The Reason for Marriage

What he was really surprised about was that all of these times he had never felt such an emotion from Iveca at all. He knew that she was pretty good at understanding people in her own way, but he didn’t know that she had kept a lot of thoughts to herself for a long time, without saying a word.

“In a common sense…” Daniel was carefully wording his thoughts. “…assuming that a husband has another woman in his heart… how can we even get along like this…”

The air was calm, and so were their words, but Daniel’s heart dropped. At that moment, he realized that he was truly flustered. He couldn’t even remember the feeling of being flustered to the point that he couldn’t even look at other people’s faces.

“I’m used to these kinds of things. That’s how I grew up. Like those who think that I didn’t share the same blood with the Esselburn, they didn’t really show it on the outside.”

With Iveca’s calm answer, Daniel had no choice but to sigh. He got a headache as soon as he remembered all her words and actions towards him so far. He had been complacent. He let out a light sigh.

Iveca always smiled peacefully whenever she saw him, said she liked the time with him, and seemed happy to do what she wanted to do.

“And…” Iveca’s eyes were slightly watery. “I love your highness. Sincerely.”

Daniel seemed to stop breathing for a moment; he stayed still and looked into her clear purple eyes. Iveca’s desperation was clear.

“So I just wanted to be next to you even if you were someone who loved another woman. Even if my heart feels anguished and my soul is broken,” she continued.

Even though he knew she had forgotten Anriq, he couldn’t help but feel anger and depression inside his head when imagining the two of them together. He could not bear to worry that Iveca’s eyes would be looking at him with a mix of fear, as he swallowed the urge to kill Anriq several times.

Would it feel like if Iveca was in love with someone else and hugged her? Just imagining that she was thinking of another man while laughing with him and sharing her warmth seemed to make his blood boil.

“That’s why I’m okay with it. But… It’s hard to pretend not to know anymore. Because I get miserable, I keep thinking about strange things and wild thoughts.”

“No!” Daniel hugged her tightly and whispered, “Everything else is okay, but it’s hard to think that you’re having a hard time. Don’t even think about that.”

He had already decided to make her stay next to him. He would not let her have a hard time at all, he would do anything that could make her happy… On the contrary, he didn’t mean to give her even a little bit of sadness.

“I don’t know how you know Eve Jean, but for the time being, you don’t have to worry about her at all.”

“But why…”

But Iveca didn’t stop asking questions that would actually drive him into the corner.

“Won’t you call me Eve?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. The fact that she, who had lived with him without showing any indication, brought up this story tonight meant that she never intended to let it go. It was hard to predict where she knew from, so he was cautious about every word he was going to say.

No matter how he wanted to hide it and moved on… a clever person like her would somehow find out… What if she suffered alone and eventually let go of him because she was having a hard time?

“Please call me Eve, Your Majesty.”

It was a small but clear voice. It didn’t make sense, but suddenly Daniel wondered if she knew everything.

He couldn’t hug her here and said that name casually. He didn’t even want to do that.

“I don’t want to.”

He spoke in a low voice, near her earlobes. He didn’t even remember the last time he cried, but he found himself crying in a voice that he was unfamiliar with. Even when his parents died, his brother also, or when his sister left, when his nephew was killed, or even when Eve disappeared.

“It’s a nickname given by your first love.”

Iveca’s body stiffened. It was the first time that Anriq was openly mentioned in front of her since he witnessed their secret meeting the other day.

“I’m different from him. Any trace of another man is unacceptable.”

His whispers continued as it felt like he was holding back storms of emotion, which was not graceful at all.

“Now, I don’t even know how lucky I am that the name ‘Eve Jean’ has disappeared from you.”

As expected, tears also flowed from Iveca’s eyes.

“Why… why did you leave me? Please don’t leave me alone. I begged so much that I can’t live without you. Why…”

Iveca couldn’t give any answer. Because she really didn’t remember. Daniel didn’t want an answer from her either, he was just hugging her tightly. His hot and damp tears wet her shoulders.