She looked like she was already asleep, but she left a dim light for him. Hence, Edward carefully got onto the bed and turned off the lights.
The room instantly turned dark. Edward reached out and pulled Candice into her arms, but Candice did not resist. As he lowered his head and kissed her, she also… responded to him. It seemed like what Chloe had told him in the afternoon was fabricated and Candice did not seem to know about it at all. Of course, it was not fabricated. After all, she reallv did take the morning-after pill that he secretly gave to her.
Under the night sky, the two bodies became more and more intimate. They were doing intimate things that husband and wife would do… “Can we use condoms?” Candice suddenly asked in the dark.
Edward’s body stiffened.
“Will the pills have any side effects?” she asked.
She was simply asking him for an answer. She was not angry at all.
“It won’t,” he answered.
He had admitted to having given her birth control pills.
“Alright.” Candice nodded, which meant that she allowed it.
However, Edward did not move and stayed on top of Candice, pressing her body down under his.
The two of them remained silent in the dark.
“Aren’t you angry?” Edward suddenly asked after some time.
The sound woke Candice up, and she was in a daze for a long time before she realized what Edward had just said. She said, “I’m not angry.”
Edward fell silent again.
“Of course, I wished you would tell me earlier.” Candice added, “So I wouldn’t have much hope.”
“Were you looking forward to it?”
“It’s what you think. I just thought that you and I hadn’t used any contraception when we had sex because we wanted to have a child. That was why I thought we would have a child together, and I looked forward to it. But if you had told me earlier, I might not have had such thoughts.”
“Do you want to know why I did it?”
“When I found out the truth this afternoon, I wanted to know why. After all, I’ve thought about it a lot. I don’t know how having another child will affect you, and I really can’t think of why. But now, I don’t think there’s a need to know. You have your reasons, and I’ll respect your choice,” Candice said lightly.
‘Why are you compromising and tolerating me?” Edward asked her.
“Isn’t this our marriage? When I agreed to this marriage, I was prepared for all this. In fact, the current state of our marriage is much better than I expected. I always thought that you were a cold and serious person who did not understand relationships. However, you’re much warmer than I thought.” What she said was true.
Candice did not make it up because she wanted to show how magnanimous she was. The marriage was indeed much better than she had expected. She did not have to talk herself into thinking she was satisfied.
“You… Do you love me?” Edward suddenly asked, and it even caught him off guard.
Candice had thought that problem would never arise between them because once it appeared, it would affect the relationship between husband and wife.
She said, “Do you care about these things?”
“I don’t know.” Edward gave an ambiguous answer.
“For me to be a good wife to you who doesn’t cause trouble for you, think more about you, and take good care of your children,” Candice said, “that’s what you care about, right?”
“I’m greedier than you think.” Edward enunciated each word.
“This will only burden you.” Candice was really calm. “The best relationship we can have is when I don’t fall in love with you and you don’t fall in love with me.
Only then can our marriage be more stable.”
“Why don’t you love me?” Edward asked her, “Before this, you probably didn’t know that I gave you birth control pills, but why didn’t you fall in love with me?”
Candice was silent for a few seconds.
“Are you rejecting me here?” Edward asked.
His slender fingers pointed at her heart. Was it because her heart had rejected him and that was why she did not love him subconsciously?
“No.” Candice said, “You’re the one who talks in your sleep, where you often call
Jeanne’s name.”
Edward was stunned. In the darkness, he looked at Candice quietly.
‘When did I start doing that?” he asked her.
“Not long ago, or a month ago, or a little earlier, or a little later. I forgot,” Candice said.
She said it so casually, like she did not care.
“Paige is Jeanne’s daughter, right?” Candice felt that since everything was out in the open, she should just say it all.
Only after airing everything out in the open could their marriage be better. Moreover, Edward had already been married three times. He could not possibly get divorced again, right?
No matter what, the Leader of a country could not treat marriage as child’s play.
“Yes,” Edward replied.
“You like Jeanne very much, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve always liked Jeanne, right?”
‘Yes.”
“Other than her, you won’t like any other woman, right?” Edward hesitated.
“You don’t have to answer. I know,” Candice said calmly.
There were no emotions in her voice.
“So you don’t have to feel guilty or bad toward me. When I first agreed to this marriage, I accepted that it would be a political marriage. Actually, I didn’t have much expectations for this marriage. However, after we got married, I realized that our marriage was much better than I thought. I always thought I wouldn’t be able to get along well with your children and that I wouldn’t be able to be a good wife and mother. But for some reason, after coming here, I feel that everything is at my fingertips, physically and spiritually, and I’ve accepted the role faster than I thought.”
Edward remained silent. It was as if he could not say anything.
Candice said, “Marriage can also be just a family relationship. In fact, I have this feeling like we’ve always been family, not just to you, but to George and Paige as well. So, I think we’re doing really well now. You don’t have to feel sorry for me just because you don’t like me. I really don’t have such high expectations. Perhaps I have one more request.”
“What request?” Edward’s voice was a little deep.
Perhaps he was suppressing his emotions, or perhaps he was just saying those words emotionlessly.
“Stop lying to me.” Candice said, “You can tell me anything. Even if I can’t accept it now, I’ll accept it slowly. However, if you lie to me, I’ll feel unworthy of myself. Take the fact that you don’t want me to have children for example. I even went to the hospital for a physical examination today because I thought that my previous accident had done something to my body. I was a little worried that you would be disappointed if I couldn’t have children… Things like that make me feel that I’m embarrassing myself..”