Arabella and Ferdinand’s seats were close to where Icarus was since the Reverio Kingdom was the second most powerful nation in Eliora. Valeria was first.
[What’s that on his neck?] Icarus narrowed his eyes.
[Huh?! It’s a kiss mark!] Icarus glanced at Arabella and she pretended to be looking elsewhere.
[No. It couldn’t possibly be her. She takes good care of her image. She wouldn’t leave sothing like that and let it be seen by others. Ferdinand has no other wife or concubine. Wait- That bastard! Did he cheat on her? And he didn’t even try to hide it?] Icarus misunderstood.
’Why is he going to the wrong conclusions? That mark is mine,’ Arabella glanced at Ferdinand. The mark she made was quite noticeable and her husband intentionally wore sothing that wouldn’t hide it.
[After defeating and everyone else to marry Arabella, he left her all alone after just a month! How dare he marry her if he would just make her lonely in Valeria and treat her like this? How disappointing. I guess there was so truth to the rumors about him, after all. I thought he wasn’t this kind of person.] Icarus glared at Ferdinand. He misunderstood what was going on.
Ferdinand glared back. None of the two shrunk back so they kept glaring at each other.
’What are they doing? This is not a glaring contest.’
It was almost like there were sparks crackling between the two. It made the hall tense.
[It seems the rumors are true. These two strongest n in Eliora fought over her.] Queen Lucinda, Lucille’s mother thought.
[I hope they don’t suddenly decide to fight here. Their hostility to each other is so strong.] King Neville, Lucille’s father thought. He was the current representative voted upon to manage deus.
They were sitting near Arabella and Ferdinand.
[They almost had a duel the other day. I hope His Majesty remains calm this ti.] Alwin thought. He was disguised as Ferdinand’s guard knight and was with them.
’Sothing like that happened?!’ she didn’t hear a thing about it.
Arabella held Ferdinand’s hands under the table to get his attention. It would be dangerous if he got into a fight on the first day of the Assembly.
Raymond had repeatedly warned Ferdinand they were here to socialize so he should not fight with anyone. But their plans were already crumbling right on the first day.
"Is sothing the matter?" Ferdinand finally broke away from the glaring contest.
"Please concentrate on the Assembly," Arabella reminded and her husband thankfully did. Though, he still threw glares at Icarus every ti he felt the latter looking at her.
Ferdinand was not even glancing in Andrew’s direction anymore. He was more bothered by Icarus.
’Why does Icarus keep looking at ?’
It was also weird that Icarus kept thinking about her in a caring manner.
’Don’t tell he’s already interested in ? We never t before.’
[She’s as beautiful as ever. But her aura had changed so much. I wonder why I felt an overwhelming sense of relief when I saw her yesterday. So much so that I was so surprised when my butler pointed out that tears were streaming down my cheeks. Was I simply that happy to see her again?]
’Again?!’ Arabella froze when she heard Icarus’ thoughts.
’What does he an, again? I never t him before. No, don’t tell he also has mories of the past?!’
If that was the case, it would be dangerous. Especially since Icarus was already misunderstanding things.
’No, I must be overthinking. He must be referring to yesterday.’
But the way Icarus thought, it was as if so ti had passed since they last saw each other.
"My Empress, what’s wrong?" Ferdinand noticed that she turned pale. He addresses her as ’My Empress’ when they were with other people.
"N-nothing. None at all," Arabella smiled but Ferdinand saw through it.
[Is she worried about sothing?]
Ferdinand looked around and caught Icarus staring at her.
[I know what I did was kind of dirty but he has to recognize that Arabella is my wife now. He should stop looking at her so openly like this. If he was soone else I will kill him for staring at her so intently even in my presence. He is making my wife uncomfortable too.] Ferdinand glared at Icarus.
{Alwin, make a barrier around my wife so King Icarus cannot see her.}
{As you wish, Your Majesty.}
’Do they really have to go this far?’ Arabella glanced at Alwin and Ferdinand. Alwin flicked his fingers and there was a barrier around her the next instant.
[She vanished?!]
Icarus was wide-eyed and looked around. He glared at Ferdinand when he realized it was Alwin’s doing.
[Stingy bastard. I was just looking. Does this an I am the only one who cannot see her?]
Icarus glanced around and sighed when he realized it was indeed just him who cannot see Arabella. He finally stopped looking in her direction when he realized it was pointless to keep looking since Alwin was unlikely to remove the barrier until Ferdinand gives the order.
’Is this why I didn’t know where Alwin was yesterday?’ Arabella realized she had to be more careful since Alwin might use this to spy on her because of yesterday.
As the welcoming speech and pleasantries were given, Ferdinand easily got bored. He began playing with Arabella’s hand under the table. He kept rubbing her hand while he maintained a poker face.
She tried to free her hand but he didn’t let go.
’Geez, is he trying to distract too because he’s bored?’
Arabella focused on listening to everyone’s thoughts to ignore the caresses on the back of her hand.
And, she unexpectedly learned a lot of things.
Through Ferdinand, Icarus, and her forr suitor’s thoughts, Arabella learned why her husband tended to think he stole her from Icarus. And why Icarus kept looking in her direction earlier.
Ferdinand and Icarus apparently first t when they were eighteen. It was on the battlefield when they defended a part of Eliora’s borders from an attack from a horde of monsters coming from the seas.
Since then, the two t up quite often just to have duels. They beca sparring and drinking buddies since they were the strongest in Eliora. Others were not be able to keep up with them so they got along well and kept challenging each other with the sword.
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