Late in confessing the feelings

Rainard bowed as Édouard entered the study room. He sat on the leather chair and asked him to speak. 

"Did His Royal Highness read the message from the King?" Rainard asked while taking out another scroll from his pocket. 

Charles also walked in and bowed before Édouard. "This is the message from the King." Charles put the scroll before Édouard on the table. He picked it up and untied the silk ribbon on it. 

Édouard's expression changed to a menacing one, and he sneered. Charles had already read it, and he was concerned about Édouard. For this marriage to happen, the Duke of Wexnon was going to put his life in danger. 

"Your Royal Highness, may I speak a few words?" Charles asked. 

"Hmm." Édouard allowed him. 

"It would have been better if His Royal Highness hadn't agreed to marry the widow of the late Prince Mathieu," Charles said. Rainard tilted his head to look at him because he knew Édouard would scold him. 

"Your Royal Highness, it is not easy to start trade with the Kingdom of Gavaria when we all know it is ruled by the vicious ruler who took away the larger part of Escana three decades ago. If you go there and something happens, who will be responsible for it?" Charles suddenly turned emotional. 

The King of Gavaria wasn't an enemy of Escana anymore, after they gave them what they wanted in the war. However, growing a bilateral relationship with them was too risky. Charles didn't know what the King had in his mind. 

"I always wanted to talk to the King of Gavaria. Also, we will go to the Kingdom of Aezha not Gavaria. The Aezha Kingdom has helped us in the war many times. Now is the time I must go there and sign the trilateral agreement. So, I must go forward with the order of His Majesty," Édouard said. 

Charles sighed as he realized Édouard wasn't bothered about his suggestion. 

"Charles, be around Charlotte," Édouard ordered him. He bowed and left the study room.

After Charles left, Rainard handed him the second scroll. Édouard opened it and started reading it. "He wants me to go to the Aezha Kingdom after a week of my marriage," Édouard said, and put the scroll on the desk. He wanted to spend at least a month with Charlotte after his marriage. 

"Your Royal Highness, why didn't you confess your feelings to Her Highness before Mathieu did?" Rainard finally asked what had been bothering him for a long time. 

"I wish I could answer you," Édouard said. 

"Now, the King wants to risk your life by sending you," Rainard said in a fury. "Is Her Highness that important to you? Why don't you step back from this marriage? All these years, you have been suffering alone. Her Highness doesn't like you. I heard the strange things that she spread among the servants." He was  worried about the person, who worked for the betterment of those around him rather than himself. 

"Strange things?" Édouard was amused to hear him. He suddenly got curious about what Charlotte had spread among everyone. 

"She loves Mathieu. You are the one who's forcing Her Highness to marry her. Who marries a widow merely for the territory? He has other evil intentions, which will be revealed gradually. Who keeps his eyes on his late brother's woman? She won't be a dutiful wife to you and many things," Rainard said, and let out a frustrated sigh. 

"There are better single women than Her Highness in the Kingdom of Escana, Your Royal Highness. You must think it over once more. At least, you need a person in your life, who can cherish you, love you, and take care of you." Rainard hardly used to speak in Édouard's matter, but today it was important. If he wanted the Prince to be happy, then he had to make him understand how wrong his decision was!

"I was late in confessing my feelings to Charlotte. That's why she is saying all this. She is making an effort to run away from me. She tried to take her life, Rainard." 

Rainard was shocked to hear from Édouard, and he gaped at him. 

"She could have died at that moment. Only I know how tough it was for her. She took such an extreme step. All these years, if I felt relaxed because of someone, then it was Charlotte. I'm glad that she's spreading all these things, which are certainly true to some extent. Let her talk as much as she can. In Beromont, she was alone. Only I know how much she suffered after Mathieu's sudden demise," Édouard said as he reclined his back in the chair. 

He put the scroll on the desk and got up from the chair. "Let's keep this secret. You should go and take a rest," Édouard told Rainard, and he rose to his feet. He left the study room first, followed by Rainard. He locked it and walked away. 

~~~~~~

Charlotte had finished the tea that was served to her earlier. She wondered if she should wait for Édouard or go to her room.

She again looked around the living room and sighed. She had to live with him in the same room, and she was nervous about it. She fiddled with her fingers, wondering if there was a possibility that he would drop the idea of marrying her. 

She tilted her head upon hearing the sound of the footsteps. Édouard had returned again, and he asked Charles to leave them. Charles bowed to him before leaving the room. 

He sat next to her on the sofa. Charlotte moved away as she didn't want him to be close to her. But Édouard moved closer to her. The more she moved away, the more Édouard got close to her. Her back hit the sofa's armrest, and she looked behind. Before she could get up and run away, Édouard trapped her by resting his arm on the armrest, leaning slightly towards her. 

Charlotte glared at him and asked him what he was doing. 

"What do you think?" He asked. 

Charlotte didn't answer him and averted her gaze from him. Édouard drew her chin with his calloused finger, forcing her to look at him. "I am here," he said. 

"I need to go back. Can I?" Charlotte asked. 

"I refuse," Édouard promptly said. 

Charlotte opened her mouth to speak, but then she paused. 

"I will tour you around the palace." Édouard let go of her chin and leaned back to stand up. Charlotte thought to run away to her room when Édouard grasped her wrist and pulled her back. Her back hit the chest of Édouard. The next second, he twirled her, and now they were face-to-face. 

"I am the ruler here, so you must follow my orders," he asserted.