When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 27

However, at subsequent gatherings, people approached her as if nothing had happened. They were even friendly.

Among them, those who showed particularly friendly attitudes were the ones standing in front of her now.

Tatiana still felt somewhat grateful for that incident, and those feelings were clearly visible on her face.

She’s usually indifferent to matters outside her interest, even to the point of appearing dull at times, but now her green eyes were all misty. It seemed like if someone nudged her, dewdrop-like tears would roll down from her eyes.

Gideon, who had been observing this closely, let out a small sigh and stepped forward.

“I hope you’ll continue to get along well with my wife like this in the future.”

“……”

“Come often and spend enjoyable time with my wife.”

It was a statement without any particular flaw. However, Gideon frowned slightly after finishing his words. Not for any other reason, but because it felt quite awkward and he wondered if this was the right thing to do.

‘I would know if I had ever had the chance to be nice to my wife’s friends.’

But with this, Gideon had done his part for today.

His time spent at the party was much longer than usual, and even the couple’s posture was unprecedentedly affectionate.

That posture was something that shouldn’t come from a prince, nor should it. Moreover, he even approached his wife’s friends and personally spoke to them.

Even with just this much, the nobles couldn’t help but think,

‘…What’s this, they’re a lovey-dovey couple?’

Indeed, sometimes it’s necessary to lower the public’s expectations.

All the nobles watched this unprecedented scene thinking, ‘This is so unfamiliar…’ Only Princess Scarlet burst into a cheerful laugh, ‘Wahaha,’ at seeing her younger brother doing something he never did before.

Gideon ignored his sister, pretending not to notice. But Tatiana couldn’t take such a stance. When Tatiana sent a worried look saying, ‘Is she alright? Your sister, I mean. She’s laughing too hard right now,’ he reluctantly answered.

“Leave her be. She’s like that sometimes.”

“……”

“She’s not crazy. We don’t have that kind of family history, so don’t worry.”

Ah, I see. The Ainsler family members aren’t crazy, they just have strong personalities. That’s a relief.

However, despite spewing such harsh words, there didn’t seem to be any particular malice in Gideon’s gaze towards his sister. Just a hint of annoyance, perhaps.

Considering his attitude towards Prince Vaikal, it even felt like they had a decent relationship.

Tatiana unconsciously smiled along with the cackling Princess Scarlet, and Gideon led his wife to the center of the party venue. It was to walk around a bit since they had come down from the platform.

Needless to say, no one dared to approach this young newlywed couple carelessly.

Only the Muller couple, Tatiana’s adoptive parents, approached with a tense look to exchange formal greetings. And if there was one more exception, it was Princess Scarlet.

Scarlet, who had been laughing merrily in the middle of the banquet hall until just now, had been following the two like a tail for some time.

She was eagerly looking for an opportunity to talk with her sister-in-law, but Gideon was not easy to deal with. Scarlet, who had been grinding her teeth at her younger brother’s iron-like defense, finally just openly complained.

“Because of you, my sister-in-law can’t enjoy the party!”

Gideon asked while picking his ear as if it was noisy,

“How is that because of me?”

“When you’re around, other people are too scared to approach!”

“That’s not my problem. If you’re bored, go play with your husband over there.”

“How can you stick together even on a day like this? At parties, you’re supposed to relieve stress by talking badly about your husband and such.”

“…Don’t try to teach my wife strange things. She’s not the type to enjoy talking badly about others.”

But while Gideon was frowning, Scarlet had already linked arms with Tatiana.

He tried to pull Tatiana back to his side again, but soon slowly withdrew his hand.

For Tatiana, today was essentially her official debut in high society. This was because Gideon had caused great confusion with his proposal attack during her previous debutante ball.

If he had even a fingernail’s worth of guilty feelings, he should be taking her around now and introducing her to the nobles one by one…

Gideon was well aware that he wasn’t particularly suited for this kind of thing. It would be fortunate if he didn’t get in the way.

