"My Lord, Princess Bianque has arrived."
Kaian and Claudel looked at each other at the same time.
"The Princess is here?"
"Suddenly?"
He was struck as soon as he heard it.
*I can't believe Bianque is coming. It's as if both Valquiterre and she had planned this.*
The atmosphere had been such that he could finally have a proper conversation with Claudel. Once he'd realized that she seemed to be very hurt inside, he'd felt sorry for her and he didn't want to leave it like this.
"My Lord."
Kaian felt a sense of déjà vu as he heard a call from outside the door. Since it was a position with so many official duties, he wondered if it was always like this.
"I guess I should go."
Kaian sighed and rubbed Claudel's shoulder.
"It looks like we won't be able to eat together. Please eat with Hannah."
"Yes."
"Don't leave your room and rest."
"It's polite for me to go out to greet the Princess too. I want to go with you."
"No way. If you had even the slightest sense of decency, you wouldn't push in like this."
When he spoke coldly, Claudel fell silent.
"After the ball the day after tomorrow, there will be a water banquet. When they leave, we'll talk about what we left off again."
Kaian spoke in a tone that calmed his anger.
"Yes, all right."
"I'll come early tonight."
He lightly kissed his wife's forehead and disappeared out of the room.
---
Hannah returned hurriedly, a thick shawl wrapped around her arm.
"Oh my, oh my! When did you come back to your room? I've been looking for you for a while, my Lady."
"Sorry, but I didn't come back voluntarily."
"What?"
"By chance, Kaian saw me with Bark. He was so angry that he forced me into this room."
"Ah..."
A frustrated moan flowed from her mouth.
"I guess I should be prepared to get scolded by the Lord later."
"I wish I'd brought a shawl with me when I went for a walk."
"Who knew it would turn out like this?"
Hannah quickly brought the shawl back to the dressing room and dusted her hands.
"I'll prepare lunch."
"No, I don't really feel like it."
"Is this something you should skip?"
Claudel, whose conscience was pricked by Hannah's words, ended her brief pondering and opened her mouth.
"Then I'll just eat apples."
"I'll also bring soup and bread. If you just eat apples, you might get a stomachache. You were craving apples in the morning too."
"I think the baby really likes apples."
Hannah's eyes widened at Claudel's words and she immediately left the room with a bright smile on her face.
"I'll go and get the reddest and prettiest one."
"Thank you, Hannah."
When I was left alone in my room, I sighed.
"Whew, why is it so complicated?"
Lately, my daily life had been so hectic and distracting. I lightly brushed my lower abdomen with my hand. It still seemed barely noticeable, but there was a noticeable difference in the past few days.
"If Bark hadn't come, Kaian would have found out already."
When I placed my hand on my slender stomach, I felt a distinctly round raised spot. I couldn't tell him yet because Kaian, who was distracted by Valquiterre, usually came to bed after me. But if we'd talked to each other enough, he would have noticed it long ago.
"I don't even care about prenatal care, what is this?"
It would be best for the baby not to see or hear anything like his father and mother fighting. I went to bed and lay down.
*Why on earth is he doing that?*
Kaian had been very difficult these days. I'd often hated seeing my husband after he didn't accept my confession. There were times when I'd said out loud that I hated him because it was so obnoxious.
I'd thought I couldn't hate him more than that. For a while, Kaian had been quick to get angry or scold me, which was both shocking and burdensome to the point where I wondered if he was really this kind of person.
"He wasn't the type of person to get angry easily."
There were times when Kaian spoke harshly, but it was just the man's tone. When I looked at his cold and indifferent face and his tone of voice, I might feel he was very dissatisfied or that he was troubled by something, but he was a kinder and more attentive person than he appeared.
When I'd hidden that I had consumption, it was only when he'd realized I might die that he couldn't hide his anger and became furious. After that, even though he'd nagged me, he'd never gotten that emotionally angry at me.
"Maybe it was preferential treatment for patients because I was sick?"
So he'd taken care of me a little bit back then, and now I was healthy, wasn't I? I was confused.
I'd gotten better because I'd thought he was strong, dependable, and trustworthy. As he'd embraced me, cared for me, and sometimes taken care of me to the point of annoying me, my heart had gradually opened up.
There'd been a time when I'd imagined the harsh things I would experience if I got married to this castle, among the things I'd heard through the grapevine.
Some women died during the wedding night, even if they weren't from enemy families. It was a sadistic act, such as strangling someone, that went wrong, and rumors of such things were easily spread here and there through the maids.
There'd been a 100% chance I would die. I'd prepared myself to die from the consumption disease or to be killed at the hands of my enemies.
