CHAPTER 05
2. The King’s Hidden Intentions
“Good morning…… Your Majesty? Your eyes are bloodshot. Did something happen?”
“Mind your own business.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Duke Lionel Hyde quickly shut his mouth.
Endymion buried his forehead in his clasped hands, radiating a dark aura.
Lionel, who had brought an armful of documents for the king to review, carefully piled them on the desk while watching his gloomy brother-in-law.
“These are the organizational chart and budget proposal for the capital defense forces following the reorganization. I thought it would be a good opportunity to overhaul the entire border defense system as well, so I prepared a draft. Please review it. Also, the ministers suggested holding a royal hunting competition to commemorate Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen’s coming-of-age ceremony……”
“Leave them and go.”
“Yes, Your Majesty……”
At the unmistakably irritated voice, the massive Duke Lionel answered while nervously rolling his eyes.
Yesterday, after receiving a letter from the Queen, His Majesty had been so distracted that he could barely concentrate during the meeting.
And today, why was he so cold from the very morning?
‘I’d better come back after lunch.’
Lionel, who had been married for seven years and had served the king for those same seven years, cautiously withdrew.
His brother-in-law, whose personality was exactly like his sister’s, was famous for being cold and taciturn toward everyone.
The only person he had ever been particularly soft toward was the Queen, whom he had married when they were children. But yesterday, he had left without even looking back, and today he was surrounded by dark clouds. They must have had a marital quarrel.
‘In times like this, it’s best not to attract attention.’
He was just about to head toward the door, secretly humming at the thought of going home for lunch and spending some time with Iris for once, when—
“Duke Hyde.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At the icy voice, Lionel hurriedly turned around.
Endymion was standing there, holding a letter.
“This is an official apology sent to the Queen in the name of the Duchess of Hyde. I didn’t open it because it was addressed to the Queen’s palace, but do you know anything about this?”
The audacity of him openly admitting that he had intercepted the Queen’s personal letter.
Lionel was momentarily overwhelmed by his shameless brother-in-law’s confidence, but then he finally understood and jumped.
“A-an official apology? From my wife?!”
“Are you saying that the duke was unaware that the duchess had wronged the Queen?”
How was I supposed to know that?! I haven’t even been home for a week because of all the overtime!
Lionel was so indignant that he was rendered speechless.
But cold fury glinted in his brother-in-law’s sharp eyes.
He clearly had not the slightest intention of letting her off just because she was his sister.
“I-I apologize, Your Majesty! I shall ask my wife immediately—no, I shall question her and personally go to apologize to Her Majesty the Queen!”
Endymion stared coldly at his bear-like brother-in-law.
Apparently, even after seven years of marriage and with a child, Lionel still found his wife as intimidating as a princess and trembled before her.
‘What a troublesome sister.’
In truth, Endymion and Iris were half-siblings, but they were not particularly on bad terms.
They simply had similarly taciturn personalities and were not especially affectionate toward each other.
There was, however, one situation in which the siblings inevitably clashed.
Whenever Iris picked a fight with Julia.
When Endymion first found out, he had been ready to storm into the Hyde estate immediately, but Julia had asked him to let it go, so he had reluctantly pretended not to notice.
Fortunately, it did not seem as though Julia was simply taking the abuse without fighting back.
But if matters had escalated to the point where an official notice had been exchanged, Iris had undoubtedly provoked her again.
“No. There’s no need.”
“Th-thank you, Your Majesty! I promise this will never happen again……”
“You are such a devoted husband to your family. Surely you will willingly accept your wife’s punishment in her place. Work overtime for the next month.”
“What?!”
“Go home, report to the Duchess, and return immediately.”
Endymion gestured coldly.
The attendants standing nearby promptly dragged the pale-faced Lionel out of the room.
“T-this can’t be happening! It can’t! I’ll die if this continues! Your Majesty!”
The duke’s wailing voice echoed loudly through the corridor, and only then did Endymion feel slightly better.
Indeed, Endymion was a king who showed absolutely no mercy to anyone other than Julia.
“Make sure that gets returned safely to the Queen’s palace.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After handing the duchess’s letter to an attendant, Endymion rubbed his temples and rose.
Iris got along well with the bear-like Duke Hyde despite her cold appearance, so once she learned what had happened, she would probably be furious.
‘That’s the price for daring to challenge the Queen.’
Endymion imagined Iris glaring at him and gave a derisive snort.
Then he opened the inner door connected to his study.
As he entered the secret room reserved exclusively for the king—a room even his brother-in-law, Duke Hyde, knew nothing about—Endymion frowned.
He had clearly warned her the last time they met. How long had she stayed quiet before starting trouble again?
She was his own sister by blood, yet he could never figure out what schemes were running through her mind.
At first, he had thought her dislike of Julia since their very first meeting was simply jealousy. But how many years had it been now?
However, the moment he saw the paintings covering the room, his irritation melted away like snow.
With a faint smile, Endymion sat down in the leather armchair in the center of the room.
The chair could smoothly rotate a full circle in place. Endymion had specially commissioned it for this room.
