When You Don’t Get Along With Your Husband - Chapter 38

But what happens when you don’t give work to people who came to work? They lose their sense of worth and feel they’re being mistreated. And naturally, they start looking elsewhere to secure their future.

Duke Muller had been secretly in contact with the Empress’s faction over the past year or two.

It would be difficult to say they were in the same boat. Gideon didn’t have that level of evidence either.

However, he couldn’t continue to ignore this situation. Legitimacy wasn’t the only important factor in succession to the throne.

Military control was necessary for a smooth ascension to the throne. But a few months ago, the King had appointed Prince Vaikal’s maternal uncle as the commander of the capital defense forces. It was a setback.

This event would certainly work against Gideon’s succession.

In this complex political situation, Gideon boldly proposed to the royal guard commander’s adopted daughter.

To the nobles, this felt like a signal — that the First Prince was reaching out to the royal guard once again.

Though it was quite a convincing interpretation, Gideon showed no particular change in attitude even after the wedding. When the royal guard issue was mentioned among his aides, he would only respond lukewarmly, saying “Right. What should we do about them……”

Even now, as he reached out to his chamberlain asking to see what clothes he should wear, his expression remained indifferent.

While putting one arm through the coat the chamberlain handed him, Gideon briefly fell into thought. Then, as if choosing his words carefully, he opened his mouth to address the aides who were watching him.

“You know what.”

“……”

“I actually don’t have very good feelings about Duke Muller.”

Who here wouldn’t know that? Nevertheless, the aides all listened attentively. It was rare for the First Prince to lay out his personal feelings.

Looking at these aides, Gideon spoke as if to say isn’t this ridiculous.

“My wife almost became my sister-in-law, you know.”

“……”

Ah, so he was talking about that incident. Though Gideon was smiling, this time all the aides avoided the prince’s gaze.

They thought Gideon’s eyes had been rolling wildly when he broke down Tatiana’s door.

However, that wasn’t the first time the prince’s eyes had gone wild.

It was around this time last year. The day of Tatiana’s and some other noble ladies’ debutante was scheduled.

Tatiana had notified her absence that very day citing an injury. When Gideon learned of this at the party venue, he made such an irritated expression that the aides thought the prince must have had a prior appointment with Tatiana. His reaction was exactly like that of a man who had been stood up.

The prince left the banquet hall as if he had no further business there, but the real incident happened afterward.

The Empress joked with the Mullers while asking after their adopted daughter’s wellbeing.

‘It was an opportunity to match her with a good young man, it’s regrettable but you’ll have to postpone it to next year.’

‘Indeed, Your Majesty.’

‘Oh my, since we’re postponing anyway, how about waiting another year or two? Our Vaikal will need to settle on a marriage partner soon too.’

‘……My word. Just your words alone bring infinite glory to our family.’

Gideon, who was already in a bad mood, finally lost it when Princess Scarlet relayed to him this warm exchange.

If that marriage talk had seriously gained momentum, he might have kidnapped Tatiana and hidden her away in some distant mountain.

However, Gideon couldn’t go make trouble with the Empress or House Muller, telling them not to touch what was his.

He had perfectly concealed the fact that he had been keeping an eye on Tatiana all this time. The moment he revealed his feelings, the Empress would make her real move.

The Empress was someone who could push for a marriage between her own son and Tatiana just to spite Gideon.

As if to say ‘Ah, so this was your weakness? You want this girl? But what a shame, you can’t have her.’

Fortunately, time was on Gideon’s side.

While Gideon and Tatiana were adults, Vaikal had not yet come of age. And the royal family had revised the marriage law to eliminate the custom of early marriage. The royal family couldn’t be the first to make an exception to that law.

It was infuriating, but it was a battle Gideon would win if he just waited exactly one year.

Now that it’s all in the past, one could say that marriage law saved several lives back then.

As time passed, Gideon succeeded in marrying the woman he had his eye on, and now he was about to have a meal with her adoptive parents.

Having finished dressing, he left his final adjustments to the chamberlain and asked his aides.

“Do you think it’s right to shake off old grudges and move on?”

