45 Rise of New Generation (1/2)
”WHAT is your schedule while I'm gone, Tilly?”
”Father and I will visit our oyster farm tomorrow,” Tilly said while having caviar in a tin can made of gold. As a duke's daughter, she would always order the most expensive dish in the menu. If she didn't, there would be rumors about House Prescott losing its power and money. In short, it was a display of wealth. Plus, Kiho was with her. Everyone in the empire knew that she was richer than him. Some brainless idiot might spread a rumor that Kiho couldn't spoil her if she ordered something ”modest” from a fancy restaurant. ”I'll probably be busy with the preparations for the launch of my new jewelry collection.”
The date had been decided and they would release the collection three days after the Hunt. She was supposed to launch the collection this week but she ended up postponing. She wanted to focus on support Kiho in the upcoming Hunt first.
[Wife duties, y'all.]
”I left the key of the treasury room in your drawer,” Kiho said casually. He was having a roasted salmon with truffle oil. Oh, they also got the most expensive bottle of red wine in the menu. ”You can use it as you wish.”
Her brain buffered for a minute. ”Wait, what? You're giving me the key to your treasury room?”
The treasury room in Kiho's house (now their home) was where he kept all the treasures (obviously) that he got from his missions ever since he became a knight. His treasury room had everything from gold bars to the rarest jewelries. Most of them were also sent by Emperor Aku as reward to the captain.
In her past life, Kio gave her all the money he had but not the treasury room. He knew that she would just spend them mindlessly. She had to cry and accuse him of failing to be a good provider before he gave in.
[But he gave it to me so easily this time.]
She had really changed her life now.
”Are you sure, Kiho?” Tilly asked him. ”It's your treasury room.”
”Everything I own belongs to you now, Tilly,” Kiho said. ”Please accept it.”
Well, accepting the treasury was easy. In fact, she was even touched. But of course, this time, she'd be careful about using it.
[I might not touch the treasures at all.]
”Thank you, Kiho,” she said while very touched. ”I'll take care of it very well.”
Kiho gave him a smile. Then, his hand moved to gently caress her cheek. ”Please take extra good care of yourself while I'm gone, Tilly. I'll call thrice a day if I can.”
That meant he'd miss her, right?
”You take care of yourself, too,” Tilly said. Then, she placed a hand on top of his hand on her face. ”I'll miss you, Kiho. Please return home safely.”
The glow in the captain's golden eyes told her he'd come back home for her in no time.
***
”I DON'T know what you're talking about, Aku,” Nia denied. ”I'm not delaying our wedding. Why would I even do that?”
”I don't know,” Aku said, his red eyes still glowing. ”You tell me.”
”Your Majesty,” she said firmly and formally. ”The High Priest decides the date of our wedding. How can I delay it?”
”That's exactly what you're going to tell me if Kiho wins the Hunt, Nia,” he said strictly. ”You've been meeting up with the High Priest since you got your first period when you were nine years old.”
”Are you suspecting me and the High Priest?”
”Nia, we're turning thirty years old soon,” he reminded her in a cold voice. ”Our parents were married when they were twenty five. We're the only de Moonchesters who had their engagement this long.”
”We are different from our parents and other predecessors,” she insisted. ”We're the first pair of twins to be married in our history. The High Priest has already explained it to us before.”
”Nia, I know that I've been spoiling you ever since we were kids,” he started menacingly. ”And I'm aware that I act foolish most of the time. But that doesn't make me stupid. I want to trust you fully so I rarely get involved in your affair. But my patience has a limit, too.”
”Your Majesty–”
”Let's talk again after the Hunt,” Aku said firmly, his red eyes still glowing menacingly. ”You better tell me the truth then, Her Royal Highness Princess Nia Moonchester.”
Nia clenched her hands tight. She couldn't believe that Aku could treat her this way. It was a mistake to overestimate his love for her. If only killing him was easy, she would have done that a long time ago.
But they were twins so there was a special bind between them.
[If one of us dies, then the other will die as well.]
***
TILLY and Duke Prescott were standing at the deck of a farming boat while watching their people rake the oysters on the sea's surface.
This was the first time they visited their oyster farm together. Her father wasn't also that interested in their farm before. He only used the cultured pearls to trade them outside the empire. But now that her new jewelry line was focusing on pearls, they were paying more attention to their oyster farm.
”When will Captain Kiho return?” her father asked. ”I heard he joined the Hunt for the first time. Shouldn't he train first or something? I used to hunt myself so maybe I can teach your husband a thing or two.”
Tilly smiled at her father's attempt to get close to Kiho. ”Kiho said he'll be back before the Hunt, Father. We'll visit you once he returns.”