When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 35

The instantly frozen advisors rolled only their eyeballs sideways to look at Gideon. And the moment they confirmed the prince’s expression, their faces turned deathly pale.

‘His, his eyes…… are spinning?’ 

 They didn’t dare meet his gaze and lowered their heads.

To describe just how much the prince’s eyes were spinning right now — if their sister brought home a man with such eyes…… no, such a gaze, they would desperately want to stop that marriage. Though seemingly calm at first glance, these were definitely not the eyes of a normal person.

Gideon quietly spoke to the advisors who were watching his reaction.

“Open it without announcing us.”

“……”

“What are you doing. Didn’t you hear me?”

The one who stepped forward among the hesitating aides was Kay. He alone maintained an indifferent expression while others were perplexed. And after trying the handle with a click, he looked at Gideon.

“It’s locked from inside.”

“Break it, then.”

Kay struck the door handle with his sheathed sword.

Bang! Bang!

Just two strikes were all it took. The princess’s door was destroyed beyond repair.

But as if even that wasn’t enough, Gideon kicked away the remaining debris with his pitch-black boot, completely clearing it from his sight.

“……”

“……”

The prince’s party and the princess consort’s ladies-in-waiting could only stare at each other for a while. It felt as if they had never looked at each other’s faces this closely before.

Not that they felt any particular affection for each other. They felt empty as they stared at where the door had been, gradually becoming dumbfounded, and somewhat embarrassed. Because their bare faces, revealed only after the curtain fell, seemed too raw.

The ladies-in-waiting were all sweating a little. Their makeup had worn off considerably. At first, they had started with laughter and giggles, thinking they would just play along with the princess consort, but the exercise had proven to be anything but easy.

Tatiana stood at the center, inserting her fingers between someone’s shoulder blades, saying she would help create ‘a back that cannot help but show off.’

Gideon’s group realized they had been caught in a strange misunderstanding.

This was not a crime scene. The princess consort and her ladies-in-waiting had been spending a perfectly wholesome time when they were interrupted by dark-clothed men.

However, it was difficult to blame only their minds for being particularly dirty. There were many actual cases of royal women engaging in dangerous and secret games with their ladies-in-waiting.

Relationships between royal couples tended to go bad rather than good. There were too many entanglements of power, politics, and in-laws.

Such people could hardly have been lovey-dovey only in bed. There are many people, even outside royalty, who try to fill their mental and physical emptiness with someone other than their spouse.

And even at the scene of the incident, they would speak quite boldly. Saying, weren’t you the one who made me lonely first?

But Tatiana merely wore a puzzled expression, not knowing how far others had taken their thoughts. She was even engaging in unnecessary self-blame.

‘I didn’t notice them coming at all?’

Usually, she would have noticed Gideon before he even passed the outer gate, but perhaps she had been too excited about having exercise companions.

However, the ladies-in-waiting she had considered exercise companions were now slinking away from their spots with shameful expressions. It was betrayal.

‘What? Why are you embarrassed? Is exercise shameful?’ 

 Tatiana’s resentment was directed entirely at Gideon.

“Why did you suddenly break down the door?”

So you prefer removing all structures before looking? Is this war then?

The prince’s advisors were quite curious about how the prince would answer this. But Gideon, who had already assessed the situation and sorted out his position, didn’t seem to be contemplating much.

“The door wouldn’t open.”

“……”

“It seems it was broken, wife.”

“…… Still, you could have tried knocking first. You scared everyone.”

“I did knock, but you couldn’t hear from inside. What were you doing that you couldn’t even notice people coming?”

Tatiana wore a suspicious expression. Something felt off about the situation, but there was no way to verify if he had really knocked.

She had only heard someone forcefully striking the doorknob a couple of times. This was the sound that came when someone had decided from the start to destroy something completely.

Tatiana looked at the ladies-in-waiting, but if she hadn’t noticed any presence, there was no way they would have heard it either.

Finally, unable to find a way to resolve her doubts, Tatiana decided to simply answer the question asked.

“We were just exercising, that’s all.”

Then Gideon fanned her cheek with his hand and asked.

“What kind of exercise were you doing in the room to sweat this much?”

