Chapter 7. The Most Important Duty of a Married Woman

“I’m tired, so I’d appreciate it if you’d leave now. If you truly came as my ‘friend.'”

Calyx’s mouth was smiling, but his reddish-brown eyes remained coldly frozen. As if he had seen through the secret the other was hiding.

“Wh-what are you talking about? I was just worried because you disappeared leaving only a letter……”

“What’s there to worry about when a perfectly healthy man goes to find a bride? Don’t tell me…… you hate the idea of losing me to another woman……”

“If you’re just going to spout nonsense, I’ll leave now! Which room should I stay in?”

“Unfortunately, there’s no empty room for you to stay here.”

Luka, who had been heading toward the study door while fanning his earth-colored flushed face, stopped abruptly at Calyx’s plain declaration.

In the upper-class district of Ronvernon, in a mansion with a greenhouse whose rent was among the top three most expensive, there wasn’t a single room for a friend to stay?

“Isn’t it proper etiquette that the decision of whether a guest stays in the house or not belongs to the person who will soon become the mistress of this house?”

Luka’s eyes blinked as large as a frog’s. Though he didn’t speak, it was clear enough.

What are you talking about? You just arrived in the capital yesterday and you already have someone who’ll soon be the mistress?

“Don’t tell me…… you’ve already promised marriage? To whom? How?”

“Seeing how you’re interrogating me, it seems you have ulterior motives,”

“I get it! I’m going, going! Live well alone in this spacious mansion, eat well and do whatever you want!”

“Strong denial is strong affirmation……”

“@#&%$!”

Finally reaching his limit, Luka’s mouth showcased his brilliant linguistic skills until the study door closed.

Only after confirming through the window that Luka was crossing the garden with heavy steps did the artificial smile disappear from Calyx’s lips.

“Go to Patrick and tell him.”

Calyx whispered lowly to Luka’s retreating back.

“That Calyx Valdea seems to have truly come to the capital with the intention to marry.”

That far from harboring treacherous thoughts, he seems intent on ending his life as an idle man without dreams or ambitions, just like now.

Calyx Valdea, who had returned as a reckless and crazy former crown prince who willingly jumped into the lion’s mouth for his goal, sat at the desk instead of lying back down on the sofa.

⟨Thanks to causing a commotion, the crown prince’s side will likely observe the situation for a while. Although it deviated from the original plan, the desired scenario has unfolded. What remains is……. ⟩

Calyx’s hand, which had been writing the coded letter without hesitation, gradually stopped like a boat losing power.

Thanks to causing a commotion. Although it deviated from the plan. And the glove.

“……”

Calyx quietly looked down at the white satin glove in the drawer he had opened.

— A mere glove cannot prove my honor and pride.

What was she? That woman.

It was a secret room that only people from the royal family, especially those who had spent over a decade in the palace, could know about.

Not only did she enter it as naturally as if it were her own home, but she even went so far as to ask him what his identity was.

To that name which even a noble stuck in the most remote countryside couldn’t possibly not know, she boldly asked, who are you?

That boldness was the problem.

More than the question of how she knew about the secret room’s existence, more than the sense of crisis that he almost revealed his accomplice’s identity to an outsider, it stimulated his curiosity.

‘Why?’

How could she treat Calyx Valdea, the patricide who killed his father, not with fear but as if he were just some nobody from somewhere?

— I am a human being with discretion.

No.

If you were truly a person with discretion, you should have run away before asking who I was when faced with a monster who devoured his own father.

You shouldn’t have begged for help from someone who is hatred, shame, and fear just by existing.

⟨……Seducing the woman Patrick was trying to take first to disrupt his intentions.⟩

The pen nib, moving again, completed a sentence on the paper different from what he had originally planned.

He thought of his cousin.

At that time, Patrick had pretended he was her secret meeting partner, despite the fact that she had been with him all along.

He even called the guards to evade the question of why he needed to forcibly create a connection with this woman.

This was proof that something was hidden.

⟨She was definitely not a woman who matched Patrick’s taste. It would be incorrect to say he fell in love at first sight. So what remains is a political purpose for him to succeed to the throne safely.⟩

Although it’s not yet clear what benefits she could bring to Patrick, if he stole the lady’s heart before his brother, it could deal a significant blow.

After writing that far, Calyx stared at the period at the end of the last sentence.

The fact that Patrick had ulterior motives wasn’t reason enough for him to take that woman.

Calyx himself knew this was a forced excuse. He also knew his accomplice would object.

Yet why couldn’t he stop his pen?

Was it to take something away?

