"Duke Hyde, welcome back."
"Your Majesty, Madam! Haha... I have some time, so I stopped by the Grand Duchess' Palace and brought Ed with me. I thought it would be nice to spend some cozy time with the family after such a long time."
Duke Hyde walked over, muttering. Julia poked Iris in the waist while Ed sat on her lap.
"Madam. I wanted to see you soon."
"You're late."
Huh?
Julia blinked blankly at the icy voice she heard. Iris, who had always been waiting with her eyes wide open, now had a calm, expressionless face.
"Oh, sorry. I'm a little later than we promised, right? Well, I had some work to do."
"Yes, you are late. But you are busy with state affairs, so I must understand."
"Gasp, Ma'am...!"
The Duke's face became sad at the cold, almost indifferent voice.
Julia looked around nervously, but Ed just grumbled at the sight of his parents' suspicious behavior.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty."
Then he grabbed the hem of her clothes as if trying to whisper.
As Julia listened in bewilderment, Edgar placed both hands over his mouth and whispered secretly.
"The more Mom gets angry, the more upset I get."
"Huh?"
"Then Dad, do you want something delicious?"
"Huh...?"
Julia asked in bewilderment. They both kept muttering incomprehensible words as if they were worried that someone might be missing.
Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess ended up having a vague conversation that was either a fight or something.
"Then I will go to the Princess's palace first."
"Yes."
Iris spoke briefly and in a calm voice. Then the Duke became sullen and walked away.
Bam.
"... Sister, what's wrong? Are you angry?"
Julia asked, resting her chin on Ed's head as he hugged her. But his cold face quickly melted back into its usual state as soon as the Duke left.
"No? Why? Ed, come down here. The Queen is heavy."
Iris asked back and sat Ed down next to her.
As the little boy sat awkwardly on the chair, whining. Julia said, gently caressing Ed's chubby cheek.
"That's because you look upset. I thought you were upset because the Duke came late."
"Oh, that's it. I was just pretending."
"Yes?"
Julia asked back, bewildered. Iris tilted her teacup and spoke haughtily.
"You have to create tension so that you always look back on your actions and try harder."
"...Tension?"
Big purple eyes blinked. Why the tension between the couple?
Iris explained in more detail the reaction of not knowing anything.
"The most important thing between lovers is excitement. No matter how much you like each other, if you get used to being together, you lose your sincerity."
"..."
"Then you won't be able to feel excitement. No matter how much you like the other person, you can't always understand and say you like them. If you don't like something, you don't like it. If you do that, you'll worry and be nervous that you might lose him."
As expected, the senior's thoughts were different. Julia, who was wondering what she was talking about, opened her eyes wide and nodded her head curiously.
"I've never heard of such a story before. But wouldn't the Duke be offended by it?"
"No. Why are hr upset? It was his own mistake. He came later than the promised time. Instead of getting angry out of hand, you should point out even the smallest mistake."
Iris was very proud as she began to talk about the introduction to love.
"I've heard that some noblemen are the ones who shout when they've done something wrong. They're pathetic men who don't even know how precious their wives are. But Lionel knows how precious I am when I make him feel tense, and he does better. So this is absolutely necessary for a couple's relationship."
"Wow, I see."
Julia followed suit and sipped her tea in admiration.
Some ladies were close to her, but since there was quite an age difference between them and they never talked about this, this was the first time she heard about it. After all, they couldn't meet as Queen and ladies and give each other love advice.
"It's called push and pull. It's about providing periodic stimulation so that you don't lose your value due to familiarity."
Iris proudly said that it was quite effective.
Hmm, even if Iris didn't do that, she think Duke Hyde would always be nice to her.
He was a Duke who always wanted to see Iris and would always plan to run home whenever he got the chance.
Actually, Julia doesn't think her sister knows her own feelings.
It wasn't that she wanted to make her husband nervous, but she was worried that he would change since he was so good. So it seemed like she was intentionally not giving him her full heart and making him feel anxious.
Just by looking at the way her gaze kept turning to the door when her husband didn't come home, you could tell how much she liked her husband.
'I didn't know there was such a cute side to it.'
Julia smiled to herself as she watched Iris wipe the cookie crumbs from Ed's mouth. Then Iris suddenly and firmly grabbed Julia's hand.
"Julia thinks so too."
"Huh? What..."
"Always, no. Don't just say nice things to His Majesty. He'll become spoiled."
Iris glared at her fiercely. Julia was startled and embarrassed.
"Spoiled? I just..."
"Tell me, Julia, whatever His Majesty does is fine with you?"
"Yes?"
"Quickly! You always say good things and just smile, right?"
"...Oh, no."
Julia shook her head a beat later. Iris narrowed her eyes and reassured Julia as if she were Ed.
