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To be able to divorce his wife required the clan leader to have a valid justification, because his wife was the eldest daughter of the strongest side branch, and divorcing her without reason might just cause the dissatisfied elders to change the main line.
After all, he was without a son anyway, so it was only a matter of time.
Taking advantage of the leader's dissatisfaction with his wife, the maidservant was able to quickly worm her way into his heart, and the two of them soon started scheming together on how to achieve their goals.
The leader wanted a son whose existence could ensure that he didn't lose his position, and the maidservant wanted to get rid of her lowly status and become the main wife. Both of them had a single solution - the maidservant must give birth to a male child.
Since their affair could only be kept hidden until the matters were settled, the maidservant was instructed to leave and hide until the day of her child's delivery, at which point she could return with her son and push their plan to the final step.
Unfortunately, after much secrecy, planning, and anticipation, the child that was born from the woman's womb turned out to be a girl still.
The maidservant was ambitious enough to climb onto the leader's bed knowing that she could end up dead, so she definitely wasn't stupid enough to put all her hope on an unborn child.
Having long since expected that such a thing might happen, she'd already made arrangements to have the child be replaced by a newborn male. Although the mother of the boy was kept in captivity and the newborn's body was weak, he still undoubtedly had the strength of the clan's bloodline.
The clan leader never expected that a lowly maidservant could dare to make such a big move, and never doubted the legitimacy of 'his son'. As soon as he got the confirmation, he immediately filed for a divorce with his wife.
By the old rules of the clan, for a couple to divorce, both sides must agree. The clan leader was well aware of his wife's nature, however, and used her prideful and unbending personality to his full advantage.
The woman couldn't handle the accusations and slander being thrown her way at all, and promptly agreed to the divorce. Anyway, she was still the eldest daughter of the side branch, and didn't plan to let this 'husband' go so easily.
The situation exploded once the clan leader brought in a new wife immediately after divorcing the old one, and to top it off, there was even a son!
Not to mention the old wife, even the elders realized what was going on at this point.
However, the clan leader had already made preparations, and the old rules really didn't account for any punishments in this case. Affairs before marriage weren't counted, and punishments for adultery could not be administered to someone who was already divorced.
Had the old wife known she would lose such a good opportunity to get rid of her husband, she would never have agreed. Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret.
Unfortunately, the clan leader's dreams couldn't come true, as although he now had a son, he had completely offended the strongest side branch, as well as most of the elders, who believed they had been made into fools by him.
With his own main branch weakened to the state it was, enduring pressure from all sides, the man soon couldn't take it anymore and voluntarily gave up his position.
The strongest side branch became the main branch, and as the eldest lady, the ex-wife of the clan leader got what she wanted.
The old clan leader soon realized, however, that his new life wasn't so bad. His new wife was content being the main lady of a side branch, and the son was also cute and lively. To top it off, he no longer had to endure the pressure of being a leader.
Compared to the previous married life, both of them felt that they were now better off.
Unfortunately, the biggest victim of this whole situation turned out to be the frail little girl whose birth had led to the deterioration of the couple's relationship.
When they were divorced, the clan leader's wife got custody of her daughter as per the old clan rules, and although she was initially satisfied to be able to snatch something from her husband, she soon realized he didn't want that girl at all.
Hating the man she had been married to, and hating the daughter who caused her to suffer such humiliation, the woman finally couldn't be bothered taking care of her anymore.
Unfortunately for her, killing a direct descendant of the clan was still forbidden, nor could she be thrown away. Thankfully, as she was now in power, there were some rules that could be bent slightly.
Going out one day, she conveniently 'lost' her one-year-old daughter, and when she returned 'distraught', no one dared to question what happened.
Since the little girl's body was weak and prone to getting sick, the 'mother' assumed that she would soon die without proper care, and never bothered to check.
As per her expectations, the child really did fall ill, and didn't even have the energy to cry or struggle as she was abandoned in a back alley.
The 'lost' child was quite fortunate, however, and didn't land in an even more miserable situation. Although the people who found her didn't want to take care of an unknown child that was so sick, they still handed her over to the authorities.
By the time she reached the hands of the doctor, however, her situation wasn't optimistic. Although the standard process was followed, no one expected the baby to survive the night.
The morning sun proved them wrong, however, as not only did the baby survive, she also seemed to have completely gotten rid of her sickly constitution after grappling with death.
And two years later, she was picked up by the scouts of the White Deer Corporation, to be raised alongside their newborn heir with all the resources that money could buy.
Emilia couldn't help but sigh. "And Nicole is…?"
Noelle smiled grimly. "She's the baby that my biological father's second wife threw away."
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