The aides found it difficult to answer readily. If that question was simply limited to what happened at the party venue, they could joke around like this.

‘Yes, Your Highness, that much could be seen as just a minor incident before marriage. Everything becomes a memory once it passes.’

However, wasn’t there more to the relationship between Duke Muller and the Empress?

“……Well. What would you like to do, Your Highness?”

Gideon, who had always maintained a lukewarm attitude, gave an unexpectedly clear answer.

“Give them a chance.”

“……”

“To grab my rope instead of a rotten one.”

“……”

“I can be this generous to my in-laws.”

But he didn’t seem to have high expectations. Moreover, he was still thinking inside.

‘What in-laws.’

Gideon forcefully swallowed the voice rising from his heart. Then he left his office to escort Tatiana. 

 Tatiana and Gideon faced the Muller family across the dining table.

The atmosphere was somewhat dry. Lady Muller and her son were frozen, and even the Duke appeared cautious, carefully considering what to say.

In terms of surface atmosphere, the meal with the Empress had actually been better. At least then there had been laughter, albeit artificial, and occasional conversation.

Gideon wanted to ask Tatiana if she was satisfied now, if this was what she wanted. However, when she sat there with an expression more disinterested than anyone else present, he felt rather dumbfounded.

‘After you gathered everyone here, how can you be the quietest one?’

Was she shy, or had she suddenly turned prim? Since she was actually the bridge between House Muller and Gideon, she should at least ask after each other’s wellbeing, or if there’s really nothing to say, talk about the weather. But Tatiana was just pushing around her salad with her fork.

And when his wife suddenly took on a passive attitude like someone who had become shy around strangers, Gideon had no choice but to step up. 

 He gently led the conversation on her behalf.

“It seems my wife owes much gratitude to Sir and Lady Muller.”

“Oh, not at all.”

“I’m afraid we’re quite late in having this gathering — she’s been pestering me about it for a while. It’s all because I was busy, so please don’t hold it against her.”

Tatiana, who had been picking at her food, stared at Gideon. He had seemed really annoyed about this until recently, but now his words were flowing so smoothly.

‘You’re trying hard today?’

When Tatiana’s lips twitched with a ‘kik,’ Gideon read her expression too. He narrowed his eyes as if to say:

‘Is it funny?’

Tatiana was actually finding this quite amusing. Not for any other reason, but because it was fascinating that they could communicate without speaking a single word.

As the two exchanged smiles through their eyes, Lady Muller belatedly responded to the prince’s courtesy.

“Oh, no, Your Highness. How could we feel slighted? We never thought you would really invite us…… We’re simply honored.”

At those words, Gideon looked at Tatiana again.

‘See? These people were surprised by the sudden invitation. They don’t think of themselves as my in-laws either.’

Gideon’s thoughts were half right and half wrong.

Even if the Mullers had been Tatiana’s biological parents, their attitude toward Gideon wouldn’t have been much different. A prince was bound to be a difficult and uncomfortable son-in-law no matter which family he married into.

However, the smiles and eye language that Gideon and Tatiana exchanged with each other contributed greatly to loosening the rigid atmosphere.

The Mullers approached the meal with more ease, and later even asked after Tatiana’s recent life.

“Your Highness, are you finding life at the castle agreeable?”

“Yes, everything’s good. His Highness treats me very well.”

Tatiana answered Lady Muller with her words while looking at Gideon with her eyes.

‘See? I can do as well as you, right? I can do this much when I put my mind to it.’

Gideon found it cute and thought to himself, yes, if you’re satisfied, that’s what matters.

“How do you spend your time these days, Your Highness?”

“Um…… Just the same as before.”

It was quite a vague answer. However, there was no one present who couldn’t interpret that answer specifically.

The Mullers realized that Tatiana was still catching bugs here too, occasionally swinging sticks around and living while working up a sweat.

Did they find it disagreeable? Or were they worried? Duke Muller looked at Tatiana, sighed, and spoke to Gideon as if confiding his true feelings.

“The marriage was so sudden, we were actually quite shocked at first. But now I think it turned out well.”