“…This is a new beginning.
Technological developments will make our lives more prosperous in the future.”
Elliot's face, standing at the podium to deliver his opening speech, looked much better than before.
Lately, Eliot has been ignoring official state affairs and living isolated inside the palace, never leaving it.
When Eliot's speech ended, dazzling fireworks exploded behind him, announcing the opening of the World's Fair.
“Shall we go?”
Crowds were crowding to watch the opening ceremony.
The knights of the Royal Guard opened the way for Thérèse, and he walked with them under their guard.
“Prince!”
“Turn to us please!”
People extended their arms toward Dennis, shouting.
Dennis raised his hand, waving naturally.
More people shouted.
“The saint’s son!”
“The throne is for the son of the great saint!”
Dennis smiled gently.
Some called out Therese's name too.
“Your Highness the Princess!
Please turn to us!”
Thérèse waved her hand affectionately towards those calling to her.
Then those who were chanting Denise's name looked towards her, whispering.
They appear to have been followers of Dennis.
“Look at that garish hat.”
“And the dangling jewels!
It is an incomparable extravagance!
They insulted her and accused her of being irreverent as they looked at her hat, which she had decorated to hide the bruise on her cheek.
From the beginning of the marriage, there were quite a few people who hated Thérèse.
This is because the truth that Denis married Thérèse against his will was spread in secret.
Moreover, has she not yet failed to produce an heir?
Some people even treated her as a burden on the royal family.
Those who were chanting Denise's name are now chanting Therese's name.
“The barren princess step down!”
The moment she heard those words, Therese's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
But she quickly smiled as if she had not heard anything.
When Dennis and Therese entered the exhibition hall, the crowds were controlled.
Once the people's screaming stopped, they felt isolated from the outside world.
Upon entering the exhibition hall, Dennis looked at her silently.
Therese spoke up:
“...You know I'm not upset.”
Without saying anything, Dennis took her hand and put it in his arm.
I felt the warmth of his large hand.
As she walked with him, she said in a low voice, as if passing a passing remark:
“We caught the second prince.”
"…Okay."
Dennis paused for a moment, then answered as if it were normal, and led her with him.
“From here.”
Upon entering the middle of the exhibition hall, the first thing that appeared was the huge orb.
It was a large, transparent ball that almost touched the ceiling of the hall, and in which the stars and planets moved.
Thérèse stared at the orb with eyes wide open.
"This is amazing."
“Of course, Your Highness the Princess has great taste.
This ball was made by Paul Algeron, and it will introduce visitors to astronomy during the course of this exhibition.”
After touring the Central Hall, Denis and Therese moved to the International Pavilion.
It was a space where neighboring countries displayed their national styles.
There were pavilions for countries that do not have many relationships with the Kingdom as well.
Therese stopped in front of a piece of art.
Taehye stared at the painting hanging in front of her in amazement.
It was a painting so huge that if you extended your arms, you couldn't touch the edges.
It depicted a vine tree with bunches of grapes hanging from it.
When she looked at the painting, one of the guides approached her and addressed her:
“Do you like this piece, Your Highness?”
“Yes.
I think it would be great if she got stuck in the palace.”
Thérèse replied without taking her eyes off the board.
“It would be perfect if it hung in your highness’s palace, as this piece symbolizes fertility.”
I looked at him with surprised eyes.
Then the guide began to explain to her eagerly:
“As for this painting, it is a work entitled “Hutla” presented by Herzan.
Herzan was a country that did not have contact with Valois, but decided to consolidate the friendship between the two countries through this world exhibition.”
“Yes...”
It seemed that he was eager to explain the work to the princess, so he continued talking without stopping:
“The reason I say that it is suitable for your Highness’s palace!
The clustered grape clusters directly symbolize fertility and the word ‘dalia’ in the Herzan language has the same pronunciation as the word meaning ‘continuation of offspring’, so it carries the meaning of the flourishing and spread of offspring.”
"Understood."
Therese became a little tired of the guide who wouldn't stop talking.
But without showing it, she nodded in agreement with his explanation.
“Thank you for the explanation.”
“To recognize such work with one glance, this truly demonstrates Your Highness’s distinguished taste!”
The guide complimented Therese.
Therese turned away from the painting and went to another wing.
Dennis was still standing beside her, silent.
“Are you bored, Prince?”
"And you?"
"Okay.
I think we've seen enough."
“Shall we come back?”
“Before that, there is a place I want to visit for a moment.”
Therese led his hand outside.
At the entrance, a crying child appeared in front of Dennis as if he had been waiting for him.
Therese held the baby naturally, faced his eyes, and soothed him.
She held the child's hand and said to Dennis:
“The child seems to have lost his way.
We must find his parents.
Can’t you go with the child to the exhibition support department yourself, Prince?”
He knew that she usually didn't like children very much.
“You've set something up again.”
Therese did not answer.
Dennis understood her silence as an answer, so he took the child's hand and said gently:
“What is the name of the young master?”
The child replied:
“Joel, Prince.”
The child answered while sobbing, but accurately.
“Joel is a beautiful name.
Come with me, I will find your mother for you.”
When Denise and the baby disappeared in that direction, Therese motioned to Daniel.
At her gesture, Danielle whispered something to reporters.
So the journalists followed him.
This was something I planned in advance for Denise's close-to-people photo.
Fabrice's conspiracy with a palace scandal ended in failure.
Whether it is true or not is no longer important.
Covering it would be the best way.
But Thérèse still felt humiliated inside.
Surely, another opportunity to take down Fabrice would come.
If a story about him helping a lost child at the World's Fair caught public attention, it would certainly help increase Dennis's popularity even a little.
