Therese did not answer.
Instead, she stared at Denise as if to say, “Let go of me.”
It was a tangible reality, clearer than the image remaining behind her closed eyelids.
“Therese, my wife.”
Dennis said her name in a musical tone.
At first glance, he seemed in a good mood, even affectionate.
If someone who did not know him well saw him, he would think that his feelings for Therese were overflowing with love.
But those who know him well understand.
He was heartbroken now.
“See what my wife did today?”
“I would like to answer, but my chin hurts, Prince.”
“If it hurts, then you should feel comfortable, yes.”
However, his hand remained firmly pressed to Therese's chin.
As if he never intended to leave her.
When Thérèse stared at him steadily, he finally smiled slightly and raised his hand with feigned violence.
Leaving a red mark on the chin of Therese, who was in his grip.
Dennis sat heavily in the chair across from her.
“Today, I met Prince Julian.”
“This can't be all.”
“In the afternoon, I had a headache so I went to my room.”
Dennis kept looking at her without changing his expression despite her answer.
Therese let out a secret breath.
“I don’t know what answer you want.
Prince, ask what you want to hear.”
“Oh, because I have so much I want to ask you, I wonder where to start.”
Dennis answered in the snarky manner of a street rabble.
“So, can I give the answer first?”
“How did you know what to ask?”
“Fabrice.”
His expression did not change when he heard Therese's answer.
“Therese.”
She cut him off and continued:
“And wouldn't you better go to Neuve Shavel for a while?”
“Therese.”
“I said I had a lot to ask.
Why did you go to Al-Hammam today?”
“I was in my room because of a headache.”
“Wrong, Therese, your hair looks just plain golden, right?
Both of your hair strands are fine, in the sunlight they look like waving golden threads.
I can spot my wife’s hair anywhere.”
Dennis moved his chin slightly.
It was as if his expression was saying: “At least try to make an excuse.”
“I have nothing to say, my prince.”
“Who is that man?”
Therese wrung her hands hard without saying a word.
This was her fault.
She should have been more careful.
Not to notice.
Therese couldn't come up with a convincing excuse.
Any word would be just a trivial argument in his eyes.
He was already suspicious of her.
He hated anything she did.
Maybe he even hated herself breathing next to him.
What do you say to such a man?
That Jack collects information from outside the kingdom and transmits it to it?
They work day and night to raise him to the throne?
As she was silent for a long time, Dennis said in a laughing tone.
With a tender voice, as if dipped in honey.
“Is it someone new you met?”
“Oh, perhaps I'm hindering my wife's freedom to love?
You've been seen with that man in the bathhouse several times, it seems.”
This is impossible.
It was using a designated entrance, not the general entrance for visitors.
“Prince, this person helps me in my affairs, and we have an official relationship.”
There is nothing more to say than that.
If she said, “Because you got rid of Remy Avery, I had to meet him myself.”
This would be an admission that her senseless lying and deafening silence when Dennis previously asked her about her relationship with Remy Avery had been exposed.
“An official relationship...
It seems you found someone else after Avery got rid of that bastard.”
“Prince.”
“I'm under pressure every day to produce an heir quickly, while my wife seems to be going out to see another man, right?”
“This is a misunderstanding, Prince.”
Therese hurried to continue his speech.
“Stop with that empty title ‘Prince!’ Therese.”
Dennis shouted, putting his head in his hands.
Half of his face, darkened by the moonlight, seemed distorted.
Dennis hid his face with his hands in the darkness.
Like someone who doesn't want her to see his face.
Therese watched his troubled appearance.
His chest was rising and falling as he was breathing hard.
The sound of night insects entered the silent room from the open balcony window.
Neither of them said a word until the room was filled with that sound.
Then Dennis raised his head, as if his agitation had subsided, and stared at her with a swallowing look.
When she saw those eyes, Thérèse felt that nothing she said could convince him.
It was a sudden feeling.
From now on, they will live as two parallel lines that never meet.
He will misunderstand you, and he will deceive you.
Tehys tried to ignore her feeling, keeping her head towards the window.
As if only the swaying curtains could save her.
While she was looking at her beautiful garden, unchanged from yesterday.
I suppressed the feelings that began to overflow within me.
Dennis stared at Thérèse's sideways face, like a statue, and then, pulling out his chair, stood up and said, "Tess."
He was dragging his feet without any strength, unlike when he entered the room.
I heard the rustle of the fabric rubbing.
It looks like he was lying down on the bed.
He remained silent.
She thought he might fall asleep like this.
Then in the morning, he would treat her as if nothing had happened.
This is how we will live forever.
Thérèse thought as she put the glass of wine, which had only a sip left in it, to her lips.
But at that moment, I heard a very faint voice.
Perhaps it was a gentle voice, as if it were self-talk.
“Why… don’t we have a baby?”
His question struck her like a lightning bolt.
For some reason, the question sounded wet, as if soaked with tears.
Although it is unreasonable for this man to cry.
