Episode 108. Would You Like to Date Me?
Noah moved out on his own, and she had personally chosen his room. She had told him to use that room as his bedroom because it got plenty of sunlight.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“……”
Beatrix couldn’t bring herself to ask if the two were sharing a bedroom. Even if she was his mother, it was a question that crossed the line, and it was a meaningless question anyway.
There was no way Noah would give his wife his bedroom and sleep somewhere else.
However, she was simply amazed that Noah, who couldn’t sleep even in the moonlight, was sleeping in the same bedroom as someone. He couldn’t even sleep in her arms, let alone the nanny’s.
Dazed and frozen, Beatrix soon smiled and slowly turned around.
A moment later, she stepped into the garden at the end of autumn and stared up at the trees. The dried-up leaves were hanging precariously, as if they were about to fall at any moment.
“Looking at Noah sometimes… made me feel uneasy, like looking at a leaf about to fall.”
Head Maid Polsman, who was standing next to her, raised her head, following the Queen Consort’s gaze.
“Is that so?”
“His eyes were just like autumn leaves, weren’t they? At a time when they should have been vibrantly blue, they were listless like fallen leaves ready to fall, and I was always uneasy. Without knowing where that listlessness came from… I didn’t know what to do.”
Since he had no attachment to anything, wouldn’t he eventually feel that even the act of breathing was meaningless?
She was always afraid of that.
But…
Beatrix turned her head and looked up at the bedroom where Olivia was.
“So how can I not be grateful?”
However, the Queen Consort’s eyes, which had been looking up at the bedroom, slowly sank. Head Maid Polsman noticed the Queen Consort’s intention and asked quietly.
“I have secured the list of noble ladies who were present at the time. What shall I do?”
After a moment of silence, Beatrix moved towards the waiting carriage and replied lightly.
“Call them all. I’d like to have a cup of tea with them for the first time in a while.”
Even if it was difficult to retaliate as she had done to Countess Timberline, she had to give a warning.
‘How dare they.’
Her gentle blue eyes took on a cold light like arctic ice.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
As the sunset disappeared below the sea and darkness fell, the atmosphere of the banquet heated up. The orchestra constantly played sea songs to liven up the mood, and nobles and naval officers mingled, chatting or dancing.
The problem was the sea breeze and the cold.
Admiral David’s wife solved this problem with screens and blue brandy, which sailors enjoyed drinking at sea. Admiral’s wife’s solution to raise body temperature with high-proof alcohol to forget the cold worked, and the atmosphere of the banquet became heated with the help of alcohol.
However, the problem was those who did not enjoy alcohol or did not get drunk.
Noah belonged to the latter.
“So, I’m saying! I! After running a horse for a long time and thinking I was almost at my destination! Oh, I left the documents behind!”
“Hahahahaha! Hehehehe, where on earth do you keep your mind!”
“Oh my, the moon is full!!”
“Hehehehehehe!”
Those who were drunk laughed at meaningless words, gave meaning to meaningless shapes, and cackled.
Noah quietly got up from his seat.
He had done enough. Time didn’t pass, and he was tired and bored.
Those who were drunk didn’t even notice that Noah, who hadn’t been involved in the conversation for a while, was getting up.
Noah took out a cigarette after a long time, put it in his mouth, and slowly walked to a place where there were no people. Methone, who was standing far away, quickly approached, and Noah suddenly asked.
“Where’s Jonan?”
“He just arrived.”
At those words, Noah stopped walking and turned his head. Jonan, who had received Methone’s gaze, quickly approached and quickly reported to the impatient prince.
“Her Majesty the Queen Consort visited around noon, and Her Highness woke up around that time. Her fever still seems to be fluctuating, but she ate a bowl of thin soup.”
Noah, who had been listening to the report quietly, nodded slightly and turned his head. Jonan looked at his face and carefully added.
“Um… Her Highness… asked me to tell you that she was sorry she couldn’t come with you, Your Highness.”
“……”
“She told you to be careful.”
The prince just stared at the dark sea. The cigarette smoke that wrapped around him after a long time was thick like sea fog.
He finished smoking a cigarette and praised Jonan for his hard work.
