51. Deer are dangerous
Bjorn let out a sigh mixed with laughter, even though he didn't realize it. Even as she brazenly acted, as if she'd come to retrieve something he'd left behind, Erna's cheeks were flushed.
“Erna.”
There was an unconscious strength in Bjorn's fingertips as he stroked her cheekbone.
“Are you serious?”
"Sure."
After a moment of hesitation, Erna soon gave a resolute answer.
“I beg you sincerely. Yes?”
The way she pleaded again seemed desperate.
Bjorn, who had been staring blankly at his wife, burst into laughter. He knew by now that she wasn't just talking nonsense. He also knew that the woman had no idea what she was talking about.
If you were to call it education, it would have been nothing more than opening a boring book and talking about vague things.
You escaped with just that much, what? I'm going to teach you?
His wife's provocations, born of ignorance, were cute and yet disgusting.
“Bjorn.”
The voice calling his name trembled faintly. As Bjorn loosened his tie slightly, a sharp, measured knock was heard.
“Your Highness, this is Madam Fitz.”
As soon as the expected voice came, Erna's eyes began to visibly waver. She looked as if she were some pitiful prey being chased by a hunter.
“Yes, come in.”
As soon as the answer fell, the door opened, and Madam Fitz, with a more stern expression than usual, entered.
“As expected, you are here, Your Highness.”
Madame Fitz, who had discovered Erna, had the same expression on her face she'd worn the moment she'd found the little Prince hiding after an accident. Bjorn suppressed a laugh and took another sip of water.
“You can’t do that. Go back to your seat.”
Even as she listened to Madam Fitz's admonition, Erna glanced at Bjorn. Her eyes looked as if they were about to cry.
“Leave it, Madam Fitz.”
Bjorn, fiddling with his empty glass, made an impulsive decision. Madam Fitz looked at him in bewilderment.
“But the Prince...”
“There’s nothing we can do since my wife is having such a hard time.”
Even to his ears, it sounded like a slap in the face, but Bjorn didn't change his mind. Erna, who had been watching him in disbelief, finally smiled with relief. The boundless trust displayed by the woman who had only cried in fear beneath him left Bjorn even more bewildered.
"Guests, please stay as planned. Think of it as a few days' vacation."
"... Yes."
Although she seemed quite upset by the situation, Madam Fitz skillfully suppressed her emotions.
"But ending it this way is disrespectful to Madam Peg. Your Highness, you should personally seek her understanding and bring this to a proper conclusion."
“Yes, of course.”
Bjorn nodded coolly and looked at Erna. Erna nodded vigorously, as if to say, "I can handle that." She quickly got up and walked over to Madame Fitz.
"Madma Peg, you said. Tell her I'll be having dinner with our long-distance guest."
Bjorn pacified her quirk with a reasonable suggestion. Perhaps she considered that a sufficient apology, as Madam Fitz's glare softened.
After greeting him, she left the study, leading the troublesome Grand Duchess with her.
Thank you so much!
Erna turned her head slightly and spoke with a smile. Her face was bright and bashful. Satisfied with being free of the predicament before her, she seemed to have completely forgotten the ordeal she had been facing.
As the door closed and the sound of the two people's footsteps faded away, peace returned to the study.
Bjorn, tilting his head back and staring at the high ceiling, laughed in amazement. "An innocent and desiring woman?" He didn't know what kind of contradiction it was, like hot ice and a dark sun, but his wife was definitely like that.
After all, deer are dangerous.
A faint self-mockery about being caught up in a nonsensical, nonsensical story mixed with the intermittent, empty laughter. It felt like she's been caught off guard.
This deer or that deer, no matter their lineage, they are both incredibly dangerous.
With a languid sigh, Bjorn cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and opened the silver box on the table, taking out a cigar. Since he was stuck on the ship, he'd have plenty of time to kill, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to scurry over and enjoy the baby deer that had landed on his plate. She was a lady, annoying and irritating in many ways, but delicious nonetheless.
