Married To The Enemy Kingdom's Illegitimate Prince-Chapter 89 — She Is My Wife

The sun was still high up, servants working on leaving up the dead leaves on the mansion’s yard. Once they heard a carriage make its way through the paved path, they began lowering their heads, bowing to their master who had arrived home.

Returning from a brief meeting with a few nobles and commoners, Lucian rushed into the mansion. Once he stepped inside, Elise, who was standing there, bowed.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She hadn’t looked for it often unless she needed something.

"Not really... it’s just your wife has been acting strange," the red-haired maid stated, nonchalantly in a rude tone.

"You should speak about her with respect. She is my wife," Lucian coldly said, looking at her with an emotionless expression.

The maid scoffed, almost as if his warning meant nothing to her.

"We both know how much you hate her. Save the act for the king, Your Highness. Also, don’t be under the illusion that just because you have now become a grand duke, you can get rid of me. The king is always on your account, you see," the red-haired woman smiled, gently placing her hands on his shoulders. Then, she positioned herself behind him, slowly removing his long dark coat.

Lucian remained silent without giving her words any thought. In the past, he would constantly think of ways to get rid of her, however as time went, he realized that the king would always find a way to bring her back into his life. She seemed to be no different than a curse and he had decided to live with it, avoiding as much as possible.

"I’ll head to my study. If anyone comes looking for me, let them in. It could be urgent."

"I’m not your bodyguard," Elise snorted. "I’ll put this in your bedroom," she gestured towards the coat she held in her hands.

Lucian glanced at her one last time before climbing the stairs to his study room. He unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt which had been suffocating him. It wasn’t that, rather the meeting he had earlier today that was strangling him.

More people had turned against him in Erion after the marketplace incident and everyone seemed to be doubtful of his capabilities to rule a land which irked him. The crown prince was younger than him yet he was handled with a much bigger responsibility on him!

[I keep telling you, you should really get rid of the king and take over the throne. And, kill that arrogant prince too,] Keal snroted, clearly just as annoyed as Lucian by the situation.

"You should give me advice to get out of trouble, not how to get into more trouble," Lucian sighed, grabbing a random book from his bookshelf filled with folders of documents with only a few books.

Keal hadn’t replied to him as he usually would with his playful tone. He only had murderous intentions unlike Lucian who wanted to keep things ’peaceful’ in his own ways.

[He doesn’t know that his peace can only cause more choas elsewhere,] Keal mumbled to himself, his dark shadow disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Lucian sat on his chair, rusling through the pages, just skimming through it. He had already read this book in his childhood, trapped inside the palace walls. It was once his escape at that time. The story of a man who had nothing to lose and somehow gained everything seemed fascinating to his younger self. However, as he grew older, he knew it was nothing but fiction. There could never be such a thing in his life where he would have something to call his own, let alone possessing everything he could ever desire.

Memories of his childhood vanished once the heard a knock on the door.

He closed the book, clearing his throat before allowing the person at the door to come in.

The door creaked open and a red-haired young woman slowly made her way inside, holding a few stacks of paper.

"What brings you here, Fiona?" he demanded, noticing the worried expression on her face that made him slightly anxious.

"Well..." Fiona bowed first slightly before stepping closer to Lucian’s desk. "Adrian wanted to bring these to you, Your Highness but he had some urgent work that came up. So, he asked me to give you these. They are kind of urgent, you see," she placed the pile of papers on his desk, letting out a sigh.

"Alright... I’ll look into them," Lucian started to read the first paper, seeing the urgency the documents seemed to carry.

Noticing the young woman stand there without saying anything nor leaving, Lucian understood that wasn’t the only reason why she came here.

"Anything else?" He asked, without raising his gaze to look at her.

"Well... I don’t want to meddle into your private matters, Your Highness," Fiona bagan, fidgeting her hands.

"You may speak. You are, after all, a close friend of mine just as Adrian is. At worst, things won’t go you way but I don’t punish you for stepping out of your boundaries."

Although Fiona knew it was wrong of her, she clenched his fists, mustering the remaining courage she needed before parting her lips.

"Your wife... I mean, Her Highness..."

"Did she cause you trouble?" Lucian lifted his gaze, a frown forming on his face.

"Oh! No, no. That isn’t the case. It’s just what I’ve heard every time I come into the mansion and I’ve seen..."

"And what may that be?" Lucian lifted his hands, interlocking his fingers and resting his chin on them as he tried to understand Fiona’s words more carefully.

"Well she has been... waiting for you every night you came late. And I’ve heard she doesn’t sleep until she is certain you’ve returned, Your Highness," Fiona voiced out although the nervousness in her tone was obvious. It was the first time she had overstepped her boundaries this way and she was unsure of what Lucian would do about it.

However, hearing Lucian scoff, Fiona couldn’t help but wonder what he found funny.

"There is no way that woman would do that, Fiona. You must have heard wrong."

Baffled by his reply and indifference, Fiona lowered her head for a moment before speaking.

"Your Highness, you don’t understand. She seems to deeply cherish you and genuinely want this relationship to work. However, it seems to be you who isn’t paying her enough attention and giving her the time she needs. I know there is plenty of work on hanging whenever you aren’t around, but please treat her well because once a woman’s heart breaks, there is no medicine to cure it."

Lucian, who couldn’t understand any of Fiona’s words, simply looked at her, blinking like she had told him the most absurd thing there could be.

"Your Highness, please work on your relationship a little harder. Even if it was an alliance to gain a peace treaty, you have married her and marriage is no joke. You need to spend all your life with her. So why don’t you... drop the hatred for once? She ain’t the one who—" Fiona quickly covered her mouth, gasping at the realization of her own words.

"I-I should leave before Adrian wonders what’s taking me so long..." Fiona quickly bowed before storming outside the study room, as if running for her life. She had mentioned a forbidden topic before the grand duke and she was shocked to see her neck was still there!

Be more careful, Fiona!

She shook her head, descending the stairs at high speed.

Lucian, who was still seated on his chair, slammed his hands on his desk, abruptly standing up from the chair.

His mind went blank upon hearing Fiona’s words. They made no sense to him. Why would Cynthia do that? Was it even true? He... wanted to verify its authenticity. After all, he did once see her sleeping at the stairs however, it possibly couldn’t be because she was waiting for him.

It’s ridiculous... All of this is ridiculous!

Lucian clenched his jaw, opened the door and rushing through the hallway.

Hearing a familiar voice, he halted his steps. It was coming from the first floor. He made his way toward the railing and looked down.

Cynthia was sitting at the dining table with Arisia. They were chatting as if they had known each other for years, both laughing.

But she is faking it.

Lucian carefully scanned Cynthia who was clearly trying her best to not let her awkwardness show. From the second floor, her clenched fists on her thighs were visible, making him wonder why she even bothered to act.

[Why do you even think she is a good person? She is fake from head to toe, Lucian!]

"I..." Lucian hesitated. Was she truly fake? Everything she did was an illusion she created for him to see?

"I need to confirm before saying anything about it. We’ll see about that tonight," Lucian descended from the stairs, his gaze locked on Cynthia’s smiling face.

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