“Good job, Jonan. Go and rest.”
“Yes!”
“Methone, you go and rest too. I’ll stay a little longer and go in on my own.”
Then, without even looking at them, he walked to a dark place where the banquet lights did not reach. Methone and Jonan, who were left behind, looked at each other’s faces, shrugged their shoulders, and turned around.
Isabel had been watching the three men walk in their respective directions.
Jackson, who was next to her, was already completely drunk and unconscious, and she hadn’t even touched a glass of alcohol.
Isabel got up from her seat and walked towards the darkness where Noah had disappeared.
Noah leaned against the railing of the stern and smoked another cigarette.
Emotions surged like waves, constantly crashing against him.
At first, his emotions were boiling with anger at the noble ladies who had treated Olivia carelessly. The anger even spread to Olivia.
The emotion that overlapped on top of the anger was a stuffy feeling. After hearing that she had gotten sick because of that damn Corset, the anger that had been filling his head to the point of bursting turned into futility, and an unbearable stuffy feeling came over him.
Watching Olivia suffer every time she breathed, he kept imagining scenes he had never seen.
Olivia cornered and surrounded by noble ladies who were pouring out ridicule. As he pictured Olivia trembling with fear, he felt like a stone was stuck in his throat.
He felt a strong urge to pluck out the eyes of Countess Timberline and the others who had been there.
Noah stayed by Olivia’s side all night and vowed.
‘I will definitely make sure this never happens again. I will make them kneel at your feet.’
But the surging emotions didn’t end there.
On top of the anger, stuffiness, and firm determination, the image of Olivia dropping her head and shedding tears like beads came to mind.
“Are you asking if I want you to do that pathetic thing next to me, Olivia?”
The words he spat out with the tip of his tongue became daggers and kept stabbing his heart.
Noah covered his eyes with his left hand, which was not holding a cigarette, and took a long breath.
He was so anxious because he didn’t know what to do with her.
He wanted to go back right away, but he had to attend the breakfast meeting tomorrow.
Noah, who had swept his face with his left hand that had been covering his eyes, was about to get up from the railing when it happened.
“Are you having a hard time?”
Noah raised only his eyes upward with his chin pulled in. The woman’s face was illuminated by the oil lamp burning behind him.
There was a face that looked just like Mrs. Seymour, who had a cruel expression on her face. The words she had whispered to Olivia at the polo field came flooding back.
If he had set a proper example back then, would this kind of thing have happened?
Noah glared at Isabel with an intense gaze.
However, Isabel, who was blinded by love, misunderstood the gaze. She, who wanted to be everything to Noah, was thrilled by the fact that the man’s gaze was only on her.
At the same time, she was convinced.
He doesn’t love his wife. Of course, he doesn’t love Isabel Seymour either.
She once dreamed of loving each other, but she admitted that he was a man who couldn’t do that. She had given up on having his heart, so she wanted to have his body, even if only for a moment.
Because she felt that she could break the vicious cycle of this terrible thirst by having him that way.
Isabel, who had never learned to give up, couldn’t bear this feeling that made her heart feel crushed.
Isabel took a step towards the darker darkness.
“You’re not happy with your marriage, are you?”
The thick darkness like sea fog hid Noah’s expression, and Isabel’s emotions hid Noah’s energy, which was burning like fire.
In the dark corner of the romantic maritime banquet, Isabel ended up whispering words that she should never have said.
“Would you like to date me?”
And at that very moment, fireworks exploded in the pitch-black night sky.
Bang, bang, bang!
As the splendid fireworks colored the night sky with a loud noise, the prince’s face, which had been hidden in the darkness until now, was revealed.
He smiled, raising one corner of his mouth.
His green eyes, filled with colorful fireworks, couldn’t have been more beautiful. Isabel, drawn to his smile, unknowingly took a step closer to him.
“Date me, Your Highness.”
As the fireworks disappeared, darkness returned.
Isabel reached out her hand towards Noah.
It could be a game, or a one-night stand. She just wanted to be held in his arms and fall asleep tonight.
But just before her hand touched his chest, Noah asked.
“Why would I?”
