The Reason for Marriage

The cool autumn breeze was nice. Iveca didn’t ask about the ‘jealousy’. She would know the detail when her memory came back anyway. Those years didn’t seem like much, so it was all good now.

“Daniel, I….”

These days, she started calling his name. It was so awkward at first, but it was because he earnestly asked for it. Now, she could casually look into his blue eyes and whisper his name.

“Actually, I wanted to get along well with my sisters. We had tea time, we went to picnics. But now, it doesn’t matter at all. I knew that smiling at the people who loved me and not clinging to the people who made me feel lonely was the way to make up for my weaknesses.” Iveca said with a smile. “Even if it was not my sisters, I have nothing to regret now that I have someone who can play tea time and picnic with me, and play line ball when I’m old.”

It was true that when she first decided to marry him, she wanted to be accepted by the Esselburn family somehow. Maybe her father, her mother, her sisters, would like His Majesty…

But now that all the expectations were blown away by the meeting, she felt nothing.

“To be honest, I really wanted to be loved by my family… I think I’ve overcome it now.”

It was because she knew that the deficiencies of her unhappy childhood were not a hinder to her happy ending, so she decided to leave it all behind and look at a new future.

“Iveca, family reminds me of… I have a favor to ask of you.” Daniel smiled and looked her in the eye. “There’s a law that says you have to marry a foreigner unless you’re a royal to the throne.”

“Oh, yes.”

In Amethan, there was a law that said that royalty who did not become a King must marry a foreigner because they feared that they would threaten their successors in alliance with internal nobles along with diplomatic issues. This was why Daniel thought during his growth period, “My spouse is a foreigner who doesn’t even know his face anyway.”

“I always didn’t understand my brothers. Especially the second brother who was trying to take the throne because the woman he loved was Amethan national… Did he have to go that far? I thought he was crazy because he was blinded by love.”

He continued,  “But after I met you, I understood how he felt… if the other party was Iveca, I would have done more and not less. I’ll kill two of my brothers and sit down on the terrible throne to keep you around.”

He kissed her lips slightly and went on. “When I get married, I have to marry someone I love. For the sake of our children, why don’t we get rid of the law? It was my sister’s request.”

“Yes, of course. We’ll have to consider it. Maybe love is also something that royals deserve.” Iveca nodded enthusiastically.

She was naturally well aware of the tragedy that happened because of the law. Perhaps it used to be a law that was so old that it was quite burdensome to fix, but now Amethan was facing a major reform that would completely upset the national system, so it was not that difficult.

But at the mention of “our children”, Iveca burst into question she had endured for a long time.

“Daniel, but you know what?”

“Yes.”

“At first… Why did you say you wanted to see the future soon? You know I won’t be pregnant until September.”

“Oh…”

Daniel looked slightly perplexed. His wife was so observant and had such a good memory that she eventually discovers even the smallest truth. His ears blushed in embarrassment.

“…Actually, Iveca is my first… we spent the night only once.”

“Once..?”

Iveca questioned suspiciously, and Daniel continued with a slight sigh.

“Five times to be exact. It’s one time, then counting the number of times I came. I can’t wait to hold you again, but Iveca looks so innocent and I don’t want to look like a beast rushing…”

“Then you lied?”

“Still, I kept my promise. I couldn’t get my act together that night, and I jumped on like a brat… The next time we had a relationship, Iveca promised me that she’d do what she wanted. I tried desperately to see if you are satisfied or not on your wedding night.”

Iveca blushed as she recalled the first night he asked if she liked it or not. She was ashamed of the question at the time, but apparently, there was such a reason.

“All right.” Iveca grinned and smirked.

Daniel hold her hand and said with a gentle smile.

“After retirement, I’ll be playing line ball near Lake Menata. That’s my dream.”

“… not my dream?”

“Then it’s the same dream,” Daniel smiled, “Let’s do well together so that our dreams can come true, Iveca.”

“Yes. Together, let’s do well.” Iveca replied brightly.

It could have implied a rather heavy subject, but there was no discomfort or anxiety.

Because neither she nor her husband was alone anymore.