“Are you angry at me?”

“Huh?”

“You haven’t looked at me since we returned.”

“That does not mean I am angry at you, you clearly showed you have no ties with that woman tonight. Why would I be angry?”

“Look at me.” She is probably beating herself up for not trusting him, but he did not care. He needed neither an apology nor her regret. “Good, now kiss me like this.” He just wanted her to be his wife like she has always been. “I am going to be taking all the days we have wasted butting heads over a brainless woman tonight.”

A wonderful night for the duke, liberated from the decade-long belief that he was not affectionate of his wife. And being rewarded with the sweet lips and body of his wife, he should have cleared this misunderstanding sooner. “Are you going to let me love you now?” he sweetly whispers in between their intimate time, “maybe, based on tonight’s performance.”

Azura had just finished getting ready to sleep, what happened at the party was quite disappointing. Not that she wanted her father to be a cheater. It is how unaware she was of Olivia being malicious until her tantrum.

“What are you doing in my room this late?”

“I wanted to see if you are okay.”

“You should be checking on Olivia or the Baroness. Goodness, I have never seen my father that menacing.”

“But does it put your heart at ease?”

“Yeah, at least my father is not a scumbag, and I do not have an illegitimate sister.”

“That is good, now scoot over.”

“Why are you getting into my bed?”

“I am too tired to walk back”.

“Your majesty does you know a man and woman cannot share a bed in vain?”

“Are you out of your mind, we are teenagers, teenagers, get that. Why are you always so promiscuous?”

He looks both embarrassed and bewildered, but of course Azura is enjoying this excruciating situation she had put him in.

“His highness has no sense of humor.” She beautifully pouts and, as a boy who grew up watching his affectionate parents, he visions a future with a wife that pouts beautifully even when she is the one at fault.

“Whatever, I am going to sleep first, don’t kick me in your sleep.”

“You will be lucky if I do not.”

A conscious decision to share a bed had never switched into a political meeting the next morning.

“What? He was just too lazy to go back to his room.” Azura shouts.

“Please be respectful to each other until marriage. You are allowed to know each other at this age, but only to that scope.”

“Mother is not listening. Why would I marry him?”

“Come on, it is not bad to marry me, politically it would be beneficial for both the empire and the north to make you crown princes.”

“You dumb prince, stop making this worse!” Azura scolds, “Why are you looking like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you are already planning our wedding, oh his majesty is perhaps infatuated with me?”

“Why would I plan a wedding with a rude girl like yourself?”

“Did you just call me rude? You are having a test this afternoon. If you fail, you will have to climb an iceberg mountain and bring me the rare sunflower plant that only grows there.”

“What? You are being a mean teacher now. I just started training.”

“Good luck.”

“I am going to tell the duke.”

“Um, my husband is a bit exhausted. He will be up late in the afternoon,” the duchess replied, “maybe talk to Rizontie, he will be back from inspecting the border very soon.”

“Why is his majesty training under Azura, I can find a suitable tutor for you,” Alisud asks.

“It is okay, Sir Alisud ,need not to worry, I can manage Lady Azura’s mean rules.”

“What did you just call me?” Azura asks, “I will drop you as a student since you call me mean names.”

“I apologize master.” Kaldor speaks.

And at the breakfast table, the duchess takes a tray of food with her to the duke who was apparently bed written, and Dune continues to scold Azura’s manners and Alisud tries his best to make sense of his chaotic family.

“Have you heard about the Baron’s messy divorce?”

It did not take long before the Baron and Baroness are separated, and the Baron takes custody of his daughter. It has only been a week since the duke sent his messenger threatening the Baron’s title if he does not hold his wife accountable.

It started with a small storm. in the O’Dea household, but the Baroness refused to take responsibility for her wrongdoings and Calum’s hand was forced to ask for divorce.

“Are you serious?” Belmar chimes. after Calum handed her the divorce papers.

“You think you see everything as a joked Belmar.” He sighs, though he had regretted marrying her just a month into their marriage, he had tried his best to make the marriage work. “I did not want the O’Dea name that my parents worked so hard to build goes down because of you.”

