Love Me Just Once - Chapter 42

The next day, Idren summoned a tailor to the castle. Since the castle already had materials like fur and silk prepared, they only needed a craftsman to make the clothes.

After taking her measurements, the tailor returned to his workshop to bring people to work with him. Saying the workshop was nearby so he’d be back soon, the tailor told her to choose the fabric she wanted.

But it was Idren rather than her who was enthusiastic about making clothes. Sitting on the couch in the reception room, Ophelia looked at the man across from her. He was examining the fabrics with a serious expression.

If he just kept his mouth shut like that, he’d fit in anywhere.

Briefly thinking about how much he ruined things by speaking, she asked.

“Did you originally plan to come here?”

“What do you mean?”

Still not taking his eyes off the fabric, the man asked back, and she added.

“There seems to be more prepared than I expected.”

The castle had things like fabric and jewels as if they were kept in reserve.

Ophelia thought it was a bit strange.

Idren wasn’t the type to collect such things. He kept himself somewhat groomed, but only to the point of looking neat. He was far from luxury and pleasure.

Idren, who had been examining the fabrics, finally picked up a piece of red velvet. As he approached her side, he replied.

“These weren’t prepared knowing we’d come here. I had prepared the same things in my previous life as well.”

Then he held out the fabric he had brought to her and asked, How about this color?

Ophelia stroked the cherry-red velvet with her hand. The fabric made of good material wrapped softly. Though it might be too thick to wear now, it seemed it would be warm in Edegrun.

After finishing her assessment, she answered.

“Not bad.”

“Then I’ll have a set of clothes made with this as well.”

And Idren took the fabric back. Ophelia asked the man who was going to set the velvet aside.

“Why did you collect these things?”

It was a minor curiosity. Not desperate for an answer, but strange enough to casually ask about.

Just enough of a question that it didn’t need to be refined, but Idren hesitated. Ophelia glanced at the man who had stopped abruptly with his back turned.

He finally answered in a small voice.

“…Because I had planned to come with you.”

Though all she could see was his back, Ophelia thought he must be blushing.

Turning her body so he wouldn’t be embarrassed when he looked back, she said.

“But that never happened, did it?”

Though she didn’t have the detailed memory Idren wished for, she would have remembered if such a thing had happened. Big events like going on a long trip were hard to forget.

Idren also affirmed her words.

“You’re right. It didn’t.”

From that sunken voice, Ophelia read a bitterness close to pain.

She felt uncomfortable even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. She muttered without realizing.

“If you wanted to come together, you should have said so.”

Though they weren’t close, they weren’t so distant that they couldn’t travel together once.

She wasn’t confident she could be a good travel companion, but Ophelia could at least stay quiet throughout the journey.

Idren agreed to that as well.

“I should have.”

And Ophelia realized that his docility made him look even more pitiful.

But she didn’t know how to deal with a man feeling such complex emotions, so she sat with her back turned to him.

Not long after, the tailor returned with people.

Idren sat in a chair a little distance away and watched as Ophelia worked out details like numbers and buttons with them.

No matter how indifferent she was, even to her eyes the things in the castle seemed to have been deliberately collected.

“Why did you collect these things?”

Hearing those words, Idren couldn’t help but recall what he had planned, but which, like most things related to Ophelia, hadn’t gone as he wished.

In the past, after the engagement was decided, he often acted as if he were thirteen rather than twenty-three in his excitement.

Gathering luxury goods in a castle owned by the royal family was one of those age-inappropriate actions.

Ophelia might not know, but this place was famous as a resort. Though included in the central region, it had a climate similar to the south and was close to the sea.

Past royalty used to come here for vacations around autumn.

At that time, Idren thought he and Ophelia could do the same at least once.

But he didn’t want to give her memories that previous generations already had. When she was young, Ophelia said she wanted to have various experiences.

The existing natural scenery seemed a little lacking to fulfill her wish.

However, his imagination was limited, and above all, Idren didn’t know what Ophelia liked. When he asked her brother Mahanas, that stupid prince rattled off a list of luxury items.

Even when he thought Ophelia was close with her family, Idren thought those were closer to Mahanas’s tastes than hers, but he still gathered the items he heard about. After all, having something was better than having nothing.

The fact that it was too early, if not excessive, to do this without even being married didn’t bother him.

Of course, things didn’t go as he wished.

After marrying Ophelia, Idren not only failed to take her to the castle he had prepared, but wasn’t even invited to her villa.

Ophelia had a villa he had given her as a wedding gift, and while she often invited people she knew there, she never once called for him.

Idren couldn’t even know how she spent her time there. She always drew a line between her schedule and his.

How could he propose going on vacation together? It was obvious she wouldn’t be pleased.

“If you wanted to come together, you should have said so.”

Ophelia said that in an indifferent tone, but in the past, nothing was more difficult for him.

Whenever he had to suggest something to her, Idren always suffered from the fear of being rejected.

He didn’t mind if others denied him, but it was different with Ophelia. Just imagining her disliking something about him made his chest tighten. The fear of being hated forever was an added bonus.

So naturally he became careful with his words and actions, and thus ruined his first marriage as it was.

Only after raising his voice with her several times did Idren realize he shouldn’t have done that in the past.

His married life, where he was careful with every action for fear of being disliked, looked no different from that of people who were enemies.

Moreover, Ophelia, whom he came to know little by little through various experiences, was a better person than he had thought.

After hearing Ophelia’s apology, Idren greatly revised his thoughts about her character.

Even excluding his own tendency to interpret her actions positively, Ophelia clearly had room for improvement. It seemed their relationship could become closer if they just tried a little harder.

And once he got closer to her,

“Let’s get along well for three years.”

Maybe he could erase the three-year time limit attached to those words.

No, not maybe, he would erase it. Idren resolved to make sure Ophelia couldn’t abandon him. It didn’t seem impossible, though it wouldn’t be easy. Somehow, if he just clung on well…

It was then that someone knocked on the door.

“Your Majesty, the procession from Reden and Sir Penrel have arrived.”

They had heard news of their arrival in a nearby area yesterday, so it was about time they reached here. Idren said as he rose from his seat.

“Please continue your conversation. I’ll go meet the knight.”

Ophelia, who had paused the conversation briefly, nodded indifferently.

“Alright.”

Penrel was waiting for him in the lord’s office. Idren gestured to the knight who was bowing to him.

“Let’s sit and talk.”

“Yes.”

After waiting for him to sit in the chair facing him, Idren asked.

“So what did you find out?”

“It was as Your Majesty said. The princess is not on good terms with her family. To be precise… it seems she wasn’t very respected in the royal family.”

Even though he knew such words would come, Idren felt slightly dejected. He wanted to torment the man who believed he had completely fooled him with such an obviously flimsy lie.

But Idren knew why Mahanas could act so brazenly. That annoying prince probably thought it would be enough to silence Ophelia.

Because he too had been misled by her silence in his previous life, he couldn’t criticize that belief as stupid. Newly reminded of how foolish he had been, Idren let out a small sigh.

“How exactly did the royal family treat Ophelia, according to what you heard?”

“The servants’ mouths were tightly sealed, so I couldn’t hear exact examples. However, there were noticeably few traces of the princess in the palace, not even a childhood portrait.”

It was nonsensical considering she was the king’s legitimate daughter and had lived only in the palace until she came of age. Idren furrowed his brow.

“How did the prince explain that?”