# 29
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Ariana looked at Kenneth calmly. His blue eyes seemed to be covered by a veil, strangely distant.
"love?"
Kenneth curled his lips sarcastically at this funny term.
Since love marriages began to appear in the empire, this absurd word has become excessively prevalent among the upper class of Cremisa.
“Yes. It seems that Mrs. Byrne thought that your assistance to me was due to such feelings.”
“Ha.”
He hid a sarcastic laugh with a sigh.
“And what did you answer?”
“I said that, rationally, we were not in such a relationship. So I asked Mrs. Byrne not to waste her time on such pranks.”
“If she remains calm, Your Highness will consider her as a next option on his own. Just like the others did yesterday.”
Kenneth remembered the conversation he had when he picked up Ariana yesterday.
“Wasn't it Lady Theodora who decorated the inside of this ship? With this vision, certainly at the Elysia Hotel...”
The talk was about Theodora because she was responsible for decorating the ship.
Ariana turned her head completely toward the sea.
“…You two match. Like the ‘right partner’ you will choose one day.”
“I didn't know you were playing matchmaker too.”
Kenneth laughed coldly.
The feeling he felt when he saw her white face in the café for the first time was disappearing like carrots. Instead, a wave of sharp sarcasm swept over him.
“You are a lousy wife, but you have a good eye for choosing my next wife.”
“Thanks for that.”
Ariana looked as if her white face had become paler. It was not clear whether this was due to the sun's rays or accumulated fatigue.
“But, Sir Duke, you also don’t care about me, do you? You didn’t keep me out of any feelings...”
“No, I'm about to decide to take care of you now.”
“What? What do you mean...”
“After last night, I realize you weren't just bragging.”
He wanted to see Ariana's expression twist.
Her face turns red with blame and shame. anything.
“That was your real use.”
“Since you are not talented at receiving guests or managing relationships, from now on, focus on bedroom matters.”
"…Good."
Ariana whispered with an expressionless face, as if yesterday's events had not occurred to her.
It seemed as if her hands surrounding the teacup had frozen.
“I'll at least do well.”
* * *
After the conversation ended, Kenneth remained alone in the café.
After answering that she would perform her night duties well, Ariana did not speak for a few moments.
But when the ship's horn sounded, she got up first.
She stumbled a little, but there was no need to help her.
“Looks like we'll be back on the dock soon. I will ask you to prepare for the return.”
Kenneth didn't go with her.
Smoke was rising in his throat, and he realized that staying in the same place would lead to him saying vile words. So, it was better for him to stay alone until this intense emotion subsided.
“That was your real use.”
“Okay. "At least I'll do it well."
The completely different tone of resignation from last night was annoying.
But what was scratching him the most was her previous words.
“I said I don’t love you, so there is no need for such actions.”
This was the first time Ariana had heard him directly express her feelings.
Kenneth remembered the frame on the work desk. A woman who was overwhelmed with happiness in the love of the Imperial Prince, did not know what to do with herf.
She loved the coward who ran away, leaving her.
He already knew this fact, but he didn't understand why it felt like new.
As he stared into the void, motionless, Roger approached cautiously.
“Sir, the next table is…”
“Okay, I'll get up.”
When he got up, Kenneth's face showed no sign of confusion.
It was just a new feeling, but nothing to worry about, right?
'If that's all you want, then that's clear.'
If rolling around in the bedroom is the end, that's despicable, but enough is enough.
“What should we take care of first when we get to the palace?”
“You must schedule a visit to the port of Ilysia, sir.”
“Right… I have to go during the summer.”
The Place Hotel was expected to open in late fall.
So, Kenneth was planning to visit the south several times during the socializing season, but Roger added: “Wouldn't it be better to postpone that? There's the matter of the representatives from the local nobility...”
“Hmm.”
Since his parents were assassinated while going to a charity, the works of the South remained neglected for a long time. Business plans in that area had to be put back on track as quickly as possible for the Duke's family to be said to have truly 'resurrected'.
'But the backgrounds of these new representatives are worrying.'
They were just nouveau riche with no obvious common bond, but there was an area of concern.
'Manufacture of ammunition and explosives.'
Was he overly sensitive because of what happened to his parents?
While Kenneth and Roger were talking and leaving the café, the café waiter asked one of Kenneth's followers: “Should we send this to the ward?”
The trifle prepared for Ariana was placed in a deep bowl on a silver tray in both hands.
The sponge cake was soaked in wine syrup, topped with heavy cream and generous strawberries and raspberries, as befits an adult dessert.
It was not an exaggeration to say that this ship cared about food and drink. This kind of candy was enough to improve the condition of a pale-faced woman.
But the dessert, which was supposed to look delicious, looked disgusting, as if it were made of clay.
Kenneth rolled his eyes, immersed in darkness. Although the question was directed to his subordinate, he knew that he had to answer himf.
“Take him back to the kitchen.”
What need is attention in a relationship that doesn't even require it?
* * *
The ride back to the ducal palace was much quieter than the outbound.
Ariana couldn't remember how she spent time in the same carriage with Kenneth. He was acting as if she didn't exist, and she was with her eyes closed, lost in other thoughts.
'I want to see Pepe.'
When Baby was born, she was curly. It was amazing how she gradually turned into a real human being...
Her blonde hair and blue eyes are similar to Ariana's. She cried a lot, but she smiled just as beautifully.
In fact, it would have been better for Bebe to look like Kenneth to make her life easier, but Ariana cherished her more because she looked like her.
She felt so sorry because she looked like her...
'When we get to the palace, I'll go get flowers first.'
Ariana tried to get out of the f-pity even just a little, directing her thoughts toward something brighter.
Maybe this time you'll take the lilacs? To inhale her perfume and renew her resolve to meet her child again.
But in the late afternoon, when she arrived at the family cemetery carrying a bouquet of flowers, she encountered guards she had never seen before.
“Entry is prohibited from here, ma'am.”
“There was no talk about this before leaving, so why?”
“The portal has been closed since you felt unwell earlier.”
“But I came many times after that, so why...”
Ariana looked in confusion between the guards and the gate.
She had left violets and other flowers here several times, so how could they prevent her now on the pretext of her confusion upon her return?
There was only one person who had the authority to close anything inside the palace.
'Kenneth was the one who ordered this.'
Why? A place she didn't care about in her previous life...
'Is it because I've been coming and going lately?'
There was no other explanation. Even this simple movement bothered him.
She no longer had a place to rest outside the palace with peace of mind.
'Then, I should go home...'
But where is her house?
Ariana looked at the huge palace.
Even when Kenneth was absent, the Imperial Palace did not dare to seize it, it was a prestigious palace.
But for her, it was taking her breath away.
A single prison where she lived for three years before she was shot in the head.
When she first came back, she thought she could bear it because she had been through it before.
But why did today, in particular, feel so difficult and exhausting to get into?
Ariana did not find the courage to step on the white stone path leading from the garden to the palace.
But at that moment, Emily, who was following her, whispered: “Ma’am!”
"Yes?"
“Get some rest before you go!”
Emily pointed to a white swing chair in a corner of the green garden. White rose bushes partially obscured the entrance to the palace.
“I mean, you feel uncomfortable being inside the palace, right? Ever since we were on that ship, you seemed so...”
“Rest easy here, I will monitor the situation for you!”