as the crown prince's wife. It was natural for them to shift their focus toward the next most eligible bachelor in the Empire.

Rumina Bolden closed her eyes. The duke's sight kept following the other vehicle slowly drifting away from theirs. Not long after, he squinted his eyes when the curtain got slightly lifted up. "Hmm. How surprising. So it's not a young lady from their house who visited. It's the heir, that boy Marcus. While I wonder what they talked about, it makes sense that he could stay this late there."

The girl opened her eyes and then turned her head back. After staring at that direction for a long while, she subconsciously replied, "Honored father, you're right... Although it's not truly good news, it's better than a young lady getting seen leaving the Wade Estate at this hour."

The older man held his chin and nodded.  

Had it been another girl exiting the place in a flashy manner at night, with an aristocratic symbol giving away her identity and House attached on her ride, she would have easily gotten into a scandal with Wade's heir.

She didn't voice this part out, knowing her father was also aware of it.

"Let's go."

Duke Bolden signaled the coachman to continue advancing. Rumina removed her gaze from the other carriage. As the former talked about how fitting their decisions to not use a conspicuous ride was, the female lead recalled a particular piece of memories.

House Lilac rose into rebellion a month before the coronation. However, before those people could deal some great damages to the crown prince's faction, Rumina warned Rome about it, telling him her suspicions about the number of weapons smuggled into the Lilac family's territories and the strange number of soldiers seen outside their estate.

As a result, when the rebellion happened, the crown prince easily managed to respond. House Lilac failed. Rome never mentioned Rumina's contribution. But it was because of this that the Empire considered him a competent future ruler.  

Rumina got nothing. The man did not even try to reward her privately. Instead, he repaid her good deeds with public shaming, giving the promised position to another girl of questionable origins.

It was not like she truly looked forward to assuming the Empress' position. However, it left a bad taste in her mouth as the throne meant for her got easily given away to somebody neither worthy nor prepared for it. How stupid. She knew, apart from showing off his love for the Saintess, the Emperor from her previous life did that to demean her.

'This time around, let's see how you would deal with them if I keep my mouth shut.' The female lead thought with a scoff. 

Because they came incognito and uninvited, even though the guards easily let them in, the main housekeepers were the ones who panically received them. They were led into a spacious and luxurious room, followed by maids who laid out a table of snacks and drinks for them. From the corner of their eyes, they saw the oldest and most authoritative-looking maid giving orders to a younger female servant who then ran towards the second floor of the mansion.

The father and daughter pair exchanged glances discreetly. The female lead felt a bit embarrassed as she took in the Duke's meaningful look. She looked down while maintaining her lady-like sitting posture. Had it not been another lady without intensive etiquette training since young, she would have tried to look for a nice spot to bury herself in.

"Duke Bolden. How rare that you visited my house." Allen Wade entered the room and flashed a warm smile at the two guests. The two sides engaged in an exchange of greetings and pleasantries.

Rumina silently watched the two dukes' interaction. Her eyes wandered around discreetly.

She and her father did not wait long before Duke Wade arrived. The girl had an inkling the other person simply transferred locations, so either the receiving room prepared for them was close to that one prepared for Lilac Dukedom's heir, or Duke Wade was simply nearby for another reason.

Was Luke with him, simply lagging behind due to being seated in a wheelchair?

A frown appeared on the female lead's beautiful face. She waited but Luke's figure did not appear. Then she realized, by rank, the prophet was no worse than any other duke in the empire so if he was with his duke father, they would have come into the room side by side.

Duke Bolden coincidentally saw her expression and guessed what she was thinking. After another exchanged of words, he asked about Luke Wade. "Forgive me for imposing. May we have the fortune to meet with Luke?"

"My apologies. But my son is in his room upstairs." Duke Wade put on an awkward expression and explained, "His health condition has not been good lately. A doctor is by his side as of now. To be honest, only after being reassured by the doctor did I leave temporarily."

The father and daughter duo pretended they did not understand what the house owner was implying. How shameless. If they didn't see somebody from House Lilac leaving the Wades' grand estate earlier, they would have believed Duke Wade's statement. But now... well, they did say their apologies for suddenly visiting without advance notice but deep inside, they wanted to roll their eyes at him.

