“Turn around.”

“Huh?”

“Turn around.”

Rubica didn’t know what this was about, but she turned around. After a momentary silence, Edgar grabbed the strap of her dress at her back and tried to undo it, which shocked her very much.

“What, what are you doing?”

“Helping you get changed.”

He sounded like it was only right, but it made her blush. How could he be so shameless?

“I don’t want your help. Just go and call my maids for me.”

“For what? I’ll do it.”

Really, she didn’t know what to say. Even after their honeymoon, she still needed some time to get used to the change.

Even now, she blushed at the thought of how it had been. It just felt like a dream.

On the other hand, Edgar had already gotten used to it. He was taking physical affection very naturally.

“You can’t be serious. You can’t help me undress and you can’t help me dress.”

Edgar wasn’t being absurd when demanded to stay in the room. He was her husband, after all. So, she came with a different excuse.

During their honeymoon in the carriage, he had ended up ripping apart her dress after struggling to undress her, and she didn’t even want to think about how they eventually had to call Ann to help her get dressed.

“I can do it well now.”

“You can do it now?”

Edgar nodded, quite seriously.

“If there is something I’m not good at the first time, I always excel the second time. I remember everything.”

He tapped on his head. It didn’t make any sense, but she bought it, although she didn’t know why.

She knew it was impossible to beat him in a fight of words, so she gave up and nodded.

“Fine. But know that if you fail again and force me to call the maids, I’ll be very humiliated.”

Ann, Rubica’s lady-in-waiting, hadn’t come with them, and Rubica had just met the maids at the mansion. She didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of them. Edgar smiled as if telling her she had nothing to worry about.

His lips looked even redder under the dim light of the lamp. She held her breath and looked away, but her heart started to beat fast.

“Well, here I go.”

As he had assured, he started to undo the strap quite skillfully. He removed the overdress in no time and was triumphant, but then he despaired at seeing what was next.

“How am I supposed to do this?”

He thought undressing her couldn’t be that hard, although dressing her might be. However, he just didn’t know what to do to remove that armor-like piece of cloth that was on her chest.

He couldn’t even see its exact shape as it had so many gems, embroidery, and huge ribbons, which made it even worse.

“Can’t you just take it off?”

“Then I will be poked by the pins on it, it will hurt a lot.”

“Why does this dress have to be so complicated?”

To know its structure, Edgar put his hands on her waist and started to examine. His hands pulled the dress and his eyes looked at her eyes, which made her blush hard again.

Why couldn’t she get used to his hands? Her heart was about to explode.

“Maybe we should call the maids…”

“No, we can’t do that.”

Now that Rubica was half undressed, she didn’t want anyone else to see her like that.

Edgar just tried to help her get changed and failed, but what would the maids think if they saw the scene?

“There are fixing pins on this side. You should remove them.”

“Aha.”

Her explanation let him know about the dress’s stomacher and started to remove the pins. As the pins were in corners where they wouldn’t be seen, it took some time. He almost exclaimed in joy when he succeeded in removing the stomacher.

“I think I should give our maids a pay raise.”

Now the chemise, the skirt, and the corset were left. Edgar was confident he could undo the corset’s straps as he had undone the overdress’s strap quite easily.

He even whistled as he did it.

“See? I’m always good the second time.”

But then, they heard the sound of the dress being ripped. He had concentrated too much on undoing the straps and pulled a little too powerfully, and the delicate laces couldn’t handle his strength.

“Haha, you’re always good the second time?”

Edgar bit his lips. He had never been so embarrassed.

“Well, even you are not good at something.”

“I must practice.”

“Practice?”

Edgar thought about using a mannequin, but then he canceled his plan at seeing Rubica ask back with a blushing face.

Really, a mannequin? Why would he use such a thing when he had such a cute and pretty wife?

“There shouldn’t be a thing I’m not good at.”

He said so as he removed the ripped corset. Rubica’s skirt and panier fell to the floor in no time.

“None of us can be perfect.”

“I can. I can’t tolerate myself otherwise.”

Now she was wearing only a thin chemise which was practically a nightdress, and Edgar could see her body through it.

‘Is it necessary for her to wear that nightdress?’

He thought so, feeling hot, but Rubica asked innocently, “How are you going to practice undressing? Using a hanger won’t help, you know, it will be very different…”

“I don’t know, maybe I can have Carl wear a dress.”

He made that joke only because he didn’t like that she was being so… innocent, but she found it quite funny and burst into laughter.

Her chemise moved as she laughed, showing what was underneath it. He gulped hard to stop his hands from doing something naughty.

“Now, please close your eyes.”

She asked to get changed into her nightdress, still laughing a little. But to her surprise, he just stared at her with burning eyes.

“No, I’m not doing that.”

“What?”

She jumped up in surprise, despite the fact they had already seen each other thoroughly. She was so cute.

Edgar went a step closer and grabbed her chemise. The fabric was thin and soft, but it still didn’t feel as pleasant as her skin.

“As I’ve started serving you, I should do it to the end.”

He whispered like a devil. She knew ‘the end’ wasn’t getting changed into her nightdress.

“But, but I must hear the rest of your explanation about the king and the queen for tomorrow…”

“You can do it after we’re finished.”

He came nearer, and she stepped backward to run away, only to reach the bed. She sat on it and said something that was either a plea or a protest.

“We did it a lot yesterday.”

“Oh, says the person who fell asleep in the middle of it.”

“That’s, that’s…”

He was now near enough for her to hear his breathing. She saw his strong arms and solid chest.

Yesterday, she had seen how sweat beaded those muscles were from the closest distance.

“That’s because you did it too many times…”

“Wasn’t enough for me.”

It seemed like her husband’s stamina was beyond humans’ limitations. Oh, right. He wasn’t a human.

“No? You don’t want it?”

He didn’t like that she was trying to talk her way out of this and asked directly. His shadowed face was hiding anxiety, but it delighted and excited her that she replied without noticing it.

“I do.”

And, she couldn’t hear another word about the king and the queen until the sun came up the next morning.

***

Rubica got up a lot later than usual. She helped Carl to send Edgar to his office on the second floor and started to get ready downstairs. As she was scheduled to meet the queen at two o’clock in the afternoon, she didn’t have much time.

“Will I be able to do it?”

“You’ll do just fine.”

Elise, who had come instead of Ann, encouraged Rubica, but she hadn’t gotten Edgar’s advice after they both lost control.

Now all she knew was, ‘Shut up when the queen frowns’, and ‘Run away if you see the king’.

It was good that the audience was meant to console her after the series of tragic events she had recently been through. Even the queen had to be careful with a lady who had just miscarried her baby.

She wore a dress Ann had chosen for her and put only minimum hair accessories.

She wanted to wear the most splendid dress she had, but she couldn’t because of the occasion.

“Your Grace, it is my honor to meet you. The queen is waiting for you.”

The moment she went out of the carriage, she was greeted by a noble lady in a calm dress.

She wasn’t a maid but the queen’s closet lady-in-waiting. Rubica couldn’t help but get nervous at being treated differently from the other guests.

“I was told it is your first visit. Her Majesty has ordered me to take the time to show you around the palace.”

She smiled kindly, which let Rubica relax at least a little. She had been told the queen was a woman of moods, but it seemed like she was quite kind and considerate.