“Can that woman be trusted?”

Valkyter couldn’t believe Kaian’s words.

“That can’t be possible.”

The foundation of politics and governance was not to blindly believe what subordinates reported, but to doubt them.

If one starts to simply accept what those reporting around them say, the eyes and ears of a king or lord ruling over vast lands become veiled and blocked.

It was common to be deceived by those deliberately lying or causing mischief in between.

So basically, one doesn’t trust anyone unless they have seen and heard it directly themselves.

Valkyter had not sent just one reporting line to Lowen about Kaian’s movements.

He maintained three separate contact lines of people who didn’t know they were spying on each other.

By combining their reports, he could identify who was lying, but so far the ones he couldn’t imagine being this meticulous had been submitting fairly similar content.

“Kaian must be the same as me.”

Their education was based on their mothers who had studied the art of kingship together.

The identical twin princesses were both fit to be rulers.

As they honed their innate talents together, it was natural that Silvia, the firstborn, ascended to the throne in the end.

However, Queen Silvia did not have many heirs, so Kaian was third in line for succession. Since he had succession rights and would inherit the largest domain in the kingdom, Lady Elise did not raise him carelessly.

So there was no way Kaian wouldn’t do what Valkyter was doing.

If he sent three to Lowen, Kaian must have sent three each to the capital and Valmont.

“Who knows. That guy might have sent five.”

Fundamentally, Kaian was much more suspicious than Valkyter.

He wondered if it was the difference between himself looking down and moving pieces from the high seat in the capital, and that guy who had rolled on the bottom of the battlefield with his own body.

There, a wrong move meant death.

Kaian was not allowed to make bad moves.

For such words of “trust” to come from Kaian’s mouth, Valkyter doubted even those words of his.

“He likely said that without really trusting.”

Perhaps he wants to trust rather than actually trusting.

As his thoughts flowed that far, he recalled the woman who must be shaking Kaian’s trust.

A small, precious fairy-like woman.

Valkyter had imagined Clodel countless times.

He replayed the memory of their encounter at dawn, as if bewitched.

He thought it might have been an embellishment from an unfamiliar experience.

But the woman walking slowly down the corridor, preceded by the fluttering wings of a large butterfly the size of a palm, recreated the mystery he first encountered at the lake hundreds, thousands of times in the palace he had passed through.

It was common for birds or butterflies that had strayed from the sky garden to linger in the palace corridors before returning to their place in search of the scent of grass.

What was different?

The butterfly that the palace servants usually shooed away towards the sky garden seemed like a herald illuminating Clodel’s path ahead.

The woman who had revealed her sensual body lines, soaking wet and barely visible above the water, was extremely beautiful even when dry.

Her disheveled hair, dry and fluttering, was especially so.

‘Was red hair such a pretty color?’

The red that used to annoy him so much when Duke Vermonte came whining that he regretted the tea time, left a deep impression as if etched in his eyes.

The woman’s eyes, holding the golden bars with her small hands, changed from deep gold to dazzling gold as dawn broke.

Valkyter, who had been staring at it unknowingly, ended up colliding with the woman who was hurriedly trying to bow her head after standing too close.

“Why weren’t there reports about Clodel from Valmont?”

It was all about Lady Irena. The reports submitted by the men he had in Valmont contained almost no mention of Clodel.

After this incident, Valkyter thoroughly searched through the previous information that had come up from Valmont.

There was no sense of presence that such a person belonged to Vermonte.

“Did everyone’s eyes go cross? The kingdom’s best bride candidate is Lady Irena?”

Irena, whom he had met in person, felt too noble to the point of being common. She wasn’t to the degree of being irresistibly captivating like Clodel.

Valkyter clearly recognized Clodel’s existence when Duke Vermonte, enraged after he leaked that Kaian was preparing for a domain war, reported that his adopted daughter would die from Herzol.

“She doesn’t seem like a woman suffering from a fatal illness.”

Valkyter did not realize that her recovery depended on the three meals a day that Kaian fed her on time.

“I heard she would limp from being bitten by a crocodile. But her walking seems fine.”

Clodel’s gait was perfectly normal.

That point irritated Valkyter even more.

“I was trying to arrange a failed marriage.”

The fact that Kaian had taken the woman who moved his heart made him feel like he would go crazy with anger.

Until he spoke to Clodel, it was just curiosity.

There was nothing that he, as king, had to hold back.

Valkyter endured for a long time after seeing Clodel at the lake, confirming his mistaken identity of her as Irena, and calling her back to the capital again.

It could have really been just that.

‘What business did Your Majesty have at Lowen Castle at that time?’

‘Me?’

‘The Duke received the royal command and went hunting in Fromhunt, but returned without seeing Your Majesty.’

Seeing the woman questioning him with her eyes wide open, he couldn’t help but laugh.

How long had it been since he laughed out loud like that?

Valkyter couldn’t even remember.

A laugh that shook his chest, not the neat and refined laugh of a contrived ruler.

“Did she ask what business I had at Lowen Castle?”

Perhaps it was to meet you.

Valkyter called for Marquis Mackie as he left the sky garden.

“When does Bianca return?”

“She said she would return before the birthday ball, so in three days.”

“Tell her to come see me as soon as she returns to the palace.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

There was a need to explore the meaning of that woman more deeply.

When Kaian returned to the room, Clodel, having finished a simple meal, was in the midst of grooming herself.

