Ara nodded, "Tell me." She waited patiently to hear his other condition when she heard him say, "After I make you my queen... I'll have every right to you as your husband, and you will live only as my wife, and nothing else." He remarked seriously.
Ara who was looking on neutrally awhile ago, looked lost at his words, she did not immediately respond to what he said. She hadn't thought about her life after she succeed in saving her family.
Would she still live as his wife? Or go back to the Boxton mansion? But she had agreed to allow him take any other woman after a year, and since he seemed to already like women and probably wanted a harem of them, she assumed he wouldn't want to stick only to her, She casually shrugged it off, who knows he might get tired of her before then, and after a year... He might even throw her out of the palace, she knew he wasn't serious about what he just said. Well, Ara didn't care what kind of future she would have as long as her family were saved and alive, the Prince could do whatever he wanted or even banish her from the palace.
"I agree." She said softly, which brought a smile to his face.
"You always make me want to hide you from the world... I can't wait to see our future children, it would be lovely if they all look like you." He remarked with in a nonchalant tone, as if they were marrying out of love and talking about their future children.
"..."
Ara was tongue tied at his words. Children? With him? This Prince sure dreams big, they hadn't even gotten married yet, and here he was talking about having children as if she was planning to ever have one with him.
When Hamon saw she wasn't responding to what he said, he decided to change the topic of children and talk about the contract conditions for now, he still has forever with her, he would make sure to melt her frozen heart,
"Let me tell you my other conditions in this contract."
"Go ahead, Your Highness." Ara swallowed dryly, because she knew his conditions could end up being something crazy.
"Call me by my name from now on."
"W-what?" Ara opened her mouth at his words, He wanted her to call him by his name? That was considered disrespectful in their kingdom, how could she call the crown Prince by his name? Then she heard him continue to say,
"You can't keep addressing me formally while we act like couples who are madly in love...You would be my lovely wife in the eyes of society, so you have to call me by my name."
Couples didn't normally address their partners informally in the aristocratic society where political marriage was common, many couples used honorific until the day they die. Addressing your partner by their name was indeed intimate expression that could only be used for lovers.
Ara simply nodded, "Okay." She would gladly call him poop head as long as he agreed to all her conditions, she said again, "Can I call you by your name when we're alone? It may seem disrespectful to others if they hear me addressing you by your name at first."
"Okay, you can call me that when we're alone."
"Thank you, Your__ I mean Hamon." Ara quickly corrected herself, his name rolled fluently on her lips.
A smile drew on Hamon's face, it was his first genuine smile that didn't seem to be of mock or his annoying smirk. Ara stared dazedly at his face as he smiled, with dimples on each side of his cheeks, he looked like an angel with that beautiful smile, she hadn't seen anyone who smiled like that just because they were called by their name.
'He looked different with a smile.'
His deep husky voice soon brought her back to her senses when he said, "You will seat with me to have every meal together after our marriage."
Usually couples in political marriages end up taking their meals separately, and did not often meet each other face to face unless it was necessary. There was nothing wrong with having meals together, it was a simple condition, "I accept." She immediately agreed as it wasn't a bad deal.
For some reason it felt like a very long day to her. After a moment of contemplation, she asked, "The conditions on the contract are getting longer, could we just write it on a paper?"
Hamon nodded and stood up to walk to a drawer, he brought a pen and a paper then placed it in front of her, Ara thanked him and began to write everything down, while Hamon watched her with a smile on his face.
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Far away from the middle town, inside of a luxurious huge mansion, in a spacious room decorated with a golden and lavender theme.
A beautiful lady could be seen smiling as she stood in front of the floor length mirror in the room, she fixed her ebony black hair repeatedly turning from side to side in clear admiration for herself,
"No lady in this kingdom could come close to your beauty, Claire." Claire complicated herself with a satisfied smile before moving away from the mirror, suddenly a soft knock came from the door, she called out, "Come in."
The door opened with a slight noise, a maid walked in and bowed, "Milady, a letter just arrived for you." Said the maid softly with a letter in hand.
Claire glared at the maid, "Then why are you standing there? Do you expect me to come get the letter from your hands?" At her displeased voice, the maid slightly trembled in fear, and quickly walked to Claire to hand over the letter. Claire took the letter and said, "Get out." The maid quickly left the room, after Claire watched the maid leave, she unfolded the letter, the letter was from the men she had assigned to watch over Ara's every moves.
Claire sat on her bed, and read the contents of the letter, after she was done reading what was written in it, she smirked, "So she has been secretly meeting a man?" She mumbled.
The Boxton sisters had embarrassed her at the banquet, how could she let such thing go after what they did to her, she would make that bitch pay for embarrassing her, she would ruin both the sisters lives with her own hands. With this news as a weapon in hand Claire suddenly began to think of a way to create a scandal. Her face lightened up as an idea struck her.
"I will make sure to expose you, Arabella." Claire could already picture her new plan. The room suddenly filled with the soft sounds of her laughter.