“This is proof that I was sincere today.”

“Ah.”

“I believe any exercise that doesn’t make you sweat is false.”

Losing weight while eating, miracle cures that instantly heal the sick—bring anyone who misleads Valter’s subjects with such sensational phrases before me. Let them try selling to me first. But if I try it and it doesn’t work…… I really won’t let them off.

Things easily gained disappear just as easily. Those who cleverly hide this truth and only speak honeyed words, I’ll bet my right neck that they’re all monsters born of materialism. I can use my left hand anyway.

Tatiana expressed her convictions without reservation. But the ladies-in-waiting, who had to listen to this healthy conviction like background music for an hour, couldn’t help but show slightly tired expressions.

Tatiana’s exercise routine, contrary to her claims of being beginner-friendly, was harsh. Even just a slight taste of it had been more than enough for the ladies-in-waiting.

But Gideon only smiled, finding Tatiana’s words merely cute. He even nodded along between responses, as if agreeing with everything she said.

However, even Gideon couldn’t completely hide his desire to steal Tatiana’s attention for himself.

He grabbed Tatiana’s wrist and led her toward the bedroom. And before entering, he glanced at the door he had broken and instructed his advisors.

“Put up a new one. Make it sturdy.”

“……”

“It breaks too easily. Is this acceptable for a castle?”

It was impossible for a wooden door to withstand the force of strong men. That was true for any door unless it borrowed power from the magic tower.

However, shouldn’t it at least buy some time in emergencies for those inside to prepare or escape? Gideon’s instruction was quite sensible.

It was just that this rational thought coming from the person who had ordered the door’s destruction was slightly, just slightly bizarre. 

 After entering the bedroom, Gideon lay down lengthwise on the bed. When he tapped the headboard, tap, tap, Tatiana followed him up.

Though his strange entrance had startled her, she felt glad to see his face unexpectedly. And belatedly became curious.

“By the way, Your Highness. Why did you suddenly come here?”

But Gideon frowned, apparently not liking her question. He had no particular business, and he had been acutely aware of that fact the entire way here.

But thinking back, he had received a similar question from Tatiana before.

He remembers the exact date. It was the day of Sir Bloom’s funeral.

After burying his mentor while nobles and royal guards watched, he had followed Tatiana to the Bloom estate.

‘Why did you come here?’

‘What do you mean why?’

‘……”

‘Am I not allowed to come?’

At that time, she had answered with a weak smile.

‘There’s no reason for you to be here. Not anymore.’

‘Why…… is there no reason?’

‘…… Please leave.’

It’s quite amusing, but excluding their first meeting, that was the only proper conversation they had ever had.

He’s not sure whether Tatiana remembers it or not. She was in quite an unstable state around that time.

But you know what? You’re asking me that question again. Sorry, but you can’t chase me away anymore. The situation now is completely different from back then.

“Do I need a reason to come? This isn’t Tatiana’s house, it’s my castle.”

Oh my? Getting childish?

Tatiana couldn’t understand why Gideon was responding so crookedly to such a simple question.

Of course, his words weren’t wrong. This was the prince’s palace. No one could interfere with wherever he chose to go within it.

However, if perhaps, that is, if he was thinking of claiming ownership of this building, if he was planning to be so petty about it, Tatiana did have something to say. 

 “You said half of it was for me to use. You said so yourself, Your Highness.”

“……”

“Then wouldn’t this be under our joint ownership?”

But Tatiana’s voice lacked confidence as she claimed joint ownership.

She knew from going through the guardian designation and settlement procedures. What mattered were legal documents. No amount of arguing could beat a piece of paper. And even if those papers numbered ten thousand, they were mere scraps before royalty.

“I know it belongs to the royal family. I was just joking, definitely not being greedy.”

Gideon stared at her for a long while. He wondered where she had learned such weathered jokes. However, he nodded with a smirk, as if he could easily grant that much.

“Take it all. If you need the deed, I’ll even create documents that don’t exist…… Take everything.”

“No, it was just a joke. If you’re going to go this far…… thank you.”

Tatiana smiled brightly as if to say she had no choice if he was going to be like that, and Gideon finally covered his face and laughed out loud.