“Come on, why are you standing so stiff? Sit down and make yourself comfortable.”
Beatrice waved her hand and took a seat.
*Tteolssak.*
The expensive dress, which artisans must have painstakingly embroidered stitch by stitch, was horribly crumpled.
Beatrice didn't stop there,
*Cheok.*
She even lifted one leg and propped it over the other.
It was a brazen posture completely unbefitting of a kingdom's princess.
“…….”
Rose politely looked away and demurely took her seat. For a brief moment, a faint smile flashed across Beatrice's lips.
“Aren't your lips itching?”
“Pardon?”
“Princess, oh my! What kind of posture is that! Your dress will wrinkle, blah blah, you must maintain your dignity, yada yada.”
Beatrice pitched her voice high as if mimicking someone. Rose replied, assuming she was imitating the princess's etiquette teacher.
“It's just the two of us here. You can be comfortable.”
“Exactly, that's the spirit!”
“Besides, how could I ever dare say such things to Her Highness the Princess?”
“No, not that! Don't say such things.”
Beatrice immediately waved her hands in dismissal.
“Let's drop the stiff tone and etiquette, okay? Between us.”
“Between us?”
Rose was inwardly surprised.
Even though they were meeting for the first time today, Beatrice's attitude was far more unreserved than expected.
“You're Dane's wife, right? That makes you practically my friend. Don't you think?”
“I-I'm honored…….”
“No, I told you not to use that tone.”
Princess Beatrice was renowned for being completely transparent, her inside matching her outside.
She was unpretentious and incapable of lying, but on the other hand, there were also rumors that she was excessively blunt, making her difficult to deal with.
“Right, you said your name was Rose?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Now, Rose. Hurry up and tell me. Quickly!”
Beatrice was bouncing in her seat; she seemed to be quite excited.
“Your Highness, what do you mean to talk about?”
“Everything! All of it! Everything that happened with that guy!”
“…Ah.”
“That blockhead sticking so close to his wife—did you think I wouldn't be curious? At first, I doubted my own eyes, I tell you!”
Looking at her now, she was like a black panther that had found an amusing toy rather than prey.
“Hmm…….”
Rose pondered for a moment how to handle this impatient black panther.
Then, she finally opened her mouth slowly.
“I am not sure which story I should start with to satisfy Your Highness.”
“Umm, that's strange. Isn't this how you do it?”
Beatrice scratched her head roughly in confusion.
“You know, that talk women have when they gather. Just giggling and chattering excitedly.”
“At tea parties and such?”
“Right. I want to do that. We can just chatter away with Dane as the topic, right?”
“Hmm…….”
Following Beatrice's hands, her hair began to stick out mercilessly in all directions.
She was an absolute immature princess.
“Actually, I've never had this kind of ladies' talk before. Everyone just flatters me to get on my good side, so it was annoying.”
“I see.”
“And since they only talked about dresses or cosmetics, it was no fun. They all just old-fashionedly did embroidery.”
Beatrice leaned closer to Rose, her golden eyes shining.
“Now, do you know what I want? So tell me. Quickly! How well does Dane treat you?”
Rose had heard similar questions before.
‘His Excellency dines with you, of course? You must be truly delighted.’
‘Then you surely wake up together in the bedroom as well?’
The questions back then,
‘How dare someone like you receive the Duke's love? Don't lie!’
—were filled with such disbelief.
“Seeing you today, he never let you out of his side, did he? Does he do that all day?”
However, Beatrice's question now was pure curiosity itself. The nuance was completely different from the ladies at the tea party.
She wasn't doubting or testing me. Remembering that fact put her mind at ease.
“Then… how about this?”
Rose gathered her courage and made a suggestion to Beatrice.
“Your Highness, please tell me first about your time with His Excellency at the academy. Even trivial things are fine.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Then I will tell you about my time with him to match that.”
Rose smiled softly as she finished speaking.
“Wouldn't this be better than me explaining incoherently? To have the 'conversation' Your Highness wants.”
“…Oho?”
Beatrice smiled broadly, revealing her even teeth.
“Is this why Dane fell so hard for you? I thought you were just cute, but you're quite clever.”
Rose just smiled. She had judged that Beatrice wouldn't appreciate flattery.
And truthfully, Rose had her own selfish reasons for making this suggestion.
‘What was His Excellency's academy life like?’
Dane at the academy seemed to be in a completely different world from Rose.
He mingled with princes, princesses, and high-ranking nobles, and was always surrounded by people. Whatever he did, he shined so brightly that she could only watch from afar.
She was curious about Beatrice's story, who had seen that side of him up close.
“Then I'll tell you whatever comes to mind. He and I had a swordsmanship spar, you see?”
