Chapter 10

***

***

As he walked out the door, the assistant spoke to him. Denis nodded his head as greeted by the courtiers passing by the hallway.

“How’s the criticism?”

“It’s okay. Were you worried?”

“No, it’s just that Your Majesty seems to be worried…”

The assistant clouded the end of his words.

Denis waved the paper he was holding.

“What?”

The assistant said like it was the first time he had heard it.

“Didn’t you hear it? They say I might get a divorce soon.”

Denis smiled and tapped the paper with the tip of his finger.

“I will sue the reporter who wrote the article.”

The man shook his head and said.

“You don’t have to. If it’s a low-grade journalist, it’s understandable. Leave it.”

“Yes, that’s right, too.”

“What’s next?”

“Sir Richard is waiting in the office.”

Denis raised an eyebrow once.

“All right.”

At night, Denis took off his glasses and tilted his head back. His eyelids were heavy. 

He hadn’t been able to sleep.

He was writing a letter to someone. Even in a complicated situation, with the help of this person, he would be able to overcome it. 

He was sure.

The man would surely help him, and he couldn’t finish the sentence in the end. Holding his pen still, the ink dripped onto the paper. Black ink smeared on the white paper. 

He was nervous when he met Richard earlier in the day.

Richard, his wife’s brother.

His words were enough to shake him. 

No, he was already a fragile tree swaying even in the slightest wind.

The wind that shook him was that woman. 

She was the daughter of the man who killed his mother.

She was the woman who took the seat next to him.

And she was not afraid to do dirty things to put him on the throne.

His wife.

At the same time, she was the one who guided him to rest. She was the one who silently hugged the wounds he did not speak of, and the woman who sometimes caused him insomnia.

He thought that things that were clear kept getting blurred in front of him. 

If you think of his mother, who eventually passed away miserably in the end, he should have never kept the woman close.

Wouldn’t it be better to cut off that slender, white neck and feel refreshed?

There was even a time when he put his hand on Tehez’s neck, who was asleep. 

The dawn was deep, and no one was passing by. He thought that if he killed her, he would not only be punished but also be doomed. 

He would also be glad to have avenged his mother’s death, but he stopped, unable to grab hold of it. The slender neck that came into one of his hands, the calmness and pulsating blood vessels that stayed under his hand, made his hand pause. 

This woman.

She was alive.

It was something that he realized again. 

He was afraid of the fragile state of being broken. 

Like a flower that withers when you break its branch. 

Truly, it felt like he could take her life in an instant if he grabbed it.

So, he was more afraid.

He put Tehez’s neck in his grasp, but couldn’t break it, and wept silently in the dark.

He didn’t know the names of the emotions that got tangled up inside him.

His mother, Queen Charlize, would sometimes embrace him and sing him lullabies. Although he was already old enough to sleep on his own, Charlize still stood by his side when he was barely walking. She sang lullabies, patting him gently on the back with her hands, like twigs that had withered from not eating properly. She cuddled him like a baby who was in his mother’s arms. 

Denis felt both happiness and sorrow in his mother’s arms.

“If you’re still alive like this, Mother, I’m satisfied with that.”

‘Mother…’

Denis slept a deep sleep that no one could break, only in his mother’s arms.

And, like in the arms of his mother, who embraced him and sang a lullaby, he could only rest comfortably in Tehez’s arms.

At that time, he found it difficult to see his mother’s eyes as if he were looking into the eyes of a fish that had already died. The eyes of a mother who was dying little by little, every day, in an imprisoned and desolate place.

The dead black eyes did not illuminate anything.

When those eyes suddenly came to mind, Denis had a hard time enduring the rising anger and sadness. He lost his mother tragically, and he spent every night with the daughter of the man who made caused the tragedy.

It was treachery.

His situation was ridiculous.

Denis looked down at the tainted paper over the unfinished sentence. He got up and went to the window. 

It was a window located at the end of the office, with a view of the garden where Tehez often stayed.

He opened the window slightly, took a cigar from the box and lit it. The scent of wet grass, dewy in the night, reached the tip of his nose. At the same time, the bitter and pungent smell of cigars permeated the room.

Sitting on the throne, punishing those who killed her mother, trying to cruelly abandon her. 

He was trying to get revenge on his mother’s culprits.

But if it’s like this…

Denis suddenly felt disgusted and rubbed off his cigar. 

He then returned to his cold bedroom, knowing that he would never fall asleep. 

He felt like he had to endure the night alone today. 

Like a punishment you inflict on yourself.

***

Fabrice and a woman were seated at a tea table in the garden of Fabrice’s palace. It was a stiff atmosphere, as if it were trying to negotiate with a trading partner.

