If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties - Chapter 15
Episode 15. The Naughty Prince (4)
***
“Doesn’t the Prince have nothing to do with anything here? Is he planning on living in someone else’s house?”
Five days have passed since the Fourth Prince began staying at the Duke’s residence.
Thanks to him, Dooha also had to live a life of unconditional confinement in her bedroom.
Layla sighed deeply as she was carrying lunch to her bedroom.
“Only my master is suffering because of him. You haven’t been out for five days. Aren’t you bored?”
“Layla, it’s not hard to stay still when there’s nothing you can do.”
Dooha ate a spoonful of soup filled with ingredients.
“It hurts the most when there is so much you want to do but nothing you can do.”
There was nothing she could do against the Prince.
If he hadn’t been the Prince of the Empire, things would have been different.
Meanwhile, Layla placed her hands on her waist, looking at the Duchess’ darkened face.
“Why is there nothing Madam can do? Without that prince, you would have been able to take a walk and see the flowers by now!”
“Flowers?”
“Yes! Although the weather is still chilly, it is spring. They started to bloom a few days ago. Madam likes flowers, too.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Can’t we just sneak out and get some air? All you have to do is not run into the prince!”
Dooha thought so at first.
‘If we don’t run into each other, won’t it be okay?’
“But I promised my husband that I would never leave this room. I can’t break my promise.”
“But…”
Dooha smiled to reassure her, who was looking at her with worried eyes.
“Please take care of the flowers for me.”
“But…”
“And this life is not as boring as I thought. I have a lot of things to do.”
Dooha pointed to a pile of books piled up in the corner of the room.
Her cure to boredom was her books, which Layla had borrowed from the Duke’s library for her.
“These days, thanks to the books he lent me, there’s no time to get bored.”
“The princess isn’t even a bookworm. How do you just read books all day?”
“If I’m bored of reading books, I can start doing embroidery. Don’t worry, Layla.”
But when her master said it was okay, Layla didn’t even think about opening her mouth.
She had been watching Dooha for a long time, so she knew what Dooha was like better than anyone else.
Rather than being trapped and just sitting around, Dooha was a person who was more comfortable walking around and running.
Such a person married into the Empire, but now had to be confined to a room like this.
She couldn’t help but feel bad.
But when it comes to being stubborn, she always won 2-1.
“Uh-huh, okay, okay. I won’t tell you anymore.”
Layla sighed as if she had resigned and organized the dishes that Dooha had emptied.
“Then, I will pick up any flower branches that fell on my way. If you put it in your room, it will make you feel better.”
“You don’t need to.”
“I’m doing it because I want to.”
Layla laid out her explanations with her sullen face.
“You never know when the emperor’s son will go back. The maids are saying that he can stay for a month or so, but by that time, the flowers that are blooming now will all have withered by then.”
Seeing her like that, Dooha burst into laughter.
Yes, this was Layla’s greatest strength.
To make the other person accept her considerations so that she wouldn’t feel burdened.
And with a warm heart, Dooha had been comforted a lot until now.
In the end, Dooha decided to lose to Layla again this time.
“Okay, if you’re not busy, can you do that for me?”
“I will do it even if I am busy! Picking up flowers is not a big deal!”
Layla walked out of the room with a dignified step, with the dishes on a tray.
“Then I’ll be back!”
She didn’t forget to leave with a lively greeting, as per usual.
***
The Fourth Prince, Justin, was basking in the sun on a cot on the balcony of the guest room.
It was none other than his escort knight who interrupted him while he was enjoying the sun, his arms supporting his head.
“Sir, how long will you be here? His Majesty would be angry if he knew.”
“Is he going to be angry?”
“Isn’t the imperial family busy with the issue of the throne right now? Her Highness, the Crown Princess, is consolidating her political position in the capital, and she will find out that the Crown Prince is spending time in the outskirts…”
“Do not worry. Father is not a lazy enough person to get angry with me just for that reason.”
Justin slowly opened his eyes that had been closed.
“And no matter how hard she struggles, she can’t beat me.”
Unlike Julia, the first daughter who was born to a concubine, the fourth son, Justin, was the empress’ son.
In the Krone Empire, the order of succession was ranked according to birth order, regardless of birth or gender.
