Chapter 51

Grace walked towards the carriage that had stood side by side with Arthur.

Arthur’s face, waving gently at Grace’s hand, looked quite pleasant. Grace asked, staring intently at Arthur’s side face with the corners of her mouth raised slightly.

“You look good, Arthur.”

“Yes, because I’m feeling good.”

“May I ask you why you feel so good?”

“It’s nice to have you, my wife, by my side, and it is good that you are finally returning to Felix Mansion.”

Hearing Arthur’s answer to her question without hesitation, Grace was embarrassed enough to turn both her cheeks red.

[T/N: Awww…. (^///^)]

Since she was born, there has never been a person who regretted her absence and genuinely rejoiced in her return. Now she realised that she had a place to go back to.

At that moment, Arthur looked down at Grace with a friendly gaze and smiled sweetly.

“Are you going back to Felix Castle?”

Owen, dressed in his cape, walked towards Arthur and Grace, who were returning to the carriage.

‘I thought he’d still be in the drawing-room.’

Arthur asked, slightly stiffening his mouth at Owen’s appearance as if he was also ready to go like them.

“Are you already returning to the Palace, Your Highness?”

“Yes. Because my business is already over.”

“It’s very early. Did you finish preparing for the palace?”

“No. The servants and maids of the imperial palace don’t know how to move as fast as yours do. That’s why I’m the only one who has nothing to do. Then, I saw you and Lady Grace, so I came here to you two to say goodbye. And I just have something to tell you.”

Owen responded favourably to Arthur’s question, and slowly turned his gaze to Grace.

Grace bit her lower lip, feeling Owen’s strange gaze coming down her face and neck, and resting on her and Arthur’s tightly held hands.

It was the same in the drawing-room, but the Crown Prince’s gaze that was constantly touching her was uncomfortable. If she didn’t know, she wouldn’t know, but it was even more so when she learned what he had in his mind towards her.

Noticing Grace’s expression getting hard by his side, Arthur let go of Grace’s hand that he was holding and spoke to Owen.

“Your Highness, if you don’t mind, can I put this person in the carriage first?”

“Sure. The incoherent conversation between men like me and you will only sound boring to the precious ears of the Lady.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness.”

At Arthur’s request, Owen surprisingly readily allowed it.

It was no longer convenient to receive his persistent gaze, so Grace said goodbye to Owen, lifting the hem of the dress slightly with both hands.

“Thank you for allowing me to step down. Your Highness. I hope you return safely.”

“Ah. I’ll see you next time. Lady Grace.”

Grace deliberately pretended not to hear Owen’s continued answer and walked to the front of the carriage.

The waiting coachman politely escorted her, and Grace safely climbed the carriage. And while Grace was pulling down the hem of her dress so that she could sit comfortably, the coachman closed the carriage door and walked to the coach seat.

Grace, who was left alone in the carriage, opened the window of the carriage which was slightly curtained, with a curious expression on her face. It was because the prince’s attitude a little while ago made a corner of her heart feel like she was caught in something uncomfortable.

‘Why is he going to the Palace so quickly? No, aside from that, did he have to talk to me and Arthur?’

As he had already waited, they would have quickly completed the preparations for the palace. And in the meantime, she couldn’t guess what he was trying to do. With a face that seems to have something to say to Arthur so openly.

So Grace, unable to suppress her curiosity, tried to overhear Arthur and Owen’s conversation, which seemed to have a slightly open gap.

Grace focused all her attention on Arthur and Owen’s conversation, covering her face as much as possible with curtains covering the carriage windows.

“What are you going to say to me, your highness?”

“Seriously, you don’t have a way of beating around the bush. Are all knights like that?”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. On a battlefield where you fight after risking your life, but it’s easy to lose your life if you talk back in a royal court.”

“I guess so too. Well, I also feel frustrated when I listen to the way the imperial family and the aristocrats hide their innermost thoughts and talk around, and it’s not just once or twice when I get angry.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Grace frowned slightly at the sound of Arthur and Owen’s conversation, which were out of context.