Allen couldn't see through their thoughts. But in fact, he was not truly bothered. Instead, in his mind, he was wondering why his son warned him not to properly entertain anyone who would come to their estate tonight.

'I see. Duke Lilac sent his heir to negotiate an engagement and a deal. Duke Bolden and his daughter must be wanting to get my son's help about the engagement too.'

Duke Wade shook his head inwardly and felt dissatisfied in his heart. His son was ill, yet here were people only thinking of taking advantage of the prophet and his House. As a loving father, how could he have a good impression of them?

And thus, he tried numerous times to steer the conversation away and then make them leave. However, to his surprise, the crown princess always had ways in words and could counter his attempts. He saw pride in Duke Bolden's face. For a moment, he didn't know whether he should admire the young lady and sighed in annoyance that such a fine girl couldn't be his daughter-in-law, or be annoyed that such a fine girl could make him helpless sometimes.

'How did my son deal with this girl?' Aware of Rumina's countless meet up with Luke, the duke wondered. If only he saw interest in his son's eyes towards this girl, he would have gladly heard out House Bolden's request.

Allen Wade was thankfully someone of high birth so, from childhood, he already knew how to control his facial muscles and movements. None of his gestures gave away the irritation he was feeling within. Instead, he looked like a regular elegant nobleman as he sampled the snacks his family servants brought in. With a warm smile put on, he even invited the two guests to pick up their forks and cup of tea.

'When will they leave, damn....' Yet inwardly, he complained. 

...

Jiang Li looked out into the blanket of darkness outside. He subconsciously called out the Goddess. However, like usual, which somehow started more than a month ago, there was no reply from her. The gust of wind entering the window he opened reminded him of how silent the place was, for it sounded so audible in his ears.

As usual, he frowned, not liking the current situation.

Did something happen to her? Even though he heard that a miracle happened a week ago, that the Saintess suddenly with the ability to converse fluently in their language, he still felt uncomfortable and incensed. The miracle might be the work of the Goddess. But if she was okay, why was she not responding to him?

'System, give me her status.' He almost asked the being in his head, if not for remembering apart from muting it, it also had no ability, or plan to meet his demand.

In mild irritation, he walked back inside and entered a small room full of clothes through a door connected to his room. Right. He walked. In public's eyes, he had long become stuck to his wheelchair, but in reality, even before his 'curse' completely worsened, he had already cured himself, at least, ensuring his legs would not become paralyzed for life. He didn't want to forget that they still could function.

"Young master..." A male servant walked in the room with a lowered head, not daring to look at the man fixing his bowtie. This time, Jiang Li was already back to sitting on his wheeled chair.

"What is it, Lando?" the heir asked without turning his head to the other man.

"Young Master, the duke and the heiress from House Bolden are downstairs and Master is currently entertaining them. They keep requesting your presence in the audience room. It seems they want to speak to you. Will you be seeing them?"

Jiang Li cast a look at the servant.

The other lowered his head, silently hoping his master would not say yes.

Regarding the female lead's appearance here with her father, Jiang Li had some guesses in mind. The plot made it appear like a woman could easily be together with a guy who obliterated her whole clan and shamed her for years, however, a person's heart was never forgetful. Since five years ago, the girl who came back in time expressed unwillingness to repeat the past. She doesn't want to be the male lead's concubine.

Now, the urgency that pitiful woman was having in her mind and heart had clouded her reasoning, so much that she forgot being somebody else's wife was not the only solution.

It was hard not to shake his head at this thought.

Still, after a couple of moments, he spoke to his valet with a slight smile. "Escort me down then. I can't be rude to guests who especially made a trip at night for me."  

"Young Master, the doctor just left. He told me and the masters not to allow you to strain your body too much." Worriedly, the other young man said.

"Lando, I will meet the crown princess and the duke of House Bolden."

Finality was in his voice so the valet had no choice but stop persuading him and started pushing his wheelchair gently outside the room.

Jiang Li then absentmindedly stared ahead as he neared the meeting place. A thought suddenly flashed across his brain.

If his assumption was correct, he might have discovered through the books he read before why that girl was badly mistreated in her past life and why she was bound to get a happier ending this time.

The key to everything was the Goddess' sudden disappearance. The thought was truly making him dislike this world and its Creator.