“Who on earth came up with this title…?”

Valentin rubbed his cringing hands and goosebump-ridden arms. The excessively childish and straightforward headline seemed like it would pop out of the newspaper at any moment. Ugh, just like them… Valentin gritted his teeth and tried hard to ignore those nauseating letters and began reading the main text.

Contrary to the Dennox Grand Ducal House silencing the media at his request, the 3rd Prince’s wedding was covered in excessive detail. Look at that feature article deliberately disclosing all the information. Each piece of news was like boasting, ‘Aren’t we amazing? Isn’t it incredible?’, making him shudder in disgust.

The imperial wedding inviting all the nobles of the empire, the parade riding in a carriage around Eldon and scattering gold coins in the slums, the 3rd Prince and his wife who love all the imperial citizens so much… Valentin muttered continuously while reading the feature article covering Clifton and Evener’s wedding.

“No, these guys are treating even their wedding like marketing…”

Indeed, it was a move befitting true masters of the media world who had been borrowing the power of the press for many years.

“Do these people really have no privacy…?”

Valentin clicked his tongue while reading the excessively useless yet overly detailed information, such as Evener Luwin’s uniform jacket size, which was prominently displayed even in the back article.

“Who on earth is curious about this…”

Valentin said while chewing on a cookie with cream. His posture was sprawled on the inner room sofa like a sloth.

“Since when were they preparing for the wedding… I thought we were the only ones roasting beans in a flash of lightning, but they’re even worse…”

It was an excessively quick change of stance, considering the 3rd Prince was pestering him just a few months ago.

“Did they also have a premarital pregnancy…?”

Valentin, who had recently become a shut-in by constantly holing up in his room alone, muttered to himself.

“But I wonder if it’s okay that I didn’t attend this…”

Valentin muttered while turning the newspaper with his fingers greasy from cookies and cream.

The worry syndrome about obligatory social activities was starting to sprout again.

‘I must have been invited…’

But these days, he couldn’t even check what invitations had come in. As soon as Valentin, who was depressed, received Reynard’s suggestion to suspend everything related to high society, the atmosphere around him changed. No one could recklessly visit Valentin, and the servants no longer delivered anything. Even if he asked Dawson, he only shook his head, saying nothing had come to him either. Reynard must be cutting off everything at his level.

‘He’s probably doing it so I don’t get anxious and worried while looking at the invitations…’

Still, to find out about such a large-scale event that shook the entire empire only through the newspaper… Suddenly, an uneasy feeling surged up again.

“The imperial family must have demanded attendance…”

It’s the first wedding among the emperor’s children. As it’s no different from the first marriage of this generation, the imperial family must have paid even more attention.

“Don’t worry, I sent a proxy to the wedding.”

“Ah, you startled me!”

When did he come in without a sound? Valentin, who was surprised to death by the touch and answer that stroked the back of his head buried in the newspaper. No, not to death, the baby might fall out…!

“I wondered what you were reading so intently, it’s such filthy stuff…”

Reynard muttered while removing a piece of cookie stuck to the corner of Valentin’s mouth and putting it in his own mouth. Subtly dissing the 3rd Prince couple as filthy stuff… His eyes, not hiding his contempt, were directed at the nauseating newspaper title.

Valentin rubbed his husband’s innately arrogant expression, which wasn’t hidden, with his greasy hand. The way he rubbed it desperately seemed like he was trying to neutralize his husband’s ‘nastiness.’ When Valentin’s annoyed face was rubbed and barely returned to its usual expression, he carefully asked.

“Would His Majesty the Emperor be satisfied with just a proxy?”

“I said you couldn’t move because it’s early in the pregnancy.”

A clear refutation. It was indeed a remark that the emperor, who thoroughly understood Reynard’s way of handling things, would readily agree to, pushing his back.

Valentin unknowingly admired Reynard’s keen understanding of people’s subtle emotions and his appropriate social skills to match them. He thought he was inexperienced in such things, but his social persona shown to the outside seemed to be different. Was his capricious behavior towards Valentin just the initial appearance of a romantic idiot…? He was at the point of admiring Reynard, who was improving day by day in his attitude towards him.

“Is there anything you can’t do?”

It was praise for him, who not only excelled in social skills but also thoroughly took on the role of the submissive one towards Valentin since the wedding.

Seeing Valentin, who had cookie crumbs at the corners of his mouth, giving a thumbs up with both hands, Reynard smiled, raising the corners of his mouth, and brought his tongue to the powdered spots, licking them clean. Until he persistently blocked Valentin’s mouth, who was going “Ugh, dirty!”, and eventually led to a sticky kiss.

“How’s your body?”

“As always, my body is comfortable.”

Valentin exaggerated his answer to give Reynard a sense of satisfaction.

He wanted to praise and encourage his husband, who was even making excuses to the emperor for his sake, sorting out the annoying things around him in advance and making efforts. It would be correct to say that he wanted to express his gratitude.