“What? I built the O’Dea name. It was me and my beauty that made you popular, not your war-crazed parents that died and left you.”

“Belmar! Do not disregard my parents’ memory like that, they did not choose to die in that war.”

“Of course, maybe the mighty knight of the north was not so mighty she was unable to protect them during the war.” She laughed at her remarks, she had been filled with so much hate towards the woman who married her duke, but now that Dean was supporting her, she felt even  more rage towards her.

“Sign the papers. I will support you financially until you are financially stable. I will be taking custody of Olivia.”

“What? Are you insane? She is my daughter; I will raise her.”

“You haven’t been doing a good job raising said daughter, you fill her head with so much garbage the duke might kick us out of the north.”

“Let Olivia decide who she wants to live with.”

“No, I am not going to have you use my daughter as a sword between your fight with the duchess, she stays with me.”

Belmar had tried to counter the Baron’s decision to take Olivia, but she did not have the authority to do so. She just gave up, though she was resistant at first. Oliva got accustomed to living with her father.

“Keep your posture Liv, it is very important.”

The Baron had disappeared a week after their finalized divorce. Calum had requested some time off to bond with his daughter, who was now committed to joining the Knighthood festival.

“Yes father.” She obliges to her father’s request, “will I beat Lady Azura if I fix my posture?”

“Darling, you should be training to beat Lady Azura, you should be training to be a better sword master.” He exclaims, “You will get better than you were yesterday if you train harder, That is all I can tell you.”

“See this is why I prefer mother, father always sided with Lady Azura. He thinks she is better than me.”

“I have never said that my Sweetheart, Lady Azura is not superior to you, she is human too, isn’t she?”

“Hmph, whatever.” She pouts, but she does not neglect her father’s teaching and adjust her posture.

Maybe it will be a while until he shows her, she does not need to complete to be amazing, but with the small steps, he can see his daughter getting better. He believes she will be a better woman someday, better than her mother.

“Baron, what brings you here?”

“I see you are still mad at me, very in character of you Dean.”

“I am not mad, I am just wondering since you devoted your time to your daughter, leaving me with this lot of paper work.” He sighs, “How have you been though? Maybe I should let this slide. I really had no idea this would destroy your marriage.”

Calum cannot help but chuckle. Ever since he married the Duchess he has grown very sympathetic. He apologizes when he is wrong. He always compensates for any transgression he may have caused. A completely different Dean from what he had grown up with.

“It was long overdue, and you know. it.” He sighs, “she married me to spite you, it was bound to fall apart with that bogus foundation.”

“It doesn’t mean it would hurt to separate.”

“I know, I am learning to move on, I loved her dumbly, not that I am the first to do so. I remember a certain someone cursing his mother out for her.” The room is filled with laughter. Yeah. Belmar had fooled both friends.

“Olivia is getting better, she might still hate your daughter a bit, but I am teaching her better ways.” He exclaims, “I have been thinking, maybe we are not just dumb, but we are also terrible fathers.”

“What? I am not a bad father, Azura is growing up nicely.”

“Have been there for her though, I was never there for my Oliva look how she turned out. Turns out I do not even know her favorites.”

“I know Azura’s favorite activity, she likes hunting.”

“But everyone knows what you do have a deep connection to her?”

“I…. you are probably right; I am a trash father.”

“We should do better.”

“We should.”

Both men let out a heavy sigh, their parents had always been there for them, they taught them how to fight, how write. But they neglected their parental duties, quite shameful to admit, but they hope to be better.

“Ah father, what brings you here? Aren’t you busy with paperwork for the trade with Drucia?”

“I… Um... I just want to spend time with my daughter, it has been a while since we spent time together.”

The surprising look on her face is clear, she had never spent time with her father. Her mother tries to spar with her a while and sometimes they attempted to cook together, but her father was a different story.

“Um, sure, I was about to ask Uncle Rizontie to spar with me. I am sure my father can do that if he wants to.”

“Yes, of course. Let me go change into my training gear.”

His cheery voice can be heard as he rushes to his room, Azura is hopeful as she gets to know her father better, but she is also skeptical as she doesn’t trust he would hold his end of the bargain.