“I don't know.
I don't know.”
Therese responded by feigning ignorance at first glance.
“Hmm.
Really?”
Dennis responded frivolously, but his facial expression showed complete disbelief.
Dennis put his hand on her shoulder, then with his finger he lifted a thin, silky strand of hair.
Brown lock of hair.
It belonged to Melby.
Thérèse uttered obscenities inside her.
It was intentional enough to arouse suspicion.
The smell of perfume, and his hair.
He attaches himself to my side again and again, then leaves his hair clearly sticking to my shoulder.
“You still refuse to say anything?
Right?”
“It's a real misunderstanding, Your Highness, this is not… this is not what you think.”
“What's not what I think?”
He stared at her with his arms crossed, as if daring her to confess anything.
“Ah, were you meeting a blond priest in the temple?
Now I should trace who that blond priest is?
Right?”
“I was just...”
She had not been to the temple, nor had she met a man.
But if she said that, wouldn't he then ask her where she was and what she did?
Of course, although Melby is a man, she is in no way in a close relationship with him.
Of course, she has a close relationship with him, but not in this personal sense.
Of course, she uses it for personal purposes... but not for... personal purposes...
Thérèse could not understand why her thoughts were constantly tangled in front of him, while her mind worked so smoothly when she was plotting.
What should you say?
“Therese.”
Dennis ran his hand through his hair, as if something was worrying him.
"… Tell me."
Therese looked into his deep eyes and said:
“Your Highness.”
"Yes."
“Will...will you trust me and forgive me, no matter what I might do?”
She wanted to ask him: Will you accept me as I am, even if I don't say anything?
“…This is something that God does, not man.”
"Understood."
Therese answered coldly.
“I have committed a sin…”
Thérèse began her speech as if she were confessing in a ritual of repentance.
“You mean you committed a sin with that man?”
Dennis's eyes sparkled sharply.
“Do you really think, Your Highness, that I was seeing another man?”
Dennis paused before answering Therese's question.
“If I had known that, ha…”
He ran his hand through his messy hair again.
His voice was mixed with sighs, so you couldn't hear him well.
"What?"
Therese inquired because she did not hear his response clearly.
“I said no, ma'am.”
Thérèse stared at him for a moment, then lowered her head because she could not meet his gaze.
“You'll soon find out when you read the papers, Your Highness.”
That is, because of what I did for you.
If there was one person she wanted to forgive, it would be Dennis.
That's it.
The person you want to forgive, the person you want to understand, is him alone.
Dennis waited patiently for her next word.
But Thérèse did not open her mouth again.
“Are you done?…Okay.”
His voice was tired, as if he had been soaked in water.
He got up wearily and headed toward the window.
Then he turned around and said:
“Therese.”
Therese looked at his rounded back.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“My words may be ridiculous, especially since I am not a believer.”
“There is no God who wishes you to commit sins.”
His talk about God seemed, in a way, to be talking about himself.
Therese couldn't tell the expression on Dennis' face as he turned his back to her.
“Whatever it is…don’t hide it and tell me.”
"yes i will."
“Finally...”
Dennis stopped talking for a moment.
“I do not want an offering that you offer while shedding your blood.”
Therese answered coldly:
“Okay.”
Dennis stood at the window, then came back and sat opposite it.
His face looked a little tired.
Maybe he didn't sleep well?
“Didn't you sleep well, Your Highness?”
"… Yes."
“Instead of coming to my room.”
“I couldn't find you there.”
"Yes."
There was a short silence.
Dennis tried to change the atmosphere by saying:
“We'll go to the World's Fair together next week.”
“Okay, Your Highness.”
“And eat this.”
The sandwich was so small that she could almost swallow it in one bite.
But it was a little bigger than what she was used to eating.
Thérèse let out a small sigh and replied:
“Okay, Your Highness.”
“Therese, don't you know any words other than 'okay' and 'no'?"
"no."
"if?"
Dennis looked at her in confusion.
“Then tell me you love me.”
He gestured with his chin.
Therese was stunned for a moment and did not say a word.
If the rhetoric was intended, Thérèse would have been more capable of it than anyone.
Isn't this the only thing you've mastered while playing a princess?
Cold words and fake smiles.
But this time they were not empty words.
Faced with Denis's provocation, Tehys felt like saying 'I love you' like an unarmed knight whose weapon had been taken away.
“Why don't you say something?
You're so good at lying.”
Therese put down the sandwich and looked at him.
Debnis was also watching her with a scrutinizing look.
Then he delivered his words as if they were fleeting:
“Is it because it's the truth?”
“How is that possible, Your Highness?”
Therese opened her mouth with a trembling voice, hoping that he would not discover the sincerity hidden behind her words.
“I love you.
And you?”
"What?"
"Do you love me?"
“Hmm.”
Dennis looked embarrassed, as if he hadn't expected her return question, and scrunched his forehead.
After a short silence, he said in a firm voice:
“Listen carefully, Therese, from the beginning of our marriage until now.”
Therese swallowed dryly, waiting for the words to come out of his mouth.
“I don't love you.”
“This is my conclusion.”
Therese's heart felt like it suddenly fell and turned upside down.
He says he doesn't love me...
“Instead, I feel responsible for you as you have done for me all this time.
I will do this for you… a kind of repayment.”
Dennis looked relieved after he said that.
'A kind of return of the favor.'
