“Why are you looking at me?”
Claudel tilted her head.
“You should see the opera.”
“You are more fun.”
As he spoke calmly, her expression became even more puzzled.
“You think it’s fun?”
"Yes."
“Which part?”
"All."
On the stage of an opera, an actor was singing passionately.
- What made you change, Karl?
- You really don't know? The one who knocked and hardened my heart was you who betrayed me.
- Karl. Oh, please.
- With the spark of revenge flying, I became a sword.
The story was rapidly approaching its climax.
However, Claudel, who ‘knew better’, was more interesting than the obvious romantic drama whose plot was all that was included in the performance catalog.
A feather hat and silk ribbon go well with shiny, luscious red hair.
The golden eyes filled with the dazzling light of the stage sparkle more mysteriously than usual.
And Claudel was also more interested in Kaian than in the opera.
This was because her eyes often turned towards him, pretending not to see him.
When the butler said that they would get to know each other better if they spent time together, Kaian didn't think it was necessary.
This is a marriage that took place on Valquiterre's damned orders, so what does it matter whether he knows the woman better or not?
That's what he really thought, but the reality was that his wife, whom he had become acquainted with, and a woman whose name he did not know, was very different.
Claudel didn't really like it when he asked her to show him what he gave her every time he gave her something, but Kaian kept his eyes on her as if he were collecting new features.
Could it be worse to give him pleasure than to be bored with the Duchess with whom he had to share a bed?
Kaian literally enjoyed his honeymoon.
Adding to his joy as a new bride is Claudel, who is dressed as an audience member and is seeing him for the first time on her visit to the theater today.
“I guess you came to see the opera because of me. You’re always busy.”
Claudel felt sorry for sounding like he was saying the opera was boring.
"No. I think it’s worth coming to see the opera.”
Kaian was sincere.
He was even thinking about building a small theater in the Rowen estate for his date with Claudel. He'd like to see other theater outing outfits too.
However, he felt sorry for her, so there was no need to refuse.
“But if you want to say thank you, I won’t decline.”
“Thank you?”
“Is there anything wrong with your husband who is busy but comes and sits on time?”
“What should I do...”
“A kiss would be appropriate.”
“Here?”
Seeing Claudel jumping up and down with a straight face, Kaian almost burst out laughing without even realizing it.
Look at this. He heard this girl was the funniest.
No matter what the actors do on stage, nothing will make him this happy.
Claudel cared about what others thought of him and was very outgoing outside the bedroom.
The only place outside of the bedroom where he could steal his wife's lips was the shore of the Lake in his garden, which was strictly barred from visitors.
“You should see the opera.”
“You are more fun.”
As he spoke calmly, her expression became even more puzzled.
“You think it’s fun?”
"Yes."
“Which part?”
"All."
On the stage of an opera, an actor was singing passionately.
- What made you change, Karl?
- You really don't know? The one who knocked and hardened my heart was you who betrayed me.
- Karl. Oh, please.
- With the spark of revenge flying, I became a sword.
The story was rapidly approaching its climax.
However, Claudel, who ‘knew better’, was more interesting than the obvious romantic drama whose plot was all that was included in the performance catalog.
A feather hat and silk ribbon go well with shiny, luscious red hair.
The golden eyes filled with the dazzling light of the stage sparkle more mysteriously than usual.
And Claudel was also more interested in Kaian than in the opera.
This was because her eyes often turned towards him, pretending not to see him.
When the butler said that they would get to know each other better if they spent time together, Kaian didn't think it was necessary.
This is a marriage that took place on Valquiterre's damned orders, so what does it matter whether he knows the woman better or not?
That's what he really thought, but the reality was that his wife, whom he had become acquainted with, and a woman whose name he did not know, was very different.
Claudel didn't really like it when he asked her to show him what he gave her every time he gave her something, but Kaian kept his eyes on her as if he were collecting new features.
Could it be worse to give him pleasure than to be bored with the Duchess with whom he had to share a bed?
Kaian literally enjoyed his honeymoon.
Adding to his joy as a new bride is Claudel, who is dressed as an audience member and is seeing him for the first time on her visit to the theater today.
“I guess you came to see the opera because of me. You’re always busy.”
Claudel felt sorry for sounding like he was saying the opera was boring.
"No. I think it’s worth coming to see the opera.”
Kaian was sincere.
He was even thinking about building a small theater in the Rowen estate for his date with Claudel. He'd like to see other theater outing outfits too.
However, he felt sorry for her, so there was no need to refuse.
“But if you want to say thank you, I won’t decline.”
“Thank you?”
“Is there anything wrong with your husband who is busy but comes and sits on time?”
“What should I do...”
“A kiss would be appropriate.”
“Here?”
