“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“About the gift.”

Gideon tilted his head momentarily, then realized she was referring to what happened in the village and let out an “Ah.” She must have been bothered by what I said. But surely I wasn’t jealous of a child’s rattle?

“I was just joking.”

Of course Tatiana knew it was a joke. But thinking about it more, she felt a bit sorry. Her father always brought gifts for the family when he returned from training camps or expeditions.

If he had let her continue shopping, she might have bought him a gift too, but the truth was she had completely forgotten about it until he appeared.

“It’s fine. I’m not a child, why would you worry about such things? It’s not like it’s news that you adore your nephew.”

Tatiana did indeed adore that tiny infant immensely.

Because exercise and sweating were part of her daily routine, she already bathed more frequently than most people. She seemed to be even more conscious of this because of Gideon.

Right after finishing exercise, she wouldn’t even come near him, let alone accept his outstretched arms.

‘Would someone who hates perfume like the smell of sweat?’

It seemed she had been branded as an extremely picky person after carelessly dropping a comment at a party once. He wanted to explain that it was a misunderstanding, that she didn’t need to be so careful, but he was indeed somewhat sensitive to smells.

However, since her nephew was born, Tatiana visited the bathroom even more frequently. Her hands were never dry. She wanted to hold the baby with clean hands.

And Gideon liked that Tatiana adored her nephew. He found it amusing to see her face flushed with excitement as she cooed over the baby. Sometimes watching Tatiana was much more entertaining than watching the baby.

But each time, a thought would cross his mind.

‘I could give you a baby too.’

Gideon always swallowed these words, never speaking them aloud. Perhaps it was better to enjoy their time together a bit longer. They had only been married for a year and a half, and before his coronation, they had spent chaotic days dealing with all sorts of incidents.

Besides, Tatiana was still young. He was a young king too, but his wife was even younger.

His sister, who loved socializing so much, had reduced her party attendance since Evan was born. Instead, her mind was always on her child. Even though there were plenty of people in the palace who could look after the child, and even though her husband urged her to go out and get some fresh air, this seemed to be the natural course of things.

Whenever Gideon saw this, certain thoughts came to mind.

Although she had already achieved considerable goals, Tatiana was a woman with great ambition when it came to swordsmanship. She might already be dreaming of something else. He didn’t want to be the one to bring it up first and make it seem like he was pressuring her.

He planned to wait patiently until she truly wanted a child and felt ready in her heart.

He had snatched her like a bandit before her debutante season had even ended, fearing someone else might set their sights on her, so he could certainly adjust the rest of their pace to suit her.

What would Tatiana say if she knew what he was thinking? Would she sigh and ask why he had to make everything so complicated?

But what she should clearly understand is that this is simply the kind of person he is.

He always becomes thoughtful and cautious when faced with people, events, and goals that he considers important. He never finds it wasteful to invest time and effort in these things.

The reason he sometimes pondered things alone was because he considered Tatiana an important person in his life. He didn’t want to make mistakes.

Of course, as time passes and they come to know each other even more intimately than now, the day will come when they no longer need to gauge each other’s inner thoughts. The decision-making process will become much simpler. He hoped she wouldn’t misunderstand then and complain that he had become less attentive or that he had grown too comfortable with her.

No, it would be fine if she complained, as long as she recognized that her complaints were always limited to him alone. He would love her consistently, in a manner and pace appropriate to each stage of their lives.

Unlike himself, who had mentally traveled far into the future, Gideon shook Tatiana’s cheeks as she remained caught up in the past. Enough about the gift, he wanted her to stop thinking about the rattle. He really wasn’t jealous.

She still looked embarrassed, as if it wasn’t so easy to let go. To help change her train of thought, he rummaged through his pocket. What he pulled out was a delicate light pink envelope.

“This. It came for you, Titi.”

Wondering what it was, Tatiana quickly opened the envelope.

When she confirmed that the contents were a wedding invitation and saw who it was from, she burst out laughing.

“Ah, this?”

“You knew about it?”

Tatiana’s head dipped down before tilting to the left. It was like answering “Yes……no?” She knew half of it, but the other half she didn’t.

She had certainly heard that her friend was seeing someone. When her friend first confessed this fact, the tea party regulars had become quite rowdy.

Where and how did they meet, what was the family’s financial situation, were the parents prepared for retirement? Was the man caring? Most importantly, did he treat her well? Everyone was busy trying to dig up information about him, but Tatiana had asked just one question.

‘Can he fight well?’

‘……’

‘I mean, does he know how to use a sword.’

For some reason, her friends all gave her disgusted looks at that moment.

But Tatiana was genuinely curious. There’s a famous saying among athletic circles, Athletes are either incredible people or complete jerks.

Of course, this is an exaggeration, and not all cases are so extreme. However, it was true that when someone with half-baked strength lacked character, it became a headache for those around them.

So that question wasn’t asked to satisfy Tatiana’s personal curiosity. She asked out of genuine concern for her friend. Really.

‘He knows how to use one, but…… would he be better than Your Majesty the Queen?’

‘Well, that’s true.’

So if her husband ever did something unforgivably awful, bring him to me—that was the message.

No, there wouldn’t even be a need to bring him. She planned to go find him herself and have a good talk about whether this was really how he wanted to live. With her sword, of course.

However, unlike Tatiana’s friendly pledge, her friend seemed more concerned about the immediate reality. She was likely to set a wedding date soon, but found it difficult to readily invite Tatiana. This was because Tatiana was not only her friend but also the Queen.

If the Queen came, there was a high chance the King would come too. Then things would get complicated. It was very rare for the King to attend a noble family’s wedding. While it would be an honor for the family, a wedding was an event where the bride and groom should be the main characters. It was obvious that the roles would be reversed.

But not sending an invitation would also be impolite. The King was someone who could easily decline an invitation, but not informing the royal family of a union between families would be disloyal.