Everyone had a secret side.
Ezekiel knew this fact well, as he also had a secret side. However, standing here, holding the card Harriet had written before his own eyes, he couldn't believe it.
Harriet probably expressed that earlier because she thought no one was looking at her as she faced the desk. Harriet probably wrote such a message thinking no one would see it except…
…except for her husband.
Harriet Goldlane's husband was the grandson of Old Duke Almandine. His name was Liam Almandine, a dying and forgotten Alpha nearly a hundred years old. If Harriet Goldline hadn't suddenly married him, Ezekiel wouldn't have known about Liam Almandine.
Ezekiel's entire universe of thought immediately spun in a fraction of a second. Before Harriet knew it, the man had put the card back in its place and was back in the corner where he was sitting.
He sat in silence and immersed himself in deep thought. What he had seen of Harriet Goldlane all along was her soft and polished face. He hardly saw her express extreme emotions except when she showed her distaste for something.
According to him, what made Harriet Goldlane inhuman was that the mask she had seemed like a perfect imprint of her natural face. An existence that was programmed with no feelings, with realistic thinking so that her humanity got eroded.
He slowly replayed his memory when he saw Harriet's secret expression.
Unknowingly, his body stiffened. His breathing slowly became heavy, and sweat dripped from his temples. s****l desire was one of the three desires that normal humans had. And she had one, too.
And so, somehow, Ezekiel's mind came to a question: what kind of face would Harriet Goldlane show in bed?
As soon as one question arose, other questions exploded wildly.
Was the woman the noisy type with wild moans or the slightly shy and seductive? Was she the type who liked it rough or the opposite? How would that woman beg to speed up the tempo of lovemaking? What did her face look like when she climaxed?
Ezekiel awakened himself. He clutched his temple with one hand and couldn't believe what had just crossed his mind.
He had never seen Harriet Goldlane as a woman. Not to mention as a s****l object. But once he saw her like that… somehow, he couldn't stop.
Was it because he always saw her in her standard polished form?
Then, another question popped up in his mind.
Did Liam Almandine, Harriet Goldlane's husband, always see the other side of her?
An immense sense of discomfort was created in Ezekiel's chest. Why did the thought of that question make him so displeased? What was this feeling?
…envy?
What the hell?
Him? The one person who hated Harriet Goldlane with all his might and consciousness…?
But… why?
Was it because Harriet Goldlane was supposed to be his wife, consort, and Empress?
This series of questions made Ezekiel's head spin. The memory of Harriet l*****g her finger so seductively kept swirling in his head until Harriet returned to the desk and put her message card in the box.
Ezekiel watched her lightly chat with the designers until Harriet furrowed her brows suddenly. The woman had an expression of pain, and a drop of blood dripped from her nose. Harriet's hands went up, clenched before her face as if holding back a terrible headache.
"Madam!"
Sir Russell came closer, holding Harriet's wobbly shoulders.
The designers who watched eagerly took out handkerchiefs to help Harriet cover her still-bleeding nose.
"Let's go see a doctor now, Madam," said Sir Russell in a firm voice.
Harriet, who was helped to sit down, chuckled. "No need, I'm just a little tired."
Sir Russell immediately refuted Harriet's words. “You haven't slept since you arrived in the capital! We've just arrived after a five-day horse ride from the North, and you've been working non-stop…”
The boutique owner sighed heavily, hearing that. “I told you that you are not talented to be a politician! You work too hard to keep up with everyone when your real talent is in fashion!”
Harriet laughed more loosely this time.
“Hey, if I don't become a politician, how can I feed my brother and buy the nice clothes you guys make? I can satisfy my fashion talent by becoming a politician too, so that's enough,” Harriet's loose and witty words made the designers laugh sadly.
Until Harriet left the boutique, Ezekiel was still stuck in place.
The man's brows furrowed deeply, and even as the boutique clerks began to startle at the sight of him, he paid little attention to them.
Was everything he knew about Harriet… wrong?
Wait.
What did he even know about Harriet Goldlane?
Why…
Why did he hate her so much?
“Did you come to pick up the jewelry you ordered, Your Highness?” asked the boutique owner.
Ezekiel flinched in his heart. He came here to pick up the jewels he would present to his lover, but why did he even…
The boutique owner presented him with a jewelry box, Morganite necklaces, and earrings. Ezekiel looked at the jewelry with a complicated gaze.
He had to clear his head of that woman immediately. He had to return to Cecilia.