(From Blue''s Perspective)


    I returned to my room with Ruby after the swordsmanship lesson. We were taking care not to wake Sapphire, who had fallen asleep in her arms. She was so cute when she slept that it was impossible not to be careful.


    It was funny how we pretended that Sapphire was a little kid without even discussing it.


    "Your Highness truly learns very quickly," she said in a low voice. "I think if Your Highness practices every day, you will be very great at wielding a sword."


    "I don''t have to be perfect, but I do need to be able to save myself. It doesn''t feel good to have to rely on someone all the time," I said. "Ack, I am sweating like hell!"


    "I''ll get the bath ready," she said. "Let me first put Sapphire in her bed."


    Sapphire slept on the bed Perita had made for her. It was tiny and cute. Sapphire really liked the bed, so I decided to improve it a little so she could be morefortable.


    Sapphire slept in our bedroom as she did not like to part from me much. I did not mind her being in the bedroom. I would not even mind if she slept on the bed with me. But Demetrius minded a lot. He did not want asional meowing at night, or a cat climbing on him in the middle of the night. So, I did not stop him when he tried to get her out of the room and shift her to a different room.


    He even did it, but the night he did it two weeks ago, we found Sapphire in the middle of the night on our bed. She entered our room through the window.


    Dem was shocked when he discovered a cat on his chest in the middle of the night. If it had not been for me, he would have thrown her out of the window for sure.


    To say the least, Dem was more than shocked. He would not admit he was scared.


    After that incident, he decided that letting her stay in our room was preferable to having her enter our room in the middle of the night. I could not sleep with the windows closed, so he could not even close the window to stop the cat. And I did not let him close the window of the cat''s room as well since Sapphire liked to sleep beside an open window.


    He had no choice but to let Sapphire sleep in our room on the condition that she sleep by the window and not move throughout the night.


    It was not a problem since Sapphire slept quite peacefully without moving when I was near. Because we were in the same room, she slept soundly all night.


    Ruby went to prepare my bath after putting Sapphire to bed. It was almost lunchtime, so I decided to take a quick bath. Every time I intended to take a quick bath, it ended up taking at least an hour. What could I possibly do? The baths were far too soothing.


    "Your Highness, which bath oil would you like to use today?"


    "Rose," I replied.


    Rose oil had a mild fragrance. Dem did not like bath oils much, so I did not use them with every bath. But every now and then, it was fine. And when I used them, I usually used rose oil. It was mostly because the scent was not too deep.


    "Your bath is ready, Your Highness."


    "Alright... You can wait outside," I said while taking off my sweaty clothes in the restroom.


    "No, thest time I did, Your Highness fell asleep in the bath," she said, shaking her head. "Your Highness then got a headache from staying in the water for too long."


    "Heh, alright... You can stay," I said, giving up.


    When it came to Ruby and Demetrius, it was better to give up. They both knew how to get their way, and whenever I tried to stand firm, they would nag me until I relented.


    "By the way, Ruby, I told you all about my life. Now I want to hear about yours," I said as I stepped into the tub.


    "My life? There is not much to hear though...," she said as she started washing my hair with soap.


    ''Liar! I know Luc told you about the mate situation! He wrote me a letter two days ago, saying that he finally said it when Ruby went to deliver the cookies I had sent for him.''


    "Come on, tell me. We are more like friends at this point," I urged.


    "Friends?" she chuckled. "Your Highness may be the only queen who has ever called a maid a friend."


    "What''s wrong with that? Anyone can be a friend...," I said. "Anyway, tell me."


    "... Your Highness knows that Lord Luc is my mate, right? Isn''t that why you are asking?" she asked. I had to admit Ruby was pretty quick-witted.


    "That''s one of the reasons. And I am interested in your life as well."


    "Well, then, I will tell Your Highness about the whole mate thing... Actually, I found out that Lord Luc is my mate when I first met him. But I was not sure that time. It was after I actually developed feelings for him that I realized that he is my mate. I knew all about how a werewolf feels when they find their mate. But when it came to me, I could not even understand.


    I had a feeling that he is my mate, but I deliberately kept ignoring the signs. But well, it can''t go on like this. So, I wanted to face him and tell him about it. Lord Luc was not showing any sign that he knew that we are mates as well. I thought that he did not want to have a mate or did not want to take me as a mate. So, he was acting normal.


    I mean, if we do not marry, we are going to be mates in name only. And we can''t also have other people as well. But when Lord Luc told me that he actually did not know that I am his mate, it was pretty surprising. I did not know he knew almost nothing about it."


    "Yeah... He knows the most about magic," Iughed. "Other things are insignificant to him."


    "Then he told me that he now knows that I am his mate and wants to marry me."


    "That''s great!"


    "Well, I like him as well, so it''s a good thing that he wants to marry me. But he also told me a few things..."


    ''There we go- the conditions...''


    "He said that he does not feel anything romantic towards me. But he will be a loyal husband and will try to do a good job as a husband. And he also said that he will actively try to make this marriage work," she said.


    Her voice showed a bit of confusion. I knew what she was worried about. She did not know if she wanted to be in a loveless marriage or not.


    But it was her only chance to start her own family. Alphas could take other romantic partners by taking some kind of potion. But it only worked on Alphas. As a result, normal werewolves, such as Ruby, could only be with their mate. She would be unable to marry anyone else if she did not marry Luc. The same was true for Luc.


    Luc, on the other hand, was uninterested in marriage. He was only doing it for Ruby.


    "What did you say then?" I asked.


    "I told him that I will think about it and give him my reply in a week," she said. "To be honest, I don''t know what to do. I don''t want to be in a loveless marriage."


    I knew how badly Ruby wanted a family of her own. She always told me that she wanted a loving husband and then wanted to have lots of kids. She wanted her house to be full and lively.


    "Why don''t you give it a try?"


    "Huh?"


    "I mean, go marry him. It''s not like Luc is a bad person. He will be a faithful husband who respects you. And you are a wonderful person as well. Even if it''s a hasty marriage, you two will be happy. Who can say?


    He might fall in love with you as well. We don''t always marry after falling in love with each other, you see. Love can happen after marriage, too," I said.


    Love after marriage- it was the same for Dem and me. Dem actually fell for me after our marriage since, before that, his mind had been messed with for seven years. I also fell in love with him after our marriage. To be precise, I met him two days before our wedding. I actually met him seven years ago, but since I did not have that memory because of the potion he gave me, it was not counted.