Bjorn picked up a file, still smoking a cigar. The rhythmic sound of paper turning began to permeate the quiet study, where sighs and laughter had ceased.
Gladys opened the photo album with her thin, bony hands.
She absentmindedly turned a few pages, and a photograph of the nineteen-year-old Princess, now Crown Princess of Letzen, appeared. It was the wedding photo that had been circulated throughout both kingdoms. The bride and groom, the very embodiment of Letzen and Lars's honor and pride. That glory had long since become disgrace, but their smiles in the photo still shone brightly.
How could I not love this man?
As time passed, Gladys began to understand herself less and less. Even blinded by puppy love, perhaps she could still be so foolish.
Of course, Gerald was a good man. Gerald Owen. Lars's genius poet, the Princess's lover, and Karl's father.
Gladys downed another glass of wine and flipped through the photo album with trembling hands. At the sight of the handsome, boyish face of the man, tears welling up in her eyes suddenly spilled over. By the time she came across the next page, a photo of a lovely baby who looked just like her, those quiet tears had already turned into sobs.
Karl Dneister.
Although Bjorn never saw the child, he at least granted the royal family's permission. This was the price paid for the secret agreement between Letzen and Lars, and thanks to it, Karl was able to live out his short life with honor.
A person who is both grateful and sorry.
To Gladys, Bjorn had always been that kind of person. Even now, after he'd entered into a ridiculous marriage to make her miserable, it was no different.
Gladys, sobbing so hard she couldn't control herself, finally stopped crying late in the morning. She staggered to her feet and opened the window, a cold wind blowing in.
It was in the spring of her seventeenth year that she fell in love with Gerald, whom she met by chance at a social gathering. It was during the height of marriage talks between Letzen and Lars.
Was it even more heartbreaking knowing that it couldn't happen?
First love was like an uncontrollable fever. At one point, she even dreamed of abandoning everything and running away to the ends of the earth, just the two of them. But Gladys eventually succumbed to reality and became the Crown Princess of Letzen, as destined. Little did she know that his child was growing inside her.
'If it was going to be like this, you should have slept with me and pretended that the kid was my kid.'
The day he learned his wife, whom he had never held, was pregnant, Bjorn's words, uttered with a contemptuous laugh, were right. Perhaps it would have been a better ending for everyone.
But Gladys couldn't do that.
Although they had a wedding, she couldn't bear to embrace another man, still holding onto the memories of her passionate love, and she just burst into tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Bjorn gazed silently at Gladys, who lay naked and sobbing, for a long moment before leaving the bedroom with a deep sigh.
'Tell me when you're confident you won't be unlucky in bed, Princess. Until then, I'll be happy to wait.'
The next morning, as Gladys sat at the table with puffy eyes, he spoke coldly and indifferently.
Even with Gladys crying, terrified and unable to respond, Bjorn ate breakfast as if nothing had happened. The next day, and the day after that. This pattern continued throughout their long honeymoon.
For a while, memories of her first love kept her from accepting another man, but at some point, her husband, so ruthless and uncaring, became so terrifying that she couldn't approach him. Spring passed and summer arrived. That cruel season, when the news of the Crown Princess's pregnancy shook all of Letzen.
If only she hadn't been so obsessed with that reckless love. If only she had been clever enough to deceive everyone. If only everyone weren't so miserable now.
Gladys burst into tears again, facing the chilling autumn wind. She hated her honesty, the one that had failed to deceive anyone. It was so heartbreaking, it was unbearable.
On the day her pregnancy was revealed, Gladys confessed the truth in despair. Bjorn, who had been listening calmly, stopped Gladys's tears with a completely unexpected remark.
'Just be quiet and stay like this.'
Bjorn's voice, now devoid of anger, was too soft, and it actually caused even greater fear.
"I congratulate you on your pregnancy and wish you continued success as a wonderful Crown Princess, as you have always done. Do you understand, Princess?"
There was no expression on Bjorn's face as he looked at Gladys, who was trembling and speechless.
Days like that continued again.
