Chapter 18 A fiancée with a business addiction; will this marriage be okay? (9)

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Everyone held their breaths, not wanting to make a sound as they waited for the King’s reaction.

However.

Unlike what they expected, the King’s anger did not strike down like lightning.

“Mm…”

All he did was make a vague and ambiguous sound.

He didn’t look like he was going to get that angry. No, he didn’t seem angry at all.

Just when everyone was finding it hard to accept the ongoing series of events…

Clatter—!

A sharp noise broke the heavy silence that had settled over the tea-room.

Yenikarina was staring blankly at the table and her lips had gone so pale that all the color was gone.

The tea that spilled from her teacup drenched the tablecloth. The red stain spread more and more on the immaculate white fabric.

This all happened because Yenikarina’s hand hit the teacup.

Her hands were still trembling slightly.

“What’s wrong, Yenika?”

“Ah…”

Yenikarina turned to look at Aristine. Her senses slowly began to return.

“Is there a problem?”

Yenikarina flinched at the question and forced her lips to curl.

“What might you mean? How can there be any problem?”

Aristine’s gaze moved to the table which was now a mess.

“Oh, t-this…the teacup must have been made wrong. The balance was off, so it fell on its own.”

After saying that, she began to scold the court ladies.

“This should have been inspected properly! How dare you serve such a thing before his royal presence! Have you lost your mind?”

Her voice was devoid of its usual charming cuteness.

This was the first time that Yenikarina, who wanted to be loved by everyone, behaved this way in the King’s palace.

The court ladies felt wronged, but they had no choice but to listen to the princess.

Aristine tilted her head to the left when she saw Yenikarina act like this.

‘Is this something to be so surprised about?’

She wasn’t quite sure.

The reason why the King had dropped that wine bottle was because of the pain in his right wrist.

It was normally somewhat okay but when he had to use some strength or use his finer wrist muscles, there was some subtle spasms in his wrist.

Jiggle Jelly was a local delicacy and regional product of Irugo, with an elastic feel and smooth surface, making it hard to pick up with a fork.

Even the Silvanus nobles who were hostile to Irugo used this Jiggle jelly when learning proper table manners. They would practice how to pick up the jelly with a fork in one elegant motion.

‘Since it is hard to be careful with his wrist muscles in such situations, he can never eat this.’

And so, a very simple cause-and-effect situation was formed.

Nephther liked this jelly. But it was difficult to eat by himself because of the pain in his wrist. Moreover, he did not want people to know about the pain in his hand.

These three points resulted in one conclusion.

‘It’s fine if someone else feeds him.’

Nothing was clearer than this fact.

However, something was off about this King’s reaction…

‘Ah, maybe he doesn’t like being fed?’

She didn’t see anything like that with the Monarch’s Sight. Perhaps it displeased him because he felt like he was being treated like a child.

“How is it?”

“…It’s good.”

The King quietly replied after some silence. His sharp blue eyes fell on the Jiggle jelly.

‘Does he want more?’

Aristine picked up another piece and fed it to Nephther. The King who ruled over the barbarian land quietly opened his mouth to be fed.

Of course, even though he was being fed, his appearance still held the dignity of a King.

‘Ah, he’s eating a lot more than I expected.’

Aristine thought as she continued feeding him the Jiggle jelly like a mother bird to a baby chick.

‘I mean, even if he likes it…’

This was too much.

A total of seven jellies were served in accordance with the number of people around but he was already on the fifth one.

Jiggle jellies were quite tangy in nature. They were very sour and also very sweet, so people normally only ate one.

‘I’ve seen him purposefully order them to serve the jelly when his wrists are in good condition but even then, he only ate about two or three; is it because he hasn’t eaten it in a while?’

When she saw it in her Monarch’s Sight, three was the maximum he ever had.

Aristine was careful not to let the jelly fall while picking up the bouncy surface.

This made it six.

‘This is a little troublesome, but I suppose I should be considerate since he’s injured.’

Plus she was a little…just a little bit happy that she could do this with someone who she could call father.

Aristine put the jelly in the King’s mouth.

Now, only the last piece was left.

Honestly, she was a little worried.

‘I want to try it too…’

She had seen Jiggle jellies so many times with her Monarch’s Sight, but she had never eaten it.

‘They say it’s really delicious. That the sweetness and sourness go together so well that one bite is like having a party in your mouth.’

You might even feel like the sight in front of you was a town made of Jiggle jelly.

Furthermore, this was a high-quality delicacy presented to the King.

‘Agh!’

Aristine picked up the last one with her fork.

It couldn’t be helped.

She didn’t come here today to eat Jiggle jelly. It was to sell drugs…no, to show Tarkan how capable she was. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice the lesser things for the greater good.

She closed her eyes and conceded the last jelly to the King.

Of course, the King ate it deliciously.

It must be really delicious. He didn’t even stop to take tea and just ate all seven in a row.

‘Must be nice…’

While such thoughts were running through her mind, she heard someone sigh in disbelief at her side.

‘What?’

Aristine turned to look at Tarkan, feeling doubtful.

What was he so disbelieving about? Why exactly?

Aristine was actually proud of herself.
She thought she showed Tarkan that she had quite a strong appeal.

In other words, the ability to win the favor of those in power. Wasn’t that a very central skill set?

But a sigh of disbelief for that…

It felt like his gaze was more towards the King instead of her but either way, the King and Aristine were sitting right next to each other.

‘To be fair, Tarkan doesn’t know about the King’s wrist condition so he probably thinks this is out of the blue.’

However, the King was likely very satisfied because thanks to her, he was able to eat his favorite food which he hadn’t been able to eat for a few years.

‘Besides, I know he won’t be wary against me because of this incident.’

After all, who would think Aristine knew about the King’s injury beforehand and that’s why she fed him? Anyone who thought that far was probably paranoid.

Furthermore, it would be hard to guess that Aristine knew something that even the King’s chamberlain did not know. Even the Queen didn’t know about it.

There were only two people in this world that knew about it.
The King’s doctor and—.

‘Princess Yenikarina.’