Episode 115: Isabel's Ordeal
At his words, Olivia moved her lips, finally uttering the words she wanted through her teeth.
"No. I don't want to."
"......"
"Don't create a mistress while you have me. I don't want to see you loving another woman besides me."
Her eyes, which had been red and wavering, turned firm in an instant.
As possessiveness settled in her eyes, Noah's chest filled with heat.
He knew why Olivia felt small, why she suffered in silence over such words even after becoming his wife.
Noah opened a drawer and took out the ring he had given her on their wedding day. Then, he took Olivia's hand and slowly slid the ring onto her ring finger, just as he had done that day.
Looking at Olivia, who was gazing at the sparkling ring, he repeated the vow he had made.
"I, Noah Astrid, take Olivia Liberty as my wife and vow to cherish and love her for the rest of my life."
Olivia slowly raised her head at the wedding vow that flowed into her ear.
He looked very calm.
His neat features, the eyes firmly set, the noble spirit dwelling in those eyes. Olivia realized fully at this moment.
Not because he had appeared like a savior at the moment she stood on the edge of a cliff, but that she had loved him from the moment they first met.
Olivia reached out her hand. Then, she carefully cupped his cheek with her palm and gently pulled him closer. She stood on her toes, raised her head, and kissed his lips.
Noah, seeing Olivia pressing her lips to his on her own, froze like he had on their first night.
He was mesmerized by the approaching, innocent lips and the soft touch, and when a small bud cautiously pried between his teeth, his reason shattered like foam.
She truly had a knack for driving him crazy.
Noah hugged Olivia's waist tightly. He fiercely invaded the parted teeth, rummaging around, and suddenly felt a trace that had been feverishly cracked.
Noah slowly rubbed the mark left on the corner of her lips. He tasted the unique, acrid taste of the wound on the tip of his tongue.
His body was hot with longing, but he couldn't push Olivia, who hadn't fully recovered yet. He could feel that her back, under his palm, was also parched.
Noah kissed her lips several times before raising his head.
Her clear, round eyes and the lips that were wet and rubbed red kept stimulating Noah, but he gathered all his patience and suppressed his desires. Then, as he had done for the past few days, he lifted Olivia up and headed to the bedroom.
He thought she must not have eaten properly, so he was going to sit her down and feed her something.
On the other hand, Olivia thought, 'Ah, we're going to the bedroom like this.' So she obediently snuggled in his arms without saying anything, but what? He was trying to put her down on a chair?
Saying things like, "You haven't eaten properly, have you?"
The desire that gnawed at her reason and the courage that had been encouraged made her a little bolder. Olivia slyly raised her arms and hugged Noah's neck tightly.
"......??"
Noah stared blankly at Olivia, who suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, with her face gradually turning red, she whispered softly.
"Um... sometimes, wouldn't it be okay even if it's not the agreed time?"
Seeing the lust swirling in his calm green eyes, Olivia pulled his neck and kissed him again.
Noah felt the string of reason that had been thinly attached snap with a thud and growled fiercely.
"I was trying to hold back, but you provoked me."
At those words, Olivia took her head away and laughed.
"Are you the person who hates holding back the most in the world?"
"You really......"
Noah laughed along and headed to the bedroom as if he had been waiting for it.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Meanwhile, as Juliana Timberine returned to the capital, looking pale, Duke Retium glared at his sister as if he would kill her and shouted.
"Even when our parents were alive, you didn't know your place and caused so much trouble, and you still haven't fixed your habits even at that age!!"
"Oh, Brother!"
"The Royal Family is still the Royal Family. Did you think the Princess consort was a joke because she was from a commoner background? That's only temporary."
The Duke took a slow, rough breath and then ordered.
"Go to the Princess consort tomorrow and beg unconditionally."
"......"
"Beg unconditionally and make the Princess consort turn the Prince's heart back. Do you understand?"
"Do, do I have to go that far...!"
"...If you don't do it properly, your son won't be able to enter Heritage School."
At those words, Mrs. Timberline screamed.
"Brother!! Eric is also your nephew, how can you...!"
The Duke swept his face with his dry hand and said fiercely.
"Nephew or whatever, the family is about to be ruined. Do you understand, Julie? You clean up the mess you made."
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Around that time, Count Seymour's mansion was also in chaos.
Unlike the Retium family, which had at least a glimmer of hope, the cancellation of the Prince's investment had been confirmed as a foregone conclusion for the Seymour family.
The amount to be repaid from next week was astronomical, so the Count ordered to put up the sale of farmland as a fire sale, and the Countess was frantically trying to find a place to borrow money.
Isabel, who was suffering as she recalled her conversation with Noah, was annoyed by the chaotic atmosphere of the house.