A sudden wave of his emotions washed over her.
Do you want a baby for “ours” too?
So you won't give up on me until then, will you?
The urge to ask rose to her throat.
Therese stared at her thumb as if she was puncturing it.
Her thumb had turned pale from the force of her grip.
“I haven't slept for three hours even in two days, but it's strange that I feel sleepy as soon as I come here.”
Dennis said weakly, putting an arm over his eyes as if he was tired.
“Therese I want to sleep.”
Therese, who had been sitting motionless, got up from the chair when she heard his desire to sleep.
Then she decided to perform her most important duties as a princess.
King Elliot, sitting relaxed with a glass of whiskey in his hand, seemed upset.
“Fabrice is still this boy, full of youthful energy, who can't control himself and does what he does.”
“He's still young.”
Dennis answered coldly.
"That's why I told him to keep the engagement period short and hold the royal wedding first, but he ended up receiving a notice of annulment of the engagement?
Idiot."
The glass of whiskey was in front of Dennis, untouched.
To please the king, he defended his little brother.
Elliot liked to pretend he was the head of a happy, close-knit family.
Even though he knew that the bad relationship between Dennis and Fabrice was because of him.
There was no objection to participating in the play, but it was of an obnoxious nature.
“Fabrice will learn a lot from this opportunity as well.”
“That boy should learn too.”
When Elliot placed the empty whiskey glass on the table, a young woman who looked like she had just come of age filled the glass with drink.
Elliot watched with satisfaction as the young woman poured the drink and returned to her place.
Dennis frowned for a moment at that scene.
Dennis turned his head to the other side so as not to show his frowning face.
The tip of his chin quivered slightly.
Elliot seemed in a great mood.
Whether because he drank his favorite whiskey, or for some other reason.
After staring at the young woman with a satisfied face for a moment, Elliot turned his gaze to Denise.
"As for you, you have no good news?
Why haven't we heard news of an heir for years?"
It seems that today he decided to play the role of a normal, caring father full of love.
“…I will give you good news soon.”
Dennis responded naturally.
They were words he got used to until they became a part of him.
“Five years have passed since your royal wedding without any news.”
Elliot looked at Dennis with a very concerned face.
“Maybe the princess is sterile or something?”
“No, it's not just that, I still have a lot to do...”
Dennis was quick to respond.
“Yes.
Lots to do.”
Elliot grabbed the armrest of the chair he was resting on and knocked: “Knock, knock.”
This was his habit when he wanted to say something important.
Dennis realized that the true purpose of his summoning today was about to emerge.
“You should go to Neuve Shavel this time.
I was going to send Fabrice, but that boy is currently under house arrest.”
Elliot looked sorry for that, and frowned.
"Good."
Dennis said without hesitation.
“Go and check the extent of the damage resulting from the floods and then come back.
Public opinion will be disturbed, so take good care of the matter.
But what worries me is the lack of relief materials, so consult with the Minister of the Interior.”
Elliot said as fluently as if he were reading from a prepared script.
Elliot patted Dennis on the shoulder as if to encourage him.
He wants to send me empty-handed to be a scapegoat.
“I will make sure that Gramoir's name remains unblemished.”
Dennis hid his emotions so that they wouldn't show on his face, then bowed politely.
“This is reassuring.”
Dennis left the tea room after bowing.
He soon met Fabrice in the corridor as he was about to enter the tea room.
“Good morning, big brother.”
Fabrice was dressed luxuriously despite the early hour.
It seemed that he had dressed since the morning to please his father, at a time when he usually could not get out of bed.
Dennis inwardly resented the obvious intentions.
"Yes."
“You heard the news that my engagement to the daughter of the Defwa family was broken off, right?”
“Just unfortunate.”
“Instead, I will propose to the daughter of the Lumasin family.”
Fabrice said lightly, as if he were buying something from the market.
“So I congratulate you in advance on your engagement.
If you have nothing more to say, I will go now.”
“Big brother, I heard that you are going to Neuve Shavel?
It is said that nothing is left intact at the governor’s residence even due to the flood damage.
Take care of yourself on your journey.”
Fabrice waved his hand, smiling as if to say goodbye.
"Yes."
Dennis turned his face without hesitation.
In the end, it was concluded that the Fabrice scandal was a misunderstanding.
But it turned out that Javier Bellermont had actually committed the kidnapping and torture, and he was imprisoned.
When investigators asked him if he had accomplices, Javier tearfully admitted that he acted alone.
But the mere mention of Fabrice's name in the scandal caused great damage to his reputation.
As a result, not only did he have to remain under house arrest for a while, but he was also forced to break off his engagement to Yvonne Devoe.
“The evidence has already been disposed of.”
When Denis heard about the Fabrice scandal, he immediately sent an investigation team, but was unable to obtain conclusive evidence.
It appears that Fabrice has already taken action.
He had a lot to do before heading to Neuve Chavel.
[Continued in the next chapter]