The servant stood staring at her in amazement, as if he was waiting for her opinion on the gift.
“What is this… and why was this sent…”
“What do you want me to tell the prince?”
“I will tell the prince myself, you can leave now.”
Why, on earth, did he send that painting?
Therese, for the first time that day, visited Denise's office.
“Her Highness the Princess is waiting for you.”
Dennis was in the middle of reviewing some papers with Silbang.
He raised his head in surprise when he heard the servant's words.
"my wife ?"
“Yes, sir.”
“Let her in.”
Dennis took off his glasses and placed them on the desk.
The expression on Therese's face when she entered the office was absolutely extraordinary.
Seeing her face, Silbang realized that something was about to happen, so he quickly left the room.
Silence filled the room after Silbang left.
“My dear wife, what is the matter?”
“And what do you think it is, my lord?”
Dennis passed his hand across his forehead without saying a word.
“Well… because you missed me?”
“Absolutely not.”
Thérèse made a disdainful sound through her nose.
“You'll understand what I mean if I mention the painting.”
“Ah, I think the artwork arrived today.”
Dennis looked at Therese with a wide, lucid smile.
“No need for gifts, take them with you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want an artwork that symbolizes fertility.”
“You really thought I would like that job?”
“I thought you would like it because you were staring at it so intently… It seems I offended you.”
"I apologize."
The words of apology simply flew out of his mouth.
He is His Highness the Galilee Prince.
“It really hurts me to take back the first gift I gave my wife.”
Dennis covered his eyes with his hand, pretending to be sad.
Therese said in a firm voice:
“Don’t add meanings that don’t exist in practice.
Isn’t it the first thing that you don’t send me jewelry on my birthday every year?”
“I didn’t know that you considered them to be real gifts ordered by my advisor, and received by your maid, right?”
“I didn't even look at her, those gifts attributed to me.”
Dennis was right.
This was the first gift he had given her since the beginning of their married life.
He was the one who prepared it himself.
“Therese, wouldn’t it be better if you said something to me?”
“What am I talking about, sir?”
Therese replied questioningly.
“You should have said even one word, while the guide was chattering, that you did not want to see a painting like this.”
“How would I know if you didn't take it out of your mouth?”
He sounded like he was blaming Thérèse.
At that moment, Therese couldn't respond.
How could the princess utter such words?
“I am a princess, how do I say such words?”
Life in the palace closed and blinded her mouth and ears.
Although she was starting to tolerate it.
Her actions and words were always restrained.
If she says or does something different than usual, she quickly becomes fodder for gossip.
She felt that if she opened her mouth once, she wouldn't be able to stop.
As if all the accumulated feelings would rush out at once.
So, she tightened her mouth shut.
Dennis got up from behind the desk and stood in front of her.
He leaned down to meet her eyes.
“Look, you're not saying anything now either.”
“…And you also have a lot to say, my lord prince.”
Therese responded with difficulty to his words.
"Okay.
That's right."
Dennis admitted, stretching his back, which was arched.
Then he brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.
“Then, I will try to talk to you more in the future, and you should also talk to me, huh?”
He was looking at her from above and smiling happily like a boy.
She came with anger, but for some reason, she couldn't get angry just seeing that face.
She wanted to ask him: What do you mean by gifting me?
Did you give me that painting because you're looking forward to having a baby?
How much did you pay for it?
All those trivial questions.
“You will, won't you?”
When you just look into his eyes, it feels like all the world's languages disappear.
"yes i will."
She had no choice but to agree.
“Excellent.”
He patted her head while smiling.
“…I want to return the favor too, my lord prince.”
Finally, she had to say those words.
She will be able to give him the perfume she thought she would keep forever in a drawer, as a return gift.
"What?"
“The gift…”
“You're saying you prepared me a gift?”
He replied, feigning surprise.
“Yes.
I want to give it to you tonight, in my room... will you come?”
Although his coming into her room was as obvious as breathing, she felt strangely embarrassed when she tried to invite him.
“Oh.”
Dennis smiled as if he realized what she was feeling.
“I'm excited, I'll be there tonight.”
“Okay.
I'll go now.”
The moment Thérèse turned to leave, he said:
“Huh.
Just like that?”
"What?"
“You're just going like this, you say?
Oh, I guess I should have taken a souvenir photo.
Of the day my wife came into my office.”
“I don't have a camera right now, so I'll give you a gift instead.”
“What…”
When Therese opened her mouth to object, Denise took another step toward her.
The distance between them became less than an inch.
Therese closed her eyes unconsciously.
Denise let out a light laugh, as if he realized what she was expecting.
“The child who did well should get a gift.”
Dennis took Thérèse's hand and opened her palm.
Then he placed something on her palm.
It was candy.
Three nail-sized pieces.
“You should only eat one a day.
So your teeth won’t get cavities.
Now, you can go.”
“What are you doing?
You haven’t gone yet.”
Thérèse felt that he had completely deceived her.
Thérèse did not drink the wine she brought out, but only stared at the door.
The time for His coming will come soon.
Whenever she suddenly remembered what happened to her with him during the day, her heart became confused.
Thérèse felt ashamed of herself for closing her eyes at that moment, and wished she could hide.
Plus, what's with this treatment like she's a child?
Looks like I'm the stupid one.
Thérèse laughed sarcastically at her inner state.
Why do I always fall helplessly in love with that man?
Then I heard the sound of his steps.
Therese got up and headed toward the door.
When Dennis opened the door, he found her standing in front of him.
He smiled at her as if he was happy to see her.
