The Reason for Marriage

Roseley responded to her words with a look bordering on contempt.

“So weak. Oh, is it because you have no trust in your bloodline?”

Roseley smirked. Iveca quietly observed Giselle, who was staring at her with her bright blue eyes. A child’s eyes, full of curiosity. If there was a problem with Daniel’s personal affairs, or heaven forbid the revolution progressed beyond control, this child would become king of Amethan. This meant that Iveca would have to serve the daughter of the woman standing in front of her, who seemed to actively despise her.

Was this the right thing to do? She wondered.

The feeling of dejection surprised her. One of the laws of the Bureau of Investigation was to show absolute loyalty to the royal family, but she couldn’t help the feeling of reluctance that had swept over her. Roseley was not done with her sermon, however.

“I feel you do not realise how powerful the royal palace is, or how dangerous this position is so I will give you one final piece of advice,” Roseley sneered as she fixed Giselle’s hand in hers, “the fact that in this enormous palace, only two people have the Amethan’s name is evidence of how terrifying this place is. This is not a place where just anyone can play around for fun. Be careful of your actions and the consequences they may have. They have not appointed a successor yet, after all.”

And then Roseley turned around and walked away, with Giselle in tow. Neither of them looked back. Iveca slammed the door of the training hall behind them. Strangely, she felt furious. She spun around on her feet, and with heavy footsteps, went to pick up her arrow. She took out her bow, aimed the arrow at the target and pulled the string. The arrow hit the bullseye, but she just stood there chewing her lip as she glowered at the target.

***

On the day that Article 10 of the Supreme Constitution was proposed, Iveca knew that Daniel would be busy, so she didn’t think it strange when Daniel didn’t come to see her until nightfall. Judging by the way Roseley rushed to the training hall to find her, it was obvious that many people were going to gather to watch Daniel personally present the new constitution to have their say on the proceedings. It suddenly occurred to her that when Daniel said he wanted her to stay away from politics, to an extent, he meant he wanted to ‘protect’. All Iveca needed to do was work. Propose a draft, and when Daniel gave his input, edit it. In other words, it meant Daniel was the one receiving all the dissatisfaction and complaints; the “face” of the work she was doing. Iveca felt responsible for the hurtful things that must have been said about him in the last little while. But she knew the work was of utmost importance, for her husband and her country.

Currently, the re-draft of the first article of the constitution was the one giving her issues. The reason why Article One was originally written as “One cannot make decisions about another’s life without going through a legal process” was because the incident with Anriq and Rihan Kadmin would have caused much pain on the people were it not done through the proper channels. Deciding on one person’s destiny, without accountability, could change the world, and Iveca did not want her future child to have to experience such a burden as a result.

Iveca could feel herself falling into a deep dilemma, with the book of laws in front of her. This was when her view from her bed was suddenly pushed to the side as the hidden doorway of the secret passage swung open, and she gasped out of fear.

“Your Highness?” She gasped again, though this time in surprise as Daniel, wearing a dressing gown, fell onto her bed.

“I’m so tired. I told everyone I wanted to go to bed so they would leave, but they still would not leave me alone. I had no choice but to escape using the secret passage just to get away.”

Iveca smiled at him. “But why?”

He lifted his head slightly and grinned back, and Iveca felt her heart skip a beat. She felt hypnotised just from looking at his tired blue eyes and soft smile. No matter how unkempt and dishevelled he looked, he was still as handsome as ever. She felt an impulse to touch his golden locks, which were glinting even in the low light of the room like stars in a dusky sky.

“Because I wanted to see you,” said Daniel, “no matter how much I waited, the queen wouldn’t use the secret passage, so I thought I should come and see her myself.”

Iveca just stared at him, unsure of how to respond, before his widening smile told her he was just being playful with her.

“And I braved the treacherous dark of the tunnels, to find she doesn’t even give me an embrace. I thought the rebels were bad!” His grin stretched across his entire face now. Iveca returned the smile before she slowly stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. He laid his head on her knee. She lifted her hand and gently ran her fingers through his shiny hair.

“Today was exhausting, right?” she said cautiously. Daniel answered with his eyes half-closed.

“Well, there are royals like this, and royals like that. If you catch my meaning.”

It did not seem as though he would give a proper answer. Iveca softly inhaled.

“What did… my father say?” She asked hesitantly.

Silence. Iveca lowered her head. She had made the clauses herself and she still had the castle of Esselburn. It was her fault for anticipating, even if just a little, that he would take her side.

Of course, Ewil Esselburn had only told her to become queen to give strength to his flagging status. He did not promise that Count Esselburn would give strength to the queen. Even so, seeing how disappointed she felt, it seemed she had a lingering sense of hope. A hope she was beyond sick of holding onto.