But then, before getting to the point, Owen looked away from Arthur for a moment, as if he was choosing a horse, and his gaze came directly to the carriage in which Grace was riding. More precisely, Owen’s gaze came down and stuck in the window of the carriage where Grace was slightly taking her eyes off and trying to eavesdrop.

“….huh!”

At that moment, Grace hurriedly inhaled and quickly covered her face with curtains on the window.

Before the curtain closed, Owen seemed to have seen her in the carriage with only her eyes out. Grace felt her face burning up in an instant of shame.

In fact, if she had only heard the voices, she could have just put down the curtains with the window open. But she looked outside for no reason and made the Crown Prince notice that she was eavesdropping on the conversation.

‘…I was too greedy…’

Considering the imperial court’s etiquette of talking around with words, it was her own mistake that she tried to collect information with her eyes like a habit. Because it was faster to read the emotions in the speaker’s gaze to figure out what the speaker really intends to say than to determine the content solely from the words.

Grace belatedly lowered the curtain as if not to know and pretended not to hear. But the conversation could no longer be heard as Owen, who had already noticed her, had killed the voice.

Eventually, Grace lifted the curtain slightly once again and looked out the window.

[T/N: Detective Grace on a mission, yet again. §(*￣▽￣*)§]

After that, she saw Owen standing close to Arthur and muttering something to him with a strange smile on his face.

She doesn’t know what it’s all about, but Owen’s face, which kept saying something, contained a strange smile and a certain sense of victory. Grace was curious about Arthur’s expression as he heard those words, but she couldn’t see him because he was standing with his back to the carriage.

‘What? What is it?’

Grace bit her lower lip. Somehow, she didn’t feel good. Grace hoped that the conversation between the two would end soon, as she only looked at them with an anxious heart.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Back a moment ago, after seeing Grace escorted by the coachman to get into the carriage, Arthur turned to Owen and asked why he explicitly summoned him up.

Owen whirled around as if he liked it. He also didn’t seem to like their conversation, which kept going away from the core.

After that, Owen took his eyes off Arthur in front of him for a moment as if he was choosing what to say. And soon after, he laughed as if he was throwing up to a different affair.

Arthur said, frowning at the attitude of Crown Prince Owen, whom he did not understand.

“…Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Your Highness.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just thought it was cute.”

At those words, Owen spits out an incomprehensible answer again.

Not knowing what the hell is so cute, Arthur made a blunt impression. It would have been nice if he could tell him quickly if he had something to say. But it was at a time when Owen’s attitude of constantly saying things that he didn’t understand was starting to bother him.

“I’m sorry. I said I didn’t like the royal family and the nobles who talked back a while ago, but then I repeated it without me knowing.”

“You don’t have to apologise to me, Your Highness.”

“Really? Then, let’s get to the point without lamenting. The truth is, there are things I really want to ask you, and things I want to hear from you.”

“……… Tell me.”

Owen, who gave a formal apology, suddenly stood close to Arthur. Then, in a low voice like a secret talker, he asked Arthur a question.

“How much do you love your wife, Lady Grace?”

At that question, Arthur stared at Owen with a puzzled look on his face. It was because the content of the question was outside the expected range.

For a moment, he was puzzled by the question for which the intention and purpose were unknown, and soon Arthur answered without hesitation.

“I love her with all my heart.”

“Sincerely, enough to be willing to risk your life?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I see.”

Arthur answered Owen’s subsequent question without hesitation. His feelings toward Grace were sincere enough that he did not need to decorate or refine them, so there was no need to add rhetoric or delay in answering.

Then, hearing that answer, Owen’s expression darkened. The strange feelings on the face of the blonde handsome prince were as if he had been waiting for an answer, and seemed to be disgusted as if he never wanted to hear the answer.

After that, Owen looked at Arthur in a voice that was strangely similar to the emotion on his face and said in a low voice.

“That’s right, but. Will your wife really love you that much?”

“…..What do you mean?”

Arthur growled to answer Owen’s question, which was clearly intended to instil doubt in Arthur’s mind. Then Owen smiled explicitly and replied to his words.

“Actually, I had a pretty intimate time with your wife last night.”

[T/N: This b*st@rd…….. ε=( o｀ω′)ノ]

At those words, Arthur’s lips, which had been hardened yet, were severely distorted.