Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 90: The Only One Who Is Suffering

Chapter 90: The Only One Who Is Suffering

Stepping inside her designated bedroom, Melania could not help but sigh.

The room was not bad per se, on the contrary, it exceeded her expectations –– vast and filled with light despite the gray skies outside its tall and wide windows.

The walls were decorated with fine wallpaper strips and had tiny pink rosebuds carefully painted on them. the furniture was new and clearly crafted by the best and most skilled hands in the entire Kingdom. The carpets on the floor were clean and soft to the touch, walking on them reminded the princess of the feeling she had while walking on the soft summer grass on the cliff near the ocean.

No, the room was not bad. But it was still not the room where she felt like she could belong.

Helping Her Highness with her white coat, Loraline, too, took another look around her chambers before noting,

"This is not bad at all, Your Highness. Look, they even managed to get you the very same wallpaper with the tiny rosebuds on it; it’s the same one you have in your bedroom in Lafad! That was very thoughtful and nice of the Royal Family! Don’t you agree?"

With a pained sigh escaping her peach-colored lips, Melania shut her eyes and shook her head,

"What’s the point of them being nice to me when the only person whose feelings towards me actually matter, does not pay any attention to me?"

Turning around to face her lady-in-waiting, she continued, her voice filled with tension of hidden burden,

"Have you noticed the look in his eyes? Cold; freezing cold and utterly indifferent! There was no sign of any positive emotion on his face. How could he be so uninterested when today was the first time he met his future wife?"

Loraline understood what her lady meant and that realization hurt her even more. Back in their homeland, the princess was adored by every member of the Royal Family; she was spoiled by the King and doted on by her older brothers, thus, now, facing such a cold and apathetic welcome was not something Melania she had expected, and rightfully so.

The lady-in-waiting wondered whether her situation here would truly improve with time, but whether she herself believed it or not, she knew that she had no choice but to try and remain positive for the both of them.

"You know what they say in Lafad, Your Highness," Loraline started in a kind and reassuring voice, "at first you endure each other, then you can’t live without one another."

Melania took a seat on the soft bed, then wrapped her arms around her tender shoulders, and closed her eyes, the pain of her attendant’s words only intensified her distress. Taking another deep inhale, she finally replied,

"They cannot live without one another... Yes, because the Queen cannot live without the King; without the King, she is nobody."

***

Yanad kept fidgeting with the black quill between his fingers, his thoughts drowning deeper in the abyss of his relentless consciousness. The thick notebook in his hands was already missing quite a few pages that were previously stained by the black ink, then torn out, and thrown into the trash bin underneath his desk.

Meeting the foreign princess had brought an unnecessary interruption to his workflow and now he was unable to regain focus.

And he was utterly irritated.

As if to irk him even more, the door to his study echoed to him with a resounding knock but before he could dismiss the person behind it, it was swung open, welcoming the towering presence of the King.

With an air of cold seriousness and a deep wrinkle etched between his thick eyebrows, Euris marched up to his son’s desk, and asked, his voice verging with an angry shout,

"What exactly were you trying to achieve with your horrible behavior back then?!"

Furrowing his eyebrows as well, Yanad fixed his bright green eyes on his father, offering him a quite displeased look,

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Your Majesty."

The King, however, was not impressed by the Crown Prince’s audacious response. With his face turned even darker, he almost hissed,

"I warned you. I warned you not to act this way!"

Setting his notebook aside at last, Yanad released a long sigh, and said,

"There was nothing wrong with my actions. I was cordial, polite, and more importantly, –– honest. This is how arranged marriages work anyway... They are just a formality and neither of the future spouses is obliged to show any sign of affection towards one another. I played my role and I will play it again when needed."

"Such impudence! Be careful, Yanad. This union is crucial to both Geraldion and the House of Ruan. With Lafad’s support, our standing in the political arena will finally stabilize which means that you will have to do everything to make sure the princess never complains about her life here to her parents! Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Averting his eyes, the Crown Prince nodded and answered in a quiet voice,

"Yes, you have, Your Majesty."

Although the King got what he wanted, an unpleasant aftertaste of such a conversation left him no choice but to leave in order to preserve the last remnants of composure.

Once the door behind his back was closed, Yanad threw the notebook on the desk, leaned back in his chair, released a long, weary exhale, and rubbed his stinging eyes.

The vine compressing his chest prompted him to think of someone else; someone whom he had been desperately trying not to think of, but always failed whenever the feeling of overwhelming pain still managed to take hold of him.

He leaned forward and opened the last drawer of his wooden desk, rummaging through the collection of journals he always kept there until finally getting his hands on the things he was looking for –– a small charcoal portrait of Aideen drawn by a street artist following his detailed description of her appearance.

It was the only thing he could ever have of her. It was the only thing he could never give up.

Sliding his long fingers over the surface of the portrait, Yanad closed his eyes again, and whispered,

"Without you here, everything seems unbearable. Is it so wrong of me to hope that your life in The North is not much better than it was here? I am a miserable fool... But without you, I am now the only one who is suffering."