Lucia

HAPPILY EVER AFTER(1)

Edited by: ShadowDog

The King came to the Queen’s Palace without sending any message in advance. When he appeared, Beth was in the middle of a conversation with a noblewoman that she had invited. The noblewoman couldn’t blame person that had suddenly disrupted them and had to rise in the middle of their discussion to leave.

Beth wondered why the King abruptly intruded into her palace. It was hardly possible for the king not to know that the time when she met with the noblewomen was in its own way, an important part of her itinerary as Queen.

“What might be the matter, Your Majesty?”

“This king got stood up.”

Kwiz plopped down on the sofa with a peeved expression on his face.

“Sorry?”

“This king is the only one in the world that can stand someone up. Yesterday, Selena definitely promised to have lunch with me today.”

Kwiz was really looking forward to the lunch appointment with his lovely daughter whom he wouldn’t trade for all the treasures in the world. Even when it went past the appointment time, he gratifyingly thought that she was running late because she was a young lady and had to prepare. But even after waiting for a good while, there was no news. He got concerned and sent a servant to check but the servant returned with a hollow answer. Princess Selena had already gone out in the morning, so she wasn’t around.

Kwiz was terribly hurt by his daughter’s betrayal. It seems like just yesterday when she was clinging to him and crying ‘Royal Father’ and he couldn’t believe that she’d already found other things more interesting than her parent’s embrace.

In Xenon, there were two men who showed off their unstoppable love for their daughters. One of them was Beth’s husband and the sovereign of this country, and the other was the Duke of Taran, a man who held power second only to the king.

Beth recalled the ridiculous matter that happened because of the highest authorities in the country. It was called the dollhouse case.

Kwiz custom-made a dollhouse with a cutely decorated bedroom for his daughter. Selena took that dollhouse to the ducal residence and boasted about it to her friend. Evangeline was very envious and waited for her father who was returning home late that day.

Hugo was moved to see his daughter came out to meet him with sleepiness in her eyes.

[Father. I want a dollhouse too.]

When Evangeline rubbed her head in his chest and whined, Hugo felt very regretful that he couldn’t put a dollhouse in front of his daughter right now. And the very next day, he found a constructor and began production for the dollhouse immediately.

My daughter should have the best in the world!

A larger, fancier dollhouse with a living room inside a bedroom, became Evangeline’s. Selena, who visited the ducal residence, was shocked to see her friend with a better dollhouse and ran to Kwiz.

[Royal father. Eve has a better dollhouse.]

Who will make the nicer, more fabulous, more expensive dollhouse?

Beth and Lucia watched, completely dumbfounded at the two men who were competing with each other over something immature.

It went past the standard of being a toy and crossed into the territory of artworks. They chiseled a small bathtub out of marble, called a watchmaker to make a miniature clock to hang inside the dollhouse, commission a famous painter for a painting to hang on the wall of the dollhouse, and even got adopted equipment facilities for the small bathtub to receive water.

After almost six months, the dollhouses were completed, and the two men came to a mutual agreement and set up an objective judging panel to judge their work. They got the same score in the first round and chose a date for the second round. Their wives who had just been observing the situation came forward. It was a competition that had nothing to gain even if you won and would only hurt the feelings of whoever lost.

[It looks like we are both troubled by husbands who can’t act their age, Duchess.]

[I know what you mean, Your Highness.]

The two women comforted each other and forcefully concluded the fight by agreeing to donate the dollhouse to the showroom in the Outer Palace hall.

In fact, while the fathers were busy fighting over the dollhouse, their two daughters had already lost interest and were focused on other ways to entertain themselves.

The amazing competition that drew the attention of many people, fizzled out in the end without a winner. The two huge dollhouses, made in the form of a three-story estate mansion, became a specialty for foreign envoys to see at least once.

After the dollhouse incident, it became a trend for people to look at their youngest daughter and go, ‘our daughter is the cutest.’

“She’s at an age where she forgets promises she makes easily, even firm ones.” (Beth)

“She went to the Duke’s residence again, right?” (Kwiz)

“There’s no other place that Selena goes to.”

“It is troubling for the princess to form the habit of going out continuously from a young age. Why do you allow it, Queen?”

“It’s the Duke’s residence, I see no issue there.”

“Still, when you consider it, an esteemed young lady should be the one entering the palace. How can the princess be going out to meet an esteemed young lady?”[1]

Beth chuckled. Her husband wasn’t the type of person to be strict or nitpicky over such formality. He was grasping at straws.

“They are children. It’s not a matter that requires the pride of adults.”

“There’s also the issue of safety.”

“To be quite frank, the Duke’s residence would be safer than the palace.”

Kwiz couldn’t say anything to that. The guards around the Duke of Taran’s residence reminded him of an impenetrable fortress. Kwiz always wondered how heavily guarded the security was at the ducal residence. So last summer, he lightly made a bet with the Duke.

[Gong. This king is going to try to go through the guards at your residence. Will you take up this king’s challenge?]

[I never avoid a challenge.]

Kwiz also made a second bet with his adjutant. Naturally, he bet that he would succeed, and the adjutant had no choice but to bet on the remaining option.

The way the wager worked was: if the mansion’s intruders brought back a specific mark in the mansion’s garden, it was Kwiz’s win, and if the infiltration failed, it was Hugo’s win. The result was terrible. Kwiz was soundly defeated. Two out of three attempts, they couldn’t even get past the wall before being discovered, let alone acquiring the mark.

In exchange for the bet, Kwiz had to meet the Duke’s demand for another title and once again, he could not use a word chosen by his adjutant. So far, his bets with his adjutant have all been consecutive defeats.

The adjutant was overwhelmed with pride because Kwiz’s conduct had become more refined since he became king.

There were no doubts about the safety of the ducal residence, and so, Kwiz didn’t need to worry about Selena. Kwiz couldn’t think of anything else to nitpick on, so he sullenly shut his mouth.

Translator’s Corner:

[1] [Gongnyeo] vs [Gongju]: Gongnyeo is used to refer to a young woman with high status, Gongju is the formal title for princesses, i.e of royal family. Gongju Katherine = Princess Katherine. In a way, Gongnyeo can also mean princess but it isn’t a title. I didn’t want to use princess(because it overlaps) so I translated gongnyeo to esteemed young lady.