The Reason for Marriage

“Excuse me, Your Majesty… with women… Have you ever held hands?”

“Only when dancing or escorting.”

She suddenly remembered a conversation they had before. So, was she the only woman who has held his hand for such a long time? Iveca, strangely enough, thought that the body temperature in her hands was something that she would never get used to.

“Is it okay if you let me know this path? I am just a mere employee, after all.”

“Kayden knows a few.”

He could keep her mouth shut easily. She was sure he would never give up teasing her in the future. It was hard to believe the former Daniel, who was kind and courteous, even existed at this point.

It was only after a long walk that the streets of Amenity, the capital city, came out. Coming out of the back door of a shabby store, they let go without saying who came first. Daniel, whose eyes did not even show because he was wearing a hood, grinned.

“I’m having dinner.”

“Yes.”

Even though she knew that there were guards around them who were stuck like shadows, Iveca thought it was like just the two of them.

He walked around the street as he was familiar and entered the little restaurant in front of the Royal High School. Iveca did not attend the Royal High School, so it was the first time she came to the restaurant. Daniel asked as she looked around her awkwardly.

“Aren’t you from Amenity?”

“Pardon?”

“If you were a Royal High School student, you would of course know this place.”

“Ah…”

She blinked her eyes stupidly. The royals did not attend elementary or middle school but attend the Royal High School and University. But she did not go to any high school and went straight to college, so of course, she knew nothing about high school life.

He grinned without asking her questions about her embarrassment. He, who skillfully ordered her share, spoke to her first, who was still sitting awkwardly.

“When Kayden and I first came here, we were both very surprised. It was so delicious. Later, I brought my sister, Ashe, and she liked to.”

“Well, but…”

Iveca muttered, concerned about just how much of her embarrassment was showing. It was a place where poor commoners ate a meal based on hygiene and the price of the food. In a small restaurant where she would not have even stepped if she had lived only as a Lady of Esselburn, she wondered a little if the King could eat such food.

The concern deepened after the food came out, because it certainly had a stimulating taste, but it was not healthy food. It was tempting in the mouth, but she knew these foods were naturally poisonous to the body. Recognizing her worried eyes, Daniel laughed aloud.

“We all knew that it was an unhealthy food.”

“…Yes, of course, it has an amazing taste, but the quality of the meat is incredible and it’s all stimulating when you slowly savour it. You’d better not eat it too often.”

“I said I knew already.”

He laughed, though she hadn’t thought her reaction was that funny. Because she was vigorously moving her fork apart from her hard words. Iveca sighed slightly and shrugged her shoulders.

“You bought it for me, so I will eat it well.”

“You’ll think of it later.”

Iveca almost gasped a little as Daniel grinned and brushed her brown hair. She thought that he had become ordinary because of his disguise, but she was embarrassed because he saw the compliance buried in his ordinariness again.

“So, we used to say, ‘Let’s eat it only on someone’s birthday’”.

“…Pardon?”

She opened her eyes wide.

“Then whose birthday is it today…”

“Who could it be?”

“Your Majesty’s birthday… a….”

“Your Highness,” Daniel said, spitting out the word and looking around her for a moment.

“Call my name. It’s okay. It’s a common name.”

“Well, then…. Isn’t Daniel’s birthday in three days from now?”

He did not point out her grammar that had become a mess.

“The official announcement was in three days… but I was born today. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. Only my parents, brothers, and Kayden knew about it.”

Daniel explained with a grin. Of course, he was born on the same day as the emperor of the Empire, and his mother, Suzanna, who could not even hold a birthday banquet at will, announced it three days later. It was no good that it was the birthday of the emperor, not anyone else.

“This year, there was no one to eat with me on my birthday.”

She was looking at the man who was going to celebrate his birthday more glamorously than anyone else, and she did not know why she felt touched by his words. Who the hell she felt sorry for? The opponent is the King who sits on the highest seat in the Amethan. Even with that thought, Iveca could not help but smile.