So he needed to find another suitable person, and there was no one better than Princess Scarlet for that.

A few years ago, the princess who had married into a prominent foreign family and returned with her husband, swept through parties left and right as soon as she came back to the country. Her sophisticated sense and unrestrained attitude captivated people, and it was only a matter of time before she threatened the Queen’s position as the queen of high society.

Needless to say, she always brought quite useful information and social gossip to Gideon at those times.

In the end, after much deliberation, Gideon decided to recommend that Tatiana accompany the princess.

“Stick close to my sister. She might seem mischievous, but she’ll help you a lot.”

“…Pardon?”

“Give me a signal when you’re done playing around. I’ll come to get you.”

But Tatiana felt not grateful, but rather like she had been wronged.

‘Are you trying to pass me off to your sister and sneak away alone? She might be your sister, but to me, she’s still a difficult in-law. It’s not entirely comfortable being alone with her…’

Wondering if this was such a difficult concept to understand, Tatiana glared at Gideon sullenly. However, she soon nodded without saying anything else.

There’s a saying that marriage should be done by people who have achieved emotional independence from their parents. By that standard, Gideon was a man who seemed so perfectly independent from his own family that he would even go to war if necessary. So when such a person recommended accompanying his sister, it seemed there must be a reason for it, or that there wouldn’t be any problem.

Tatiana had that much trust in Gideon. Moreover…

“Wow, your back is so pretty. Really amazing…”

Princess Scarlet was already gently stroking Tatiana’s bare skin, letting out exclamations of admiration.

The princess was the most beautiful person in this banquet hall. In Tatiana’s eyes, at least.

Being acknowledged by such a beauty, even Tatiana… ended up feeling quite satisfied. Moreover, this was the first friendly gesture from her husband’s family.

Receiving that signal and quickly changing her attitude, Tatiana walked around the party venue arm in arm with Scarlet. And she was genuinely impressed by the tremendous energy coming from the petite princess.

Scarlet greeted this person while greeting that person as well.

It seemed like they were talking about the citrus scent imported from a foreign country just a moment ago, but when she came to her senses, she was shaking hands with someone she had never seen before. So when she shook her head a few times thinking, ‘Oh my, what’s going on,’ suddenly there was a chessboard in front of her.

Princess Scarlet shouted ‘Checkmate!’ on behalf of the gentleman holding the chess piece, and Tatiana applauded, saying it was a match that felt like chivalry.

Tatiana thought this was like the dance she learned when she was young. A dance that continued while changing partners every second.

But Princess Scarlet’s abilities didn’t end there.

As if proving that she was Gideon’s sister, even in this chaotic situation, she filtered and carefully selected her conversation partners. If she thought ‘It would be better not to mingle with that person,’ she would gracefully twirl past them while linking arms with Tatiana.

Each time, she spun so elegantly that Tatiana wondered if Princess Scarlet was actually a spinning top?

“Sister-in-law, are you tired?”

“No, I don’t get tired easily. Rather, Princess… you seem to have much better stamina than I thought.”

“Actually, I’m extremely tired. But parties are battles too. You have to pretend you’re not tired, my feet have been hurting so much since earlier.”

Tatiana belatedly noticed the princess’s high heels and reddened ankles, and laughed sympathetically.

“Shall we sit down for a moment?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice, nice.”

The two sat down at a round table facing each other. And Tatiana whispered to the princess who couldn’t even massage her legs because of people’s gazes,

“You should wear comfortable shoes. Pretty ones are nice, but they can negatively affect your spine later, you know?”

“I’m not doing this to look pretty. I’m pretty even without wearing these.”

“……”

There was no way to refute when someone praised themselves with their own mouth.

Thinking that the princess was indeed Gideon’s sister, Tatiana smiled, but the princess had a pouty face.

“You’re tall, so you won’t understand how I feel. Eye level is important when dealing with people at parties, you know? Looking up from way down there and looking down from above feel different.”