"the details."
Dennis was listening to Silbang's report, tapping his fingertips on the desktop.
The report was about the fight at the social club, which had been published in the newspapers a few days earlier.
“It was not just a passing fight between gentlemen inside the social club.
Police investigations reveal more and more complex details little by little.
It is a sexual scandal that is following Prince Fabrice.
The main suspect announced so far is Xavier Belmont.
It was found that Xavier was recruiting women for a secret social club and exploiting them.
It seems that Prince Fabrice was a member of that group.”
“Is that all?”
Dennis looked at Silbang.
The other one continued his speech:
“No, it turned out that they were not limited to exploitation, but also torture.
The police are investigating the matter, but they suspect a connection between it and the series of disappearances that recently occurred in the capital.”
“Oh.”
Dennis said in a merciless voice.
“What is the evidence that Fabrice belongs to that group?”
Silbang said in a regretful voice:
“There is no conclusive physical evidence yet but the common saying is that Xavier and members of his group were mingling with Prince Fabrice frequently.
We believe that after a detailed investigation, we will be able to prove a link with the second prince.”
After he finished his report, Silbang stood motionless in front of him.
Dennis lost himself in thought for a moment.
Do you think he finally went crazy and abandoned the throne?
Or is there another plan hiding behind this?
When they were mingling as kids, he wasn't that corrupt.
He was reckless, but not so brutal as to kill people for no reason.
Anyway, the news Silbang brought was good for him.
“Bring me proof that Fabrice was involved in this.
We will decide how to deal with it later.”
“Okay.
I will, Your Highness.”
“Oh, and...”
He called over Dennis Silbang who turned to leave.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“What is my wife doing now?”
“Her Highness the Princess is having a tea party in the garden with the noble ladies.”
“Okay, I understand, you can go now.”
Silbang walked out, and the work office was filled with silence.
Dennis picked up a cigar.
He started to have a headache.
He was already suffering from frequent headaches due to overthinking various things, and now comes the Fabrice scandal.
How far will the repercussions of this matter extend?
Will he turn into enough flame to take down the wings of the king's beloved Fabrice, or not?
Dennis tilted his head back completely and lit his cigar.
The room was soon filled with cigar smoke.
His relationship with his half-brother Fabrice...if we were to explain it, it would be a bit complicated.
In short, a relationship that can never become close.
But ironically, it was a relationship of friendship and mingling, for once.
It was because Denise and Fabrice had one thing in common: they both lost their mothers when they were young.
Denis is the son of the first queen, Charles.
Fabrice is the son of the second queen, Queen Marianne.
Queen Charles, descended from a commoner, was placed under house arrest three years after Denis' birth, due to the violent opposition of the old nobles.
Whoever occupied Charles's place next was Queen Marianne, descended from an ancient ducal family belonging to the ranks of the ancient nobility.
So what's the point of talking about Dennis and Fabrice's relationship?
But when Queen Charles died of illness when Denis was nine, and Queen Marianne later followed after she gave birth to Julien, Fabrice's younger brother, the tables turned.
The two of them were as if they were alone in the world, relying on and comforting each other to get through these difficult times.
But over time the situation changed.
What separated them was the blood running through their veins.
As Denis grew older, his features resembled Queen Charles more.
As for Fabrice, the more time passes the more he resembles their father, Elliot.
Elliot was hugging Fabrice, who looked more like him, as if he was rejuvenating through him.
Eliot, born a fifth prince, who grew up shrunken and unable to straighten his shoulders under the weight of his older brothers and sisters, seemed to give vent to himself, if only a little, through Fabrice.
He generously supported him for everything he had wished for himself as a child but could not do.
As if it achieves alternative satisfaction.
The King Father's sympathy for Fabrice was not only for emotional reasons.
Even if Fabrice's mother has passed away, her family's influence has not disappeared.
The Duke of Primm's house, which still has strong influence, constitutes a solid supportive maternal family.
As for Dennis, he had nothing.
Now that Queen Charles, a commoner orphan, was gone, his supporters were only a few new nobles.
Dennis's support base was relatively higher among the general public.
But public support was not a major factor in his accession to the throne.
The conservative nobility despised the popular blood running through his veins.
No matter how efficient it is.
