Mission failed. Eunice was inwardly discouraged.
‘If I retreat now, there’s no point in having come here.’
In a situation where her only option was to become pregnant with Johannes Reinhardt’s child, she had tried to use her wits to create more paths for survival.
If she could involve herself in the kingdom’s administrative affairs, she could build a foundation even from bare ground.
She had the ability. If only given the chance, she was confident she could excel.
After all, she had accumulated experience and time managing the vast Pavlone duchy on behalf of her father, Rockford.
But without being given an opportunity, there was no way to prove her usefulness. In other words, Eunice’s value in the Kingdom of Nordish depended solely on Johannes’s favor.
‘What should I do?’
There was no need to rush. It had only been two days since she arrived in the capital Berzan, and they weren’t even married yet.
“You must have a lot to prepare for the wedding.”
Johannes’s voice reached her then. Though still tinged with amusement, his intention to send her away quickly was evident.
“I selected all the dresses and accessories yesterday. I’ve also memorized the wedding procedure.”
“Already?”
He looked at her with changed eyes, as if surprised. In that, she saw hope.
“Don’t women usually take days to choose such things?”
“It varies from person to person. So, about what I was saying…”
After a brief pause, she gathered her courage and spoke, hoping this time it wouldn’t be brushed off with laughter.
“I genuinely want to help.”
“What?”
Johannes tilted his head. Though Eunice couldn’t see it since her back was turned to him, Glenton, who had returned his attention to the documents, looked at her again.
“It seems like you have quite a pile of documents. May I join you here?”
“…”
Johannes didn’t answer. His expression was as if he’d heard something preposterous.
Is this really such a serious matter?
Eunice was inwardly perplexed. She had thought that offering help when needed might earn her some points. But it seemed her judgment had been too hasty.
“Eunice.”
Johannes’s voice, devoid of humor, cut through the air.
“I have no intention whatsoever of dragging you into this document hell.”
“Hell? But I—”
“If you have nothing to do, go enjoy yourself. Sightseeing in the city or exploring the palace would be good. I didn’t bring you here to make you work.”
“…”
Don’t think about interfering in internal affairs—was that it?
It was an attitude that clearly drew a line, marking her as a foreigner. Despite the fact that Eunice would have to live here for the rest of her life.
The man lowered his gaze to the report as if it wasn’t worth further consideration, and dipped his quill in ink. Watching him, Eunice quietly inhaled. Her heart ached strangely at being treated like an invisible person.
‘So I’m treated this way here too.’
Though she was already accustomed to such treatment, she couldn’t understand why it suddenly hurt so much.
“Your Majesty, Lady Louise of Dunkel has arrived.”
The announcement came from outside. Johannes put down his quill with an audible thud and exhaled an irritated sigh.
Leaning his head against the chair, he muttered irritably.
“Why are there so many interruptions today of all days?”
“…”
It was clear that she was one of those interruptions. Eunice’s shoulders unconsciously shrank.
The door burst open without permission to enter. A woman with red hair tied high in a ponytail made a boisterous entrance.
“Your Majesty! Are you finally getting married?”
“Louise… Noisy from the moment you arrive.”
“Congratulations! After keeping women at a distance for so long, you finally…! Oh, could this be?”
The woman, who had been striding in, spotted Eunice and widened her eyes with exaggerated gestures. Meeting her gaze, Eunice awkwardly curled up the corners of her lips.
‘Armor instead of a dress.’
She seemed to be performing the duties of a knight, which Eunice had considered the exclusive domain of men. That was surprising and fascinating to her.
“I am Louise, the honorable daughter of Dunkel. I heard a beautiful noble lady was coming from the southern Kingdom of Tranche, and it’s true!”
Louise brought her clenched fist to her left chest with precision, offering a knight’s salute.
“I am Eunice von Pavlone. Pleased to meet you, Dame Louise.”
“I heard you arrived a few days ago, but why are you in the office? Surely our king isn’t pushing his responsibilities onto his future wife?”
“It’s the opposite.”
