🐺🐺🐺
A gentle rain was coming down the day Sara and Richard were both summoned to the main castle.
“Your Highness… Are you okay?” she asked.
“I don’t want to go, but I suppose I have to.”
Richard let out a big sigh. A letter, which had arrived three days ago from the main castle, was lying on the table in front of him. It was from the king himself and essentially said, “It’s about time I said my hellos, so come visit with your wife, okay?” The actual letter had been written in an incredibly formal style, however.
I’ve met the queen mother, but I haven’t met His Majesty the King yet…
Sara and Richard had been married for one month. Her life in the villa was surprisingly peaceful, and she had very little to do with the main castle. Richard was a recluse, of course, so even when the main castle did have work for him, they simply sent a messenger to the villa. There had been hardly any issues at all so far.
Sara glanced at Richard, who sat across from her.
He usually preferred to wear dark clothes, but today he had changed into his formal dress. The formal coats for men in Ferrier were longer than the ones in Saleilles, and they were held together with cords and sash robes instead of buttons and badges.
Richard’s mask was off, too, and he seemed incredibly put out by this. His eyebrows, which were the same color as his hair, were furrowed so hard in annoyance that a deep line ran up his forehead.
A comb had been taken to his hair, but because of the humidity from the rain, his hair was wavier than usual. It had been tied back with a ribbon, but the ends of his hair had a slight bounce, which Sara couldn’t help but think was a little cute.
His hair may be cute, but his face is very handsome.
She tried to sneak looks at him nonchalantly, knowing that if she stared too much, he would probably start to feel uncomfortable.
His formal wear, white with a gold decorative pattern, made him look the part of a royal perfectly, even if he was a bit of an odd one. Even with his chin resting on his hands, he couldn’t shake the sense of refinement from his appearance. Delightfully handsome attributes could be found all over his body, from his eyes (which were half-lidded grumpily) and his mouth (which only opened to exhale another sigh) to the masculine lines on his neck, which contrasted with his lithe figure.
He always wore white gloves when writing at his desk or drinking tea, but up close, Sara saw that his hands were large and angular. They looked like they could easily wrap around Sara’s own.
…She really had meant to look casually, but her body trembled when she caught his green eyes glaring at her.
“What are you doing? Is there something you wanted to say?”
“O-Oh, no, it’s not really something to speak of…”
“Just spit it out. You’re my wife, so if something I’m wearing seems strange to your tastes, I’ll change it. I want to hear your opinion.”
“It’s…”
She should have finished with “nothing really,” but perhaps because she had tried to gloss over his first question so poorly, his eyes bore into hers.
He always wore his mask, so I had no idea…his stare is so intense…
Being stared at by such a handsome man, she felt heat steadily rise to her cheeks. Richard, however, didn’t seem like he was about to back down, so she finally resigned herself and looked away.
“It’s just…you look very n-nice, Your Highness…”
“…What?”
“Those formal clothes really suit you… And you’re very handsome, so…I just got distracted by your good looks.”
Richard fell silent.
Sara had been so sure he would be weirded out and ask, “What are you talking about?” but he just narrowed his eyes and watched her as if he were thinking something over. He wasn’t glaring at her anymore, but something felt off as she looked into his slightly melancholy eyes.
“Your Highness?”
“…Thank you.”
“What?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’? You gave me a compliment. Honestly, I’ve never been very concerned about my appearance, but…being complimented by you doesn’t feel so bad. So I said thank you.”
That was unexpected.
I thought he was going to reject the compliment or get annoyed…
But in fact, he didn’t seem all that displeased. His reaction was far from jumping for joy, but he had taken her kind words in stride.
She was at a loss for what to say. Richard’s eyes softened and he slowly looked her up and down.
“And…,” he continued, his voice slightly husky, “you look very nice, too. I recognize the dress as one I got for you, but…did you bring that corsage with you from Saleilles?”
Sara, unfortunately, wasn’t able to respond to him right away. The moment his soft voice had uttered “You look very nice,” her brain had stopped functioning at once.
He had given her the dress she was currently wearing—the design matched his own formal wear—but she had never dreamed he would tell her, with such a gentle expression, “You look nice”!
I’m…I’m so happy…I think…
For a few moments Sara sat there in silence, overwhelmed with emotion, but then she remembered that he had asked about her corsage.
“Oh! That’s— Yes, that’s right. This corsage was a keepsake from my mother.”
“It was your mother’s?”
“It was… Oh!”
She had been so flustered by his unexpected compliment that the words had slipped out before she knew it. Once she realized her mistake, she felt her entire body go pale. The corsage was a keepsake from Sara’s mother, the baroness, not Hermine’s mother, the queen of Saleilles.
Oh no! Wait…I can still fix this! Just calm down… Keep it together…
As Sara’s mind ran around in circles, she felt Richard looking at her.
By a small stroke of good luck for Sara, Hermine’s mother had passed away from an illness when Hermine was two years old, so Sara could keep calling it a “keepsake” from her mother. The corsage, however, was too cheap to be an accessory owned by the queen, and Hermine herself had once told Sara quite indifferently that she didn’t remember anything about her mother.
It probably wasn’t common for someone to have an attachment to their deceased mother’s belongings when she died before they could form memories of her, but now that Sara had said it, she couldn’t take it back.
I started this, so now I have to see my way through it!
Swallowing the bitter saliva that had pooled in her mouth, she closed her eyes and smiled.
“Yes… I don’t remember my mother, but among all her mementos, this was the one I personally liked the best. And with it being a corsage, I didn’t think it would be a problem if I took it with me to my marital home.”
Sara was impressed with how good of an excuse she had been able to pull out of her hat. When a woman married into a royal or noble family, all of her belongings were to be provided by her husband. Indeed, if she were to be gifted something by anyone else, she couldn’t just wear it so easily. But a memento from her mother wouldn’t have been a problem. A corsage didn’t even have any direct contact with her skin, so no one would look at her sideways for wearing it.
Richard reacted just as Sara thought he would, his eyebrows relaxing in understanding.
“I see… It’s a very beautiful piece.”
“Thank you,” Sara said. A few giggles escaped her lips.
“What is it?”
“Your face is a lot calmer now, Your Highness. It’s much nicer this way.”
His eyes widened like he had been caught in an ambush. His almond-shaped eyes were usually narrowed, and his face was always grouchy-looking, even in his portrait, so this was a rare sight indeed.
Richard gently pressed his hand against his forehead. He seemed to have only just realized how soft his expression had become.
“It’s true…,” he muttered quietly. “I feel much more relaxed when I’m talking to you… I still don’t want to go to this, though.”
“Then let me know if you get tired, okay? You can head back to the villa, and I can stay and talk with the king.”
“I could never do something that pathetic… I do what needs to be done. And so…let’s get this over with.” A ghost of a smile graced his lips.
“Right. Let’s do it.”
Sara couldn’t help but wish she could stay here with Richard and listen to the sounds of the rain outside instead of venturing out to the main castle.