RidiCalia ( the girl rumored to be the mistress) is a knight in ml's army. She, along with the other knights are living in a hotel arranged by High Lantern. They all think that the rumours are stupid since ml is so clearly in love with his wife, but are still worried about how the emperor is going to react.
In the carriage fl keeps staring at ml's lips, wanting to kiss him. Ml asks her about the divorce and if she has a lover. She replies that she sent him the papers not because she didn't like him but because of pressure from the royal fam.He tells her to not accept defeat so easily after all she has endured. She asks if he was upset about her asking for divorce. She apologises and they hug.
They reach home. The butler blocks fl just as she was going to enter the house. Fl is used to his behaviour but Ml looks like he is about to kill him( please do). Butler has the audacity to blame fl for not leaving earlier but Ml lashes at him saying that they are still married.
Back in their room Ml blames himself for fl's sufferings.He went to war for her but she was being mistreated the whole time. He thinks that fl should have informed him in her letters. She tries to pacify him saying that she still had Sachel with her. She also believes that she is better off here then in trashdad's house. He then starts to seduce her, kissing her collar and ear, trying to make her reveal the details of emperor's actions. She finally tells him about the black dress.
Ml tells her that he is only alive because of her and she thanks him for keeping his promise. They are both in tears. Then they start to kiss but Sachel arrives to co*ckblock them.Fl gets ready to go to the banquet. She had arranged for another dress along with the blue one. However this one has see through arms so ml does not like it. But fl refuses to change since the only other clothes she has is the accursed black dress. She tells him that if he wants to continue the marriage he can't bring in a mistress. He says that he will reveal the truth about the mistress rumours to her soon .
In the ballroom, ml refuses to dance with anyone who isn't his wife. The emperor arrives along with birdgirl and rewards ml with the title of a Duke. Ml is actually worried if fl wanted a higher title.
Uncle finally reveals himself to be a top official of High lantern. It is also revealed to the public that ml was sponsered by high lantern with uncle acting as the agent( I don't understand why emperor still considers fl 'lowly' after this news. She is the only relative of someone who is one of the top guys in the company which funded the army and saved the empire. If ml does kick her out he would be angering one of the most powerful people in the kingdom....)Fl goes out for awhile and gets harassed by the Cp. Ml arrives and pushes him away from her. They go to meet the emperor. Ml asks the emperor to stop spreading rumours of his affair( you couldn't say this one line to the fl when she asked
). He says that he will leave the royal fam if the divorce talk continues. The emperor starts to threaten him, saying that he will be given a weak estate, but ml doesn't care as he only needs fl .
Emperor says that fl is useless and it would be better for ml to marry anyone else, even if it's the unknown head of High Lantern. Fl finally speaks up, saying that the emperor donated the money, that was to be send to her as living expenses, to the army. So she had contributed to the ml's victory. Ml is pissed as he hadn't known about this and tells the emperor that he willl be firing the servants. Ml says that he doesn't need the approval of the royal fam to stay with fl.
Pm tells the emperor that he should just let them be.Back in the carriage on their way home these two are all touchy feely. They keep kissing each other. I don't like the scene though because he finally reveals that the reason he didn't reveal the truth about the rumours is because he made a bet with the pm. He would tell Fl the truth if she doesn't have an affair. Fl realises this is why pm sided with them. (Ml seems nice and all but all the bet business is annoying. To be fair I haven't read past 30 chapters yet but no reason has been mentioned for taking up the bet. Whatever the reason might be he did put fl through hell)
Back at home, Sachel advises fl to talk about her feelings( about how sad the rumours made her) with Ml.
Ml and fl drink wine, make a toast to their relationship. The alcohol finally makes fl spill the beans. She tells him that the mistress rumours hurt her. She starts to cry and tries to leave but Ml stops her saying that she should cry in front of him. He starts to kiss her and snu snu follows.( This novel already has more communication than most other knovels but I still wish that we could have had more conversation than snu snu).
In the morning Sachel knocks on their door, but ml is all like 'ignore her, she will have to get used to this.' More snu snu time( this should really have been 19+). It's around noon when they finally leave the room.
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