"Why is it so noisy?!"
Then her brother, who was pacing around with a nervous face, shouted angrily.
"Don't you know?! What Noah Astrid, whom you adore, has done to us?!"
"What?"
Isabel suddenly remembered the incident at the warship construction event.
"Wh, why did His Highness do that to our family...? How?! Tell me quickly!!"
"Ah, really!! It seems that Mother made harsh remarks to the Princess consort!! What kind of harsh remarks did she make?! I heard that we might have to sell the capital residence and go to the countryside where the main family is."
"Th, then my... my marriage?"
"......"
"What about my marriage!!! Does the Coleman Marquess family know about this too?!"
Her brother, who was angry at her words, was raising his voice when a maid carefully entered.
"Young lady, the Count is calling for you."
Count Seymour, who didn't even have the strength to be angry, was half-lying on a chair and called for his daughter.
Isabel, who had been very angry with her father for choosing Jackson Coleman as her son-in-law and had not even tried to see his face recently, was now afraid that even that marriage would be ruined, so she rushed over.
"Father!!"
The Count glanced at his daughter, who had rushed over, and sighed deeply.
When she was growing up, his daughter was quiet, but ever since she got involved with Prince Noah, she had been more difficult to handle than his son.
"Do you still have feelings for Prince Noah?"
Isabel was speechless at her father's sudden question.
The Count turned to his daughter and asked.
"When the rumors about Prince Noah were circulating, were you really dating him?"
Isabel clenched her fist tightly at her father's question.
"Were you dating? Did you do something you couldn't take responsibility for, and the Prince mercilessly abandoned you? Did he promise to marry you?! Did he even give you a similar hint?!"
If that were the case, the Count was willing to report the Prince's insulting words and actions to King Leonard, even if it meant the family would be ruined.
But the reason why he couldn't say a word to the Prince's insulting words and actions a while ago was because of the information he had gathered.
Isabel only clenched her fist and couldn't answer easily. The Count, who had been enduring her silence, finally opened his mouth.
"When I collected those rumors, I found out that the Prince accepted the cocktail you gave him inside the Polo Club and shared a table. That's all there was. No one saw you having physical contact, and I even heard that there was no conversation. There was no one who saw you meeting outside the Polo Club either."
"Stop it!"
"If I infer the situation, it's certain that there was something between you and the Prince, but I'm convinced that it was never a romance. Perhaps, it was Mrs. Jubern and your plan."
"Father!!!"
"You proposed to the Prince to have an affair at the warship construction event, didn't you?"
Isabel's eyes widened at the sudden question.
"Ho, how did you...!"
"If it wasn't you, who would have told me that?"
Noah's face, which looked like a demon, flashed through Isabel's mind. Her chest trembled.
That man, even so, did he say such things to his parents?!
The Count, who saw through his daughter's mind, suppressed his rising anger and urged her.
"Today, because of you, I had to hear words from the young Prince that I should educate my daughter well!!"
"...Se, surely the Prince didn't do anything to our family because of that?!!"
The Count waved his hand as if telling her not to talk nonsense and continued.
"Isabel Seymour, engrave it in your mind right now. Prince Noah doesn't have any feelings for you. He is... only focused on how much we hurt his wife."
"......"
"Your mother gave the Princess consort presumptuous advice, and the Prince retaliated against our family because of that. In the meantime, you proposed to him to have an affair? I've become a laughingstock."
The Count took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and muttered in vain.
"No, I've really become a laughingstock. Ha......"
He closed his eyes and took a long sigh, and Isabel, who was suddenly afraid of her father's powerless appearance, grabbed his arm tightly.
"F, Father! Then what about my marriage? Do, do I have to go to the countryside too?! Huh?!"
"......"
Count Seymour couldn't give his daughter, who was bursting into tears, any answer.
He only kept repeating where it had all gone wrong.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
The next day.
Noah received an urgent call from King Leonard early in the morning and headed to the Royal Palace. On the way, he left the bodyguard Jonan by Olivia's side.
Leaving the words, "Bring Jonan with you no matter what kind of guest comes today."
And a little later, when Countess Timberine and Marchioness Rettium, who were pale, came to her and bowed politely, Olivia sensed that Noah must have done something.
Jonan stood behind Olivia, spreading his broad shoulders even wider, as if guarding her.
Mrs. Letium and Mrs. Timberlin glanced at Jonan and looked around with fearful eyes. They were afraid that the devilish Noah Astrid would be watching them with his eyes flashing from anywhere.
Olivia wondered what on earth her husband had done to make those proud women tremble so much.
"His Highness is not here."
When Olivia said calmly, the two people who were looking around were startled and turned their heads.
