She really hadn’t thought of this picture at all. The moment she saw Rihana’s shocked face when she told her that she was Raiden’s first woman, she was certain the two would fight. 

Of course, she expected the topic of this country’s customs to come up during their fight, but she thought that from the perspective of a woman who was already shocked, she would feel like it didn’t matter. 

But why are they being so loving… Beriel was annoyed to death.

“Your Highness, there are many eyes watching. Please save the hand-feeding for your bedroom.”

When Felton, who had been eating, spoke quietly with a displeased face, all the gazes of those sitting at the dining table turned to him.

“See, I told you not to.”

When Rihana also whispered quietly enough for only Raiden to hear, Raiden shrugged once and asked Felton.

“She’s going to be my wife, so I can’t even feed her?”

“There’s something called dignity, dignity.”

“I’m happy to death, what dignity.”

At Raiden’s action of clicking his tongue while raising the corner of his mouth crookedly, Felton shook his head a few times.

Fenor, who had been concentrating only on eating from the moment he sat at the table, was still only eating food, and Beriel’s face had turned white with shock at Raiden’s words about being happy to death.

“You tell me. When I love you more than my own life, should I have to worry about something trivial like feeding you food?”

When Raiden complained loudly for everyone to hear on purpose, Beriel’s face hardened much more than before.

Love more than life, who… whom.

She could tell he was pleased, but she didn’t know he liked her this much. She thought he might feel something like gratitude toward her, who had lost consciousness after being stabbed in the shoulder by her fiancé’s sword instead of Raiden, but love. She couldn’t believe it even after hearing the word love come from Raiden’s mouth.

Rihana glanced at Beriel’s hardened face and soon sighed briefly while picking up her water cup. She wasn’t unaware that Raiden was doing this on purpose to show off to Beriel.

He had been angry enough to try to strip Beriel of her advisor qualifications, and he had growled that he would fire even Felton and Fenor who tried to stop him. They had barely managed to calm him down when he became childlike for a moment and settled the situation. 

Beriel, who had been away from the west palace on business, didn’t know this, but if she had known, that situation might have become even more of a mess. Because Raiden was this vindictive, more petty and childish than expected.

“L-love more than life… such words shouldn’t be said lightly, Your Highness.”

Rihana stared intently at Beriel, who was saying everything she wanted to say with a hardened face, thinking she looked somewhat impressive. But Raiden, who misunderstood Rihana’s gaze directed at Beriel, looked at her reaction and said to Beriel.

“Lightly? I’m heavier and more serious than ever.”

“For a relationship that will only marry through political marriage…”

“Beriel.”

At the word “only,” Fenor called Beriel’s name to cut off her words.

“Not ‘only,’ it became ‘finally.'”

Raiden held up a fork with greens stuck to it toward Rihana’s mouth, urging her to open her mouth with an “ah.”

“Fi-nally?”

Suddenly seeming to choke, Beriel cut off the word and asked Raiden in a squeezed voice.

“Because from the day I returned to the kingdom leaving Rihana behind, I’ve been racking my brains to make Rihana my companion.”

Raiden raised the corner of his mouth while watching Rihana reluctantly accept and eat the food she disliked that he gave her, said this, and looked at Beriel. Beriel was looking at Raiden with a face much paler than before.

“So from now on, there must be no recklessness in everything regarding Rihana.”

Raiden’s expression changed in an instant. At his chillingly cold expression, Beriel unconsciously swallowed dry saliva. She knew all too well what that recklessness meant and was even afraid.

“If that mouth of yours commits recklessness again, then I really won’t hold back.”

“…B-but I was actually…”

“Oh, come to think of it, when we meet His Majesty, I should discuss that matter, Your Highness.”

Suddenly, Rihana cut off Beriel’s words and spoke to Raiden.

“Hmm?”

Raiden immediately withdrew his cold expression and looked at Rihana with the most gentle face in the world.

“This kingdom’s customs.”

“…Ah.”

“I think such abnormal customs need to be changed. It’s a useless custom to begin with, isn’t it?”

When someone from the Empire called their country’s customs useless, Felton and Fenor’s bodies flinched slightly. 

Rihana had expected their reaction but didn’t stop speaking. After all, bad customs were right to be corrected, and to fix such bad things, there definitely needed to be someone who would go strong even if they got cursed at.

“Just because you continue such customs doesn’t mean royal descendants will prosper, right? As long as royalty is born with magical power, no matter what you do, the number of royalty won’t increase noticeably. The people of this country can’t not know that.”

