CH 3.3

CHAPTER 3: YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO BE THERE (III)

Part 042

The royal palace was located under the northern mountain area, the most strategic defensive location in Midok, the capital of heaven blessed with the Lorraine River flowing in the middle, surrounded by Sasso Mountain in the back. After entering the Outer Palace, where facilities for external events such as accommodations for diplomatic missions and banquet halls were lined up, you arrive at the Inner Palace, which was shielded by high walls and thick doors. In the middle of the inner palace, the king’s throne room, was said to be the most splendid room among the main palaces built exclusively for the king’s residence and office. Dozern knelt and looked up at King Ortega IV, who was sitting on the throne.

Even though he was on his knees, his eyes and tone are extremely disrespectful.

“Eilene and I have already been married by the temple. She is also pregnant with my child. Why can’t I be married at the king’s mercy!”

“I said I wouldn’t allow it. Be thankful that you made it to this point on your own and escaped punishment!”

Ortega IV deliberately scolded Dozern severely. It was an exclamation of the king’s dignity, but Dozern’s disrespectful gaze grew stronger.

“The queen’s star chose me, not my older brother! Am I not the son of the King?”

When Dozerne held his head high and continued to protest indiscriminately, King Ortega IV began to get angry. Even the king knew that his firstborn son was not the king’s lumber. And he knew the ambition his second son had long nurtured. However, Laurentian was not a country that was able to roll out only with the king’s ability. The 400-year-old struggle for the throne confirmed the principle of first-born succession, and the aristocrats and practitioners, the administrators, balanced the situation in order to prevent the country from being shaken by the king’s personal talent. And because of that principle, Ortega IV was well aware that he had been able to ascend the throne.

“Are you forgetting the principle of firstborn inheritance?”

“What’s the use of all those old principles?”

“Without that old principle, you wouldn’t have been born as a prince. Have you forgotten how your uncle lost his hegemony castle? Do you want to follow in that footsteps!”

It was only when he was threatened by his father that he would be kicked out of the royal family that Dozern kept his mouth shut. He looked up at his father’s distorted face with eyes full of displeasure, but remembering his uncle’s words that he needed a little more time, he chewed his tongue and lowered his head. Ortega IV, who was looking down at Dozern’s crown, changed his voice and comforted his second son, who must have been heartbroken.

“I hope you understand. Don’t stir up trouble with vain greed. I’ll think about the prince’s wife issue once more. Shouldn’t you take good care of the crown prince when he succeeds to the throne?”

His clenched palms were nailed to the point of bleeding, but Dozern lowered his head once more. He was bad at persuading the king with whom he could not speak the slightest bit. He thought so and left the main palace.

Eilene, who had been waiting for him in Dozern’s room, smiled brightly when he opened the door and stood up. She saw Dozern with a twisted face and sat down quietly again.

Dochern, who seemed very happy for a while after she got pregnant with difficulty and got the marriage license from the temple, even with more difficulty, lost his happiness when returning to Midok. As he continued to be stopped by the king from installing the princess, his attitude was getting rougher. Eilene, who returned to Midok, soaked in dreams, was not comfortable living in the palace that everyone supported.

Dozern, who came into the room with a sigh, took off his coat and threw it roughly on the floor. Eilene’s shoulders trembled as she sat on the sofa avoiding his eyes. She sat quietly, looking only for an opportunity to get out of the room, and then he crawled back to Eilene.

“You!”

As the startled Ailene looked at Dozern with her frightened glare, he strode towards her and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder.

“There’s absolutely nothing to do! I asked you to persuade the Duke of Nodoban, but have you seen him?”

“Ha, but my dear. I’m sure my father will be angry. I might be taken to the Duke’s house as prisoner.”

Eilene answered with tears in her big eyes. Dozern glared at the trembling of her big eyes, and left Eilene in annoyance and stood up.

“So I didn’t mean to persuade you! Did you get the queen’s star right? Even after getting married, nothing has changed!”

“You said that I had the star of the queen. You said that the mole on the back of my neck was the mark!”

“So I’m not saying that I can’t believe anything other than that!”

As Dozern screamed and glared at her, Eilene, who was looking up at him with her earnest eyes, averted her eyes. He was usually a friendly person. However, he sometimes got terribly angry if she tried to go against his will. When he was in a good mood, he acted like he would listen to anything, but when he was angry, he would become rough. It was best to avoid him when he was angry.

Eilene couldn’t stand the loud noise of Dozern shouting. It’s been that way ever since they returned. He couldn’t accept the criticism or negative feedback that was being poured on him. Situations that could not be avoided with laughter or tears were avoided as much as possible.

When she was about to get up and leave, the door opened without knocking, and Queen Veronica entered.

“Prince, didn’t I tell you to watch your eyes and ears in the palace?”

“Oh my God.”

Dozern bowed to her mother while holding down the branch, and Queen Veronica clicked her tongue at Eilene, who was hesitant.

“Aren’t you even saying hello?”

“Yo, Your Majesty. How are you?”

“I must have said goodbye. Whoa. They said it was the Queen’s Star, where did such a half-penny receive such a fate?”