“I would like to have a national wedding after a year of engagement, My prince.”

Giselle, the young lady of the Lemac family, who sat in a perfect posture as taught in her lessons, opened her mouth.

“That’s a good idea, Lady Giselle.”

“And I’d like to draw up a contract that stipulates this.”

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“…Is that so?”

Fabrice rarely found it difficult to find words.

“Yes, My Prince. With all due respect, my family doesn’t jump into anything that will cause damage.”

“I’m sure they don’t.”

Fabrice stroked his chin as if contemplating.

“So, we have to do this in the best interest of all of us.”

After Giselle finished her words, she raised her chin. The attitude of a businesswoman who would not easily back down from negotiations was seen.

Fabrice admired Giselle’s confident attitude. 

How dare and arrogant to be in front of a noble, a true blood, when you bought the title of a nobleman. 

Fabrice brushed his naturally flowing hair to capture the frown on her face.

“It makes sense.”

“So I’ve drafted the engagement agreement in advance, Prince.”

“…All right.”

Fabrice meekly agreed.

“However.”

Fabrice stared at Giselle. 

Like a beast that doesn’t want to lose its upper hand.

“I need time to review, so why not discuss it in detail at the next meeting?”

“Of course, Prince.”

Giselle lifted her teacup as if she had nothing more to say.

Fabrice also sat silently. It was a starkness that didn’t appear to be engaged.

After teatime, Fabrice returned to his office and roughly took off his coat. The servant was waiting for him.

“How was your meeting with the Lady Lemac?” 

“She talks a lot and is arrogant.”

Fabrice, who answered bluntly, threw a bunch of papers at the attendant.

“Look at this.”

“It’s a contract.”

“Yes, it’s a marriage contract.”

Having said that, Fabrice took off the colourful tie embroidered with silver thread in the purple fabric, tied tightly around his neck, and threw it to the floor. 

Still, not enough, he unbuttoned some of the shirt buttons that were clasping his neck. He frowned as he touched his neck, uncomfortable with the tightness.

It was then that he returned to his usual carefree face.

“Bring me a drink. Because I feel bad.”

“The sun is still bright. Prince, and you have an appointment with Baron Barbier soon.”

“Do you want to die?”

Fabrice stared at the servant.

The servant hurriedly bowed his head.

Now Fabrice’s eyes were on the verge of doing anything. The servant was well aware of that look through his many years of experience with him.

Fabrice gave the order as if to only get it done. 

“Cancel the schedule.”

“Okay, Prince.”

The servant took out the drink without saying a word and went outside without the sound of footsteps audible.

Fabrice, who sat on the bed, mixed white powder with the strong liquor brought by the servant and drank it at once.

He knew well that it was time to be careful of everything he did.

Even with a single word and gesture, the support fluctuated. 

Daily newspapers published reports predicting which Prince would prevail and who would become King. Of course, people’s support would be useless in front of the will of the King, who would take off his crown only to pass it on to the next.

He could feel the heat and the mood rising.

His heart seemed to beat fast.

He firmly believed that he was the next King. 

His father loved him more than the First Prince. 

It was evident.

So, even after he had a breakup, wouldn’t his father have given him a girl from a leading family as his fiancee? 

In addition, he was the child of Queen Marianne, a high-ranking noble. So, of course, the King must love him more. 

It would be even impossible to even compare him, especially with commoners.

‘Dare to dream of the throne because you are the firstborn, a subject to dirty, common blood?’

Fabrice hated his half-brother more than anyone in the world. He seemed to have forgotten even the fact that he had been quite intimate with Denis in the past.

It’s enough to get rid of the things he doesn’t like, but it’s not the time yet.

To do that, he must gather more forces to support him. It’ll be over when everything’s clear.

“Haah.”

‘Can’t wait to kill him.’

He poured the golden liquid into the glass.

It can be assumed that the last s*x scandal was also leaked from there. 

Otherwise, Xavier wouldn’t have gone crazy and gone to the police to turn himself in.

And Xavier, who was of good use, was also imprisoned.

Fabrice laughed frantically. 

He was in high spirits.

Xavier’s last vividly replayed in his head.

He was terrified and incontinent.

What was it like to be incontinent in fear?

‘King, King, Prince. Please s-save me-’

Xavier, who was kicked in the abdomen before he could finish his last words, collapsed with a thud.

‘Take the body and throw it away.’

If it wasn’t for the scandal, there would have been no insults from the Lemac girl. 

It was not in his rulebook to leave insults as insults. 

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He began to think happily about how he could give it back.

(To be continued in the next episode)