It is seven weeks later in which Kris returns to Aquitaine.

“You had neglected to respond to a majority of my letters,” he lectures Victoria once he’s inside of her room doors. “I may be a few weeks later than I had initially expected, but that does not grant you the right to ignore my condolences.”

With her belly more than twice the size it was before, Victoria supports her back with an arm as she makes to stand. Kris immediately joins her side and aids her in rising from her seat. “Every letter was practically the same,” she argues, “I didn’t have enough energy or effort to reply to each and every one of them, they came nearly every day.”

“Seven weeks,” Kris scowls, “I was absent for seven whole weeks and you don’t seem to worry.”

“You were with both Suho and Tao, I have faith that they were able to watch over you well.”

Kris scoffs. “Your faith appears to have been misplaced then.”

“You’ve returned in one piece,” Victoria comments, glancing her husband over. “I bid that the two of them did a decent job of keeping you alive.”

“Perhaps you wished otherwise?” Kris teases, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Victoria attempts to shove her husband away, but to no avail.

A voice suddenly interrupts their bickering from the door and Xiumin peeks his head through the cracks. “We’re not interrupting, are we?” He asks with a playful ring to his tone.

Kris simply smiles stiffly at his friend and watches as Xiumin enters the room, his child trudging along behind him.

“Where is Madame Kim?” Victoria inquires.

The man with the childlike face grins, glancing down at the young boy who is clutching onto his hands. “She had decided last minute to prepare a nourishing soup for you and urged my son and I to head along over here without her.”

“How considerate,” Victoria smiles warmly.

Xiumin rolls his eyes. “She’s simply quite in love with you, Madame Wu.”

“Call her Victoria, Xiumin,” Kris encourages, “I’m sure the two of you are way past formalities by now.”

His friend grins wider, lifting his child into his arms. They look just too much alike, father and son, and Kris cannot help but to envy the close ties Xiumin has with his child. Someday, he thinks; someday he will love his child just the way Xiumin does.

“Well, I am very grateful for all that you and your wife have done for me,” Victoria tries at a curtsy, “although it is out of your friendship with Kris, I am still ever in your debt.”

“You could start repaying my dear friend by enlightening his wife,” Kris suggests. “Xiumin has long envied your mischievous and, quite frankly, unreasonable ways.”

Xiumin shakes his head in denial. “No such thing. Victoria has been an absolute sweetheart since the first day I met her at this very room.”

“See?” Victoria retaliates.

Laughing, Kris holds his wife closer in his arms, one hand over her protruding belly. “His wife could really use some socializing techniques though. Honest.”

“I find her to be quite the ideal wife,” Victoria reiterates. “She is beautiful, capable, and horribly sweet. Sure, she may not have the most interest in education or arts, but her affection suffices, even if she has a hard time expressing herself.”

“If that is true, it definitely does not show,” Xiumin argues.

Victoria chuckles while reaching out and patting the young child’s cheek with her slim fingers. The child recognizes the woman petting him and smiles with a hint of shyness in his eyes. Yes, this child is definitely much like both his father and his mother.

Xiumin is confused by her actions and Kris watches as no words are exchanged between his wife and his friend.

“In our society, given the husband is traditional and close minded, a wife’s duties are simply entitled to such: one, caring for and cleaning after the husband and two, giving and not questioning their own obedience to their husband. Both roles are done very well by your wife, no doubt,” Victoria states rather matter of factly, “and I can say this because I believe we have been in each other’s company enough to affirm the title of friends and not accomplices. However, Xiumin does not seem to be the average traditional and close minded man, however, his wife is exactly that traditional and close minded woman.”

“Neither is at fault,” Kris comments.

Victoria nods in agreement with her husband. “Wherein she may not have obliged into the marriage out of willingness, she has stayed and conformed to her husband’s needs.”

“As does every man and woman in our time,” her husband adds.

“Have you noticed, though, that she does not simply take the role of a wife and trail solely after her husband and family?” Victoria asks. “She has no obligation to take care of me, to the point that it could possibly be strenuous to her, for she already has plenty a children and a husband to care for. Why do you suppose she does so then?”

Xiumin furrows his eyes. Kris remains silent.