When Veronica was sarcastic, Eilene bowed her head, and Dozern laughed bitterly at her.

When Dozern offered Veronica a seat by her table, she sat across from him. Eilene stood hesitantly on her sofa, unable to sit down. She didn’t know what to do and started a conversation with the two of them as if she didn’t care about Eilene, who was only looking at her.

“Is Duke Nodovan still unresponsive?”

“Even though he knows for sure that his daughter is here, he doesn’t even budge on what she did with the crown prince. If he wants to be the king’s father-in-law, he’ll have to stand in line, the duke is old too. He was a smart person when he was young.”

“Wouldn’t it be difficult if all three dukes were uncooperative, Mama?”

“Don’t worry, Prince. Didn’t this mother and uncle take care of everything? I’ll clean up anything that gets in the way.”

He grabbed Veronica’s hand and held her with a sly grin. Eilene kept her head down without saying a word even when she heard the story of her father. It was difficult for her to change gradually, but it was even more difficult for Veronica, who did not give her a break. The Queen and Dozern continued to talk over Eilene, who stood without making a noise, but nothing was heard properly.

* * *

Jenny had been staring at the back of Damian’s head with pity for a while. She came back from work and couldn’t stop Damian, who had already been sitting still for three hours. Damian’s back flinched once more as she hung on to the embroidery frame with the white cloth tucked in and the needle held. It looked like she got stabbed again.

Jenny let out a sigh and said to Damian, who was burning with enthusiasm despite being useless.

“Stop it now, my lady. The Duke would be happy if you rip off the pillowcase with the saliva on it.”

Damian let out a sigh. She asked, raising the number and showing it to Jenny, who was standing behind his shoulder.

“I know. I know, but I still want to do something for him. What does this look like to you?”

Jenny narrowed his eyes and looked down at the water frame that Damian and the others were pushing for a long time. It was embroidered with black and blue threads in a large circle that is unknown whether it is a circle with a mane or a symbol of a burning sun, and inside it were two yellow circles embedded side by side. And below it was a red inverted triangle.

A yellow dot and a red triangle inside a black circle. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even guess what the sign was. After looking at it for a long time, Jenny finally shook her head and surrendered.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen such a pattern, young lady. What does it symbolize?”

Damian’s eyebrows drooped endlessly. She turned around sullenly and muttered in a low, barely audible voice.

“It’s a black wolf…”

“Ah, so you tried to embroider the black wolf, the symbol of Bigorga. So, that yellow dot is its eye.” Jenny shook her shoulders in great realization.

Damian took out her embroidered handkerchief and put a new one in the frame. Her shoulders drooped as if they would disappear as she let out a small sigh.

“Hmmmm. It’s difficult to do something like a family symbol or an animal. How about simply embroidering the lady and the duke’s name?”

Jenny spoke in the most friendly voice, but Damian’s drooping shoulders did not rise.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll have to do that, too…”

Damian’s lonely voice hurt Jenny’s heart, so she looked at the black circles and yellow dots once more. Yeah, looking at it closely, she didn’t feel like she was trying to feel the same way about being a wolf. As she was about to swallow a sigh, Damian raised her head. Then, eagerly, she began to embroider something. Fortunately, this time it was not an animal or a painting.

Unable to disturb Damian, who had started to become preoccupied with her work, Jenny looked at the back of her head with pitying eyes and went down to prepare the snacks. Tomorrow was the day of the hunting competition. Twelve white handkerchiefs had been killed bravely throughout the week, and now that it was revealed that the wolf was the identity of the dark circle that had been burning with enthusiasm for two days, this new handkerchief had to be completed no matter what. Jenny cheered her on as she skipped dinner and prepared simple food for Damian, who was hung up on her embroidery. She, of course, had her maidservant Angie prepare a plausible spare handkerchief, and just in case, she had ripped off the pillowcase and cut it to the size of the handkerchief. By the time the night was getting deeper, she was trying to say that it would be better for her to sleep, but Damian shouted hurray.

“It’s done!”

“Congratulations, lady. What is this that the Duke will like…?”

In the center of the handkerchief Damian embroidered, ‘7, 11, 5, 2’, with red thread and ‘Demian’ was embroidered with light blue thread.

“What is this, miss?”

“Read it, Jenny.”

“Ar, Ellam, Muba, Kah?”

Jenny made a puzzled face, but Damian grinned with a satisfied face. Jenny looked down at the handkerchief after looking at Damian’s face, then tilted her head and read her number again. Then her face widened.

“Ar-ellam-mubakah, Arella-Mubak-ah! How can you, the young lady is a genius?”

Arella-Mubakah.

That’s how you pronounce ‘I like you’ in the common Laurentian language. When Jenny clapped her hands, Damian grinned.

“Did you notice?”

“Of course. The Duke will be thrilled.”

Jenny smiled broadly and nodded her head. Damian smiled, folded her handkerchief neatly, and went to bed. Jenny put away the spare handkerchief and pillowcase she had kept. She then secretly took a black wolf-like handkerchief that had been thrown on the floor. It looked like the face of something. Whatever it was, it’s a work that Damian had been working on for several days. Jenny looked lovingly at her handkerchief.