Ariadne de Mare had confirmed that Lariessa de Balboa and the Gallic delegation had left the palace. It was now her turn to leave. She returned to the room she had used within the Queen’s Palace and packed her belongings.
Her packing was simple, as she had not planned to stay long. All she had was the outfit she wore that day and a handful of basic necessities gifted to her by Queen Marguerite.
“Have you finished packing, miss?”
The maid of the Queen’s Palace, now familiar to Ariadne after ten days, approached her with a sullen expression.
“I’m done. Thank you.”
Ariadne looked at her neatly closed trunk. Once she handed that trunk over to the maid, her visit to the palace would officially be over.
“Wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
“Can you deliver a letter for me?”
The maid seemed hesitant. In truth, Queen Marguerite had strictly ordered that the exchange of letters with Prince Alfonso should be personally overseen by her. For the maid, disobeying the command of such a lofty master could lead to trouble.
“I will make sure it does not cause trouble.”
So Ariadne wrote a letter with content that wouldn’t cause a problem even if the Queen herself were to open it.
Ariadne took out a wellkept letter from her pocket and handed it to the maid.
“Deliver this to Count Bernardino.”
Asking her to deliver it to Prince Alfonso was beyond the maid’s capabilities. It would be difficult for the maid to even meet the prince.
When the maid hesitated to take the envelope, Ariadne placed a Ducato gold coin, which she had set aside beforehand, on top of the letter and handed them both to the maid. It was a catalyst that could create nonexistent will. After some hesitation, the maid accepted Ariadne’s letter.
“Thank you.”
With a bright smile, Ariadne took the maid’s hand. She then handed over her travel trunk as well. It was truly time to leave.
[This is the time separator]Prince Alfonso was also in the process of moving. The urgent matter was over, and it was time to return to the Prince’s Palace.
Alfonso was in a complicated state of mind these days.
‘Elco….’
His childhood companion, who had been with him since he was a child, was falsely accused and dragged off to the Kingdom of Gallic in his stead.
He felt anger towards the Kingdom of Gallic for their unreasonable demand and his father, who had handed over his citizen for political convenience. But above all, he was filled with selfreproach.
‘I drove my man into a corner to protect myself.’
He stood by the window, letting the wind hit his face, and washed his face for no particular reason.
No, in truth, Prince Alfonso did not corner Count Elco to protect himself. He had turned his back on him to protect the woman he loved, Ariadne de Mare.
‘Was that the right path? Is my love worth sacrificing Elco’s life?’
It was a dilemma that kept Alfonso awake.
Knock knock.
“Your Highness, it’s Dino. May I enter?”
Alfonso, who was sitting on the window sill, suddenly looked towards the door.
“Come in.”
Count Bernardino bowed his head and walked in, handing him a letter.
“There is a letter for you, Your Highness. I thought you would like it…..”
These days, Prince Alfonso had been noticeably lacking in energy. Count Bernardino wished to encourage the prince he served.
“It’s a letter from Lady de Mare.”
Imagining Alfonso’s happiness, Bernardino left the prince alone to read the letter in peace.
Alfonso quickly opened the letter with his bloodshot eyes, but he could not bring himself to read the letter immediately.
He and Ariadne had been in the same building for the past ten days, but they had not met once. It was probably his mother’s doing.
It was natural that Ari could not come to see him. She was a guest and a person of low status, so she could not go against the Queen.
However, Alfonso could have gone to see Ariadne if he wanted. What stopped him was the guilt he felt towards Count Elco.
And now, a letter had come from Ariadne first.
‘How long did Ari wait for my contact before she finally sent a letter?’
He felt a pang in his chest at the thought. It was he who had sent his friend away because of his inadequacy, and he who had made his woman anxious because of his inadequacy.
He was so lacking and pathetic that he couldn’t fully protect either of them. He shivered at the thought of himself.
Alfonso gathered his courage and picked up the letter to read its contents. It was prepared with the expectation of a confession of love, resentment towards a lover who doesn’t come, and an outpouring of sorrow and loneliness. However, the content of the letter was the exact opposite of what he had imagined.
“To Prince Alfonso de Carlo,”
Alfonso couldn’t believe his eyes from the first sentence. She never used to address him formally.
The following content of the letter was so rigid that it could be mistaken for an official document.
“I hope you’ve been well. Thanks to your kindness, which is like summer, I was able to rest well under the wings of the queen.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