“There are two possible reasons,” Victoria sighs in defeat. “One, she is afraid that I might seduce and steal her husband, threatening her status. Secondly, she takes Xiumin’s concerns to heart and hopes to lift some burden off of her husband’s own shoulders.”

“Either seems likely,” Kris jokes, “perhaps there is a bit of both in play.”

“If so, she wouldn’t be so quick to befriend me,” Victoria argues.

Kris slowly comes to a nod. “That is right,” he agrees, “for you have never, up until this day, become friends with Luna.”

“There is no friendship in competition,” Xiumin laughs.

Victoria frowns. “Do you understand now?”

Xiumin takes a deep breath, staring into the face of his child. “She has done a lot for me over the years of our union,” he shrugs. “I have not once thought to divorce her.”

“That is not sufficient enough to make her feel at ease,” Victoria reprimands. “No woman wants to be kept due to her husband’s guilty plays.”

“It is hard to love someone you do not know,” Xiumin says in his own defense.

Victoria purses her lips. “Then perhaps it is time for you to get to know her, Xiumin. You simply have not tried.”

There is not much for Xiumin to argue, for Victoria is right. From the first day Xiumin had married his wife, he had shunned her from his social gatherings and personal assemblies; it was not because he felt repulsive towards her, but from the beginning he was told of her obedience, of her stoic and mindless personality. Xiumin had married at a rather young age, to a woman who was even younger; during those years, Xiumin had no mind for romance, he simply wanted a career. He was rash, prude, and much too judgmental—not unlike Kris in his earlier years. Perhaps that is why they get along so well.

“I hope you will consider it,” Victoria says once last, “you will find her to be worth every moment you have spent with her over your years, just the way she is.”

A series of knocks eventually come to the door and it opens to reveal Xiumin’s wife on the other side, carrying a basket in one arm and a young girl in her other. “I hope I am not intruding on conversation,” she smiles weakly.

This is not the first Kris has seen of her, but she already seems a whole new person. “No, no, come on in, Amber,” he greets.

She immediately slips in beside Xiumin, her young daughter a tow, and gives her son a kiss to the cheek. The little boy then outstretches his arms to his mother and Victoria reaches for the basket, setting it down.

Xiumin reluctantly releases his son.

“Father, there is a parade outside!” His daughter exclaims excitedly.

The young father then smiles toothily and crouches down to his daughter’s height, patting her on the crown of her head. “Whatever for, dear?”

She pouts a little and shakes her head.

“That’s right,” Kris gasps. “I’ve entirely forgotten!”

Victoria eyes her husband suspiciously.

“Now stands before you, the brand new Count of Aquitaine,” he pronounces. “The King’s letter arrived in my hands just the night before the last, announcing the title upon me after my father resigned his position four weeks ago.”

“Is that what delayed your return?” Victoria wonders aloud.

Kris smiles proudly. “Mostly,” he laughs, “there was one other reason, of which you will be aware of when we return to our home.”

“Congratulations, Kris,” Xiumin grins, pulling Kris in for a brotherly hug. His wife simply locks gazes with Victoria, no words coming to her. Victoria smiles helplessly in reply, nodding to their secret conversation.

Kris beams a smile of his own and exclaims in gratitude.

The two men then excuse themselves from the room and join in on the parade, crowds gathering in celebration and rejoice. Winter is just around the corner and the air is crisp and cold. Victoria and Xiumin’s wife remain in the room, the children running about.

Victoria sighs, caressing her ever growing belly. The two women converse for hours, about many things. Eventually, it comes down to the one topic that never leaves them.

“Suho is not done,” Amber tells her. “In fact, he is only just beginning.”

“Do you think it is for revenge?” Victoria asks.

Amber shakes her head. “Not as much as it is for pride.”

“Even if he becomes the most powerful Count of our time, he will not be able to call for her return,” Victoria analyzes. “Don’t you think he’s gone too far for a useless cause?”

“As long as he is happy,” Xiumin’s wife shrugs. “My brother has always had a keen sense of his desires, and he will always achieve whatever it is he wants. As of now, she has been the one and only exception, however, how many more exceptions will he truly have to continue facing in life until it all comes to an end? No one can know for sure.”