Seeing Claudel jumping up and down with a straight face, Kaian almost burst out laughing without even realizing it.
Look at this. He heard this girl was the funniest.
No matter what the actors do on stage, nothing will make him this happy.
Claudel cared about what others thought of him and was very outgoing outside the bedroom.
The only place outside of the bedroom where he could steal his wife's lips was the shore of the Lake in his garden, which was strictly barred from visitors.
Unfortunately, they were not allowed to touch their lips even in the carriage, so they had to be content with touching their foreheads or cheeks.
“There’s Madame Marcel and Hannah, but...”
Claudel looked back and shut her mouth.
The two people's eyes lit up with anticipation when the performance began, but their seats were now empty.
“Madame Marcel and Hannah are missing. Then is it okay?”
“Kaian...”
Kaian hugged Claudel's body and cupped her cheek with his other hand.
Claudel was holding something in her hand and swinging it around, so he glanced at it and saw that it was a fan.
Kaian laughed to himself.
The fact that she was acting like she didn't like it and was going to spread her fan to cover it, doesn't that mean she agrees to the kiss itself anyway?
Every time Claudel revealed her ambivalent feelings like this, Kaian felt like he was falling more in love with her.
When she opened the fan in her small hand and handed it back, Claudel blushed and naughtily pushed his shoulder with the fan as if to keep him in check.
“Why are you doing this? Really."
“I only helped you because you wanted to cover it up with debt.”
“I told you not to do this outside.”
“One day, you asked me if I would think you were an impertinent woman if you told me you wanted to kiss me outside.”
“At that time, there was a parasol so I could cover it.”
“I guess you can just cover it up with a fan now.”
She had no time to argue.
He was impatient, fearing that if he didn't swallow her beautifully decorated lips immediately, it would be his heart, not Karl Hamlin's, that would be quenched by the blacksmith's hammer.
Hot breath passed between their lips.
As the air filled with Claudel's fragrant body scent tickled his moist lips, Kaian felt regret.
'I didn't come to see an opera or anything like that.'
The butler who he believed always said the right thing was wrong.
He said that seeing his wife outside of the bedroom would help improve the couple's relationship, but even seeing Claudel outside of the bedroom made him want to quickly bring his wife back to the bedroom.
“Kaian.”
“Shall we go back now?”
The lips that were exhaling sweetly were closed tightly.
“I don’t think I like opera that much.”
"No, I do not want. This is my long-awaited outing to the capital, and I will see it until the end.”
"Yes?"
Kaian wrapped her hand holding her fan and squeezed it.
“Then just keep doing what you were doing.”
He was annoyed by his wife who did not agree with him, so he ended up going astray.
- I cannot forgive you!
The actor exaggeratedly stepped to the center of the stage and roughly ripped his shirt left and right.
This was the most popular part of the opera, and it was a scene that made women, regardless of social status, blush and look at their masculine chest or stomach muscles.
However, when the audience was supposed to be screaming in response to the women in the audience, there was an unusually subtle silence, which made the actor look at the audience in confusion.
When the actor accidentally missed a beat, the orchestra, which was playing urgently, stumbled and stopped for a moment.
It was a strange thing. They paid a high price to come to the theater, but instead of focusing on the stage, they did something else as if they were all planning it together.
Everyone was turning their heads back and to the side and looking not at the stage but at the expensive box seats in the center.
To be exact, the Duke and Duchess of Temnes who were sitting there.
In fact, there was not a single person in the capital who was not interested in the marriage between the Marshal of Rowen, which was concluded by order of the young King.
However, since the Rowen estate was far from the capital, very few people actually saw the Duke and Duchess of Temnes at the informal wedding held at the castle of Valmonde at the northern tip.
Some people who attended the wedding far away said, 'That's right for the Duke of Temnes. He didn't even look at the bride. He talked about the ceremony that took less than 30 minutes.'
Those who didn't even attend said, 'How can Vermont and Temnes be so anxious for a day or two because they can't get enough of each other? No wonder there was a stabbing on the first night!'
“There’s Madame Marcel and Hannah, but...”
Claudel looked back and shut her mouth.
The two people's eyes lit up with anticipation when the performance began, but their seats were now empty.
“Madame Marcel and Hannah are missing. Then is it okay?”
“Kaian...”
Kaian hugged Claudel's body and cupped her cheek with his other hand.
Claudel was holding something in her hand and swinging it around, so he glanced at it and saw that it was a fan.
Kaian laughed to himself.
The fact that she was acting like she didn't like it and was going to spread her fan to cover it, doesn't that mean she agrees to the kiss itself anyway?
Every time Claudel revealed her ambivalent feelings like this, Kaian felt like he was falling more in love with her.