Days of perfect happiness and peace, a sham of illusion. If Gladys had given birth to a daughter, Bjorn would have endured those days forever.
But a son was born, and less than a year after their grand wedding, Gladys returned home, officially with the child, Bjorn Dneister's son. Hopes of a new life there with the child's father, Gerald, soon faded.
When they met again, Gerald was no different. He still loved Gladys and tried to be a good father to Karl.
He was a good man.
Gladys knew it all too well. Being together was comfortable and warm, and she found great comfort in that warmth. Yet, despite this, her love wasn't as passionate as before. Moments of ambiguous, guilt-ridden smiles became more frequent, and the more she found herself absentmindedly thinking about Bjorn, the longer she spent.
Gerald's death came about a season after Gladys had been overcome with tears over her ex-husband's memories. He had committed suicide with a pistol. Not long after, Karl died of a fever. Only after all this misery had passed did Gladys realize she had feelings for Bjorn, a feeling she hadn't fully grasped when she'd assumed he was hers.
But now it's all meaningless.
Gladys threw herself onto the bed with the window open. The chilly breeze was now a welcome relief. Even if she never opened her eyes again, she didn't care.
But morning came without fail, and Gladys opened her eyes in a state of profound despair.
“Princess, please don’t do this. Are you really willing to throw your life away?”
She turned her head to follow the moist voice coming from the bedside and saw the face of a faithful maid.
"I need to get back to Lars. Get everything ready to leave within the week."
Gladys, who was helped up by the maid, muttered in a weak voice.
The maid's face, once beaming with delight at the long-awaited words, was soon overshadowed by a dark shadow. It was a well-known fact to all of Letzen that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Schwerin would depart for their honeymoon a few days later, aboard a ship bound for Lars.
“Ha, but Princess. Then, on the same ship as the Grand Duke and Duchess...”
“What does what those two do to me?”
Gladys stared blankly into space and muttered.
“It’s all meaningless now.”
With those words, Gladys lay back down on the bed.
The maid was unable to dissuade the Princess in the end.
Bjorn let out a sigh mixed with laughter, even though he didn't realize it. Even as she brazenly acted, as if she'd come to retrieve something he'd left behind, Erna's cheeks were flushed.
“Erna.”
There was an unconscious strength in Bjorn's fingertips as he stroked her cheekbone.
“Are you serious?”
"Sure."
After a moment of hesitation, Erna soon gave a resolute answer.
“I beg you sincerely. Yes?”
The way she pleaded again seemed desperate.
Bjorn, who had been staring blankly at his wife, burst into laughter. He knew by now that she wasn't just talking nonsense. He also knew that the woman had no idea what she was talking about.
If you were to call it education, it would have been nothing more than opening a boring book and talking about vague things.
You escaped with just that much, what? I'm going to teach you?
His wife's provocations, born of ignorance, were cute and yet disgusting.
“Bjorn.”
The voice calling his name trembled faintly. As Bjorn loosened his tie slightly, a sharp, measured knock was heard.
“Your Highness, this is Madam Fitz.”
As soon as the expected voice came, Erna's eyes began to visibly waver. She looked as if she were some pitiful prey being chased by a hunter.
“Yes, come in.”
As soon as the answer fell, the door opened, and Madam Fitz, with a more stern expression than usual, entered.
“As expected, you are here, Your Highness.”
Madame Fitz, who had discovered Erna, had the same expression on her face she'd worn the moment she'd found the little Prince hiding after an accident. Bjorn suppressed a laugh and took another sip of water.
“You can’t do that. Go back to your seat.”
Even as she listened to Madam Fitz's admonition, Erna glanced at Bjorn. Her eyes looked as if they were about to cry.
“Leave it, Madam Fitz.”
Bjorn, fiddling with his empty glass, made an impulsive decision. Madam Fitz looked at him in bewilderment.
“But the Prince...”
“There’s nothing we can do since my wife is having such a hard time.”