At Rihana’s words, Beriel’s face hardened frighteningly. Her stomach twisted at how this nobody was criticizing her kingdom’s customs like that. She was definitely angry because she and Raiden had been intimate due to that custom. That’s why she was talking like that for her to hear.

Beriel cursed Rihana inwardly and laughed at her pettiness. But more than that, at Raiden’s words that followed, Beriel felt an anger she couldn’t have imagined boiling up.

“Yeah, I think so too. Such duty close to violence should disappear. For the sake of our children who will be born in the future.”

* * *

“Your Highness, could you speak with me privately?”

Beriel called out to Raiden as soon as the meal ended. She couldn’t just stay like this. Duty. To treat her first experience with him as just such duty – something was wrong.

He had definitely treated her with a different feeling than before after having his first experience with her. That was definitely not a mistake. She thought Raiden, like her, would think that first time was somewhat special. She had felt that his feelings toward her were different from others, even if just a little.

“Is it about work?”

“It’s personal.”

After confirming it wasn’t about work, Raiden looked at Rihana. At his action that seemed to seek permission from her, Beriel’s face hardened again.

This was nonsense. For a prince of a country, moreover someone who would soon become king, to read the mood of a woman who came over like being sold through political marriage. The Raiden she had seen all this time was absolutely not such a person. He wasn’t that kind of man.

‘What method did that witch use on His Highness…!’

Beriel painfully bit the soft flesh inside her mouth.

Raiden entrusted Rihana to Felton with her nod that was like permission, and only looked at Beriel after everyone else had gone outside.

“Quick and simple.”

“…It wasn’t just duty for me.”

“Then what.”

“I…”

“Was that situation leisurely enough for you and me to assign different meanings to it?”

“…!”

“It’s not like there was something between you and me before that would warrant assigning different meanings.”

“…”

“We were just two clueless novices doing what we were told. And it was only about a minute? Excluding the time we deliberately extended by taking medicine.”

“…”

“Don’t tell me you want to say that meaningless act made you develop different feelings for me? From that pathetic act of inserting and pulling out just a couple times?”

“Your Highness…!”

“Speak.”

“…Are you planning to humiliate me?”

“Is it humiliating?”

“More than enough…!”

“I feel like I’ve already received worse humiliation from the words you spat at my woman.”

“…!”

“So you should endure this much for the balance to be right. I could say more humiliating things, but I’m not doing it out of consideration for our long relationship. Right?”

“I…! I only stated facts! It was a fact she would find out anyway, and rather than hearing it like rumors from other young ladies, it was better to hear it directly from the person involved…!”

“That too is your arrogance and deception toward Rihana.”

“…!”

“Even if it was something I should have said, and even if I were to overlook that you did it with maximum concession, you should have first talked about this country’s d*mn customs to make her understand so that my woman wouldn’t have any misunderstanding.”

“…!”

“Not strike her down like there was something between you and me.”

Tears had gathered in Beriel’s eyes before she knew it.

“At least, for me, there was.”

Tears finally fell from Beriel’s eyes as she tried hard to hold back her sobs while speaking. Raiden’s brow furrowed with annoyance.

“At least I loved Your Highness, and it’s the same now. I don’t know how Your Highness feels, but my first man is very important to me. So apart from customs and such, it’s natural for me to think specially of Your Highness who took my first…”

“So that’s why, you.”

Raiden’s voice had become frighteningly cold.

“Even though there was no need, you stubbornly insisted on being my advisor, and you rolled up your sleeves and helped with everything I did, even using your family’s power.”

“…”

“It wasn’t for your family, it was because of me.”

“…!”

“Ha. I didn’t know that.”

Raiden looked at Beriel coldly with a face like he’d been hit from behind.

“Thinking about it, it was obvious enough that I couldn’t not know, but I stupidly didn’t notice at all. Taniaran, of course I never even imagined.”

The muttered words while showing a hollow laugh became awls digging into her heart. She knew Raiden didn’t love her, but she had believed he favored her more than other young ladies in the kingdom. She had also thought he already knew her feelings.

She now realized that his casual remarks about Taniaran not being possible weren’t words spoken after seeing through her loving heart, but really meant that he couldn’t give more power to the Taniaran family anymore. Raiden had really been viewing her on the same level as Felton or Fenor.

“I don’t like it, but your heart is yours, so I won’t say anything about it.”

Raiden clicked his tongue with displeasure and continued.

“But don’t tell me to take responsibility for your heart. I have no such obligation.”

Raiden blocked Beriel’s confession just like him. Beriel finally burst into tears with a distorted face.