As soon as she took off her clothes, put on another dress, and sat at her desk in the work room, Danielle entered carrying chocolate and coffee.
Therese raised her head from the papers to greet him.
"Thank you."
“Your Highness, may I ask you a rude question?”
"What is it?"
She turned her gaze to him.
“Why did you ask us to let it go?”
She seemed angry about what had happened, and her anger was still burning, so she looked directly at her as she spoke.
“Thank you for your concern for me, but even if I revolt there and we are able to arrest the perpetrator, it will not help His Highness the Prince in any way.
It is just a waste of time.
If through this we can raise the level of support for His Highness the Prince, even a little, then I do not ask for more than that.”
“Is this that bad?!”
Danielle responded as if her pride had been wounded by her words.
“Am I not doing more than that now?
As long as His Highness the Prince can ascend to the throne, I don’t care even if my neck is hung on the city wall.”
"To hang your neck?!
Do not utter such words.
I know very well your deep feelings, Your Highness, but…"
“That's enough.
I'll drink coffee, you can go now.”
"… Good."
Danielle left without a word after putting the tray down.
When Dennis returned after safely handing the baby over to his parents, he discovered that she had disappeared.
Nothing of importance happened during his exit from the support wing, except for some journalists taking his picture when they confronted him at the exit.
Her maid and the guard knight who were waiting for her at the entrance informed him:
“Your Highness the Prince, Her Highness the Princess returned to the palace because she was attacked by crowds and requested that we inform Your Highness that she feels sorry.”
“What attack?”
“They threw a pie at Her Highness...”
The maid bowed her head.
“Thanks for letting me know.”
Dennis looked behind him.
People were walking around the gallery enjoying themselves, laughing and happily.
In an instant, people's faces seemed distorted to him.
Denis asked her maid in an affectionate tone:
“Do they think we'll break up?”
The maid hesitated a little before answering: “No.”
A smile hung on Denise's lips.
“Or do they see me as a monster who abandons his wife because she doesn’t have children?”
“Absolutely not.”
The maid strongly denied it.
“Absolutely not, Your Highness.”
She answered again as if to confirm.
Dennis looked around.
People still turned to him and looked at him curiously.
They're still interested in him.
Those who praise him in front of him and curse him behind his back, those who might turn at any moment...
He was disgusted by this sight of them.
He almost screamed from the intensity of the emotions he had suppressed.
Many eyes were watching him.
Instead, he stopped, composed himself, and brushed his hair back.
“Selbang.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Dennis called to Silbang, saying:
“Can you call a police officer?”
Silbang set out to do his bidding.
He had somewhere else to go.
Dennis stopped in front of the familiar door.
His wife will be behind that door.
Although he rushed to her, worried about her, he - ironically - stood hesitantly in front of the door.
Because why he came to Thérèse was not clear.
Didn't he ignore everything I did all this time?
Because he thought everything was her responsibility.
Both pain and sadness.
But his attempt to console her after he decided to take responsibility, was it out of pity?
Or out of a sense of responsibility?
If he didn't open this door and withdraw now, there wouldn't be any problem.
However, the reason for his frequent hesitation…
Dennis raised his hand to the doorknob, then lowered it, and repeated this.
Therese noticed someone wandering outside the door, so she called out:
"Daniel?
Come in."
Dennis, who was just fumbling with the doorknob, entered the room.
She seemed to think he was her maid, so she looked surprised when she saw him.
“Why are you here at this time...”
Thérèse thought he had come to ask the reason for her sudden disappearance, so she quickly made an excuse.
“Ah… there was a small accident and I came back early, Your Highness.”
The woman was working as usual.
He answered her coldly:
“Okay.”
"are you tired?"
“No, and you?”
"I'm fine."
"How are you?"
Dennis approached and leaned his back to the desk where she was sitting, then loosened the tie that was suffocating him.
Then he looked at her.
The sitting woman looked smaller today.
Therese turned her chair to look at him.
"… I don't know."
“Did you sleep well last night?”
Therese couldn't understand the context of his words.
To ask her late in the afternoon if she slept well.
“I was as usual.”
“And your mood?”
As Denise said this, he picked up a chocolate bar from her desk and put it in his mouth.
The bitter chocolate flavor spread in his mouth.
“…Fine, why do you ask?”
“If you're not doing well...
