Lydia came closer to the window and waved at me.
‘Is Lydia saying hi to me now?’
The unexpected greeting made Frey feel a little strange.
After all, Lydia was the daughter of her enemy.
Everyone she loves has been threatened by Gelon and the Crown Prince.
But…
‘What’s wrong with the child? She just a child.’
Born on the same prophecy day as Damon and Arsene, Lydia is only four years old.
No matter how much power they had, a child was a child.
To a child ‘Your parents hate my parents.’ It was not something adults would do to tell stories.
She also waved towards Lydia.
Then Lydia smiled broadly.
Come to think of it, it’s been several years since Lydia and I interacted properly.
‘I gave Lydia a small cookie while walking in the garden, and I was called to the empress’ palace with my mother and kneeled down’
to treat her kindly because she seemed cute but it would have been wrong.
Frey the daughter of the mistress,and Lydia was a noble transcendent and legitimate heir born on the day of the prophecy.
Since Lydia ate the cookies Frey gave to her, it was only natural that the eyes of the Empress and the Crown Prince would roll over.
‘I just wanted to see Lydia enjoying my cookie and being happy.’
Since then, Lydia must have been told hundreds more times not to hang out with Frey.
Even so, Frey was grateful that Lydia found her and waved at her today.
But the moment of excitement was short-lived.
“Lydia, don’t wave at anyone.”
The man standing behind Lydia pulled the curtain.
Frey awkwardly withdrew the hand she was shaking. It wasn’t particularly surprising.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been treated like this, so I feel like I’m back in the imperial palace.’
Still, if Lydia waved first, wouldn’t that mean she enjoyed the cookie then?
I eagerly raised the corners of my mouth and waited for Emma.
Soon she knocked and told me.
“Mr Frey. His Highness asked you to have breakfast together.”
“Daniel?”
* * *
“Emma, this is…”
“I remember you often enjoyed brunch here. I talked to the Grand Prince and he asked me to eat here.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Frey smiled and looked around the balcony.
As Emma said, this was where she and her mother always enjoyed brunch.
Originally, it was a space where sunlight came in well and dazzled, but today it was even more sunny.
“madam.”
It was because Daniel in the shirt was waiting.
Frey’s eyes turned to him like iron attracted by a magnet.
Daniel, bathed in sunlight with a disheveled appearance, was as fresh as an actor in a soft drink commercial she had seen in her previous life.
Looking at the corner of his mouth that went up and the corners of his eyes that were slightly curved, Frey felt like she was going to be fascinated by this man’s beauty.
‘Since he has such a good body and a face like that, everyone must have believed the ridiculous rumor of a promiscuous man.’
Frey smiled and sat down. Seeing the food prepared made her feel better.
“All of these are things I enjoyed eating here with my mother.”
“I felt bad when you said you were sleeping in Lady Roselia’s room last night.”
“So you prepared this meal on purpose?”
Daniel suggested food to Frey with a small affirmation.
Frey dipped the hotcakes in plenty of syrup and butter and popped them into his mouth.
She remembered the happy times he had with her mother, and her mind was relaxed.
“Thank you, Daniel. however…”
As he was drinking tea after the meal, Frey noticed that his expression was different from usual.
A dog-like face that tries to confide in a serious accident.
However, Frey believed in Daniel’s sense of ethics more than himself.
‘Daniel must have done something wrong. Would he have made an impulse buy like I did, or would have written an absolute obedience?’
A man who prepares a nice brunch for his contract wife who sleeps in her mother’s room.
Daniel only spoke after drinking half the tea.
“madam. I have something to tell you. It is about children.”
“Is it about children?”
“yes. I lied to my wife once, but I thought you would need an explanation soon.”
Frey’s intuition kicked in.
If Daniel is going to weigh in and bring out a story like this—
“I don’t know much about the children’s birth mother.”
“yes?”
“Damon and Arsene are not children of me and another woman. The biological parents of the children are separate.”
‘Why is he revealing to me a secret that he thought he would take to his grave?’
Frey’s face began to harden in surprise and questioning.
Daniel expected her to react this way, but still lowered his eyes.
“The biological parents, who realized that the children were chosen as special children, left them at Prause Castle and I took care of them.”