Even to his ears, it sounded like a slap in the face, but Bjorn didn't change his mind. Erna, who had been watching him in disbelief, finally smiled with relief. The boundless trust displayed by the woman who had only cried in fear beneath him left Bjorn even more bewildered.
"Guests, please stay as planned. Think of it as a few days' vacation."
"... Yes."
Although she seemed quite upset by the situation, Madam Fitz skillfully suppressed her emotions.
"But ending it this way is disrespectful to Madam Peg. Your Highness, you should personally seek her understanding and bring this to a proper conclusion."
“Yes, of course.”
Bjorn nodded coolly and looked at Erna. Erna nodded vigorously, as if to say, "I can handle that." She quickly got up and walked over to Madame Fitz.
"Madma Peg, you said. Tell her I'll be having dinner with our long-distance guest."
Bjorn pacified her quirk with a reasonable suggestion. Perhaps she considered that a sufficient apology, as Madam Fitz's glare softened.
After greeting him, she left the study, leading the troublesome Grand Duchess with her.
Thank you so much!
Erna turned her head slightly and spoke with a smile. Her face was bright and bashful. Satisfied with being free of the predicament before her, she seemed to have completely forgotten the ordeal she had been facing.
As the door closed and the sound of the two people's footsteps faded away, peace returned to the study.
Bjorn, tilting his head back and staring at the high ceiling, laughed in amazement. "An innocent and desiring woman?" He didn't know what kind of contradiction it was, like hot ice and a dark sun, but his wife was definitely like that.
After all, deer are dangerous.
A faint self-mockery about being caught up in a nonsensical, nonsensical story mixed with the intermittent, empty laughter. It felt like she's been caught off guard.
This deer or that deer, no matter their lineage, they are both incredibly dangerous.
With a languid sigh, Bjorn cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and opened the silver box on the table, taking out a cigar. Since he was stuck on the ship, he'd have plenty of time to kill, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to scurry over and enjoy the baby deer that had landed on his plate. She was a lady, annoying and irritating in many ways, but delicious nonetheless.
Bjorn picked up a file, still smoking a cigar. The rhythmic sound of paper turning began to permeate the quiet study, where sighs and laughter had ceased.
***
Gladys opened the photo album with her thin, bony hands.
She absentmindedly turned a few pages, and a photograph of the nineteen-year-old Princess, now Crown Princess of Letzen, appeared. It was the wedding photo that had been circulated throughout both kingdoms. The bride and groom, the very embodiment of Letzen and Lars's honor and pride. That glory had long since become disgrace, but their smiles in the photo still shone brightly.
How could I not love this man?
As time passed, Gladys began to understand herself less and less. Even blinded by puppy love, perhaps she could still be so foolish.
Of course, Gerald was a good man. Gerald Owen. Lars's genius poet, the Princess's lover, and Karl's father.
Gladys downed another glass of wine and flipped through the photo album with trembling hands. At the sight of the handsome, boyish face of the man, tears welling up in her eyes suddenly spilled over. By the time she came across the next page, a photo of a lovely baby who looked just like her, those quiet tears had already turned into sobs.
Karl Dneister.
Although Bjorn never saw the child, he at least granted the royal family's permission. This was the price paid for the secret agreement between Letzen and Lars, and thanks to it, Karl was able to live out his short life with honor.
A person who is both grateful and sorry.
To Gladys, Bjorn had always been that kind of person. Even now, after he'd entered into a ridiculous marriage to make her miserable, it was no different.
Gladys, sobbing so hard she couldn't control herself, finally stopped crying late in the morning. She staggered to her feet and opened the window, a cold wind blowing in.
It was in the spring of her seventeenth year that she fell in love with Gerald, whom she met by chance at a social gathering. It was during the height of marriage talks between Letzen and Lars.
Was it even more heartbreaking knowing that it couldn't happen?
First love was like an uncontrollable fever. At one point, she even dreamed of abandoning everything and running away to the ends of the earth, just the two of them. But Gladys eventually succumbed to reality and became the Crown Princess of Letzen, as destined. Little did she know that his child was growing inside her.