“Hello.”
Murmuring lightly, Endymion slowly looked from left to right.
There was seven-year-old Julia, eight-year-old Julia, nine-year-old Julia…… all the way to eighteen-year-old Julia, each portrait hanging one after another.
It was Endymion’s private collection of Julia, created by secretly copying the portrait painted for her birthday every year.
He had secretly hired a court painter to make them because he thought Julia would find it strange if she knew.
Even he had to admit that the hobby seemed a little obsessive, but Endymion casually ignored that fact.
What else was he supposed to do? She was so beautiful that he wanted to own even a portrait of her.
Portraits of the king and queen were kept for future generations and could not simply be viewed by the subjects themselves whenever they wished.
His queen, praised throughout Semele as the most noble and graceful woman in the kingdom, attracted every gaze whenever she attended a gathering.
She was not particularly flashy, but her fairy-like beauty possessed an almost enchanting charm.
Her naturally kind disposition only made it more pronounced, because she was gentle and friendly toward everyone.
Whenever Julia smiled brightly and cheerfully at another man, Endymion felt as though his insides were twisting themselves into knots.
If he could, he would lock her away in his arms forever.
Of course, Julia herself seemed to have absolutely no idea that her husband thought that way.
When they had first married, Julia had been an adorable little girl with short hair and a headband.
As the years passed, her hair gradually grew longer, the baby fat disappeared from her face, leaving it slender and delicate, and her shoulders became graceful and slender.
Her large violet eyes sparkled with vitality, while her elegant nose and rose-petal lips were unbearably lovely.
Her long, slender legs and straight waist, reminiscent of a deer, were not frail but carried the dignity befitting a queen.
And the soft, full curves of her figure……
“I really am a pervert.”
Endymion, who had unconsciously developed an intense gaze while staring at last year’s portrait of Julia, let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
It really did make him look like a pervert.
What normal husband spent every day staring at a portrait of his perfectly healthy wife, who lived with him, as though he wanted to devour the image?
‘Still, she seems to be getting prettier and prettier.’
The pink dress she had worn to the last social gathering had been so beautiful that it had left his mind blank.
Apparently, the young noblemen around them thought the same thing, because Endymion had struggled quite a bit to shield Julia from their wolf-like, furtive glances.
And Julia, completely oblivious, had beamed happily at his compliment that the dress suited her.
Endymion had spent the entire night awake because that radiant expression kept coming back to him, and because he had to resist the urge to reach out to his peacefully sleeping wife, even going so far as to dig his fingers into his thigh to restrain himself.
‘A concubine?’
Endymion had been happily thinking about his adorable wife, who was so precious he could hardly bear to touch her, when his brows suddenly furrowed.
His mood, which had been floating happily as if he were drifting among the clouds, instantly plummeted.
‘……Why am I still holding myself back?’
It had been a long time since the girl he had once thought of as a friend had begun to look like a woman to him.
There had been many moments when he had found it unbearable to keep hiding his feelings and had been tempted to confess everything.
What was there to hide about a husband loving his wife?
But shortly after ascending the throne, he happened to overhear something Julia said and changed his mind.
—“Do you really feel that way when you’re in love with someone?”
It had been during a tea party in the garden with several noblewomen she was close to.
Endymion had stopped by simply to see Julia for a moment when he accidentally overheard her voice, filled with curiosity.
—“Of course! Even making eye contact with someone you love makes you feel shy, and when you hold hands, your stomach feels warm and ticklish…… Oh my, Your Majesty, don’t you feel that way toward His Majesty?”
—“What? Ah, yes! Of course I do. It’s amazing how much the two of us are alike.”
The noblewomen had exclaimed in delight, completely oblivious to anything unusual.
But Endymion, who knew Julia better than anyone, had understood.
Julia—the woman who was his wife and his first love—did not see him as a man.
‘She obviously only thinks of me as family.’
It hurt, but it was all right.
After all, Julia and he were bound together in a relationship they could never escape.
From the very beginning, he had never intended to let her go.
If he confessed now, she would only feel pressured, so he decided to wait until Julia matured a little more.
By the time she came of age, surely she would be ready.
That was what Endymion had decided: he would end his unrequited love then, naturally reveal his feelings, and become an even closer husband and wife.
But he had never imagined that she would come to the conclusion of taking a concubine!
“Those conservatives who kept going on about bloodlines were spouting off about an heir this time. I wonder if she heard them.”
Even though he had specifically ordered them to make sure such matters never reached the Queen’s ears.
Endymion ground his teeth.
It was maddening.
He was sitting beside the woman he loved, swallowing his desire day after day, and now they were telling him to take another woman!
He felt as though he could lose his mind whenever another man so much as looked at Julia.
Did she truly not have even the slightest such feeling toward him?
If he continued merely watching and waiting like this, he might really end up having to meet some completely unrelated woman.
Julia was gentle but surprisingly stubborn. If he simply left things alone, she might secretly choose a concubine without telling him.
‘That’s not happening.’
