CH 24.2

The royal palace, surrounded by beautiful, magical spheres, was visible in front of them, and the quiet trail they walked down received shade from the tall trees with different shades of green leaves. In the distance, there was a lively sound coming from the Amenity’s downtown area, and the blue eyes looking at her were deep and clear.

It warmed her heart that someone listened to her story without any purpose, and she looked up at him involuntarily, asking cautiously, “Your Majesty, tomorrow, are you going to meet me again?”

“Sure, why? Are you bothered by that?”

“No!” Iveca shook her head quickly. “I enjoy your company.”

“Then I’ll come out every day until you retire,” Daniel joked. Iveca forgot that Anriq was standing behind them, keeping a close watch.

Anriq was surprised to see Iveca having a casual conversation like that, which was the first time that he’d witnessed her doing that. His master, who skillfully enforced his will at every meeting, with a friendly and kind face, grasped Iveca’s needs too quickly.

His unconditional affection and trust, friendly conversation, and being a good listener showed that he acknowledged other people and accepted them as they were. But if the cost of this engagement were threatening to her own life, wouldn’t it be too unfair?

Anriq didn’t trust his master at the end of the day. Then, his thoughts drifted to the woman he had a crush on, Eve Jean, who was dignified, intelligent, and had high self-esteem. In comparison to someone whose mental age was about eighteen, with a lack of affection and emotionally unstable, he couldn’t truly love Iveca.

An observant person like Iveca may already know that this friendly routine was somewhat artificial, yet she seemed to turn a blind eye to this. It was clear that she pretended not to be aware because she was afraid to lose her current warmth from the man she’d been married to for a month now.

It might be enough time for a low self-esteem woman like Iveca to fall in love with Daniel, but he wasn’t the type to get attached to a wife who was lacking in so many ways within a month. Although he saw that they met at dawn, he discarded their rendezvous as if they were nothing. Anriq thought that he couldn’t be that cool if he already had his wife in mind.

Iveca was captivated by Daniel, who had a more stable face than ever before, and Anriq still felt strangely anxious. He hoped that the anxiety wasn’t something that meant that he’d be led to disappointment. Either way, he wasn’t the one who needed to keep that in mind.

***

The first attempt at Iveca’s life was poisoning. Fortunately, after the last raid, protection related to everything surrounding her had become stricter. They had discovered that the poison had come from her kitchen before coming to the palace. Several kitchen maids had committed suicide without disclosing who the culprit was.

“Just pretend that they don’t exist,” Reina said, seeing Iveca’s discomfort due to the extra security personal. It was already the second attempt to kill her in a week, as she’d become a public enemy, but the perpetrator was still unknown, and it wasn’t clear whether the two cases were related. Finally, it was decided upon that Reina and Sid would stick by her side and escort her, even on the weekend when they were not in the Judicial Affair Bureau.

“You will feel even more uncomfortable if we are in hiding anyway.” Reina, who was with her in the palace now, gave a slight grin. Although the guards were also assigned separately, the Bureau of Investigation said that it would be effective for the investigation staff to stay as close to her as possible to track the current situation. No one could argue that fact, as it was for her safety.

“Okay, I get it. But please make yourself at home, both of you. You can also sit down.”

“That is not possible,” Sid replied bluntly.

Iveca sighed as she returned her focus to the codes she’d been studying and began to look at them intently again. She couldn’t stop thinking about the Great Constitution, even on the weekends when she didn’t need to go to the Judicial Affairs bureau for work. She had started with only ten clauses, and over the next two years, they would be added to, to include many more.

She liked the job that Daniel had entrusted her with, and since various people had to abide by these clauses, there were numerous, strict standards imposed on each one. It was a lot of work, and she was proud of every single step that she’d made in the right direction.

She’d learned that discrimination, couldn’t be described with words: subtle gazes, non-objective standards, or feelings, which couldn’t be notarized as it was difficult for someone to explain feelings; there were no such things in the law.

Before the law, she was no different from other women, and it occurred to her that the standard, which applied to anyone, supported human life in all kinds of ways. Daniel said interests should prevail over ideology, but she disagreed with that. Daniel would take care of those things, and that was why she considered herself to be independent of her politics.

After a long look into the clauses, she glanced at Sid and Reina and then said carefully, “Excuse me. You can sit down.” Reina grinned and shook her head, and Iveca sighed heavily, “It’s because I am uncomfortable. Who’s going to break into the palace and kill me? There are a lot of guards here, so please sit down.”