'If it was going to be like this, you should have slept with me and pretended that the kid was my kid.'
The day he learned his wife, whom he had never held, was pregnant, Bjorn's words, uttered with a contemptuous laugh, were right. Perhaps it would have been a better ending for everyone.
But Gladys couldn't do that.
Although they had a wedding, she couldn't bear to embrace another man, still holding onto the memories of her passionate love, and she just burst into tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Bjorn gazed silently at Gladys, who lay naked and sobbing, for a long moment before leaving the bedroom with a deep sigh.
'Tell me when you're confident you won't be unlucky in bed, Princess. Until then, I'll be happy to wait.'
The next morning, as Gladys sat at the table with puffy eyes, he spoke coldly and indifferently.
Even with Gladys crying, terrified and unable to respond, Bjorn ate breakfast as if nothing had happened. The next day, and the day after that. This pattern continued throughout their long honeymoon.
For a while, memories of her first love kept her from accepting another man, but at some point, her husband, so ruthless and uncaring, became so terrifying that she couldn't approach him. Spring passed and summer arrived. That cruel season, when the news of the Crown Princess's pregnancy shook all of Letzen.
If only she hadn't been so obsessed with that reckless love. If only she had been clever enough to deceive everyone. If only everyone weren't so miserable now.
Gladys burst into tears again, facing the chilling autumn wind. She hated her honesty, the one that had failed to deceive anyone. It was so heartbreaking, it was unbearable.
On the day her pregnancy was revealed, Gladys confessed the truth in despair. Bjorn, who had been listening calmly, stopped Gladys's tears with a completely unexpected remark.
'Just be quiet and stay like this.'
Bjorn's voice, now devoid of anger, was too soft, and it actually caused even greater fear.
"I congratulate you on your pregnancy and wish you continued success as a wonderful Crown Princess, as you have always done. Do you understand, Princess?"
There was no expression on Bjorn's face as he looked at Gladys, who was trembling and speechless.
Days like that continued again.
Days of perfect happiness and peace, a sham of illusion. If Gladys had given birth to a daughter, Bjorn would have endured those days forever.
But a son was born, and less than a year after their grand wedding, Gladys returned home, officially with the child, Bjorn Dneister's son. Hopes of a new life there with the child's father, Gerald, soon faded.
When they met again, Gerald was no different. He still loved Gladys and tried to be a good father to Karl.
He was a good man.
Gladys knew it all too well. Being together was comfortable and warm, and she found great comfort in that warmth. Yet, despite this, her love wasn't as passionate as before. Moments of ambiguous, guilt-ridden smiles became more frequent, and the more she found herself absentmindedly thinking about Bjorn, the longer she spent.
Gerald's death came about a season after Gladys had been overcome with tears over her ex-husband's memories. He had committed suicide with a pistol. Not long after, Karl died of a fever. Only after all this misery had passed did Gladys realize she had feelings for Bjorn, a feeling she hadn't fully grasped when she'd assumed he was hers.
But now it's all meaningless.
Gladys threw herself onto the bed with the window open. The chilly breeze was now a welcome relief. Even if she never opened her eyes again, she didn't care.
But morning came without fail, and Gladys opened her eyes in a state of profound despair.
“Princess, please don’t do this. Are you really willing to throw your life away?”
She turned her head to follow the moist voice coming from the bedside and saw the face of a faithful maid.
"I need to get back to Lars. Get everything ready to leave within the week."
Gladys, who was helped up by the maid, muttered in a weak voice.
The maid's face, once beaming with delight at the long-awaited words, was soon overshadowed by a dark shadow. It was a well-known fact to all of Letzen that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Schwerin would depart for their honeymoon a few days later, aboard a ship bound for Lars.
“Ha, but Princess. Then, on the same ship as the Grand Duke and Duchess...”
“What does what those two do to me?”
Gladys stared blankly into space and muttered.
“It’s all meaningless now.”
With those words, Gladys lay back down on the bed.
The maid was unable to dissuade the Princess in the end.
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