Daniel spoke again after a moment. “Well, he wasn’t directly opposed to the idea.”

Of course, he would not directly oppose, thought Iveca. After all, it was made by his daughter who was now the Queen. However, judging by how there was no mention of support, Esselburn’s intentions were clear. It occurred to Iveca that Daniel must want to gain acknowledgement from Count Esselburn too, not just for her sake. His kingdom, his life, could be on the line. He needed as much help as he could get. Iveca felt the hand stroking his hair stop without her input. Daniel opened his eyes and looked up at her in confusion. Iveca’s lips shook as she spewed out her words.

“…I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“My father… he… I’m sorry. I thought, maybe he would take my side.”

“What on earth for?”

He sat up and sat next to her, looking into her eyes. Iveca couldn’t bear to look at him and shifted her eyes downward.

“You may not know, but there have been…. rumours… that I may not be my father’s biological daughter.”

Iveca found her shaky voice pathetic, but she couldn’t keep the tone from creeping in. Daniel was a king who knew even about her first love, Anriq, so she believed that he could be aware of this issue too. But in case he was not aware, she believed telling him herself was the right thing to do. If Daniel wanted an alliance with Ewil Esselburn, now had to be the time to make this known.

“That’s why… father will not be on our side… If that is the reason why you chose to marry me, then I deeply apologize.”

Daniel sighed as Iveca’s voice diminished.

“I knew everything, Iveca. From the start. There’s very little I do not know about you.” He held her cheek in his hand. Her breath seemed to stop. “Iveca, from now on, do not ever tell me that you are sorry. For whatever reason. You can be as open and honest with me as you want.”

“But your reason for marrying me…”

Daniel cut off her hesitant words with a bright smile.

“I married you because I want to become old, and play line ball with you. It’s my only dream.”

Iveca attempted a smile but found it wouldn’t come to her lips. Daniel sighed, and shifted closer to her.

“I know it will be hard. Walking on eggshells for all this time must have been hard. But if you keep telling me you are sorry…” Daniel paused and gazed at her, his eyes softening, “It’s just, I feel sad. I feel as if I brought you here for nothing, only giving you a hard time. If you keep apologizing, I mean.”

With those words, rather than feeling gratitude, she felt fear. Perhaps she should not have whined. She, who had never been part of a family, became nervous at his negative reaction, immediately fearing the worst. Daniel stroked her hair once and softly pressed his lips to hers.

“You look tired tonight. I will leave now, Iveca. Don’t worry about your father, Iveca. The more I talk to people, the more I see how much thought you put into those clauses.” Daniel smiled once more. “You are doing a very good job.”

He stopped himself, then continued, “You are doing well, but you are allowed to do badly. Is that how I should word it?”

Daniel’s words didn’t even reach Iveca’s ears. This was the first time he was leaving without an embrace. Perhaps he was disappointed in something and no longer wanted children with her? Maybe it was because Roseley’s careless words from earlier, “my child may not be perfect” might come to be true? Daniel smiled and kissed her cheek and Iveca unknowingly grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving.

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“What’s wrong?” Daniel opened his eyes thinly and lowered his head. Iveca moved closer to him and wordlessly tightened her grip on his sleeve. “I can’t help myself if you look at me like that, Iveca…”

With a gentle smile, he pulled her into an embrace. He slowly licked her ear, and Iveca’s body shook, feeling his tongue moving down towards her mouth. It took just a moment for his eyes to turn from pure and affectionate, to cloudy with desire. And it took only that same moment, where she noticed the change in his gaze, to feel a strange sense of relief. Between the clothes that were falling from their bodies, their bare skin greeted each other. The air on their skin was cold, but the hands that touched each other felt hotter than anything. She placed her hand on his firmness and gently stroked it, feeling it stiffen even further under her touch.

“Ah…”

She heard his low voice as he tried to suppress his moans and she put her lips on his neck. Before she knew it, his fingers were on her cl*toris, caressing it slowly. The heat from their faces and the sound of their moans mixed as they touched each other. Both of them knew the pleasure that was to come, and so with the same expression of restraint and slight frustration, they focused on each other’s senses amidst the tension in the air. As their hands became rougher, all laughter disappeared, and their bodies began to move faster. As one.

Daniel lifted her up and quickly sat her on his knees. In an instant, he entered into her, as his hands grabbed her chest and his breath dispersed on her shoulder. She became dizzy from the way his lips wrapped around her peaks and moaned loudly from on top of him. His pushing backwards and forward inside her caused her to tense and shudder, and she could feel her climax coming within a few, exquisite moments.