When she opened the fan in her small hand and handed it back, Claudel blushed and naughtily pushed his shoulder with the fan as if to keep him in check.
“Why are you doing this? Really."
“I only helped you because you wanted to cover it up with debt.”
“I told you not to do this outside.”
“One day, you asked me if I would think you were an impertinent woman if you told me you wanted to kiss me outside.”
“At that time, there was a parasol so I could cover it.”
“I guess you can just cover it up with a fan now.”
She had no time to argue.
He was impatient, fearing that if he didn't swallow her beautifully decorated lips immediately, it would be his heart, not Karl Hamlin's, that would be quenched by the blacksmith's hammer.
Hot breath passed between their lips.
As the air filled with Claudel's fragrant body scent tickled his moist lips, Kaian felt regret.
'I didn't come to see an opera or anything like that.'
The butler who he believed always said the right thing was wrong.
He said that seeing his wife outside of the bedroom would help improve the couple's relationship, but even seeing Claudel outside of the bedroom made him want to quickly bring his wife back to the bedroom.
“Kaian.”
“Shall we go back now?”
The lips that were exhaling sweetly were closed tightly.
“I don’t think I like opera that much.”
"No, I do not want. This is my long-awaited outing to the capital, and I will see it until the end.”
"Yes?"
Kaian wrapped her hand holding her fan and squeezed it.
“Then just keep doing what you were doing.”
He was annoyed by his wife who did not agree with him, so he ended up going astray.
***
- I cannot forgive you!
The actor exaggeratedly stepped to the center of the stage and roughly ripped his shirt left and right.
This was the most popular part of the opera, and it was a scene that made women, regardless of social status, blush and look at their masculine chest or stomach muscles.
However, when the audience was supposed to be screaming in response to the women in the audience, there was an unusually subtle silence, which made the actor look at the audience in confusion.
When the actor accidentally missed a beat, the orchestra, which was playing urgently, stumbled and stopped for a moment.
It was a strange thing. They paid a high price to come to the theater, but instead of focusing on the stage, they did something else as if they were all planning it together.
Everyone was turning their heads back and to the side and looking not at the stage but at the expensive box seats in the center.
To be exact, the Duke and Duchess of Temnes who were sitting there.
In fact, there was not a single person in the capital who was not interested in the marriage between the Marshal of Rowen, which was concluded by order of the young King.
However, since the Rowen estate was far from the capital, very few people actually saw the Duke and Duchess of Temnes at the informal wedding held at the castle of Valmonde at the northern tip.
Some people who attended the wedding far away said, 'That's right for the Duke of Temnes. He didn't even look at the bride. He talked about the ceremony that took less than 30 minutes.'
Those who didn't even attend said, 'How can Vermont and Temnes be so anxious for a day or two because they can't get enough of each other? No wonder there was a stabbing on the first night!'
They clicked their tongue while thinking about their long-standing enmity.
However, a strange scene was unfolding inside the theater.
“It looks like they’re anxious because they can’t catch it.”
It had a different meaning than expected.
"Oh. I never thought the Duke of Temnes would do something like that.”
The Duke of Temnes, who steadfastly kissed the Duchess even after being hit on the arm by a fan, was indeed a battlefield hero who did not back down even an inch.
Immersed in their own world, they had no idea that everyone in the theater would be spying on them, to the extent that the opera would proceed in disarray.
When the opera ended, the lights returned to the theater.
The atmosphere was bright, with gold lacquered decorations and chandeliers twinkling here and there as if the heat from past performances had become pieces of light.
“Kaian.”
I called out to him impatiently.
“I think you need to clean it.”
In the bright room, the red rouge smeared on his lips gave off a strange atmosphere.
"What?"
“You have rouge on your lips.”
"Alright."
Kaian leisurely took his time and leaned diagonally toward me.
“Wipe me.”
“Me?”
“Who else is there? There’s no mirror.”
When I didn't move quickly, Kaian's eyebrows twitched.
'How did this happen?'
My husband was sincere in teasing me.
'It's not that I don't like it.'
My chest felt itchy somewhere.
Every time Kaian touched me like this, the line he was drawing became blurred.
Such an appearance gave me a faint hope.
“What are you doing? The honor of Temnes depends on that handkerchief.”
He took hold of the handkerchief and urged me upon my hesitation.
Claudel sighed softly, folded my handkerchief, and gently wiped the rouge off his lips.
Meanwhile, my heart was pounding loudly when I saw Kaian with his eyes closed and his face exposed to me.
This was because the smudged traces around his mouth clearly reminded me of what he had been doing throughout the darkened performance.
"It's all done."
My face felt hot. I almost wondered if my hot cheeks were redder than the handkerchief I had wiped off the rouge stains with.
“Duke. Can I ask you for a moment?”