“Suho has played an important role in Xiumin’s career, despite the fact that your husband is unaware he even has such a brother in law,” Victoria laments. “It comes to show that no matter how far off Suho strays from his original purpose, he still has care for his family.”

“My former sister in law left him because there was no love involved in their marriage on her part,” Amber explains, “yet, that draws him to her even stronger.”

“Thus is the reason why Suho initially found such interest in me.” Victoria agrees. “Suho has always seemed to enjoy challenges.”

Amber smiles meekly. “My brother is both an excellent kin and a great man, however, you must not place too much faith in him,” she says, “for if it comes to a necessity, he will turn his back on you without a second of hesitation. Now that your husband has also taken position as a Count, any possibility of Suho removing his protective guard from the two of you is nearly impossible.”

The doors swing open, revealing a rather drunk Kris and a red faced Xiumin who is half carrying him. Victoria and Amber instantly join his side to help Kris into a seat at the table.

After a few blinks to clear his vision, Kris meets eyes with Victoria and smiles holding one of her hands tightly in his own—it is the type of smile that is filled with happiness and satisfaction; the type of smile that tells Victoria she is needed and appreciated. She briefly wonders what the men must have spoken about while they were gone.

Suddenly, there is a slight pat to the back of her free hand that is resting on her lap. When she averts her gaze, it is met with Amber’s.

She leans forward, close to Victoria’s ear, and whispers.

“Men trust too easily, my good friend. Remember, Victoria, trust no one around you.”

“I will make sure to keep that in mind,” Victoria reassures the woman. Xiumin and Amber then excuse their own absence and make their way home with the children while Victoria begins to brew some good, strong tea for Kris.

Suho, she thinks, has never been a man of evil deeds. Sure, she admits that he is a man of tactics, however, he is a constantly thinking man, who considers everything down to its smallest detail. He works hard and long for his passions, for his goals, and nothing can stop him from attaining what he’s set out for.

In all honesty, she had not fully trusted him to begin with. Suho had too many secrets, too many uncertainties.

“Are you thinking about him again?”

Warm breath tickles her neck, a chin buried into her shoulder. Kris holds her from behind, his arms carefully placed over her belly; he can feel the child moving inside, which brings a slight smile to his lips.

“Who?” She asks.

“Who else?” Kris sighs. His breath is filled with the sting of alcohol, but there is so much affection in his voice.

Victoria shakes her head with a weak smile. “There is too much that I think about, Kris,” she tells him, lifting the tea packs in the cup of boiling water and setting them back in repeatedly.

“I only want you to think about me,” Kris mutters against the skin of her neck, “only me and our child. I’m working hard for us, Victoria. Can’t you see?”

Chuckling, Victoria reaches up with her right hand to caress her husband’s face, leaning her head against his. “I know,” she whispers, a satisfied sigh, “thank you, Kris.”

And then she is gently turned around by her husband, the two of them gazing into one another’s eyes, as though they were stars, as though they were the summer sun. The affection and care in their eyes would then be the clouds, clouding their vision with nothing but the simplicity of their emotions—their want.

For, in the month’s Kris had left, he had missed his wife much too painfully and Victoria was only but the same.

In a second’s moment, Kris presses forward and claims the lips of his wife. No oxygen, no space; it was a passionate kiss in which Kris bites at and makes good use of their tongues; he was marking his territory and not merely wanting to feel her lips against his own.

“You are mine,” he utters against her cheek, their breaths hot and heavy. Then he kisses her again, but softer this time, gentler this time.

For that moment, everything else aside from her husband’s strong arms and warm breath slips her mind.

When they part, he affectionately holds her in his arms, smiling happily to himself. He thinks of their past, then he ponders on their future, and finally he thinks of their unborn child. She buries herself a little deeper against his chest, wanting to fill his heart with her entire existence.

“Just remember that you are mine and you only have to answer to me. Everything else—all obstacles and hardships—are not for you to worry over. Everything will work out; I will always find a way to protect you and it will all come down to a desired conclusion, just like now, in due time.”

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A/N: COMPLETED! I hope this conclusion was satisfactory. :)

Till next time~

♥Xue