"Thank you, Lidi."
"Nn?"

While on the way back to the room together, Freed muttered so.
When I looked up at him next to me, I saw Freed watching me with gentle eyes.

"Lidi, thanks to you, Esteemed Father and Esteemed Mother could have an opportunity to talk. Until now they couldn"t even do that. Lidi, Father is also grateful that you created this chance."
"… I didn"t particularly want grat.i.tude."
"Yup. Even so, I"m grateful too. Thank you."
"…"

Somehow, he became serious. I"m not good with this kind of atmosphere.
While I was troubled, Freed changed the topic.

"However, for Esteemed Mother to be Esteemed Father"s mate. I want to accept it, but after all it feels questionable."

Before, I told Freed my guess that Mother-in-law is His Majesty"s mate.
From his perspective, it must"ve sounded like a bolt out of the blue.
Even now he"s shaking his head.

"Nn? I wonder. I think His Majesty"s att.i.tude was quite blatant."
"However, Esteemed Mother"s att.i.tude was like that. You"re amazing to think of reconciling Mother and Father in that situation, Lidi."

I was unconvinced by Freed"s words.
Because, I thought of acting because Mother-in-law"s att.i.tude bothered me.

"Hmm. Mother-in-law, huh. To me she looked lonely. I thought she wasn"t showing her true feelings…"
"To bring everything together with that alone, I really can"t look make light of your ability to take action, Lidi. It makes sense you escaped me so many times."
"L, let"s not talk about that anymore… Well, you can thank Lady Helene giving me plenty of hints for me moving like this. It wasn"t just my power."

The secret that she confidentially told me. That she has another person she loves.
That was the original trigger.

She has another person she loves, and yet she"s earnest.
That was when I started considering the possibility that she isn"t sleeping with the King.
Because, there"s no way she could call herself earnest if she had feelings for another person while sleeping with her husband, the King.
When I thought so, various things made sense.

First of all, Lady Helene didn"t look tired at all.
Lady Helene wasn"t a mate and didn"t have stamina recovery medicine, so it was strange that she alone could accept His Majesty, who"s matchless like Freed.
Moreover, the question Lady Helene asked me.
She said things like, "How many times a week does he call for you?" or "After all fresh lovers are different". Supposing she had a s.e.xual relations.h.i.+p with the King, I think she would ask the same things as Mother-in-law, like "Isn"t it painful how matchless he is?" or "Isn"t it troubling to be persistently desired every day?" However, Lady Helene questions sounded as if she were a young lady without any experience asking to satisfy her curiosity. No matter how I looked at it, I found it strange.
Furthermore, and I think this was decisive, it"s been fifteen years since she was summoned as a concubine.
Despite not being able to have a child, she showed no signs of despair.
Thinking about it, it"s natural. You can"t have a child without doing it.
She had no reason to be depressed over not being able to have a child. I thought that might be the case.

And then, the question was why he didn"t lay his hands on a concubine he married.
Wilhelm royalty"s libido is strong. The King couldn"t embrace Mother-in-law, so why didn"t he go to the concubine he could legally lay his hands on?
Wasn"t that because the King already had a mate and couldn"t get an erection to anybody except her?
Freed too said it. When you find a mate, you can"t see anybody else as opposite s.e.x.
Surely, Lady Helene wasn"t the target of the King"s s.e.xual attraction.
Because, his mate was Mother-in-law.
But for Mother-in-law"s sake he entered into concubine contract with Lady Helene.
To not torment Mother-in-law anymore.
The King must"ve been thinking of her in his own way, but I don"t think his choice was correct.
Because, Mother-in-law was hurt by him marrying a concubine.
Otherwise, she wouldn"t slight her husband for the long period of fifteen years.
Certainly, a concubine was something Mother-in-law brought up herself.
However, after all that wasn"t what Mother-in-law truly felt.
Weren"t the words "I want you to marry a concubine" meant to be a test from a wife to her husband? I cannot help but have such a feeling.
Things might have turned out differently if the King had said, "I love you, so I don"t want to".
I think if he said, "I don"t want anybody but you" and hugged Mother-in-law, she probably wouldn"t have become so obstinate. But when the King ultimately married a concubine without saying anything, Mother-in-law chose to close her heart. And turned her back on her husband and son.

"I hope Mother-in-law can be honest a little."

When I exhaled thinking of Mother-in-law"s stubbornness, Freed too frowned doubtfully.

"… I guess it"ll be quite difficult. But well, I think my father will do his best this time, so it should work out somehow."
"His Majesty will?"
"Yup."

Freed nodded and then made a face like he recalled something.

"Before I brought him to the garden, I told my father what I"d heard from you, Lidi. My father had no idea. That if he doesn"t talk, he won"t be understood. He thought his att.i.tude was transparent enough."
"Unexpectedly, men are often such people."

Freed is different.
He"s been telling me he loves ever since we first met.
But, if he hadn"t told me, I feel like I wouldn"t have accepted him so quickly.
It"s exactly as Freed says. Without saying it, you won"t be understood.
Aah, it"s a little different.
Women (perhaps men too) are cowardly creatures, so we won"t know if we can believe without being told.
It"s troubling to guess from att.i.tude.
So upon hearing it put into words for the first time, we think "Maybe I should believe it?"

"Freed, I love you."
"Nn? What is it so suddenly?"

Freed blinked his eyes at my sudden declaration of love.

"Yup. I think it"s as you say, Freed. Unless you put it into words, you won"t be understood. That"s why I tried saying that I love you."
"Aah, it"s that?"

Convinced, Freed broadly smiled. With both hands he lightly lifted me, who was walking next to him.

"Hyaa."

Just like that I was spun around. I started feeling dizzy and let out a shameful shriek.

"Wait… Freed, don"t spin me around… Hyaaaaaa."
"I love you, Lidi."
"I know. I know, so… why are you spinning me arouuuund?"
"I feel like it, I guess?"

Freed put me down and sweetly smiled. As for me, I felt sick from the world spinning in front of my eyes.

"Jeez… jeeez."

I staggered from dizziness before Freed once again lifted me in his arms.

"You"re dizzy, right? I"ll take you to the room like this."
"W, whose fault is it…"
"Mine."

In a good mood, Freed started walking. Then he said.

"Lidi. About our previous talk, I entrusted it to my father. He approved, so perhaps things will advance right away?"
"Truly?"

Editor: Valeria