Aeplin, too, frowned as she read the morning edition Laurel had brought.
The situation had finally descended to the worst.
She did not want to defend the Crown Prince, but it was merely pitiful to watch him fall further and further.
Yet Serge needed to learn to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions.
“It says he was not badly hurt. Do not worry too much.”
“It says his Achilles tendon was injured. That is a serious wound. He will not be able to walk until he is fully healed.”
Unlike the concerned Aeplin, Laurel was delighted.
“That is something His Highness brought upon himself.”
Laurel answered with a pouty face.
At first, she had thought Aeplin pitiable, but thinking about it now, it seemed like a foregone conclusion.
“This question is useless now, but I am curious about something.”
“What is it?”
“You said you were the one who discarded His Highness.”
“I did.”
“Still, if it were me, I think it would have been hard to give up the position of Crown Princess so easily.”
“Because I did not want it enough to trade my life for it.”
The answer sounded plausible, but at the time, she had been too busy protecting her pride.
Yet she felt as though a strong force of fate had suddenly changed direction and brought her together with Lucent.
Perhaps, from the moment she first saw him, even her unconscious mind had predicted this kind of relationship.
“Well, the bank president is handsome. When I first saw him, my eyes stung, too.”
“Your eyes stung?”
Aeplin looked at Laurel with a smile.
“Because he is so impressive.”
In that moment, the strange first night with him came to mind.
Lucent’s body without a stitch of clothing had been so perfect, like a sculpture, that it drew admiration rather than lewdness.
The sensual body, the captivating smile, the figure breathing raggedly in stimulating indulgence—none of it left her mind.
So she could not properly hear what Laurel was chattering about.
“My lady, are you listening to me?”
“Uh, what did you say?”
Aeplin asked back with a flushed face.
“I was talking about the puppy, or rather the dog named Ricky.”
“Yes, right.”
Laurel told Aeplin in detail about the dog named Ricky.
She did not spare her praise, saying that despite his size, he loved people and wagged his tail well.
“Why would such a gentle dog attack His Highness the Crown Prince? It must be protective instinct, right?”
“That is right. When someone speaks ill of their master and shows hostility, beasts notice it faster.”
“That is true.”
Only after hearing Laurel’s words did Aeplin feel regret.
She had wondered whether Lucent might have trained Ricky in advance to attack Serge.
But she had overlooked that even beasts recognize their master and have strong loyalty.
‘I should apologize when I have the chance.’
That was when it happened.
The butler brought a large gift box.
He said Lucent had sent it to Aeplin, and spoke in a slightly excited voice.
Aeplin could not close her mouth as she looked at the gift box with white wrapping paper and a large pink ribbon.
What on earth had he sent that it was so extravagant?
Even at a glance, it was certainly an expensive gift.
“He could have given it to me in person……. Why go out of his way like this?”
Aeplin tilted her head repeatedly, not quite understanding Lucent’s intent.
“He must be trying to surprise you, my lady.”
At Laurel’s words, delivered as if she were frustrated, Aeplin realized her husband’s intent.
But the wrapping was so pretty that it seemed a pity to tear it open.
So Aeplin and Laurel spent a while merely admiring the gift from every angle.
“My lady, now stop just looking and open it.”
“Sh—shall I?”
Her heart pounded wildly.
In truth, since the marriage had been promised, the gifts she had received from Lucent had been numerous.
Most were expensive—jewels, clothes, shoes, bags, and the like.
The person who liked them most was her mother Lilien, though.
Aeplin untied the large ribbon, carefully peeled off the wrapping paper, and opened the box.
When she popped off the golden wax stamped on the white paper, the identity of the gift was revealed.
“Oh my, oh my……! It is so, so pretty. But what is this? It looks like underwear.”
Laurel first let out a gasp at the gift, but her face stiffened when she saw the small piece of cloth fluttering in Aeplin’s hands.
Aeplin was just as bewildered.
A cloth in a red color similar to her hair color, covered in white polka dots, looked at first glance like a corset.
Sleeveless, with a deeply cut neckline, and a short length that fully exposed the legs.
“There is a card here.”
On the card Laurel picked up was a message written in Lucent’s own hand.
[ My beloved wife, Aeplin. I hope you like the swimsuit. Tomorrow, I would like us to go out to the sea together and enjoy swimming. ]
Only then did Aeplin’s mind flash.
“Ah, so this was a swimsuit. I saw one in a magazine not long ago. It said that these days, sophisticated women wear separate clothes when they swim.”
“My lady, there is a swimming cap here too.”
The cap—a round piece of cloth in the same red, with a flower attached—looked slightly childish.
It was almost like something you would put on a baby girl’s head…….
Soon Laurel, bursting into laughter, examined the swimsuit from every angle and chattered.
“It is so daring. It is different from a corset, but it seems like it would reveal more bare skin. The back is deeply cut, and the chest would be fully visible. Oh my, oh my! There is far too little cloth on the leg side.”
Aeplin lightly clenched her fist and covered her mouth.
Though she and Lucent had already shown each other their naked bodies, since the first night, every night had been nothing but a goodnight kiss before sleeping.
But was it her own imagination that the swimsuit he sent seemed more suggestive and embarrassing than nakedness?
Or was it that her eyes looking at the swimsuit had become crooked?
Above all, Aeplin had never once in her life swum in water.
* * *
Serge read his own newspaper article from his sickbed and flew into a rage.
“Arrest all those reporters!”
“Your Highness, the times have changed. If you touch them wrongly, the entire imperial family will be cursed as suppressing the press.”
Max sighed and tried to calm Serge.
“I think I have fallen into a trap. Think about it. Was it a coincidence that a dog ran out at that moment and bit my ankle?”
“It is because he is a beast with strong loyalty, and when you shouted abuse—no, raised your voice—at his master, he tried to protect him.”
“Shut up!”
Even his own secretary was not on his side.
Serge looked at his leg wrapped tightly in bandages and fell into thought.
It was true that he had been surprised when he actually saw Lucent Blackakson.
Having heard only bad rumors about him, he had thought he could subdue him in one breath.
But the moment he saw his appearance, he realized something had gone greatly wrong.
His tall height, his refined style of dress, his cultured way of speaking and behaving—everything grated on him.
In particular, Aeplin’s attitude toward him was so unfamiliar that his reason was momentarily paralyzed, and it was also true that he had shouted all the more and thrown a fit.
‘It was an expression I had never seen before.’
There is a saying that a woman becomes prettier when she falls in love.
Aeplin was already beautiful, but seeing her look even prettier than before made anger surge.
Surely she had not developed tender feelings for such a vulgar man.
Because she was charmed by his handsome exterior?
Serge shook his head, saying that could not be.
‘I must have been mad. How could I have let Aeplin go and…….’
Regret rushed in like hot rain soaking his whole body.
Marita Belmon had been a being who made him briefly forget his tedious daily life.
If Aeplin was gentle milk, Marita was a woman of primary colors who intoxicated a person like strong liquor and stimulated the peripheral nerves.
He had thought he would love Marita forever—she who seduced him without hesitation and made him feel a thrill he had never felt before—but he belatedly realized she was nothing more than a sudden shower that had briefly poured over his head.
Now he only wished she would get out of his life.
‘I just need to get Aeplin back.’
Even if no sharp method came to mind right away, there had never been a time when his will had not been fulfilled.
The only thing that made him uneasy was one thing.
‘You must not love that man, Aeplin. He is a demon. He is a gutter rat, a fallen fruit, human scum.’
