Two Swords and the Angel’s Feather

The rumor spread in no time. Women in the royal palace rushed like bees attracted to honey each time River would pass by, easy to spot as he was the center of their swarming.

“Lady, this way.”

Madison’s soldiers waited and led her into the opposite corridor when she came out of the inner chambers. Following the soldier, he went to the corner hallway, where River reached out his head behind the wall and gestured to her. Ellen’s face unknowingly greeted him with a smile.

“Why are you here?”

“Because thanks to someone who said I was the next successor to the Duke of Madison, all of the women are now chasing me.”

Ellen’s face flamed up at River’s words. She held his hand and hid in the corridor, she murmured in an apologetic tone.

“I didn’t know the seamstress would spread the story this far.”

“I should ask the Queen to change the royal seamstress to someone else. She shouldn’t work with someone who spreads inner stories.”

He wrapped his arm around Ellen’s waist, turned her, and made her lean against the wall. Then he looked down at her and grinned.

“If we show them me kissing you in the middle of the hallway, other women would not approach me.”

“Would they?”

Ellen murmured softly. Actually, that was the problem.

Rumors about her and River were quite widespread in the palace. It was expected since River had dragged her into the Duke’s room without even trying to hide her. As no one thought the Duke of Madison interested in Ellen, it was a natural course that rumors about River and her being lovers would circulate.

But other women seemed to care nothing about such rumors. Regardless of whether Ellen was in the picture or not, they came throwing themselves at River. Even women who had never cared about River before suddenly fixed their clothes to show off their charm and talked to him. She was dumbfounded each time she saw them acting that way while passing by.

They knew nothing about River. They were just blinded by the fact that River’s child could be the next Duke.

Ellen grabbed his cheeks with both hands and kissed his lips slightly. River raised her eyebrows and looked down at her.

“What does this mean?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to.”

River looked down at her for a moment with an unreadable expression where a smile slowly appeared. It was a very satisfying smile.

His hand slid her hair back and stroked her jawline.

“When will Count Southhorn come to the palace?”

Ellen’s expression immediately darkened. She really did not want to talk about her father and sister’s coming. Of course, if River proposed, her father would probably dance to joy for this opportunity to hand over his useless daughter to a pretty good family. But she did not like the fact that River would see such a thing happen. She did not want him to see what an insignificant existence she was to her father and sister.

“Maybe he’ll be here sometime next week. They’re not rich enough to stay here long.”

“Ellen, Ellen, look at me.”

River raised Ellen’s chin and fixed her eyes. She slightly blinked and looked back at him.

“Your father may not know your worth, but I do. So don’t worry about that kind of person’s behavior ‒you will be legally mine soon enough. I don’t like seeing you depressed, alright?”

Ellen bit her lips and nodded slowly. River smiled, lowered his head, and kissed her deeply. His tongue penetrated into her mouth, and his body pressed her against the wall. Ellen put her arms around his neck and lifted her heels.

It was now natural for her to surrender her body to him. She liked his soft blond hair, in which she curled her fingers.

“Shall we go to the room?”

River whispered in a low, rough voice and groped the front of Ellen’s dress. As his hand fondled her breast beneath the dress, she quivered, and her crotch tightened up.

“I can’t; I was on my way to the kitchen to get the baby food for the princes.”

“There is no end to your work. Actually, I have to train the palace soldiers. But we can’t go like this, can we?”

He thrust his stiff lower body toward her. Ellen looked up at him with blinking eyes.

“But you’re always like this. As far as I know, it’s always like that.”

When Ellen spoke in a relaxed tone, River showed her teeth and laughed. Then he hugged her waist and lifted her half-up, and made eye contact.

“It turns up this way when I see you like this. It’s all your fault, Lady Ellen.”