Tatiana maintained loyalty to the princess by pretending not to know until then. But how could she ignore the feelings of a husband wandering the castle alone searching for his wife, those earnest feelings of courtship?

She nodded repeatedly to the hesitating Robert with her eyes tightly shut. Hoping this would be enough of an answer.

However, there was another unexpected situation here. Robert failed to notice his wife’s adorable feet in this empty room.

‘How can he not notice that? Is his eyesight really bad?’

At this point, wasn’t the princess practically begging to be found? Though that wasn’t true, Tatiana decided to think of it that way. It seemed the best way to help the couple would be to let them meet quickly.

It was also meant to tell them to resolve their marital issues themselves without involving others. No, actually she was curious to hear what words of love they would whisper to each other.

Tatiana gracefully walked to the curtain with her sword for a quick resolution.

“There’s a fly in the castle……”

When she swung her arm a couple times with a whoosh, the curtain fell from the ceiling with a thud.

Scarlet, who had been crouching, seemed unable to grasp the situation immediately and blinked with a questioning look. Then after a while, she asked Tatiana who was playing innocent.

“Tatiana. Didn’t we just…… agree to be friends?”

Tatiana answered with the discipline of a splendid knight.

“Yes. The princess and I are friends. And I just caught a fly.”

“……Oh my? Look at how you talk.”

“……”

“Sister-in-law, are you really Gideon’s wife? I’ve been deceived.”

No, there really was a fly. I am honest before my sword. Tatiana pointed to the bisected fly corpse with the tip of her sword.

Originally one shouldn’t carelessly interfere in others’ marriages, and when forced to interfere, you must establish justification like this. Otherwise you’re likely to take all the blame later.

However, despite Tatiana building up justification even to the point of killing a fly, Scarlet couldn’t hide her expression of betrayal.

The rest was up to the husband now that she had done this much.

Robert quickly approached his wife. Though the startled Scarlet tried to avoid him, she ended up trapped in his thick arms, where she fluttered like a fish.

“Get away!”

“Scarlet, why are you playing hide and seek since morning?”

“It’s embarrassing!”

“What’s embarrassing about that……” 

 Though he didn’t specifically mention the situation, Scarlet seemed sufficiently distressed. She covered her ears and screamed “Ah! Ahhh!” trying to stop her husband’s words with screams.

Robert then embraced Scarlet tightly with a hearty laugh. Sweet honey seemed to drip from the bear-like man’s eyes as he looked at his wife.

“It was so lovely. I thought a canary was chirping but it flew away.”

“Really?”

Tatiana, who was listening, thought:

‘Ah, so the sound came from her throat? People get embarrassed over the strangest things.’

She hoped they wouldn’t come complaining about such trivial matters in the future. To someone who had shed tears and snot and even danced with swords in front of her husband, it seemed rather laughable.

However, Scarlet soon lowered her voice and whispered as if something seemed odd to her.

“But why is it a canary?”

“Well, what else could it be……”

“……”

“Ah. It looked like such a cute skunk.”

Tatiana sighed.

As expected. But she hadn’t wanted to know in such detail.

However, Tatiana couldn’t help but admire Robert. He was very skillfully soothing and improving his wife’s mood.

Is this the kind of social skill expected of the eldest son of a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official? Indeed, blood will tell, it seems.

Tatiana thought that she shouldn’t underestimate him just because he had an affable impression. Actually, she wanted to go ‘Eeek!’ from the cringe, but she deliberately thought of something else.

But even at this moment, the whispers of love continued.

“Shall we go to our room now? You need more sleep. Scarlet is such a sleepyhead.”

Tatiana shook her head.

That wasn’t it. The princess would get up briefly to freshen up and then go back to sleep. She wasn’t a sleepyhead, just someone with an extraordinary commitment to protecting her bare face.

However, Robert seemed like he would just laugh it off with a ‘haha,’ finding Scarlet cute no matter what she did. With love overflowing from his eyes like that, how could he not find everything about her pretty?

The couple of five years, who had caused quite a commotion around them, finally linked arms and prepared to leave.

“Your Highness, I apologize for our rudeness.”