Madame Cronach's voice was heard beyond the thick curtain.
“What’s going on?”
“New cloth arrived from above, and Madame Marcel was sent to the port.”
I found out the whereabouts of the two people who disappeared midway. They were away to watch something as valuable as an opera.
Madame Cronach looked at me.
“Miss Hannah wanted to go with me, so I asked her to do so. Until today’s capital...”
"Good job. Don’t worry, I’ll go back with her.”
"Yes, Your Highness"
Then Madame Cronach hesitated.
“Hey. Can I help the Duchess with her dressing up?”
My heart sank.
She put on nice makeup, but since my rouge moved to Kaian like that, there was no way I was fine.
I gave up glaring at Kaian, wondering if he was just looking at me without telling me.
He just seemed to be happy when I got embarrassed when I got upset.
“Please.”
When I gave permission, Kaian stood up first.
The box that Madame Cronach brought was neatly filled with makeup tools.
Although she was a competent salon owner, I was embarrassed when she acted as if she had expected something like this.
Two people kissed, but my shame seemed to be mine alone.
“You seem to be on good terms with the Duke.”
Madame Cronach spoke to me as if trying to lighten the awkward mood.
“Does it look like that?”
"Yes. There was a time when he said he would go to war with Vermont. The Duke of Temnes is in love with the Duchess.”
I laughed involuntarily at Madame Cronach's words.
“It’s not him who’s infatuated, it’s me.”
However, a strange scene was unfolding inside the theater.
“It looks like they’re anxious because they can’t catch it.”
It had a different meaning than expected.
"Oh. I never thought the Duke of Temnes would do something like that.”
The Duke of Temnes, who steadfastly kissed the Duchess even after being hit on the arm by a fan, was indeed a battlefield hero who did not back down even an inch.
Immersed in their own world, they had no idea that everyone in the theater would be spying on them, to the extent that the opera would proceed in disarray.
***
When the opera ended, the lights returned to the theater.
The atmosphere was bright, with gold lacquered decorations and chandeliers twinkling here and there as if the heat from past performances had become pieces of light.
“Kaian.”
I called out to him impatiently.
“I think you need to clean it.”
In the bright room, the red rouge smeared on his lips gave off a strange atmosphere.
"What?"
“You have rouge on your lips.”
"Alright."
Kaian leisurely took his time and leaned diagonally toward me.
“Wipe me.”
“Me?”
“Who else is there? There’s no mirror.”
When I didn't move quickly, Kaian's eyebrows twitched.
'How did this happen?'
My husband was sincere in teasing me.
'It's not that I don't like it.'
My chest felt itchy somewhere.
Every time Kaian touched me like this, the line he was drawing became blurred.
Such an appearance gave me a faint hope.
“What are you doing? The honor of Temnes depends on that handkerchief.”
He took hold of the handkerchief and urged me upon my hesitation.
Claudel sighed softly, folded my handkerchief, and gently wiped the rouge off his lips.
Meanwhile, my heart was pounding loudly when I saw Kaian with his eyes closed and his face exposed to me.
This was because the smudged traces around his mouth clearly reminded me of what he had been doing throughout the darkened performance.
"It's all done."
My face felt hot. I almost wondered if my hot cheeks were redder than the handkerchief I had wiped off the rouge stains with.
“Duke. Can I ask you for a moment?”
Madame Cronach's voice was heard beyond the thick curtain.
“What’s going on?”
“New cloth arrived from above, and Madame Marcel was sent to the port.”
I found out the whereabouts of the two people who disappeared midway. They were away to watch something as valuable as an opera.
Madame Cronach looked at me.
“Miss Hannah wanted to go with me, so I asked her to do so. Until today’s capital...”
"Good job. Don’t worry, I’ll go back with her.”
"Yes, Your Highness"
Then Madame Cronach hesitated.
“Hey. Can I help the Duchess with her dressing up?”
My heart sank.
She put on nice makeup, but since my rouge moved to Kaian like that, there was no way I was fine.
I gave up glaring at Kaian, wondering if he was just looking at me without telling me.
He just seemed to be happy when I got embarrassed when I got upset.
“Please.”
When I gave permission, Kaian stood up first.
The box that Madame Cronach brought was neatly filled with makeup tools.
Although she was a competent salon owner, I was embarrassed when she acted as if she had expected something like this.
Two people kissed, but my shame seemed to be mine alone.
“You seem to be on good terms with the Duke.”
Madame Cronach spoke to me as if trying to lighten the awkward mood.
“Does it look like that?”
"Yes. There was a time when he said he would go to war with Vermont. The Duke of Temnes is in love with the Duchess.”
I laughed involuntarily at Madame Cronach's words.
“It’s not him who’s infatuated, it’s me.”
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