Because of that, he was far behind Julia in the rankings. But in terms of the size of power? Justin had an overwhelming advantage.
This was because the empress’ family was a prestigious family recognized by the empire, and so the number of nobles who followed him was very large.
They all supported the fourth prince, Justin, who was the descendent of the Empress.
“In the first place, putting in effort is something that only poor people do.”
Justin looked at the extravagant mansion, looking down from the balcony with only his upper half seated up.
“Like the owner of this castle.”
He remembered the face of a man who was as unlucky as a parasitic brother.
Leonhart von Esbaden.
Justin personally hated him.
He was annoyed with Leonhart’s attitude of making every effort not to run away from the emperor’s orders and pretending to be strangely stern when he had no choice but to listen to the prince’s orders.
But, nevertheless, Justin wanted to have the Duke on his side.
Why? Simply because the Duke of Esbaden was a worthy man.
An undisputed, genius knight who rose to the position of duke at a young age.
Although he was born with an overwhelming talent for swordsmanship, the loyal dog was still troublesome for the emperor.
He was the best chess piece but only gave loyalty to himself.
What a coveted talent he was.
Moreover, even if Justin became the Emperor, Leonhart’s ability to protect the frontier was absolutely necessary in order to easily rule the empire.
Justin rubbed his eyes and asked the knight.
“What is the Duke doing?”
“It was said that a demon appeared in a village on the outskirts of the territory, so he went to subjugate it.”
“Is it a monster again? It seems that the Duke avoids me every time using monsters as an excuse. Could it be a mistake on my part?”
“It would not be a lie, since Esbaden’s territory is infamous for frequent appearances of monsters.”
“I don’t think it’s a lie either. Who would dare lie to the prince, unless you wanted to die…”
Then, Justin frowned as he spoke.
“Who is that?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“The one hanging around down there.”
The knight’s gaze followed the prince’s finger and then stopped.
A woman with dark brown hair in long braids was crouching where his gaze reached.
It looked like she was looking for something that had fallen on the floor, and it seemed to be floundering somewhere.
“She is a woman. From the look of her attire, she looks like the maid of the Duchess.”
“Maid of the Duchess?”
Justin’s gaze, chasing after the woman, gradually took on a dangerous light.
The prince’s eyes narrowed, observing the woman for a long time.
“She’s not that bad.”
“Shall I bring her?”
As if he knew exactly what the prince meant, the knight asked in a casual tone.
Instead of giving orders to the knight, he left his seat and got up.
“No, I’m going to see her in person.”
At his words, the knight politely bowed his head.
The maid, bustling under the balcony, was only looking at the floor like a deer who had not yet noticed the danger.
Layla was obsessed with picking flowers for her master.
But no matter how much she crawled on the ground, nothing caught her eye.
“Oh, is there anything good here?”
The hem of her skirt was covered in dirt, but she was still wandering on the floor, not getting tired.
“Why are there so many magnolias here? It’s the messiest when it withers. Makes the person who cleans it tired.”
Magnolias were beautiful to look at, but when they faded, they became very unsightly.
Why were so many of the flowers planted in the Duke’s residence the ones that would make the viewers feel restless?
“Oh, that’s fine.”
At that moment, a branch with a magnolia blossom, which was fresh and coveted by Layla, caught her eye.
It seemed to have been blown away by the wind in the middle of the night.
It was at that moment when she reached out her hand towards the branch of flowers.
Someone grabbed Layla’s wrist and pulled her over.
“Ouch! What!”
The culprit who grabbed her wrist was the Fourth Prince’s escort knight.
Layla was startled when she saw the sword hanging from the knight’s waist.
At that moment, a frivolous voice came from behind the knight.
He was a young man in colorful clothes.
He scanned Layla up and down her with a sly glance.
“It’s my first time seeing this face since I began staying here. What’s your name?”
During the summer months, Layla’s eyes naturally became more sensitive.
For some reason, his clothes were noisy, and seeing as an old man who appeared to be a knight was behind him, he seemed to be of high status.
‘Come to think of it, they had said that the Fourth Prince had red hair’
……
Although Layla was hot-tempered, she resembled her master, and she was not ignorant.
Layla’s face, which intuitively sensed that Justin was the Fourth Emperor, was dismayed.
