"You didn't mishear me," said Mars when he saw the look on his friend's face.
"Oh...." Finally, Edgar was moved from his daze. He immediately hugged Mars and patted his back over and over again. "Gosh...! I am so happy for you!"
For the first time today, Mars could finally feel complete happiness. He knew Edgar would be happy for him. Even Gewen would feel the same. However, he decided to only tell the latter about the good news after he told his parents.
"Thank you," Mars smiled broadly. "I do hope my child won't be affected by the curse and he could live well."
"Who is she? If I may asked..." Edgar excitedly poured wine into their cups and lifted his cup for a toast. "To the Strongmoor's new heir."
Mars clinked his cup to Edgar's and downed his wine before he finally recounted the story. Of all people in the world, he believed that Edgar would always have his back. It was important for his friend to know the whole truth so he could know what's going on.
"So.. she is a princess from Wintermere?" Edgar shook his head. "I understand it must be tough to be in your shoes. I wish you had met her before we invaded her country. Things would have been easier."
"Yeah... there is no crying over spilt milk, really," Mars shrugged. He remembered that the reason Emmelyn went back to Terra was that she heard about the invasion while she was in Antlantea.
If Draec didn't attack Wintermere, maybe she would still be going on an adventure in Atlantea with that Maxim guy, and who knows how closer would they be now after spending so much time together.
So, Mars was sorry, but didn't actually feel sorry that everything happened the way it did. Besides, what could he do to change the past? Nothing!
All he could do now was trying to compensate for what happened in the past and build a new future together.
"I would have no way to find out that she is immune to the curse if she didn't try to kill me and went undercover in my castle for a month," Mars replied.
Edgar put his cup down and was deep in thought. After a while, he started speaking in a low voice, as if worried to offend the prince.
"I am suddenly thinking, what if..." He narrowed his eyes and stared at Mars intently. "What if the curse is actually broken? It's a possibility, isn't it?"
Mars let out a sigh. "It is a possibility, yes."
"Have you tried to find out?" Edgar asked again.
Mars shook his head. "No. I can't take that risk of killing another innocent woman."
"But... it's only one woman. We can sacrifice one person for the greater good. If you can be sure that you are actually freed from the curse, imagine all the possibilities! You wouldn't be tied down to a woman just to get your heirs. The stability of the kingdom would be guaranteed too," Edgar said in an urgent tone. "Don't you care about your country more than some woman's life? You can even find some female thief from the prison and test if she will die the day after you touch her or not. I think it's nothing to lose for you."
Mars clenched his fist as he was holding his cup. It wasn't really the female thief, as Edgar suggested, that became his concern. It was Emmelyn.
She already said they shouldn't have any more sexual intercourse now that she had successfully become pregnant...
Imagine what she would say if Mars was found out to be no longer cursed. She would leave in a heartbeat. Maybe.
And his parents and the ministers would want to set him up with other girls who were NOT the enemy.
All in all, in his opinion, it's not worth it to try to find out if he was still cursed, or not. At least not now. Not before he could really make Emmelyn his.
"I said I won't do it, Edgar," said Mars finally. He finished his wine and poured another. "Please don't bring up that subject. This is a happy day for me. I am not in the mood to talk about that damn curse."
Edgar sighed. "I am sorry. I don't mean to ruin this day for you. It's just that... If you are really freed from the curse, yet you got stuck with another woman, I imagine how heartbroken Ellena would be."
Mars went silent. It had been five years since the last time he saw Ellena and they had not talked about her in a long time. Hearing Edgar mentioned her name now, suddenly brought back so many nice childhood memories of the four of them.
"Ellena knew I cannot have children with her since I cannot touch her sexually," Mars replied. "I need a woman who can bear me heirs. Emmelyn can."
"How do you know for sure that this girl, Emmelyn is really immune from your curse? I know you can touch her and she is still alive to this day. But, what if the curse is ACTUALLY BROKEN? If you are no longer cursed, you can touch any woman, including Ellena... Don't you want that?"
Mars shook his head. "No."
"Wow... okay..." Edgar looked dumbfounded. He batted his eyes for few seconds as if trying to make sense of his friend's words. "I didn't expect this from you. I guess.. there are things I don't know about you."
"I know Emmelyn and I are in a difficult situation right now, but I hope to make things right and we can move on from the past and rebuild our lives together," said Mars. "Maybe she will soften after our baby is born."
"Do you... love her?" Edgar asked again. He needed to make sense of this situation to understand why Mars said what he said.
If he didn't know the prince better, Edgar would think he was the dumbest person in the world. Who in their right mind not want to know if they could touch all women and have sex with them?
Mars let out a long sigh. "What I feel for her is completely different from what I was feeling for Ellena or Gewen's sisters, or my cousins' wives. They were the only women I interacted with in my whole life and I never saw them the way I saw Emmelyn. I don't know if it is really love. I have no experience with love, you know that."
Edgar scratched his head. He also had no experience with love as he had never met a woman who could touch his heart that way.
For him, sleeping with different women was a natural thing to do, it was biology. But when it came to heart matters... he never met the one who made his heart flutter.
"Beats me, I have no idea either," Edgar shook his head dejectedly. He glanced to the side and saw Gewen kissing the blond girl on her collarbone... and then went down to her slightly-exposed breast. "Cough... we cannot ask that guy either."
Mars chuckled and nodded in agreement. "No. We sure can't."
Edgar finally patted Mars on the shoulder and showed his support. "Who would have thought, among all of us, the first one to fall in love is the man who cannot touch women. Well done. I hope you know what you're doing and you will be happy with her."
"Thank you, Edgar!" This time, it was Mars' turn to pour wine into their cups. "I'll drink to that."
The two men clinked their cups and continued drinking merrily.
"Hey, hey... what did I miss?" Suddenly Gewen came to them with his own cup. He reached out his cup and asked it to be filled with wine too. "Pour me some and I'll toast with you."
Mars and Edgar exchanged glances. The prince shook his head faintly and Edgar knew that he had to keep their conversation a secret from Gewen in the meantime.
Edgar cleared his throat and poured wine from the jug for Gewen. "Well.. Mars just confessed to me that he was actually attracted to me. Now that Lord Aldrich has gone back home to Glendale, Mars asked if I want to spend the night at his castle."
Understandingly, Gewen's face looked shocked. He turned to Mars and narrowed his eyes, looking disappointed. "Is that true?? How come you're attracted to this beast but not me? Am I not good enough as a man for you???"
Mars was in such a good mood that he didn't even scold Edgar for his stupid joke. He merely rolled his eyes and replied, "It's not true. He was pulling your leg."
"Ahh.. okay, then." Gewen gave Edgar a side-eye.
"...Lord Aldrich hasn't gone back to Glendale." Mars quickly added. "I am keeping him to warm my bed during winter."
Then he laughed out loud.
It was oh such a good day. Prince Mars Strongmoor could drink, and joke, and be merry around his friends. He hoped his mood would stay bright after he reached home and met Emmelyn. He would need to keep up his appearance in front of her.
He knew she cried the moment he left her chamber and it really broke his heart. He wished they were in a different circumstance, but hey... he shouldn't be ungrateful.
Meeting Emmelyn in this lifetime was already a great thing. He should be counting his blessings.
He should be back soon because he promised her to be home before dinner. He must pull himself together and look fine to avoid any awkwardness between them.
.
.
>>>>>
From the author:
Welp.. okay, now we know that actually Mars had three childhood friends, not two.