"Lies. You get angry once out of a hundred times, and say good things 99 times? You smile all the time, and do whatever His Majesty asks."
"That..."
No, is this lady a fortune teller? Julia could lay down a mat.
Julia, who had been hit hard, kept her mouth shut. Then Iris opened her eyes as if she had expected that.
"I told you not to do that! I knew it. Julia is so kind and lovely, and you think you are right no matter what. You shouldn't reveal everything so naively!"
"Yes, yes? No, I'm not that naive..."
"What do you mean! You have such a cute face and you go around saying that you love him to death!"
An unusually excited Iris grabbed Julia's cheeks and shouted.
Julia, who was caught by surprise, was dumbfounded, and Edgar clapped his hands in delight at the strange sight.
"Now, even if you do like it, pretend not to like it. Don't always say things like, "Thank you." or "I like you.""
Julia's cheeks turned red at the outpouring of words. Iris clicked her tongue and spoke firmly.
"No way. Do it from today. His Majesty is very perceptive, and he knows very well that Julia is completely in love with him. He might think you are his woman and become lazy! We have to eliminate that possibility right from the start!"
But Mion always adjusts to me. Julia, overwhelmed by the momentum, couldn't even say anything and just smiled with her lips.
To be honest, Endymion was always on edge and obsessed with every single thing about her. It wasn't that he was too interested, It was just that he couldn't get lazy.
'If it's an obsession, then maybe...'
As Julia just laughed vaguely, Iris took the promise.
"Yes? You shouldn't be too comfortable with each other. The most important thing in a relationship is not familiarity, but excitement. Tension, and stimulation."
"Ah, um. Yes..."
Although it was confusing, the last words lingered in her ears.
There was some tension recently as they went from being friends to lovers, but the biggest thing between them was familiarity.
"Yes. It looks like His Majesty is bringing you a gift today. When you receive it, just pretend not to like it and reject it."
"A gift? He didn't say anything like that."
Julia rolled her eyes in confusion. Then Iris insisted that it wasn't important.
"He'll be so proud because you think he knows Julia's tastes the best! In that situation, if Julia likes the gift, he'll be confident. So stop pulling and push away this time. If you pretend not to like it, he'll get nervous and do better next time."
Iris assured her, thinking of her annoying little brother.
'I told him she would hate the Honey Marine Cream, but you pretended not to hear me.'
Iris acknowledged the sincerity of the surprise gift, so she decided not to reveal what it was. But then again, there was no way that such a mature and calm Julia would like something like that!
Of course, they had only recently become close. But Iris thought that Julia, with whom she had shared quite a bit of information, could not possibly like that dessert since she had not told her.
'It's clear that she just pretended to like it because the guy she liked bought it for her.'
Iris was convinced that the weak-hearted Julia would be dragged around by the dark-hearted Endymion. So this time, she really wanted to see that arrogant pride struggling and struggling.
"...Really, is it necessary to push away sometimes?"
Julia muttered in thought. It seemed as if she had been naively accepting him all this time.
Iris smiled and encouraged her.
"Of course! It's Julia's turn anyway. He's not the type of person to get discouraged if you push him away, so what's the big deal? I think you've tamed her."
"Pfft..."
Julia laughed out loud as if she thought the last remark was a joke. Iris decided this was the moment and began to urge her on.
"I think you should take this opportunity to be a little more relaxed. Above all, he should learn that he can be wrong when it comes to Julia."
"Yes. Then I'll give it a try."
Julia laughed, thinking that it would be funny. Iris cheered, saying that it was a good idea, and gave some additional advice.
When you get this kind of reaction, what words are most effective, what kind of actions are most likely to cause the most pain, etc.
That's a whole four hours.
The two women patted the half-asleep Ed and whispered about their push-and-pull plan.
***
"Mion?"
Julia came into the bedroom with her hair hanging over one shoulder.
Endymion, who was looking at documents in his gown, raised his head. There was also a white box tied with a pink ribbon on the table.
'Oh, it's Bluebell Shop packaging.'
Julia's eyes lit up as she recognized it right away. She heard that he had gone out of the castle that day, and she thought that might be the surprise gift that Iris had mentioned.
As Julia's gaze fell on the box, Endymion furrowed his brows and spoke resentfully.
"I was going to tell you this. I heard you were with the Duchess until late?"
"Oh, yeah. It was so much fun that I didn't even realize how much time had passed."
Julia pretended to be calm. Then Endymion naturally got up and sat down on the chair that had been provided, calming himself down.
'It's definitely the whipped cream honey marine, right? Wow, I'm shaking.'
Because she's been buying it every time she goes to Bluebell for almost ten years. No, should she say she went there to buy the whipped cream honey marine?
Anyway, Julia asked, recalling Iris's earnest request.
"You're busy, but you came back today? Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I've seen Bluebell."
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