“You’re going through the trouble of dressing up? You could be comfortable.”

“Ugh. To have His Majesty the King see me in such a state this morning. It was so embarrassing.”

Hearing Clodel’s excuse, Kaian felt annoyed.

Busy looking in the mirror, Clodel didn’t seem to notice the change in his expression.

“We’re done, madam.”

“We’ll take our leave now, Your Grace.”

Hannah and Madame Marcel, who had been busy adorning her, looked at Kaian, exchanged glances with each other, smiled, and quickly disappeared out of the room.

“Do you have no desire to look good for me?”

“Pardon?”

“You’ve dressed up this much to look pretty for His Majesty the King.”

The dress Clodel was wearing was one that even Kaian had never seen before.

“It’s so I don’t appear disrespectful. Considering your reputation.”

“By that logic, hasn’t it already been tarnished?”

“What are you trying to say?”

Kaian lifted Clodel’s chin.

“You only need to be pretty in my eyes.”

A married woman being pretty only attracted flies.

It was too strange that there had been no rumors about Clodel until now.

According to her, she was currently recovering her former appearance. She said she was much healthier before contracting Herzol.

Though her body, which had seemed about to wither away, was gaining some weight, her original bone structure was small and thin.

Doesn’t smallness itself evoke a likeable feeling of needing protection?

To the point where Kaian, who had rightfully treated her coldly as a woman from an enemy family, felt self-reproach as if he had done something unforgivable.

“What is it, Kaian? If I’m pretty, just say I’m pretty. Why say it like that?”

Clodel seemed to take Kaian’s sulking as a compliment, as she took the hand lifting her chin and kissed his fingertips.

Looking at his wife who was being tantalizing, Kaian voiced his dissatisfaction.

“I don’t like the makeup.”

“Really?”

“I can’t kiss you as much as I want.”

“We can kiss first and then I’ll fix my makeup.”

The woman’s lips, painted with red rouge, bloomed like a flower.

Kaian parted the petals with their faint rose scent.

They were lost in their own world for a long time, until the artificial fragrance faded and Clodel’s usual faint, fresh scent returned.

When they finally parted lips, Clodel looked up at his face, catching her breath, and smiled softly.

“Why?”

“You look too sexy.”

Seeing Clodel giggling, Kaian turned his head to look in the mirror and saw that the rouge that had been on her lips was now all over his mouth.

“Wipe it off.”

Clodel rubbed his lips with her thumb, then shook her head as if there was no answer and carefully patted with a handkerchief.

“How long will that take? We might as well kiss once more.”

“No way.”

“What’s there that can’t be done?”

“It’s our first day in the capital.”

Clodel pulled away from him as if warding him off.

“I want to go out.”

“Who said I won’t let you out?”

“You were trying to untie the ribbon.”

“It was just caught where my hand reached.”

“You said you’d show me around the capital.”

When Clodel pleaded, drooping her eyes, Kaian’s facial muscles twitched.

‘I shouldn’t laugh.’

This woman is too cute.

It made him want to keep teasing her.

Then even if she got upset, she would quickly forgive him if he coaxed her a little.

Where had the woman gone who kept her mouth shut tight and maintained an expressionless face no matter what he said when she first came to Lowen Castle?

It was hard to believe it was the same person.

“Wait a moment. I’ll get ready soon.”

When he gave an affirmative response, Clodel did not hide her joy.

Kaian felt bitter inside.

‘The two faces of the Duchess.’

To reveal her feelings so honestly like this, while behind his back informing Duke Vermonte about the domain situation.

However, Kaian, raised as Temnes’ successor, would not have been any different even if he became a hostage of the enemy.

The fact that it was understandable, not incomprehensible, tormented him.

Kaian let out a short sigh as he watched his wife busily putting on her hat in excitement.

The place Kaian took her was a quiet residential area away from the bustle.

But carriages were lined up along the street, making her wonder what the commotion was about.

“Where is this?”

“The largest and most famous salon in the capital.”

“Salon?”

Though they didn’t exist in Valmont, “salons” were essential for social activities in the capital.

Instead of being active in the capital’s social circles, the Duchess of Vermonte single-handedly controlled the social activities in the North.

Grand balls or parties were not held outside of Valmont Castle.

It was too cold to travel easily, and the northern nobles were reluctant to build large halls in their mansions that were disadvantageous for heating, as they had to be constructed to withstand the bitter cold.

During the thaw, they enjoyed outdoor activities like hunting festivals, and when it got cold, they enjoyed balls or tea parties hosted by the Duchess at Valmont Castle.

However, there were many nobles in the capital, so various matters were mediated at “salons.”

“Madame Marcel was recommended by Madame Cronak, the hostess of this salon.”

“Really?”

Hearing that she was the one who recommended the seamstress she liked, Clodel immediately took a liking to this woman she hadn’t even met yet.

The fairly large townhouse mansion was decorated more brightly than expected.

“I saw in books that salons all used dark wood and had dim lighting and that kind of atmosphere.”

“It varies depending on the salon owner’s taste.”

Seeing Kaian chuckle, Clodel must have unknowingly shown her provincial side again.

As she was about to sigh,

“My, I thought I’d only see you in a few days. What brings you here, Duke Temnes?”

“You’re here. Madame Cronak.”

Hearing the voice cheerfully calling Kaian, Clodel turned around and froze upon seeing the woman.