The Reason for Marriage

Daniel had taken to asking questions in the silence after they had made love. Iveca never minded – it made her feel like her opinion was validated. And usually, the questions were harmless enough. Tonight, however, he had asked her what exactly she liked about their intimate time together and she had to feign taking her time to think about it. The answer wasn’t a difficult one, but she played along.

“I like it all. Except for the sleeping parts after.”

“What else?” Daniel said, kissing her ear. “I will take notes and make it better for next time.” He gave her a wry smile, and Iveca felt her heart flutter.

“That’s enough un-kingly talk,” Iveca said, her smile spreading, “don’t you want to hear about what else I like about you?”

She expected Daniel to act offishly when his question was spurned, but instead, his smile only grew warmer.

“I’d like that,” came his reply.

“Well, when you come to pick me up, it’s nice.” Iveca curled up in his arms and continued to speak. “You take such a risk to come down, but I like it so I can’t say that you don’t have to come, or that I don’t want you to.”

“Well, I’m going to keep visiting you, because I like it.”

“But you must be busy,” Iveca protested.

“Don’t get hurt on your way, don’t wander around unfamiliar places, also…” His eyes were looking at her, but strangely distant. Iveca pretended not to know about the slight strangeness. His warmth was enough for her to know. “Please don’t go anywhere else alone, Iveca. Promise me that.”

“But you also have to come a long way alone,” said Iveca.

“I’m pushed forward in looking forward to being able to walk back together again.”

Iveca smiled, then turned her head into his chest. I will do better, she muttered to herself. She forced her heart down lightly, after being excited by his soft words. As Anriq said, it was nice to be able to use her just by saying some sweet words. He was someone with a lot of secrets, but things were good even if there were a lot of things that were hidden. Whatever His Majesty wanted her to do, she would do well. Suddenly struggling with strange anxiety and sadness, she closed her eyes tightly.

***

The next day, a short administrative office employee with a sullen expression was called to the Queen’s Palace. Her name was Eugene Unit, who took charge of Rihan Kadmin, accompanied him to the Empire, and returned safely to the Amethan Kingdom just a few months ago.

Eugene came to the Bureau of Investigation office with a rather annoyed face when the Queen said she had some questions about Rihan Kadmin, for which she had been called to the Bureau of Investigation’s office so many times. However, she was surprised by the attitude of the Queen, Iveca, that it was not as arrogant as she expected.

“Did you get a custody order?”

“Yes, under the order of His Majesty,” replied Iveca.

Eugene thought it was going to be a more unnerving question than the one Bureau of Investigation’s staff gave her before. The only information Eugene knew about the Queen was that she was a noblewoman, and the Judicial Affairs Bureau was making a new law under her guidance. She had no particular interest in any other gossip. However, she would never imagine that the Queen would be such a small girl with a somewhat intimidated look. Almost all the aristocrats she had met were rather arrogant.

“I heard that Bureau of Investigation decided to do the assassination under their authority,” pressed Iveca, keen to not let the topic change too often or too quickly.

“We were at the scene of the assassination attempt. I shared a room with one of the Bureau of Investigation staff.”

Eugene, who caught a glimpse of two Bureau of Investigation employees standing at the Queen’s palace, sighed once and continued.

“At that time, I could not use magic for a lot of reasons, and Rihan quickly noticed so it was a failure.”

“It must be embarrassing as you were with the personal protection order.”

“Well, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. There was nothing I could do. It’s not like I can fight with the Bureau of Investigation staff.”

“Hmm…”

“Still, two people who were following orders from different sides could not go together, so we separated and returned home.”

“Separated? So, the Bureau of Investigation’s staff are back?”

“I knew that they came back before me. But I heard that all of them died as they crossed over the Empire territory. It would have been impossible for anyone to survive as they were in a civil war.”

“Ah, do you happen to know what kind of person the employees were?”

Eugene tilted her head slightly, glanced at the Bureau of Investigation staff that were guarding behind her seat and answered.

“Won’t the Bureau of Investigation know better? I only know superficial things.”

Seeing the hardened expressions of the Bureau of Investigation staff, Eugene sighed once. She was not very fond of the Bureau of Investigation staff. The Bureau of Administration and the Bureau of Investigation have not been on good terms for a long time now, and it only got worse since they returned from the Empire. In addition, that blue-haired Bureau of Investigation staff was once attacked by Rihan, claiming that he was personally aware of Rihan’s skills.