Botloch bit his lip. He tried to calm his churning heart. Her glass-like pale eyes held fragments of sunlight. Beneath her neat eyebrows were long lashes and a straight nose, lips sweet like ripened peaches and two red cheeks.

She was a kind and lovely woman. The king had no choice but to love her.

Love. Yes. The king loved this woman. If it weren’t love, he couldn’t look at her that way. Just thinking about it brought to mind that chilling man. 

He clenched his fists. More than the words the king had thrown to humiliate him, that gaze terrified him more.

If he weren’t the king, Botloch might have burst into hollow laughter and sneered. But he was a king before he was a man. Therefore, his desires would inevitably be realized. 

Regrettably, Botloch had no means to stop him.

Where in the world was there a man who could stop a king’s desires? Botloch forcibly swallowed the pitch-black emotions—whether fear or humiliation, he couldn’t tell—and opened his lips.

“Ann.”

Suddenly, a familiar low voice rang in his ears. He froze white. He turned his head to confirm who had called the woman.

* * *

Lennox visited Tulip Palace, his mother’s residence, for the first time in a while. His purpose was to meet the audacious maid who had very politely refused his summons, despite needing to attend his morning meal as the king’s maid. Ann hadn’t answered any of his calls lately.

It seemed easier to meet her when she was a maid at Tulip Palace. 

Why on earth was she avoiding him like this? Because he would be getting married soon? Could that be a reason? 

He couldn’t understand. Thinking about Ann filled him with incomprehensible questions about her.

Why did Ann only meet such foolish men? Why didn’t she date even one decent man?

Setting aside her reaction to his marriage, he couldn’t understand Ann. No, ever since she started receiving marriage proposals, Lennox had always been on edge with such thoughts.

Though he didn’t want to admit it, whether it was Countess Hervonne or Duchess Valenska… 

Every time he saw the grooms they’d carefully selected for Ann, an indigestible rage surged up. Promising talents, sons raised without want in comfortable families…

Every single one was pathetic and worthless. The first candidate Duchess Valenska introduced was far too weak, and the second was arrogant, completely full of himself. 

With such a man as a husband, a lifetime of suffering was guaranteed.

That couldn’t happen. Ann had to marry a man better than anyone else. Character, family… appearance and intelligence—everything had to be the best without any deficiency.

“If they don’t please you so much, why don’t you introduce someone yourself?”

Duchess Valenska muttered with a disgruntled face toward him, who had personally kicked away the men she introduced and kept them from getting anywhere near Ann. 

Ann herself had been satisfied and expressed gratitude for the introductions, but apparently he wasn’t.

Even for a king, this was excessive interference. Ann wasn’t even a noble. It might be different if she were a daughter of a noble family having her debutante ball.

Ann had just quietly watched from beside the Queen Dowager even when Charlotte had her debutante. Anyway, the king’s interference was excessive. Anyone watching would think they were siblings who grew up struggling without parents.

“What?”

“That’s right. Since Your Majesty is so displeased and says none of them are satisfactory, you should choose yourself. Either way, Ann must marry within this year. Her Majesty the Queen Dowager plans to marry her off before Your Majesty’s wedding.”

Duchess Valenska sighed. The Queen Dowager desperately wanted Ann married within the year. Precisely, the deadline was before her son’s wedding. Trying to select a groom to match that timeline was absolutely k*lling her.

Ann wasn’t difficult. The problem was the king. No, the Queen Dowager was also formidable, so mother and son were tormenting Tulip Palace’s maids in tandem.

“Ann is…”

“See? Your Majesty can’t think of anyone either, can you?”

Whether shocked into rigidity, the king couldn’t open his lips. 

Duchess Valenska watched the man slowly crumbling. Fine cracks gradually appeared on his beautiful face. The faint cracks began deepening, seemingly horrified by the mere thought.

She stared at her godson for a moment, then opened her lips.

“Ann needs to marry too. She’s a child who needs family more than anyone.”

Even when he got angry, he didn’t know the source. Fortunately, the king still didn’t know the identity of the emotion gripping him. That’s why they had to hurry Ann’s marriage. The Queen Dowager and Tulip Palace’s maids had known the king’s feelings for a long time.

