When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 18

It was probably during a meal together that day.

‘Tania once glared at me like she wanted to kill me when she was young.’

‘……’

‘I had instructed the maids to hide raisins well inside the bread because she was picky. She told me she was truly disappointed in me. That I had deceived her.’

‘That’s… well, Sir, you were wrong.’

‘Why do you think so?’

‘Because you lost trust over just a raisin. If it were me, I would be suspicious of any bread Sir Bloom gives from now on.’

‘Your Highness, I wasn’t trying to poison my daughter, I just wanted to correct her picky eating. Tania was just sulking.’

‘Well, your daughter and I are different.’

That memory is still quite vivid to Gideon, but it seemed she now ate raisins without any problem.

The fact that the Muller family maids didn’t give any hint means she really didn’t know.

She has changed in many other ways as well.

The girl who used to cry and be sad, the girl who was just bright and cheerful, is no longer there.

Naturally, she has become a bit of an adult, outwardly calm, and a more realistic person.

In some aspects, she seems even more pessimistic than Gideon. She responds well when asked and laughs pleasantly, but occasionally, there’s a hint of self-mockery.

But Gideon doesn’t find this change disappointing, even if it’s unfamiliar. He was just curious. What thoughts Tatiana had and how she spent her time cooped up in the ducal house for the past three years.

Whether she had managed her feelings well after Sir Bloom passed away.

But… at the same time, he also wonders this.

Should I dig into that past time? It doesn’t seem like it would be good for us, especially for you. Can’t we just connect the girl you were and who you are now as is?

‘I’ve brought you into this castle. It took a long wait, but it finally happened. Actually, I’m quite satisfied with just that these days. So let’s just keep it like this…’

But people in the world know. Marriage is not the result, but the beginning.

And you’re going to bury something from that beginning?

Undoubtedly, problems will raise their heads someday. When that time comes, it will really be difficult to solve.

If humans evolved from some being, there must have been that process, an intermediate species.

Only by identifying and tracing that time can the current you and I be accurately explained.

It was the same when facing conflict situations.

To truly understand why we’re clashing, why you show different reactions from me, the other’s thought process, we needed to identify the times that remain blank for each other.

The lost link, the missing link. Their three years.

Gideon was lost in thought for a while, and Tatiana sighed once again, raising her shoulders high and then lowering them.

Watching that sigh, which he couldn’t count how many times it had been, Gideon smiled bitterly. I guess the gift really went wrong.

He immediately stood up, leaned on the window frame, and jumped down towards the grass.

Gideon’s guards followed him without a moment’s hesitation. However, the rest of the personnel fumbled about and all headed for the corridor and stairs.

Tatiana’s keen eye was accurate. They were all lives that had only lived in front of desks, and their joints were too weak to confidently throw themselves from a high floor.

Thud.

Despite trying to minimize the sound, the unusual landing noise brushed past Tatiana’s ears.

‘Two people.’

Tatiana gripped the sword handle and turned around just in case, but relaxed when she saw Gideon’s face. As she was about to lift her hips to greet him, Gideon held out his palm, signaling her to stay put.

Tatiana asked him.

“Did you come to watch, by any chance?”

Ah, watch?

Sorry, but I’ve already done that plenty. From the royal box, no less.

He didn’t get to see the sword dance he was secretly hoping for, but well, Tatiana must have days when she doesn’t feel like it too.

Gideon shook his head and answered.

“I just came to be with you.”

Would she dislike it? But even if she did, there was nothing she could do. This was Gideon’s domain from the start, so even if she holed up here, he could come and go without anyone’s restraint.

Tatiana hadn’t thought he had considered even these small details, so she smiled, her dimples showing.

“Ah. You came to get closer?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Sitting side by side, both of them made their eyes into half-moons simultaneously.

And whether due to the wind or their close proximity, their clothes rustled countless times as they brushed against each other.

The reason for the strange tightness in their hearts amidst the comfort was probably because both were conscious of each other.

Gideon gazed at Tatiana deeply, as if pulled by gravity. But soon he frowned and smiled bitterly. Because he had discovered something on one of her shoulders.

“Tania.”

“Yes?”

“Stay still. Don’t be surprised.”

Living with a wife with extraordinary reflexes makes it impossible to secretly remove a bug as a gesture of courtesy.

Knowing Tatiana would notice even if he just slightly raised his hand, Gideon asked for permission first. Tatiana followed his gaze with a puzzled expression, then discovered the grasshopper and chuckled.

“Ah, this?”

I thought it was something else. She was about to casually flick off the finger-length grasshopper.

However, her glossy thumb and index fingernails stopped just short of the insect’s antennae. She had belatedly realized that Gideon had just tried to remove this bug for her.

He still had his hand raised to an awkward position.

Tatiana wasn’t the type to scream ‘Eek!’ or hide behind him in this situation. Habits don’t lie.

She didn’t want to put on airs now either.

But at the same time, Tatiana didn’t want to appear too rough to him.

Knowing it was far too late to do anything about this image, she asked with a forlorn face.

“Does this reduce my charm?”

Not expecting her to ask such a thing, Gideon burst out laughing. Then he shook his head belatedly and denied it.

“No, your charm has increased.”

It was an honest answer, but Tatiana didn’t seem to believe it much. Still, it must not have been bad to hear, as she kept smiling.

Before releasing the grasshopper, she looked at the maids. It was a bit late, but to explain the previous moth incident…

That it was an unavoidable situation. And that actually, I’m not such a cruel person.

“I’m going to let it live.”

“……”

“This one is a beneficial insect.”

Ah, was there such a standard again?

Even the elderly Isabelle seemed to be listening seriously, making Tatiana feel embarrassed. She wasn’t an entomologist, so all she knew about insects was that they were divided into head, thorax, and abdomen.

Come to think of it, I’m suddenly curious. Does a perfect distinction between beneficial and harmful insects exist in the world? Something harmful to me could be beneficial to someone else, right?

After thinking for a while, Tatiana presented another excuse.

“Actually, I made eye contact with it.”

Ah, then it would be hard to kill.

Having difficultly gained the sympathy of the majority, Tatiana lightly brushed the grasshopper off her shoulder with the back of her hand, not even knowing where its eyes were attached.

“Go well. Don’t bring your friends.”

The grasshopper seemed to know it had been in a situation just before execution.

It had been sitting still on the princess consort’s shoulder all this time, perhaps because it was frozen, but as soon as the path to survival opened, it escaped at a speed no one had predicted.

Watching the light green grasshopper disappear, moving its legs at geometric angles, Tatiana giggled quietly. Then she needlessly sought Gideon’s agreement.

“It’s strangely funny.”

“……”

“It’s a bit cute, isn’t it?”

What’s cute about that?

Gideon thought it was really absurd, but didn’t say it out loud. He had no interest in bugs and had been looking only at Tatiana for a long time already.

In his eyes, the only thing that could be called a ‘being’ to him right now was her. So if his words were referring to anything, it would be the same.

“You’re right. Really funny and cute.”

Gideon smiled gently at Tatiana and slowly raised his gaze. Then a cool west wind blew from somewhere.

The sky was high, and the cotton clouds were even gentle. It was weather reminiscent of some day in the past.

A clear afternoon where it seemed no problems would arise.

It was an autumn day, exactly one week since Tatiana and Gideon had become husband and wife.