Johannes glanced at Eunice with displeased eyes. Her heart seemed to shrink at his gaze, as if she were looking at a nuisance.
Useless.
The words she had heard since childhood, hammered into her ears, seemed to echo like an auditory hallucination.
“A bride who comes asking for work.”
“Really?”
Louise asked cheerfully. Her next words immediately pulled Eunice up from the sticky swamp she was sinking into.
“Wow, did you know this when you decided to marry her? Our king, you’re so thorough.”
“I told you that’s not it!”
Bang!
Despite slamming the desk, Johannes’s voice was ignored. Louise wiggled her index finger from side to side, winked at Eunice, and divulged information in a measured tone.
“He’s quite inept with paperwork, you know. Every time reports come in, he thinks his ministers are torturing him.”
Was the rumor about Johannes being a tyrannical king false, or was Louise’s liver outside her body?
In the midst of the confusion, Eunice blinked a couple of times. Come to think of it, he had mentioned something about document hell earlier…
Looking at Johannes with changed eyes, he frowned and took out his frustration on Louise.
“Louise. You came at just the right time.”
It was close to a threat, daring her to face death.
Rustle!
Having found something in the pile of documents, Johannes roughly threw it at Louise. Due to its thin composition of just a few pages, it fluttered like a butterfly and fell weakly to the floor.
It was a report titled “On the Matter of Plants Growing in the Land of Death.”
“Who told you to scribble like this?”
“…”
Louise stared blankly at the paper that had fallen at her feet, then raised her head to look at Johannes. And then she smiled brightly.
“I wrote it briefly, worried you might find it difficult if it was too long.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Come on, Your Majesty. You’re the same type as me.”
Without a hint of remorse, Louise shrugged her shoulders. Then she made a statement that Eunice couldn’t even dare to imagine.
“You’re being too harsh on someone who came to congratulate you. Honestly, I’ve been terribly worried, thinking there might be a problem with Your Majesty’s lower body, and rushed here as soon as I heard.”
Horror filled Eunice’s green eyes.
The king’s lower body… what insolence…
Her mouth gaped open in shock, and at that very moment, her eyes met Johannes’s. Unconsciously, Eunice’s gaze dropped toward his lower region, then she startled and hurriedly raised her eyes.
Should she be grateful that the desk blocked her view so she didn’t actually see anything, or was it irrelevant either way?
Johannes’s blue eyes shook violently, like an earthquake, having witnessed every detail of her embarrassed eye movement.
Despite having dropped a bomb, Louise alone remained nonchalant and continued with her thick skin.
“I apologize for my needless suspicion. Of course, only the couple would know the truth. Hahaha!”
“Would you just—!”
“I should be going—!”
Johannes and Eunice spoke simultaneously. The startled gazes of the two locked like puzzle pieces once again. But it was only for an instant.
With a flushed face, Eunice quickly turned her head.
“I should be going now. I need to write a letter to Tranche.”
That wasn’t true.
There were no plans to write letters to Tranche in today’s schedule. Neither the Pavlone duchy nor the royal family, who had sent her to Nordish as if disposing of her, would be waiting for her letters.
She wasn’t married yet, nor was she pregnant, so there was nothing to write about. But at her words, thrown out randomly to escape this situation, Glenton smoothly rose from his seat.
The consistently proper chancellor, as if he had nothing to do with this chaos, extended his arm toward the door with the graceful movement of a swan.
“You may use the ravens. I’ll guide you.”
“Ah, yes…”
Eunice nodded in a daze. The urgent matter was to escape from this place where bombs could explode at any moment.
Click. The sound of the door closing resonated particularly clearly in the air. An awkward silence enveloped the office.
Johannes, suddenly burdened with the task of proving the health of his lower body, glared at the troublemaker with fierce eyes. Louise rolled her eyes to avoid his sharp gaze and whistled, pretending not to notice.
“Louise.”
His voice was as cold as if it had risen from hell, reflecting his elevated blood pressure.
Johannes picked up the report he had thrown, rolled it tightly like a ball, and this time, properly threw it in Louise’s face while shouting:
“Rewrite it immediately!”