If Kaian had launched a territorial war and attacked Valmonde with prepared soldiers, how many lives would have ended under his sword? It may not have been the long-awaited rain that wetted the dry land after ten years of drought, but the blood of the territory's people.
At that time, I could really have sacrificed my life on behalf of Valmonde territory's people. Because my happiness had seemed not to exist in this world.
My state of mind was completely different now than then. Crossing the line of fire, I'd survived and now had a baby.
I wanted to feel comfortable with the man who embraced me warmly, but he wouldn't allow me to do so. Even though I resented such a man, I always felt uneasy when I thought of my uncle who wanted to kill Kaian.
The subject of most curse-like words I'd grown up hearing for a very long time was Temnes. So it wasn't entirely outlandish that the man who was Duke of Temnes said he couldn't trust Vermont. The strange thing was that I was pregnant with my enemy's baby.
Perhaps none of the ancestral heads of the two families could have imagined that in the two hundred years of hostilities between them and their inability to kill each other, a child would be born with the blood of both families mixed together.
It was natural for a woman carrying a child to want to be protected because of reproductive instincts. But when Kaian didn't protect me, my heart broke.
When I'd made it known to him, he'd become displeased and scolded me even more, and I'd become more and more offended.
*I'm going to have to cut this off somewhere.*
If there was a chain of bad habits or a beginning that brought misfortune, it would be better to stay away from it.
My life seemed to have been tied to Kaian from the moment he'd brought me back to life. Rather than independently pursuing satisfaction with my life, the scale of my happiness changed from day to day depending on whether my relationship with my husband was smooth or not.
"But I can't say it's very bad."
What always came to mind at moments like this was the mindset I'd had when I'd first come to Rowan Castle. I'd been ready to lie down in the castle catacombs whenever I wanted.
How full this sounded compared to back then. I scolded myself and tried to control my mind.
---
Bianque, who'd come to Rowan Castle, burst into Claudel's bedroom as if Kaian had spared her the hassle of going out and greeting the Princess with proper manners.
"I heard you're not feeling well?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Well, it's not even our first meeting anymore. Just call me Bianque."
"How dare I do that?"
"I'm just saying. Glad you know your place. Ho ho ho."
Claudel sat across from Bianque and felt dispirited. Fortunately, Madame Marcel entered the drawing room at a hurried pace.
"A seamstress with humble talent comes to see Her Highness."
"Long time no see, Madame Marcel."
Princess Bianque smiled beneath her lush lemon-blonde hair.
"I went to the Duchy of Luxen with my father right after the King's Birthday celebration."
"By the way, you came all the way to Rowan?"
"It's been a while since a ball was held in Rowan, right?"
Bianque retorted with a pointed look on her face.
"What a big secret. You said you could stay in Luxen as you pleased without telling me, and then you went to Rowan?"
"Didn't His Majesty tell the Princess in advance?"
When Madame Marcel asked everyone's question, Bianque answered calmly.
"Exactly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to the principality, which takes twenty days for a round trip, and then come down to Rowan right away."
Valquiterre had said he'd attend the "Water Banquet" held in mid-February and then return to the capital by taking the Shen River. However, the King's ship had come down from the capital, and it was surprising to see that in addition to Makie, who'd originally said he'd come, Princess Bianque was also on board.
"Since Madame Elise passed away, I've never been here. I was planning to go someday, but my brother is so fickle."
This was when Madame Marcel, Hannah, and Claudel, who'd been listening to Bianque's words, realized at the same time that it had been a plan thrown together on a whim.
"Show me Madame Marcel's dresses. I'll borrow a few and get a few more ready to wear before I return to the capital."
Claudel was in a daze as she watched the Princess, who seemed sincere about dresses, holding onto Madame Marcel.
*I want to close my eyes for a moment.*
Watching the Princess grill Madame Marcel, Claudel felt herself growing tired. Then something suddenly occurred to me.
*If Queen Silvia issued an order to keep quiet about the village of Plogne, perhaps Princess Bianque also knows something?*
When Madame Marcel, who'd completely exhausted what she'd brought, left the room with Hannah, saying she'd go to her studio to pick up samples of other costumes, I asked cautiously:
"Um, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Do you know a place called Plogne Village?"
"Plogne?"
"Kaian said the Queen forbade him to mention it and told him to keep it a secret."
Bianque, who'd been mulling over what I said a few times, clapped her hands.
"Ah, I remember! I also followed them a few times."
"Really?"
"A magical town with a talking tree."
I nodded my head. Unbelievable words flowed from Bianque's mouth as if something had occurred to her.
"Kaian set fire to that village, right?"
---