55 – face to face
At the breakfast table the next day, Yulken, who had been absent from dinner the previous day, was back.
Is it because of that? Unlike last night, which was amicable, the only sounds in the restaurant were the clattering of forks and knives.
In the middle of the meal, Ariel, who still had her portion of food left, wiped her mouth with a napkin.
At that, Yulken’s gaze turned to her for no reason.
‘If I only had that for breakfast, it would be overkill.’
No matter what era or region, the father’s heart was the same.
It’s just that there is a slight difference in whether or not you say it out loud.
“father.”
“Well? Why is that, Ariel?”
Ariel, who noticed his gaze, spoke with a small smile on her lips.
Yulken showed off his own acting by deliberately reacting one beat late, as if he hadn’t paid any attention to it.
“Tomorrow I want to go hunting with my father. Could you give me permission?”
“Hunting… … .”
At the sudden request of his daughter, Yulken clearly expressed his embarrassment.
Recently, hunting is regarded as an ungodly act and is revered among the nobility, but until recently it was one of its own pastimes.
That meant that Ariel expressed her desire to spend free time with Yulken.
‘Why?’
Yesterday, as an ugly father, he even humiliated his friend in front of him. For what reason did he ask to spend time with him?
It was something I had never seen before in my daughter.
I definitely thought he would put on a gloomy expression when he met himself this morning, but even that was wrong.
Is it just a whim?
“Isn’t it nice, honey? You don’t have any official duties tomorrow, do you?”
“But, madam… … .”
He wanted to say something to his wife, who was helping by his side, but even as Yulken, he had no objectionable objection.
In fact, there were no official duties to take care of tomorrow, and there was nothing to go anywhere.
I was just about to think about what I was going to do with my time tomorrow after work was almost finished around this afternoon.
In the end, Yulken, who was fighting with Ariel, had no choice but to nod.
I don’t know what kind of sudden whim it was, but as a father, it wasn’t too difficult to match his daughter’s leisure time.
Until now, I couldn’t even dare to do that, so I just avoided it.
“Yes, let Elfelt prepare it. Would it be enough for three of your friends?”
Thinking that Ariel would prefer having a friend to talk to rather than being alone, Yulken asked insinuatingly.
After all, Helene’s stomach and stamina are not good, so it would be difficult for her to go hunting.
However, the answer that came back was more than I could have imagined, hitting the back of his head once more.
“Thank you, father. But it’s okay if you don’t prepare Ed’s.”
“Hmm?”
“I want to go alone with my father. Even Ed has a schedule tomorrow, so it will be difficult for him to participate.”
At the unexpected reply, Yulken twitched his eyebrows and turned his head towards Edgar.
Edgar smiled softly at him and expressed his affirmation.
Yulken’s expression changed even more subtly.
Why the hell are you so aggressively asking for a situation where the two of you are alone?
It was something Yulken couldn’t understand unless he had something to say privately.
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Looking back at the way he had treated his daughter, there was no way he could have asked such a favor with such a smile on his face.
However, asking such a question was a taboo for Yulken.
I’ll end up digging my own grave.
In the end, Yulken nodded and creaked with a sense of déjà vu.
At that, a bright flower bloomed on Ariel’s face.
“It’s good. Take this opportunity to go and talk about what we couldn’t tell you, honey.”
“A story we couldn’t tell?”
At his wife’s unknown words, Yulken’s eyes were filled with doubts.
What is there to talk about in the first place?
From her daughter’s point of view, even thinking of Yulken Loveheim as her father would be repulsive.
Helene, noticing his question, touched the back of the hand of the man sitting next to her with a soft smile.
“There will be anything. You haven’t been spending time with Ariel.”
“If you say so… I see.”
It’s a story I couldn’t share.
Yulken continued to eat, chewing on the three-word word in his mind.
I think I will have a lot of thoughts today in many ways.
* * * * * * *
Around the time when the sky gradually lost its blue color and fragments of light began to scatter in the meantime.
An unexpected guest came to Edgar, who was lying alone in his room.
Even the hair that was neatly tied up in a round bun and the glasses that were put on the eyes.
It was a woman named Alisa who resembled Yulken’s exclusive lady-in-waiting and even had a businesslike and stiff atmosphere.
“Princess Edgar, the head of the household is urgently calling.”
“Yes.”
Despite the sudden call, Edgar calmly got up and left the room.
No wonder he wasn’t surprised. After lunch, there was a word from Helene.
However, what was a little unexpected was that the place he was guided to was in a different direction than his office.
Edgar, who was curious about this, cautiously asked where he was going, and Alisa replied, ‘The library.’ he answered briefly.
‘Seo Jae-ra.’
Edgar assumed that the office he visited yesterday also had a lot of bookshelves, so it could also be used as a study.
Or is the study only used as a purely personal space?
