The meeting chamber fell silent after Gideon’s statement.

Normally, they would have dragged out the time more and at least held a formal vote to gauge which way the nobles were leaning, but today the King was present. And as Gideon had expected, the King was not helpful to him at all.

“Gideon, the Grand Duke hasn’t even formally requested support yet, has he?”

“Your Majesty, I sufficiently confirmed his intention during this inspection.”

“I have not received any formal letter.”

Gideon held his tongue but thought to himself. Perhaps this was precisely evidence that the King was losing his actual power.

Who would seriously discuss state affairs with a king who rarely showed his face even at regular meetings, let alone parties? 

 To play with the nobles from above their heads, the king had to be strong. He couldn’t be sick either.

But the King seemed to find even this brief meeting tiring, as he sighed deeply and said:

“Let’s decide on military deployment after observing the situation a bit more. For now, it seems unnecessary for the royal family to show hasty attitudes. After all, we would be doing them a favor.”

“……”

“Let’s wrap up here then. Everyone has worked hard.”

When the King stood up, the Queen immediately rose to support his arm. The nobles bowed their heads toward the departing King, then left one by one.

Gideon remained at the sparsely emptied round table, watching Duke Muller.

Did the Duke know exactly how his statement today would be received by the Prince?

His complexion was pale, and Gideon asked as if confirming his intentions, though he had no plan to give him a chance to retract.

“Should I understand that your attitude today was your answer regarding our previous dinner meeting?”

“……Your Highness.”

“I don’t know what the Queen promised you, but do your best.”

Since the Queen was someone who could easily insert her blood relatives into the military, she might be able to elevate the Duke higher.

‘But it won’t be easy.’

The Queen was less trustworthy than her abilities would suggest, and I’ve been preparing for this kind of situation for quite some time now.

Gideon left the chamber with a cold-eyed sneer. Then he quietly spoke to his aide who followed.

“About what I discussed earlier regarding the Duke.” 

 “……”

“The third option.”

“……Yes, Your Highness.”

“Proceed with it. Just as a warning for now.”

The subordinate bowed his head with a grim expression, and only the sound of men’s shoes echoed through the dark, long corridor. 

* * *

 Gideon lay in bed with his arm bent, lost in thought. Beside him, Tatiana lay looking up at the ceiling.

It was a night like any other, but there was no conversation between the two today.

In truth, Gideon wasn’t in a particularly good mood right now. The meeting from earlier had made his nerves quite sensitive.

Although it was late night now and this was the bedroom, he had lived without the distinction of time and place when it came to work until now.

Thinking every day, receiving reports from informants at any time, scheming to put opponents in difficult positions.

However, he had recently gotten married. He didn’t want to drag headache-inducing stories into the marital bedroom.

Though it wasn’t something he could confide in Tatiana about, it would be more accurate to say he didn’t want to impose a serious atmosphere on her. Just because his work wasn’t finished didn’t mean he could turn someone else’s bed into a workplace.

Rest time during the day had come unintentionally with marriage like this. However, it took a kind of effort to empty the endlessly extending thoughts. Gideon sometimes found this unfamiliar and questionable.

‘Can forcefully trying to rest be called rest?’

But looking at her now, she had an even more troubled expression. Despite the late hour, that expression had remained unchanged for a long time, making Gideon curious.

‘You’re not someone who would ponder this long.’

Even though she herself had thought not to breathe a word about what happened outside. Even though she was thinking of sending Duke Muller away quietly without Tatiana knowing, like a mouse or bird.

Gideon wanted to know what was in her mind.

To be precise, he couldn’t accept that there were parts of her mind that he didn’t know about.

You don’t need to know everything, but I need to know it all. He wasn’t sure if this was an unfair notion.

So Gideon wondered if he really had a bad personality, as Tatiana had said before.

‘But so what. So what if I’m bad.’

Gideon brushed up Tatiana’s hair with a snicker. Unlike his malicious inner thoughts, his voice came out gentle.

“What are you thinking about right now?”

Tatiana slowly turned her head and blinked at Gideon. She had an expression that suggested she had been waiting for him to ask this. The desperation was evident in her fingertips as they clung to his arm.

“I don’t know how to use the privy purse that’s coming to me. The more I think about it, the more I feel like I’m sinking into a swamp.”

Ah. You still haven’t decided on that? Gideon thought it was really nothing to worry about and answered dismissively.

“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. Just use it as pocket money. Buy clothes or something.”

“Clothes?”

“Pretty armor.”

“……With that money, I could eventually build an army if I start buying armor.”

The amount was too large to be used personally, that’s what she meant.

While she knew there were cases where people did nothing and lived contentedly with that money, Tatiana didn’t want to do that. And if she was going to do something, rather than doing nothing at all, Tatiana’s usual belief was to do it properly.

Even when exercising, nothing was more inefficient than doing it halfheartedly while grumbling. If you’re going to do it that way, it’s better to give your muscles time to rest.

But given the situation, she had been having headaches for days. Since this was a field she had never dealt with before, she felt like her head might split open. This was a worry she would never have had if she hadn’t married the prince.

It wasn’t something only Tatiana experienced. After marriage, no matter how happy you are, countless duties inevitably follow.

Originally, good things and bad things never come alone. It’s just a time-delayed attack; they come together.

As Tatiana continued to sigh with a worried face, Gideon let out an awkward laugh.

Even if this might be a trivial matter to him, it was clearly a new duty she had taken on by marrying him. If he were to say here, ‘Get over it! It’s nothing. Everyone else does this much!’ the perfectly fine atmosphere would become quite bleak.

Although this was his first marriage, Gideon wasn’t that socially inept. He knew how to distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said depending on the situation and atmosphere.

Actually, this might be less about social awareness and more about the size of one’s heart for the other person. Even if it’s something everyone does, even if it’s a natural duty, when you care deeply for someone, you want your spouse to not have to struggle.

Gideon traced his memories for a moment and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Titi, as you’ve seen from the records, everyone’s entries are similar. Mostly medical facilities and poor relief. Actually, not many people expect creativity in these matters.”

“Well, I suppose so. I saw that Her Highness established childcare facilities?”

Gideon nodded and said. 

 “She’s always liked children.”

“……Really?”

“She can’t resist anything pretty and cute. Whether it’s people or jewels.”

Tatiana understood what he meant and nodded with a ‘pfft’ laugh.

She could imagine Scarlet squealing and not knowing what to do around little ones. However, for someone who liked children, Scarlet and her husband still had no news of children.

This was another issue that shouldn’t be carelessly spoken about or assumed by others, so Tatiana just thought ‘I see’ and moved on.

“If you  just decide on the business area, the people below will take care of the rest. Don’t worry too much and practice your signature for the budget later.”

“Signature?”

“I saw at the wedding you couldn’t do it right away.”

Tatiana rolled her eyes. 

 Was it because she didn’t know how to sign? She had just been momentarily unsure whether to write Bloom as a middle name or include Muller as well.

She was about to pinch his arm, annoyed at Gideon’s snickering, but was told ‘no violence’ again today.

Tatiana quietly lowered her hand, and after pondering for quite a while longer, carefully brought up the subject.

“Actually, I do have something in mind.”

“Yes, what?” 

 “Don’t laugh.”

“Why would I laugh? You’re free to use your own money as you want.”

Actually, it’s not my money, that’s why.

Tatiana pouted and asked.

“What about a school? In the slums, since the royal schools are already well-established.”