For this reason, she bribed a child in advance to play the role.
She gave directions to journalists to write reports in a positive atmosphere.
“Shall we wait for the prince for a while?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Therese and her companions entered another adjacent suite.
Apparently because it was opening day, the crowds were packed.
“How many people?”
“It's the Crown Princess!”
When people discovered it, they pointed their fingers at it and screamed.
“Helpless!”
They seemed to be the same people who had cursed her before, but in a more irritated tone than before.
“Stay away from the prince!”
This was the second time today.
Therese was overcome by a sudden exhaustion.
Didn't a rumor spread at the beginning of the marriage that she was a cursed woman?
Because of this, I refrained from attending official events for some time.
Therese stared at the people making obscene remarks.
It would be ridiculous to react to every word they say as if it were a passing joke.
She turned her head.
The knights wanted to advance to arrest the culprits, but Thérèse prevented them.
“Leave them.
If they want to say what they have to say with my tongue, how can I stop them?
It will seem that I seem easy to them.”
“You should not overlook this.
Punish them severely before they say something harsher.”
Yarul, who was standing innocently at the back, said in a low voice.
At that moment, someone threw the cream pie he was holding at her.
Yarol quickly advanced, immediately unsheathing his sword, and the knights gathered around her in a position of defensive readiness.
Perhaps frightened by the suddenly tense atmosphere, people looked at Thérèse, whispering.
Meanwhile, Therese's eyes met a pale-faced man.
Apparently he was the culprit.
He threw the pie in a moment of anger, but it seemed like he didn't really expect it to hit her.
“We will arrest the culprit immediately!”
Thérèse stopped the knights, saying:
“It seems his hand slipped.
Let's go back to the palace now.”
Then she wiped the cream off with her handkerchief.
But traces of the cream remained visible on her dress.
“Her Highness the Princess.”
Danielle tried to stop her as she prepared to return.
She meant to give him an example.
But she put her hand on her shoulder once and shook her head.
It was a categorical refusal.
“Can we use force on a beautiful day like this?
I have a headache.
Let’s go back quickly.”
Therese grabbed her head for no reason and insisted on Yarol to come back.
Returning to the palace, she summoned Ellie before she even changed into her ball gown.
Ellie realized why she had been summoned and immediately told her where Fabrice was.
“We verified the source of the message.
It was a villa on the outskirts of the capital.
We saw a council member entering the villa where the Second Prince was being held.
We caught the scene.
We wanted to bring him directly to the palace, but we had to put him in a safe place.”
“It looks like he's not dead.”
Thérèse said it sounded like she wished Fabrice was dead.
Ellie continued cautiously:
“And the owner of the villa who detained the Second Prince is Giselle Lomaxin.”
"What?"
Thérèse inquired, wondering if she had misheard.
“We have confirmed that the villa is registered under the alias of Giselle Lomaxin, the woman who is stalking Fabrice.”
“Heh!”
Therese had nothing to say except to exclaim.
He was an unexpected person.
“And the second prince’s condition is not good...”
“What do you mean his condition is not good?”
She raised her tone questioningly.
Ellie hesitated a little, then said:
“The Second Prince was unconscious, so we couldn’t find out the exact circumstances, but from the shape of the wounds on his body… it appears that he was whipped.”
“Heh!
Really.”
Wounds on the prince's body?
And flogging too?
Therese felt a throbbing pain in her head.
“Did the other party find out that we kidnapped him?”
“He wouldn't have found out right away but by now he'd probably found out that the prince had disappeared...”
Just as we found Giselle's villa, Giselle will also search for those who kidnapped Fabrice.
“It can't be left like this.
Treat first.
When the Second Prince wakes up, confirm the whole story.”
"present."
“And if you notice any sign that the other party has taken notice, let me know and I will have to take action.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Ellie nodded her head in agreement and left the room.
Therese adjusted her seat as she thought about the new woman who had appeared, Giselle.
Then she suddenly looked at her chest.
She had not changed her dress yet, so traces of the cream were clearly visible on her chest.
She suddenly bent over the desk, exhausted.
Therese saw the perpetrator about to throw something out of the corner of her eye.
But in that fleeting moment, she decided not to avoid him and take the hit.
Sometimes one picture is more impactful than a hundred words.
Today's incident is sure to be in the newspapers.
Then, even those who were neutral or indifferent about her would feel pity for her.
Then her husband, Dennis, could also become the subject of those feelings.
Wasn't the founding king once stabbed with a knife by a criminal during a state speech?
Immediately after the Unification War, the territory expanded but the people's lives never improved.
In fact, innocent lives were lost due to forced conscription for war, and deaths from starvation increased due to the provision of war supplies.
When the people rebelled, saying that they would all die in this way, this incident happened.
At that time, the founding king completed his speech to the end despite being stabbed by the attacker's knife, and his popularity skyrocketed as a result.
Thanks to that incident, the founding king recovered and remains a respected king to this day.
So, this incident will also eventually increase Dennis's popularity.
Of course the unsub wasn't expecting all of that as he threw the cream pie at her.
Compassion and empathy.
People sometimes make fateful choices based on irrational feelings at certain moments, rather than based on rational judgment.
Rationally, it was so.
It was a perfect explanation.
but.
Since she is also human, the moment has come when she cannot overcome irrational feelings.
Have I sinned enough to deserve such blatant insults?
If marrying him was wrong in and of itself, then she would forever remain a wrong.
If crying solved all problems, I would not hesitate to cry.
But she knows from experience that it is faster to address the situation at that time.
Because she is a responsible adult, and a princess.
She went to the dressing room quietly to change her dress.