All kinds of speculation raced through his head, but he soon concluded that it was a trivial idea and brushed his hair lightly.
From now on, you’ll have to cool your head and calm your emotions.
It will be hard to even say a word when you are caught up in this kind of thought.
“This way. Please wait a moment.”
Arriving in front of the study, Alisa gave a small bow to Edgar, then approached the door and carefully inserted a message.
Not long after, Yulken’s heavy bass sound again turned her body towards Edgar.
“You can go in.”
“Yes, thank you. Oh, and… … .”
Since he hadn’t spoken much, Edgar answered politely and entered the study through the door she opened.
Without forgetting to make one request before going.
Yulken was staring out the window with a wine glass in his hand, not even looking at the visitor.
Edgar guessed that this was a ploy of his own, not wanting to show his expression.
Click.
It was only after the door closed and there was silence for a while that Yulken’s heavy lips separated.
“I heard the story from my wife.”
The words came out without any explanation of the context, but Edgar nodded indifferently.
Because it was what I expected.
“Yes, I heard that too. He said Madame Helene would make room for me.”
Although I didn’t expect it to make a seat this way.
It was a means anyway, it had nothing to do with him.
Just listening to this man’s story, and finally keeping the promise with a friend.
I walked all the way here on my own two feet with that goal alone.
“Have a seat. Oh, do you know how to drink?”
“Yes, my father likes to drink, so I am a little… … .”
“I am glad to hear from you.”
Yulken himself poured red wine into one of the empty wine glasses, climbed out of the window, approached Edgar, and held it out.
“He is a very precious boy. I don’t know if it will fit in your mouth.”
“It’s okay because I’m not sensitive enough to overshadow the taste.”
“is it.”
Yulken silently held out his wine glass and asked for a toast.
Edgar brought his wine glass to him and lightly bumped it.
A salty sound echoed in the quiet study, and Yulken belatedly sat across from Edgar and tilted his wine glass.
“So, did you hear the story from your wife?”
“That’s right.”
“From what I’ve heard, it seems that you’ve deduced a pretty deep part. Even my wife was very surprised.”
“… I apologize if you were offended.”
Edgar lowered his head, and Yulken waved his hand lightly and tilted his wine glass again.
I had no intention of blaming this boy.
He received a message from his wife, but he doesn’t seem to be an insolent man who would intrude on someone else’s family affairs casually.
“Even though I called you, the truth is that you wanted to see me face to face. What do you want?”
“Your Highness, what do you think I want?”
“It is not a good habit to answer a question with a half question. However, I will let you go this time.”
Yulken frowned for a moment, but then put his wine glass on the table and leaned back on the sofa.
‘It’s what he wants.’
You probably want to apologize to Bonama or your daughter, or ask what your thoughts were when you did this.
What he put forward was only inference, and it didn’t come directly into Yulken’s head.
“Would you like to apologize to your daughter?”
“Apologies, do you mean that you are repenting for your mistakes?”
“I must have thought you were so stupid that you didn’t even know that you had done something bad to that child.”
“It can’t be. It just felt strange to hear it directly from Her Highness’ mouth.”
Edgar never expected him to admit his wrongdoing so readily.
Of course, I thought he was aware of his mistake, but I knew he would try to rationalize it, saying that there was a cause or that it was unavoidable.
A bitter smile formed on Yulken’s lips at Edgar’s honest answer, and he nodded as if to say more.
Seriously, what does this boy want? He wanted to hear that answer.
Edgar smiled softly after him and opened his mouth in a fairly determined tone.
And the answer, like Ariel’s in the morning, was completely unexpected for Yulken.
“I don’t want an apology. Just, please don’t reject Ariel’s will.”
“Please don’t refuse… What do you mean?”
“It is literally. Like what happened at breakfast today.”
Yulken finally put down the wine glass he was about to pick up and twitched the muscles around his mouth.
“Was that what you did?”
“no. In the first place, it was an act I never heard of.”
“Then is it Helen’s fault?”
“Did I tell you? I hope you don’t reject Ariel’s will.”
Did Ariel really do it on her own?
Yulken stared at Edgar with his mouth open in total disbelief.
He can’t use magic or the ability to read other people’s lies, but there is such a thing as sharp eyes that he has accumulated over the course of his life.
And from Yulken’s point of view, it didn’t seem like the boy was spouting lies.
Rather, it seemed so serious that even the air around it felt heavy.
‘The story will be long.’
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Looking at the already empty wine glass, Yulken laughed in regret.
If I knew it would be like this, I would fill the glass a little more and come.
However, at the same time, I felt fortunate.
At least he wouldn’t be talking about his one and only daughter while entrusting himself to the alcohol.
However, it would be impossible to change the story by making excuses because of drunkenness.
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Like it or not, it seemed that I had to make a decision as of today.
With this boy, with his wife, with his daughter.
No, to be precise, to this insignificant play.