Chapter 9
Different Plans
Their gazes locked, trembling violently.
Though they knew each other well, they felt like strangers facing an unfamiliar presence, unable to draw close easily.
Applin looked different from before.
Dressed in a white negligee, her scarlet hair fell freely down to her waist, her pale face and harmonious features perfectly illuminated by the candlelight.
Even the candles that softly lit her were flawless.
She looked like a saintess awaiting a divine oracle.
‘A saintess isn’t really my type.’
Though he scoffed internally about preferences, his steps did not stop.
After all, he had taken a bride who was more than satisfactory.
Without a trace of disorder, he walked over, filled a crystal glass with red wine, and handed it to Applin first.
“Thank you.”
They followed the customary procedures of the wedding night in order.
When the glasses clinked, a clear, resonant sound rang out, followed by the act of gazing at each other while savoring the wine.
It was a way of building a process so that tension could ease and what followed could proceed smoothly.
However, it was precisely at times like this that unexpected situations arose.
Looking at Applin, Lucent felt the taut cord of reason gradually loosening.
They had married out of necessity and agreed to fully meet each other’s conditions, yet a soft, yielding sensation wrapped around his entire body.
‘Don’t stray off course.’
Lucent corrected his wavering resolve and set his glass down.
“Undress, Applin.”
Inside the marital bedroom, he no longer used honorific speech.
“Pardon?”
Before she could even react to her surprise, Lucent began loosening the ties of his night robe as well.
“Just a moment!”
“Hmm?”
One of his eyebrows shot up sharply.
Only then did Applin fully realize the reality confronting her.
The words he had spoken at the time of their deal struck her mind like a bolt of lightning.
‘At least three children, and divorce is not permitted.’
She set down the wineglass she was holding as well.
Feeling foolish for having been swept up in empty ideals, she reproached herself.
What could she possibly have expected from a marriage without love?
‘Still, we can change the order, can’t we.’
It would not be too late to do it after their feelings deepened, even just a little.
“Lucent, we got married without any period of courtship.”
“Are you suggesting we start dating now, belatedly?”
“Yes.”
“Ha… how absurd.”
“Absurd…?”
Applin could not understand how her request could be strange enough for him to scoff at it.
Rather, it only made her sigh at Lucent’s perfectly arranged plan.
Angered, Applin lifted her chin defiantly and looked straight at him.
“Are you afraid if things don’t go according to plan?”
“Or are you afraid you’ll fall deeply for me?”
“The one who’s already fallen seems to be you, Applin.”
“…?!”
On what grounds was he saying something so absurd?
“Even though our marriage was formed by contract,”
“I just meant that I hoped it wouldn’t be so… harsh.”
Clenching her fists tightly, Applin poured out her fervent argument toward Lucent.
Lucent found her 모습 both endearing and amusing, enough to make him want to watch her endlessly.
Applin was clearly a different type of woman from his mother Monika and his sister Marie.
“Aren’t you the one trying to proceed according to a plan as well?”
“According to a plan?”
At Lucent’s counterargument, Applin was unable to respond right away.
In truth, his words were not wrong.
There was no denying that they each envisioned a different kind of marriage.
“I hate vagueness.”
“How long is this dating period?”
“That…”
“Time is money.”
“I can’t waste it unproductively.”
He acknowledged that Applin was a lovable woman, but he did not trust her completely.
If the Crown Prince had appeared at the wedding, he could not be certain what choice she would have made.
As she said, it had been a hasty marriage without love, so if Serge, her long-time lover, had reached out, she might have taken his hand without hesitation.
A woman once considered a future Empress would not easily abandon hope.
‘Is this a ploy to buy time while waiting for the Crown Prince?’
As if to halt the change in his cynical expression, Applin spoke.
“One month.”
A car bearing the imperial flag sped through the vast night road.
Serge was furious that he had failed to save Applin because he had been held back by the leech-like Marita.
Grabbing his hair with both hands, he snarled like a beast.
“Damn it…!”
It was all because of that vulgar woman.
“Max, I never knew Applin could be so reckless.”
“A man can stray for a moment.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, don’t they?”
“But she couldn’t even endure that and ended up marrying a man like Blackcarson?”
“Could it be because she loved Your Highness that much?”
“When women suffer great loss, their judgment often deteriorates significantly.”
Max gave Serge the tailor-made answer he wanted to hear.
It was not a being that could be persuaded by ordinary logic anyway.
“You’re right.”
“Applin must have misunderstood.”
“She must have thought the twelve years we spent together were being denied.”
Serge spoke in a mournful tone and clutched his forehead with his hand.
Was this the kind of hardship everyone experienced?
At least it was fortunate that he had quickly escaped Marita’s sinister sorcery.
To turn away from a woman as perfect as Applin and be bewitched by something so base.
‘It wasn’t my will.’
‘I must have been briefly toyed with by sorcery.’
Looking down at his empty hand, he clenched it into a tight fist.
The idea that Applin was not his woman was unacceptable.
Absolutely unacceptable.
“Your Highness, please do not worry.”
“We will arrive in Haven shortly.”
“Even now, we can escort Lady von Hafen back to her rightful place.”
“That’s right, Max.”
“But tell me.”
“What if Applin has slept with that man?”
“Do not worry, Your Highness.”
“It is not yet that time.”
Though Max answered calmly, inwardly he was utterly dumbfounded.
‘What is he saying?’
‘After doing every obscene thing imaginable with Marita himself…’
“Please trust in the chastity of Lady Applin.”
Max smiled awkwardly as he soothed Serge.
Applin and Lucent were in the midst of conversation, unable to narrow their differences.
At that moment, a very faint knock sounded, and Lucent shot a sharp glare toward the door.
There was only one person who would dare interrupt the wedding night of newlyweds.
“Stay at ease.”
“I’ll step out for a moment…”
Lucent reassured the startled Applin and quietly opened the door.
Of course, it was the person he had expected.
“What is it?”
Lucent’s low voice slipped out through the barely opened door.
Sensing his displeasure, Leon offered a brief bow with a stiff expression.
“I apologize, sir.”
Leon whispered the circumstances that had forced him to interrupt his master’s wedding night.
Deep lines gradually formed between Lucent’s brows.
He had anticipated it, yet he had not expected such fierce anger to surge up.
“He’s bringing misfortune upon himself.”
“Knowing full well how many eyes are watching him.”
“Sigh… indeed.”
“Prepare Riki.”
“Have him ready at the appointed time.”
“Understood, sir.”
As if foreseeing what was to come, the two carried out orders and responses with practiced ease.
After Leon left, Lucent trembled with rage.
‘He actually followed us all the way here.’
He had arrived precisely before Lucent could spend his wedding night with Applin.
Unable to stop the wedding, was he now trying to obstruct even their first night together?
Just then, Applin’s worried voice reached him.
“Lucent, did something happen?”
“It seems someone who couldn’t congratulate our wedding in time has arrived.”
“What?”
“They came all the way here?”
“Who could it be…?”
Applin looked utterly confused, unable to guess.
Lucent began preparing to put his clothes back on.
“The more congratulations, the better.”
“I suppose I should prepare to welcome our guest.”
Lucent’s face showed no trace of anger.
Instead, it was filled with an air of composure.