Beatrice grinned and readjusted her posture. It was a much more relaxed posture than before.
“Then I fell to the ground, and instead of helping me up, that guy just said, 'Don't fake it,' and walked away. Rose, how is he with you?”
“Hmm…….”
After thinking for a moment, Rose began to speak, summarizing it appropriately so as not to reveal too many specific details.
“I once hurt my ankle, and he stayed by my bed until I fell asleep. He even carried me around in his arms.”
*Tteo-eok-*
Beatrice opened her mouth and hastily closed it.
“W-What did you say? Carried you in his arms? That guy who wouldn't even let a fingertip touch a woman? Did I just mishear that?”
“Yes, he does that often.”
“Often? Oftennn?”
Beatrice glared, making an expression hard to tell if she was laughing or angry.
“Wow, this is serious from the start? It's too good to just listen to empty-handed. Is there anything to eat?”
She then stood up, looked around, and brought over a silver tray placed in the powder room.
*Ppong-*
With a light sound, the cork was popped.
Beatrice skillfully poured two glasses full of champagne with rising golden bubbles.
“Here, here, let's drink while we talk.”
“I'm sorry. I can't drink alcohol. I'll just have some water instead.”
“Why no alcohol?”
“His Excellency strictly told me not to drink.”
When Rose gently but firmly refused, Beatrice's expression turned peculiar.
“No, he even interferes with what you eat? Isn't this guy being too overprotective?”
Beatrice scrutinized Rose's face and body top to bottom with a serious expression.
“He's not keeping you locked up somewhere, is he? Looking at what that guy does, it wouldn't be above him.”
“N-No. Nothing like that has ever happened.”
Unaware that Dane had already had that exact thought, Rose fervently defended him.
“I'll believe you for now. Ah, speaking of which, there was a time we had a training camp. He kicked the foot of my sleeping bag, said, 'Wake up. Assemble at the training ground in 3 minutes,' and walked out. Does he wake you up like that too?”
“N-No. He just… strokes my hair back until I wake up—”
*Puut!*
Beatrice, who had just brought the champagne glass to her lips, choked. Tears had welled up in her eyes as she nearly spat the champagne out.
“Your h-hair… No way. I thought if that guy ever touched someone's head, it would be to slice their neck off.”
“Hmm, and he always holds me tight until I wake up.”
“…I seriously want to write this down.”
Beatrice muttered as she wiped the champagne from her lips.
“I never had such thoughts while taking his classes. The professors would pass out if they saw this.”
Then, she actually went and found some paper and a pen.
Seeing Beatrice seriously preparing to take notes, Rose stopped her.
“Your Highness, are you really going to write this down? What if someone sees…!”
“Don't worry. I'll keep it for my private collection. Later, if that guy says anything, I'll pull this out and read it to him.”
Beatrice urged Rose with a face full of excitement.
“Ah, and what about during meals? Watching him eat is like putting magic stones into a magical device. He eats everything in 3 minutes with an expressionless face and gets up, right? Didn't you think he'd choke eating like that alone?”
“He always eats with me at least once a day, and he always stays until the end. He even tells me to eat more.”
“He tells you to eat more?”
Beatrice frowned, forgetting to take notes.
“That guy, nagging me that if I ate like that I'd roll around. What is this? He's a completely different person.”
“Ahaha…….”
“Wait, speaking of which, this dress is Lucy's, isn't it?”
“Yes, I had it tailored at Lucy's Atelier.”
“I knew the pattern looked familiar. Actually, I was supposed to get my winter season dress tailored, but he begged and pleaded that he was so busy, so it got delayed.”
Beatrice looked Rose's dress up and down as if seeing it anew.
“I also know Lucy's Atelier acts so haughty. Rose, you couldn't have called them there, so this must be that guy Dane's doing, right?”
Beatrice's prediction was spot on.
‘Your Excellency! How am I supposed to tailor all those dresses within this deadline!’
‘Are you telling my wife to stand naked at the harvest festival?’
‘No, what are you saying. This much is enough, but it's because you demand more…….’
‘It is not enough.’
‘Good grief…….’
In fact, Lucy had taken to his sickbed after tailoring Rose's harvest festival dress. Though he did receive enough in upfront deposit to take a break for a while.
“Wow, this is so fun. Is this why girls never come out once they go into the powder room?”
Beatrice's eyes sparkled. She had the face of a young child who had heard the most entertaining story in the world.
“When I was at the academy, I wondered if that guy even had emotions.”
“Was it to that extent?”
“He was sulky no matter what I did. He never showed any expression, so I couldn't tell what he was thinking. To think that kind of guy would change like this…….”
Beatrice's gaze was so intense that it felt like it would bore a hole into Rose's face.