What does that worthless blood have to do with it?
As a reckless teenager, he got himself into a self-harm problem because he wanted to drain all the “bad” blood running through his body.
Of course, that's all in the past now.
The scar under the tattoo on his left chest was a sign of fire that always reminded him of his blood.
The period of close friendship with Fabrice, even though it was only a few years ago, felt like a distant past.
If his father had decided quickly, it would have been better, but the king father was stalling and did not raise a hand in support of either of them.
Meanwhile, Denise and Fabrice's relationship has drifted apart beyond control.
If the King Father had elevated the second prince, Fabrice, as crown prince, everything would have been resolved.
Although there is a principle of preference for the firstborn son, it is not a principle that cannot be departed from.
Wasn't Eliot himself a Fifth Prince?
In fact, the Duke of Priem was submitting a daily petition to have Fabrice crowned crown prince.
Dennis could not understand what his father harbored within himself.
If his father had placed the crown on Fabrice's head, Denis would have been able to leave the palace without the slightest regret.
As this fruitless time continued, Denis lost even the reason for his insistence on becoming king.
At first, he just wanted revenge on the nobles who despised him.
But the meaning became little by little vague, and it seemed as if the emptiness was eating away at him.
A feeling of helplessness and futility.
Dennis pressed his temples.
If only he could stop thinking...
He got up from his chair with a heavy thought and headed to the end of his study room.
When he opened the closed window slightly, a breeze came in with a loud, clear laugh that passed through the window.
Therese Engelger.
If he stood at the edge of his room, he would see the corner of her garden.
She certainly didn't know that her garden was visible from this room.
If I had known, I would not have let even a hair in the garden.
He saw the back of her small, round head, which waved as if it were braided with gold threads.
Under that small butt, a transparent blue dress swayed.
My wife seems to be in a good mood today.
She seems to be sitting with people he doesn't know and talking about something interesting.
Her laughter reached him endlessly.
Dennis leaned diagonally against the wall, exhaling cigar smoke as he stared at the little girl.
Youngest daughter of the Marquis Engelger, and the most honorable woman in the Kingdom of Valois.
If his mother, Queen Charles, were still alive, that woman would not have been named “the most honorable woman.”
But his mother had left the world more than twenty years ago, and Queen Marianne, who came after her, followed her.
Therefore, without a doubt, she is truly and truly the most honorable woman in Valois.
Noble blood.
Dennis remembered this word with a wry smile.
He despised blood-obsessed nobles.
Didn't Engelger sprinkle innocent blood to preserve that “noble blood”?
His mother, Queen Charles, was one of Engelger's victims.
Dennis found his situation funny.
He married the daughter of the family he despises to the utmost, and confronts her every day.
Isn't he the unfortunate prince who didn't even have the strength to refuse an unwanted marriage?
When nominations were made for the princess, he hoped that of the three candidates it would not be Engelger.
As for others, he did not care who would sit next to him.
But Engelger seems to have concluded that Dennis is interested in another candidate.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to act so hastily.
Dennis felt his wife's blood disgusting again.
It certainly wasn't her decision alone.
The influence of her father, the Marquis, must have intervened.
Marquis Engelger, the wife's father, was famous in the capital for his dirty machinations.
Denis thought the Marquis Engelger had something he wanted, so he bound his daughter to him.
He was not unaware of his intentions.
He was just pretending not to know.
Did you think I wouldn't know if I pretended to be obedient outwardly?
That was pathetic.
To talk about truth and responsibility while their eyes shine with greed?
It's unbelievable.
Indeed, as the princess's father, the sight of him interfering in palace affairs large and small was ridiculous.
My smart wife certainly isn't ignorant of this.
However, look at her noble behavior.
There was nothing that did not disgust him, whether in her pretending not to know, or in the elegant gestures and movements of her hand and body that were not a hair out of the scope of the behavior of a noble lady.
Dennis suddenly felt nauseous.
He extinguished the cigar by crushing it.
Did she feel like someone was staring at her?
Therese looked in Denise's direction.
And their eyes met.
It was as if her pure laughter was a lie.
In her gaze, which paused for a moment, there was no emotion.
Dennis closed the window violently and strode out of his office.
He felt tight in his chest.
He needed fresh air.