“Yeah. Then rest comfortably. I’ll go see Father for a bit and come back.”

Reynard left one last kiss on Valentin’s forehead and quickly vacated his seat. The fairy’s water-colored blue eyes stared at the large body leaving for a long time. After a while, when Valentin was sure of his complete absence, he sighed as if the ground would collapse and tidied up the newspaper.

“Phew……”

In fact, it had barely been a week since he had been leisurely in the room and his heart had been carefree and comfortable.

Lying down and just consuming food like a surplus human doing nothing, he was becoming depressed again. If he had been at the main Wiche Viscounty mansion, it might have been fine. When he was in seclusion for tactical reasons, he enjoyed being off the radar with peace of mind.

But this was the place where Valentin had settled down after getting married.

Moreover, to the point of not knowing where to put his body out of awe, his position was the third highest in Dales.

When the neighborhood’s notorious idler realized that fact, he began to be conscious of rolling around for days on end. Of course, no one actually gave him any looks. But who would be comfortable lying sprawled in their in-laws’ house, doing nothing and taking naps all day? Unless one had Reynard’s level of shamelessness and stubbornness, it would be natural for a truly ordinary person to be uncomfortable in their spouse’s family home after marriage, right?

So this was an extremely normal reaction. Moreover, even more so in Valentin’s position.

In addition, Valentin wasn’t inherently a shut-in type. Being cooped up without meeting anyone started to make him feel suffocated and frustrated.

‘At this rate, I’ll really get serious depression.’

It was a thought that accurately grasped himself.

“Wouldn’t it be better to say I’ll fulfill my duties again…?”

Valentin muttered while looking at another weekly magazine on the table. It contained a detailed interview about what activities Evener Leopold, who had now become a prince consort, would do as a royal in the future and what efforts he would make for the imperial citizens. No one pressured him, but he felt unnecessarily compared.

“Sigh… I really don’t know.”

Valentin muttered, holding his head and slumping down.

His mind wavered back and forth several times a day.

He couldn’t openly enjoy his current situation… He didn’t have the energy to jump back into the war of socializing these days, filled with positive energy. But he wasn’t exactly compromising and satisfied with his situation either. Feeling gloomy, then lethargic, wanting to give up, then thinking this isn’t it.

“Damn pregnancy hormones…”

In the end, he blamed the pregnancy for his wavering mood that he couldn’t help.

Valentin buried his face in his arms, engulfed in self-loathing.

Trauma

It was a vast darkness.

Dirty and hazy, almost black fog-like things dizzied Valentin’s vision.

[You’re under arrest on suspicion of corruption related to the Wessex Railway!]

Father and uncle were dragged away by the capital police who stormed in like a hurricane.

It was a mess. They were involved in various frauds related to corruption and embezzlement in national projects and other business cases. The company collapsed overnight, and high-ranking executives, lawyers, and accountants were all taken in for investigation.

A hellish chaos was unfolding.

When a low-ranking lawyer who had been arrested without knowing anything was so exhausted and finally released from the charges and barely escaped the police station, his eyes were sunken like a skull.

[This can’t be! It’s all a false accusation!]

With all the family’s lawyers also arrested, Mother desperately claimed at social gatherings, trying to get help from those around her. However, she received contempt from people who coldly turned their backs on her and came back ill.

It was the same for Valentin. No, it was natural to suffer even greater humiliation than the Viscountess, who had a good reputation. He was turned away at the door at various gatherings he went to find figures in high society to prove his innocence and provide an alibi, and at the places he barely entered through acquaintances, he received all kinds of criticism.

[Of course, it is natural for a high noble of Heston to bestow mercy on those who ask for help…]

The eyes were looking at a criminal. A gaze of contempt as if looking at a robber or a murderer, as if he wasn’t even qualified to ask for that mercy…

[I knew it would eventually turn out like this. How arrogant they were…]

[Relying only on money and quality. This is why families without a long history…]

[So you should have treated others better. How can there be not a single person willing to help you like this? Considering your usual character, it’s only natural, really.]

[Indeed… Seeing this, everything is really cause and effect. It’s the Lord’s judgment.]

The sharp voices of people who claimed to be gentlemen and ladies of high society surrounded his ears. The stinging words gnawed and pounced, making his head burst.

[No…no! This is all false accusation! My father and uncle didn’t do anything! We are innocent!]

No matter how desperately he explained to the contemptuous and sneering crowd, no one listened. Everyone was busy mocking him.

[Your Highness! Prince Clifton! Please listen to me!]

Although it was a relationship he had forcibly clung to since childhood, even if it was a barely maintained relationship, they were engaged. Valentin waited all night outside the palace gate for the 3rd Prince who wouldn’t meet him. Now, the only one he could rely on was his fiancé, Clifton.

When he finally faced Clifton after shivering in the cold all night with a blistered face, he didn’t hesitate to say words of contempt to Valentin, who was begging in a wretched state.