I thought I'd help you.”
Dennis roughly wiped the chocolate off his fingers with the napkin, then began to play with a strand of hair at the woman's temple.
He knew no other way to comfort her than this.
The way she comforted him when he was broken.
Therese's face reddened for a moment.
"Oh?
Do you need help?"
“Here...”
Dennis easily lifted Therese in the chair and placed her on the desk.
The papers wrinkled under the woman.
Her little foot swung in the air.
“Wait a minute, the papers...”
Therese, looking confused, quickly tried to remove the papers stuck beneath her.
She looked at the folded papers and sighed sadly.
Dennis saw her behavior and said in a playful tone:
“Is this work that important?
More than me standing here?”
Therese looked at him in surprise.
“What do you mean by that now, Your Highness?”
Dennis ignored her response and continued talking.
“If I were a prince, you would undoubtedly be the princess, a beautiful noble lady.”
Denis grabbed a lock of Thérèse's golden hair and lifted it, then placed a light kiss as if leaving a mark.
Like those men who flirt with women on the streets.
"Will you go out with me tonight?
I know a good place."
Therese laughed silently at his playfulness.
Dennis put his head close to Therese's chest and hugged her lightly.
Then Therese began, without realizing it, to pamper Denise's soft hair.
His soft hair slid between her fingers.
Her voice, which had been soft, now sounded a little cheerful.
“I can't, I'm already a married woman.”
Dennis said in an exaggerated tone:
"Oh!
I can't leave a beautiful woman like you alone."
Dennis kissed the back of Therese's hand lightly.
When his soft lips touched her hand, Thérèse felt a tickle in her heart.
"Why don't you follow your heart?
You're attracted to me too, right?"
{Her Highness the Princess.
I wonder if you are doing well in this cold weather that has suddenly arrived.
I'm fine.
All the people of the palace love you and this makes me very happy.
Everyone wants to see your highness.
I will impatiently count the days until the day comes when I present them to Your Highness.}
Therese smiled as she read the encrypted message that had arrived from Fantine.
It seemed that she had successfully entered Duke Prieme's palace and completed her mission.
It will look like a normal message of reassurance in the eyes of others.
Fabrice's engagement party was only two days away.
Fabrice, who had barely regained consciousness yesterday, looked somewhere disturbed.
'Where is this place?
Damn it, aren't you complicit in it too?'
He caused a huge commotion, so there was no choice but to lock him in his room.
It seems that the psychological trauma he suffered was great.
After he finally calmed down he agreed to talk, so he admitted that Giselle had whipped him.
When Thérèse heard this news, she ordered him to be treated and returned to the palace tomorrow.
In such a situation, it was expected that Giselle would call her, but things went quiet.
Therese reinforced the security around her, but she lived her life as usual.
“Your Highness, this is Danielle.”
“Come in”
Danielle came in and said:
“There were news published about His Highness the Prince at the World Exhibition.
One of them is the news that Your Highness mentioned, and the other...
I think you should see it for yourself.”
"On what?"
Therese read the article Daniel had handed her.
It was an article that told a good story about Dennis at the World's Fair, where the parents of a child who had lost his way found him.
The other article was unexpected.
It was about catching the person who threw cream pie at her.
“Why is this...”
Therese continued reading the article.
“…The perpetrator will be punished for mocking the royal family but since it is his first crime and he has a family, he is expected to be punished with a fine.”
"punishment?"
“Yes.
It seems that His Highness the Prince ordered the perpetrator to be arrested and punished.”
Therese put her head in her hands.
Ellie hurriedly opened the door to Therese's work room.
“What's wrong?”
“You better get out and see.”
Therese got up and Ellie followed her.
“What is this...”
The workers were placing a large object wrapped in cloth.
"What is this?"
“A painting.
Sent by His Highness the Prince.”
The servant answered her after bowing politely to her.
“His Highness the Prince sent me... a painting?”
Therese repeated the servant's words as an echo, because she did not understand the words easily.
“Yes, Your Highness.
His Highness the Prince said: ‘I sent it to you because you liked it.’”
“Thank you.
Open it so I can see which painting it is.”
When Thérèse ordered, the workers unwrapped the fabric covering the painting.
It was the same painting she had seen a few days ago at the exhibition.
The painting depicting the symbol of fertility…
Therese stared at the painting, stunned by silence.