Perhaps it was my wrong expectation that made me hope for his kindness.
Denis still doesn't love me, and it's as if that truth stabs Thérèse in the heart.
Thérèse softened her voice and opened her mouth slowly:
“…So why do you always care about me?”
She looked at the sandwich that Dennis had brought.
Dennis followed her gaze and simply replied:
“It's like taking care of a kingfisher that got into a cage, ma'am.”
“...Did you know that kingfishers migrate to the warmer south when fall comes?”
“Of course, that's why...”
After saying that, he raised his hand and took her hand.
Then he kissed the back of her hand deeply.
“I have to feed him well, put him to sleep… and keep him from leaving.
Isn’t that the duty of the new cage owner?”
“Isn’t he destined to leave when the seasons change?”
“When did you become an advocate of fate, ma’am?”
Dennis lifted the last piece of sandwich and brought it to her mouth.
“Wasn’t you, my wife, an advocate of changing fate?”
Thérèse politely bit down on the sandwich he offered her.
There were only bread crumbs left in the plate he brought.
Then he looked at her admiringly.
Her master always seems so uncaring and compassionate that I misunderstand him and think he really loves me.
“…I don’t understand you, Your Highness.”
This was Thérèse's sincere feeling.
“Really?
I don’t understand you in that aspect either, we seem to get along well.”
Dennis raised the corner of his mouth and smiled broadly.
It was a smile as refreshing as lemonade in the middle of summer.
Food was lined up on the luxurious, elaborately prepared table.
The quantity was plentiful and enough for dozens of people.
The grandiose and huge banquet hall looked like it was hosting a party.
But there was no sound of friendly conversation, not even the sound of eating utensils.
Only two were sitting to eat on either side of me
Long table: middle-aged man and woman.
If anyone had seen that strange silence, they would have considered it mysterious, but to those sitting there, it seemed quite normal.
While the middle-aged man was slowly cutting the steak and drinking the wine, the young woman's plate remained almost the same since it was placed.
The man broke the frozen silence and said:
“Looks like we're fairly done with dinner, so how about we go over to my office to talk?”
"… Good."
Small shoulders appeared following the large body that walked with long strides ahead of her.
The sweeping aura emanating from the man weighed heavily on Thérèse.
The huge, heavy office door closed without a sound.
On top of the great fireplace hung a beautiful carved head of a stag, and beneath it were three decorated rifles in a row.
Therese felt goosebumps every time she entered the man's room.
Because she felt as if the bright black eyes of the deer were following her.
The man's room, which boasted the best view in the palace, was always as cold and dry as the man himself.
In the middle of the room, a sofa made of high-quality water buffalo leather was lined up.
The man immediately took out a bottle of cognac and two empty glasses from the cabinet, then sat down in the main seat.
Even though he knew she couldn't drink highly concentrated liquor, he always took out a glass for her, because he wanted to subjugate her.
As a child, she had drank cognac that she could not stand, without being able to refuse it.
“I won't drink.”
Therese's voice trembled a little at the end.
The man stared at her, furrowing his brow tightly.
“Do you have a baby in your belly?”
"no."
The man clucked his tongue and then just poured the cognac into his glass.
The man tapped his knuckles on the arm of the sofa irregularly.
Therese was afraid of what the man would say after that hand stopped.
"Okay.
What's the prince doing these days?"
“As usual, sir.”
“This is something I know very well too.
You should have something to know alone.
Right?”
The man gently rolled the cup over, held the glowing amber liquid in his mouth, and stared directly at her.
Under the man's gaze, Thérèse felt like a fish stuck in a spear.
She wanted not to appear deflated in front of him, so she straightened her stance.
After tasting the cognac for a long time as if it did not exist, the man asked in a deeper voice:
“Should I have checked beforehand whether your body was capable of becoming pregnant?”
It looked like a monster growling lowly.
“Isn’t it?
A daughter has to answer when her father asks.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Therese was shaking, but she sat up straight.
“Or is the problem with the prince?”
“It's not like that.”
Therese immediately disagreed.
The man drank the rest of the cognac in one gulp, then gave her his final warning:
“Do it right, my daughter.
Your father’s patience is not long.”
"Good."
“What is your duty?”
Therese answered immediately, as if she knew it by heart:
“Coronation of the first prince to the throne.”
“Alright, do it right, go now.”
The huge, mountain-like body was staring at her as if it was going to stab her.
Therese had to exert all her strength not to sway as she turned and left.
She didn't even know what mentality she got on the bandwagon with.
Although she believed that she had been trained in the Count's actions.
But every time like this, she felt upset with herself and was hurt by the Count's words.
Therese exhaled deeply to calm her heavy breathing.
If it doesn't produce results, it will be eliminated.
Count Engelger was a man of that kind.
A man who does not hesitate to do anything to get what he wants.
An ambitious man who is not content with having his family be among the highest nobles, but rather wants to become a member of the royal family and exercise greater authority.
That man is her father, Count Engelger
What was his expression when Thérèse finally married First Prince Denis?
The Count's smile was full of satisfaction, as if he had taken a final step.
Full predator face.
Therese still remembers that smile.
Since that Count Engelger had waited for more than five years, he had been patient long enough.
Therese finally managed to calm her breathing and sat down in the chair.
It seemed as if the night mist outside the window was holding her tightly and not letting go.