“….”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you right after the wedding. I also told His Majesty the Emperor yesterday.”
Daniel glanced at her as if it were a serious sin.
Frey couldn’t figure out why he was sorry.
“So, are you saying you’re sorry for letting me misunderstand that you have another woman?”
“you’re right. There are no other women. Naturally, there will be no more children out of wedlock.”
Daniel gave strength to his voice without even realizing it.
“For personal reasons, I was reluctant to interact with other women, so you can trust me on that.”
“hmm.”
“As you will know after we get married, the rumor that my personal life is messy is also false.”
Daniel was still insisting on his innocence with a sparkling face.
The eyes that begged earnestly to trust him shone with a mysterious color.
‘No, it’s a fact I knew, so I’m not particularly surprised.’
Rather, I was grateful that Prause, who had maintained neutrality, began to consider the emperor and herself as his closest aides.
There are other parts that bothered Frey.
‘I thought it was a secret to be taken to death, but why did you suddenly tell me?’
His lie was a move to keep the children away from the princess, and it was a decision made so that another woman would not break Prause’s peace.
Damon and Arsene were still young, but they were transcendents, so whatever methods were used to protect them, they were all forgivable.
‘I’m sure Daniel wouldn’t know that.’
Nevertheless, Frey wondered why Daniel treated himself as a high-ranking criminal and confided in her the truth.
‘Maybe it’s because my reputation has improved.’
The jewels processed using divine power were very well received by the market, and the possibilities for business expansion were endless.
The Sacred Tower even stopped the undead monsters that were a nuisance in the north, so it deserved a high rating.
However, Daniel’s eyes were unusual to say that he was confessing for that reason.
Why are the eyes so red?
Why do He keep watching while swallowing dry saliva?
‘Oh, please. Her face is so good that I keep having delusions.’
In any case, he has a superpower of being out of wedlock to push himself out, and he is still using His own room.
In the past, he was a man she wanted to push away, but now she probably thinks of him as a friend or colleague with whom she can talk.
Frey asked to root out his delusions.
“Daniel. I know what you’re talking about. But why are you suddenly revealing that?”
“Yeah….”
Daniel, who was about to answer like flowing water, hesitated for a moment.
The Reason?
‘I was feeling guilty, thinking I had to tell her.’
The woman in front of him was his wife, and everyone knew that husband and wife should not cheat on each other.
But Frey wondered why he was telling the truth. As if asking if it was more natural for us to lie and hide from each other.
‘Even in the future I saw, she left the Prause Mansion with a face like this.’
As she judged, it was a marriage without love, so there was no obligation to be faithful to each other.
Because it was a marriage that started because we could get what each other wanted in the first place.
When the thought reached that far,
Daniel felt like he was choking.
‘Why me..Why did I suddenly feel compelled to tell Frey the truth?’
Why is he suddenly concerned about what kind of son-in-law the emperor, who was only polite as a subject, thought of him as?
“….”
As soon as Daniel became conscious of that fact, he heard the sound of his heart and His body temperature seemed to rise by about 5 degrees.
Not knowing what to say, Daniel drank his tea very slowly.
“Lady Frey!”
“Me too!”
Until Damon and Arsene, who had a full breakfast, started knocking on the door and making a fuss.
* * *
‘Daniel…Wasn’t he strange?’
Frey held the children’s hands and thought the whole time she was walking.
He was an innocent man who casually said that he had two children out of wedlock when he first met and that there might be more in the future.
Thinking that Frey stumbled upon a question to avoid delusion, Daniel gave an answer.
‘I feel weird for no reason.’
The delusion doesn’t subside either.
Frey had thoughts like this, including delusions, but because she was with four-year-old boys who didn’t know where to go, she forgot about Daniel for a while.
Anyway, the fact that Daniel doesn’t push her away means she has had more time to bond with these cute kids.
‘There’s nothing bad about it.’
Until the evening when the birthday banquet began, she planned to give the children a brief tour of the imperial palace.
The imperial palace was bigger than most villages, and there were so many places that children would like, so Frey made a tour course a month before departure.
‘Damon and Arsene would absolutely love the zoo.’
Imagining the children’s exclamation soon to be heard, Frey moved her steps and suddenly found a familiar face.
* * *