“Yes…… Ah, no, not at all.” 

 Tatiana first nodded as if it had indeed been very rude, then hurriedly corrected herself. It wasn’t a mistake, but rather a joke.

Knowing this well, Robert smiled and suggested they should have a meal together when His Highness Gideon returns.

It seemed he had found peace of mind along with finding his wife. His smile, much more natural than before, made him appear quite handsome.

The princess turned back briefly while walking out with her husband. She winked at Tatiana and mouthed the words.

‘Let’s play again next time.’

Should a married woman’s heart flutter this much at a wink from another woman? Tatiana nodded her head up and down emphatically.

She felt like a child making a pinky promise to play house again next time.

Tatiana smiled sheepishly after sending them off, but there was someone else who looked particularly pleased. It was Isabelle, the head maid.

Seeing the princess wave to Isabelle as well before completely leaving the room, Tatiana asked.

“You must be close with Princess Scarlet.”

“Yes, I served the princess before serving Your Highness. I was her nanny, Your Highness.”

Their relationship was much closer than she had thought.

Tatiana’s eyes widened, and Isabelle made an expression as if she was more surprised, asking ‘You didn’t know?’

‘Really. Why didn’t my husband tell me such important information beforehand?’

Tatiana thought she would need to be even more careful with her words in front of the maids.

A nanny was someone who could be as emotionally close as a birth mother. Sometimes even closer. And mothers and daughters tend to share more stories than one might expect.

How embarrassing and awkward would it be if any marital arguments with Gideon were to reach her sister-in-law’s ears?

However, the person she wanted to question about why she hadn’t been informed beforehand wasn’t here right now.

What would Gideon be doing now? Perhaps because she had just witnessed such an affectionate couple, Tatiana felt somewhat empty in one corner of her heart.

It’s strange how she could feel this way when they haven’t been married for that long. She had lived well without him before, and that time was incomparably longer than their marriage.

……What if someday she becomes too accustomed to life with her husband? What would she do then if she becomes such a fool that she can’t even imagine life without him?

Tatiana smiled awkwardly at her own musings. It seemed like such a needless worry.

But it was true that she was concerned about Gideon and missed him. 

 * * *

 Gideon stared blankly out the window.

Cold lands have their own charm. Though it would take more time before snow falls, the frost on the window revealed that this was the North.

Gideon’s entry into the principality was smooth. They had no grounds to stop the First Prince of Valter.

Though they have autonomous rights and countless histories of civil uprising, no one could deny that the principality was Valter’s territory.

“Though late, congratulations on your marriage, Your Highness Gideon.”

Gideon traced the steaming teacup with his finger and gazed at Grand Duke Rigor.

The silver-haired man who resembled the North was around Gideon’s age and had succeeded to the position of Grand Duke three years ago.

“There’s an even later greeting. Congratulations on becoming Grand Duke.”

The reason this greeting wasn’t delivered on time was because the prince’s messengers lost their precious lives in this land.

Gideon wore a crooked smile, but the young Grand Duke remained calm as if he had expected this.

“I express my regret once again about the unfortunate incident that occurred in the North, Your Highness Gideon.”

“Ah, regret? Yes, you should.”

But regret is a very political word. It means while there is sympathy, there won’t be an apology. Because apologies in official settings come with subsequent responsibilities.

Gideon, knowing this too well, responded even more sharply to the Grand Duke’s words.

“Then shall we examine the matter of responsibility?”

“Your Highness, the principality has no connection to that incident. Wasn’t that already concluded? How are we supposed to prove something we didn’t do?” 

 Grand Duke Rigor, who had already suffered for a long time over the same issue, sighed deeply, seemingly tired of such topics.

Gideon observed the Grand Duke intently. He was watching for any slight show of agitation.

However, on the day the prince’s knights lost their lives, snow had fallen in the North. It took several days just to find the bodies.

That snow didn’t just hide the bodies from people’s view. The royal family couldn’t find any decisive evidence at the scene. Similarly, the Grand Duke found it difficult to prove his innocence.

After staring at the Grand Duke for a long while, Gideon turned his gaze back to the window.