Now was the optimal time. The king had to pass through knowing nothing. Perhaps he too didn’t want to face his own feelings.

“I’ll try to find a groom His Majesty will be satisfied with.”

Duchess Valenska turned around. Lennox watched the woman who turned away sharply, leaving him crumpled like paper, then turned his head. Outside the window, Ann stood with her head bowed before someone. Ann seemed to be crying in front of him.

The woman whose bonnet was decorated with pure hawthorn flowers fumbled with her lips. He rose slowly like someone possessed. Before he knew it, his steps headed outside.

* * *

“Ann.”

He called the woman. A face clearly filled with bewilderment turned toward him. Her pale eyes, seemingly stained with moisture, cracked. Like glass cracking.

“Your Majesty.”

A call like a weak whisper rang in his ears. Botloch stepped back and stiffened his expression. Without even glancing at the man, Lennox walked toward her. 

Every time he sensed traces of the ticklish emotion between the two, he became furiously angry. Even he couldn’t understand the rough emotion that neutralized his reason.

“…You don’t even tell me when you’re coming or going.”

If she wasn’t going to show her face in the morning, shouldn’t she at least say where she was and what she was doing during that time? 

She was the king’s maid. She probably hadn’t been like this when serving his mother at Tulip Palace. Did she take him lightly? Because he always gave in and accepted everything without question?

“Ann.”

He called the woman once more as she only moved her lips without answering. 

Thinking that she’d been flirting with a man during the time he was looking for her made him feel like his eyes would roll back. 

He wanted to drag her away immediately and lock her in his bedroom. Then he wanted to punish her without feeding or letting her sleep until she reflected.

But on what…?

What should Ann reflect on? What had she done so wrong? He threw unanswerable questions at himself.

“Then I’ll take my leave. I’ll organize the rest and send it by letter.”

“Yes. Please go.”

Botloch, who had stepped away from her, gave Lennox a courtly greeting then turned around like he was fleeing. 

Lennox stared murderously at the man who was always quick to run away whenever he saw him, then stood before her. Ann flinched and shrank. He stared down at the woman whose expression had hardened stiffly.

“I couldn’t even see your shadow this morning, so I was curious what you were doing. How long has it been since you became my maid…”

A maid should naturally act like her master’s shadow. Ann, who had worked as the Queen Dowager’s maid for a good ten years, couldn’t not know that. It was intentional disregard. 

Lennox couldn’t tolerate it.

“Last time you even refused to take a walk with me.”

“That was…”

He was talking about when she first saw Botloch. An hour before meeting Charlotte, he’d wanted to meet briefly and discuss their vacation trip to Saphoras’s villa next month. 

The schedule was already set, but they needed to discuss again the matter of staying about two days on Sinos, the subsidiary island of Saphoras she’d mentioned last time.

No, before that, Lennox wanted to spend at least an hour a day with her. That hadn’t been anything special before. If only Ann wouldn’t be so difficult…

“Anyone watching would think you’re the master, not me.”

He sneered. Ann had no answer. The gaze staring up at him made his insides feel stuffy. Instead of shouting for her to say something, anything, he gently stroked her gripped shoulders. 

Her delicate features were as precise and intricate as a painting. Her face, white and beautiful like the hawthorn flowers decorating her bonnet, was doll-like.

Her hair, braided in two strands and half-tied, had gentle waves that matched her glass-like pale eyes remarkably well. Like a river studded with stars… 

Ann was always that perfect. Beyond any other description. How should he explain this overwhelming emotion?

He impulsively dove for the woman’s lips. The startled woman hastily turned her head and looked at him. She wasn’t the only one surprised. Lennox, shocked by his own action, stiffened his expression. A red flush colored him.

Ann couldn’t bear to look at him and pushed him away. Lennox fell away easily. He wasn’t gripping her roughly as usual.

Her heart pounded crazily. It wasn’t excitement or a pleasant flutter.

No matter how much she loved him… no matter how desperate his heart was, she couldn’t accept this kind of impulse. Yes. Impulse… The only feeling Lennox had for her was impulse. 

They’d spent one night together by chance, but…

‘I shouldn’t have accepted that proposal back then…’