“Did you come to greet me?
That's nice of you.”
He walked in, swaying slightly, and sat on the couch he always sits on.
The weather was gradually getting colder, but she still left the window open.
He looked at the swaying curtains and said:
“The nights are getting cold now, Therese would be better off sleeping with the window closed.”
"Good."
Therese agreed without any objection.
“What’s up?
You agree easily today, that’s good.”
“Stop saying I'm good, my lord.”
This was the second time in the afternoon.
"What?"
“I'm not a child.”
“Oh, isn’t my wife a child?”
Dennis replied as if he was hearing it for the first time.
He was acting like he was joking with her, as was his habit.
Therese didn't answer.
“I've seen you many times, but you looked like a child back then, didn't you?...
There, you were really, really like a child.”
His words made her remember the events that had happened in Sukone.
She fell into the river while fishing and caught a cold...
Therese, with her face red, responded to his words:
“No, my lord Prince.
Of course, I am not...”
“So, you just have to show me you're not a kid, huh?”
“How…”
“Therese, but where is the gift?”
“I will give it to you now.”
She got out of bed, grabbed the nightgown hanging randomly on the headboard and put it on.
Then I brought the gift.
Thérèse presented it to him as if it were something trivial.
“If you don't like it, you can throw it away.”
“You're asking me to throw away the first gift you give me?
I'm not that cruel unless you're my wife.”
He raised his torso, leaned against the headboard, and began to open the cover of the small box.
Therese stood in front of him, staring at his reaction.
His well-muscled arm moved, and he carefully undid the small strap of the box.
He lifted the perfume bottle.
The liquid was swirling inside her.
“Thanks, wife.
Can I spray it now?”
"Yes."
When he sprayed the perfume, a sexy scent spread into the bedroom.
“Did you think of me when you smelled that scent?”
“…Yes, I thought it would suit you.”
The phrase “because it suits you at night” was not mentioned.
“Come here, Therese.”
He called her after spraying perfume.
His deep voice was beautiful.
“Let's celebrate by spraying perfume.”
Fabrice's engagement day.
Thérèse doubted whether Fabrice, who had been brought back to the palace yesterday, would show up.
Although it was his second engagement, she could not understand the intentions of the king who held the engagement ceremony in the “Hall of the Moon.”
“He seems to cherish it greatly.”
Therese said with a sigh, as if talking to herself.
She was stuck with Denise until dawn, and she didn't sleep well.
Now she had to sit and make up all night, and she felt like she was going to die from exhaustion.
All Therese wants is to lie down and rest.
“What do you mean, Your Highness?”
“I'm talking about the Moon Hall.”
Then Danielle, who was serving her, furrowed her brow in dissatisfaction.
It seemed that she also couldn't understand it.
“Maybe they need to polish it up and present it like new, because it's used.”
It was a stinging remark.
Therese couldn't hold back her laughter at Daniel's words.
“You may be right: the flashier the cover, the worse the content.”
On the other hand.
Fabrice turned his head as he changed into his morning suit.
There was more than one thing he didn't like.
His pale skin because he hadn't slept well in days, his body full of wounds despite trying to hide them with clothes, and the fact that he had to propose to the girl who attacked him.
Should I tell my father, His Majesty, the truth?
That my future fiancée flogged me with a whip?
Fabrice shook his head.
Even with his mind, this seemed like nothing to do.
After the previous Xavier incident had barely been contained, if a new problem was announced now...
When he arrived at the palace yesterday, his father's servant, His Majesty, was waiting for him with an expression containing anger.
Fabrice told him: “I felt confused before the engagement, so I went to get some air.”
The servant replied:
“Is everything published in the newspapers true?”
Fabrice tried to make excuses.
But the servant who had served the king even before Fabrice was born, eventually disfigured his face and interrupted his speech.
“His Majesty is very angry.
Please restrain yourself, Your Highness.”
The servant left without even waiting for Fabrice to respond.
If it seemed that the servant who left without listening to him was like his father, His Majesty, who had turned his back on him forever, was it just an illusion?
A wave of anger and anxiety overwhelmed him, so he took all the liquor out of the cupboard and drank it until he was drunk.
Even though tomorrow was his engagement day.
Fabrice, with an unclear mind, tried to count those who owed him.
Baron Barbier, who hit him from behind and disappeared, and those who spread scandals in the newspapers, and Gisèle Lomaxin, who flogged him with a whip when he had never been beaten before.
He tried to trace the origin of all these events.
since then.
Since the day the news of his outing with Xavier abroad spread.
Fabrice was completely convinced that the Marquis Engelger was behind the matter.
Fabrice remembered the meeting he had with the Marquis in the palace corridor.
“Hello, Your Highness, what a long time.”
The Marquis greeted him with a flexible smile.
His relationship with the Marquis was not cordial enough to exchange warm greetings.
However, the Marquis approached him with a friendly expression.
Fabrice thought about ignoring him, but nodded and accepted the greeting.
“I heard you are getting engaged again.
Congratulations, Your Highness.”
"Thank you."
When Fabrice tried to pass the Marquis after greeting him, the Marquis called out to him from behind him.
“This time, I hope you can continue, Your Highness, you should live to old age together.”
Didn't he say that and then smile broadly and disappear?
Fabrice interpreted these words as an admission by the Marquis that he was responsible for breaking up his engagement to Dubois.
Otherwise why?
Suddenly an unbearable anger swept over him.
His fingertips were trembling.
His vision was not clear.
Fabrice frowned.
I will kill him.