Or to prevent something from being taken?

⟨While I approach that woman and divert the royal family’s attention, investigate everything about her. What benefits she can provide to Patrick, everything without missing anything.⟩

Everything is for the downfall of his cousin whom he both loves and curses.

Although that woman was interesting, nothing could surpass his interest in the things that were taken from him.

Having confirmed this undeniable truth within himself, Calyx finished the letter with a much lighter hand.

⟨P.S. Taking that woman won’t take long. Whispering sweet love while wearing a mask should be easier than taking candy from a pocket.⟩

After writing this confident sentence at the end, Calyx sealed it tightly.

The man who had lost everything that once was his entirety entrusted it to his confidant and happily began devising his next plan.

The former crown prince, transformed from one who had lost to one who would take, was more confident than anyone in seducing someone.

Setting aside the fact that he had long lived hiding his true self beneath a mask, he was handsome enough that anyone who saw him once couldn’t help but fall in love.

* * *

But if there was one fact this confident and handsome man overlooked…….

“Marry me, my lady.”

The fact that he was a mad tyrant who had recklessly shot a bullet into her heart.

“I’m proposing to you right now.”

And the fact that in the plans of a woman who had returned from the hell of marriage, there was absolutely no intention of doing anything with another man.

Especially if that man was her in-law from her past life.

“How else should I express this feeling of not wanting to lose you to someone else, if not as a proposal?”

At a certain outdoor café not long ago.

Nevertheless, the man finally proposed to the woman.

Whether it was part of a well-honed plan or an impulse like the wind, even he couldn’t distinguish.

“Do you hate me that much?”

When had it begun?

When did all the moments he believed were calculated begin to go awry on their own?

When did the uncontrolled instinct begin to gradually, persistently, nurture what should not have been cultivated?

“Yes. I hate you.”

When did it become familiar to find even the eyes that coldly glared at him beautiful?

But what could he do?

Nothing is sweeter than unexpected desire, and the man who had lost his everything now only knew how to possess, and the woman before him was enchanting to the point of being frightening even in that moment.

“What can I do? I have no intention of giving up.”

* * *

A tea house near the upper-class district of Ronvernon, one week after the royal ball.

Lottie, who had been dragged by Grand-aunt Isabelle to all sorts of gatherings from morning till night, decided to catch her breath by meeting her cousin Eugenie who happened to be in Ronvernon.

“It seems like just the other day you were crying your eyes out into croissants because no one had proposed to you.”

Eugenie wrinkled her nose as she placed a slice of cake garnished with ladyfingers and figs in front of Lottie.

“So, was it the feather or the glove?”

“Lady Fortgard!”

When the dreaded topic popped up, Isabelle screamed as if in horror.

If calling someone’s name could stop their mouth, the expression “slip of the tongue” would not exist in this world.

Lady Fortgard’s mouth ultimately uttered the very words Isabelle most wanted to prevent.

“What’s the secret to capturing the attention of two princes at once and being selected as the protagonist of the romance of the century?”

The romance of the century.

Lottie, who had nearly had her honor buried alive as the protagonist of a scandal, transformed within a week into the protagonist of a romantic novel who received the envy of all women.

There was no secret. She had simply gone about her daily life quietly doing her duty, and when she woke up, everything had resolved itself.

The real protagonists of the scandal, who in her past life had been forever buried in the grass smell of the outdoor garden, were revealed.

Thus, Lottie’s false accusation was completely cleared, and Crown Prince Patrick, who had tried to protect Lottie, was highly praised for his sensitivity in recognizing an innocent woman and his kindness in not ignoring a woman’s predicament.

In addition, the incident in the secret room was portrayed as the uninvited former crown prince debauchedly seducing an innocent lady, which was also prevented by the crown prince before an unfortunate incident occurred, adding fuel to the romance.

Not only that. Thanks to that rumor, Lottie was given the title of “the woman who captured two princes at the same time,” enjoying an unexpected boon in the marriage market.

The problem was that despite receiving proposals she couldn’t have imagined in her past life, Lottie herself felt lukewarm about it.

“Lady Fortgard. Let’s put aside gossip not worth discussing and tell this child something that will help her future.”

Isabelle hastily reminded Eugenie of the purpose of their meeting.

“Wasn’t the original purpose of meeting Lady Fortgard today to hear vivid accounts of the joys of marriage?”

The calculation was that hearing from a married woman about how happy married women are would motivate Lottie, who was lukewarm about finding a spouse.

“Was that it……”

“Yes, it was.”

“If possible, don’t get married, Lottie.”