The Werewolf King's Bride

They were really surprised that the king himself was feeding his wife. And that was also in front of them.

Unlike at our palace, the maids were supposed to be with us all the time to serve us. Dem did not say no, since I was sick. And it was necessary for us not to say no as well to maintain our position. We needed to try to behave like other kings and queens in some cases. Or someone might take a bit more than necessary interest in us.

"What? Isn\'t the food to your liking?" he asked. "Should I dump it on..."

"No, just don\'t!" I said quickly. "I am not complaining about the food. What I mean is this. What are you doing? And that\'s also in front of others?"

"You\'re sick. I told you not to do anything else. And it\'s necessary for you not to move. Just relax and have the food."

"Ruby can do this."

"No. She spilled food on you the other day."

"That was one drop of soup!"

"And you had to change your clothes then! It takes too much effort to change clothes. You should move as less as possible."

That time, I did not want to change clothes just for one drop of soup. But Ruby nagged about it and made me change. And my too caring husband lectured Ruby a lot about it and did not let her feed me again.

"Dem..."

"Are you embarrassed that I am feeding you?" he asked sulkily.

"Of course not! That\'s not what I meant!"

"Then don\'t make a fuss and eat quietly," he said.

This was one of his techniques to make me listen to him. When he looked at me so pitifully and said those things, I could not help listening to him.

\'Next time, I won\'t let him fool me like that!\'

The next morning, as I expected, there was only one thing everyone was talking about- \'The relationship between the king and queen is heaven-made.\'

There was even an article in the newspaper saying that some maids witnessed the king of Querencia feeding the queen. There were additional things as well like he even carried me.

"I knew this would happen," I sighed as I read the newspaper that Ruby brought.

In Querencia, Dem always managed to prevent news from going outside. But it was impossible to do so here. That was the reason I told him not to behave like that.

"Where is Dem, by the way? Does he know about this?" I asked.

"His Highness is perhaps talking to the king. I saw him going that way," Perita replied.

"I see..."

"Your Highness, want to take a look around?" she asked.

"Hmm, my body doesn\'t hurt much. Perhaps I should move around a bit," I muttered. "Want to come along, Ruby?"

"No... Well..."

"Yes?"

"Actually, I noticed that Lord Luc is having a hard time unpacking. So, I wanted to..."

"It\'s alright. Go ahead," I said, shaking my hands quickly. "And make sure to take some rest as well."

"Yes, Your Highness. Thank you."

"Haha, it\'s nothing," I grinned. I was pretty excited to see some improvement between them. I had no idea it was so fun to see someone trying hard in love.

The maids of Ataraxia helped me get ready. They seemed to be quite baffled after seeing my dresses. Perhaps they were more expensive than the ones the Royals wore here. After all, Dem was pretty lavish when it came to these kinds of things.

They could not say such things since it might lower their Queen\'s pride. But they were pretty excited to get me ready, especially because the things were very costly and beautiful.

I kind of felt like saying, "That\'s my husband\'s choice, ya\' all!"

I wore a black dress with short sleeves that were shaped like feathers on the shoulder. It was hotter in Ataraxia than Querencia. That was the reason I wore a short-sleeved dress. But I still had to wear something black since it represented our kingdom.

"Your Highness looked pretty happy when Ruby said she wanted to help Lord Luc," Perita said. "But isn\'t it a personal maid\'s duty to help the Queen first?"

"It is, but I gave Ruby the day off," I said. "She works really hard. I can\'t do anything by myself. She has to do everything for me and she takes care of me all the time. She deserves a break. And what she does in her free time is none of my business as long as she doesn\'t do something she should not.

So, it\'s fine."

"I thought she hates Lord Luc."

\'No, she likes him... She is just not accepting it and our Luc is not even noticing it.\'

"Don\'t worry about them. Let them deal with their own hate or like or whatever situation."

There was even sunscreen in this world. It worked very well and there was no toxic substance in it. Before I left, Ruby applied sunscreen on my skin and also told me still not to walk under the sun for too long. She even suggested that I should take an umbrella, but I said that I would just be back quickly.

"There are a lot of flowers here," Perita said. "That flower... Isn\'t that the one Your Highness asked me about that day?"

A huge flower was stored inside a glass box. The plant itself was almost 13 feet tall. "It\'s a corpse lily," I said. I saw it in a book in the library and asked Perita about it. But she said that there was no such flower in Querencia.

"Why is it inside a greenhouse? I mean, only that?"

"It has a stinking smell, especially to us. It actually smells like rotten fish, I mean, that\'s what the book says at least. But this scent is pretty attractive to carrion flies."

"Does Your Highness\'s world have this kind of flower as well?"

"Yeah, I haven\'t seen one though..."

Perita and I took a walk around the garden. Here, there was a willow tree as well, just like the one we had in Querencia. Dem said that there were one in every five kingdoms and there was a saying that it could connect to the moon goddess.

I always had an uneasy feeling whenever I went near it. I had no idea why, but I always felt like I should not be near it.

Was it because I was a descendant of the black lord who was the enemy of the mood goddess?

"The willow tree is really beautiful, isn\'t it, Your Highness?" Perita muttered, observing it intently. Perhaps she liked it. Dem liked it too, but I did not see anything to like about it. Perhaps because I always felt uneasy whenever I went near it, I could not bring myself to like it, even just a bit.

"Yeah, it\'s beautiful," I mumbled. \'But I don\'t like it at all.\'

We walked around a bit more. There was a man with silver hair riding a brown horse. I saw his portrait before. He was the second prince of Ataraxia, Prince Caius.

"Greetings, Your Highness, Queen Of Querencia," he bowed as he got down from the horse, noticing me. "My apologies for being late. I was away last night since an emergency took place and I could not greet Your Highness, the Queen of Querencia sooner."

I was a rank higher than him since I was a queen and he was a prince. So, even though I could call him by his name, he could not do the same.

"Good day, Prince Caius," I said. "I was taking a stroll in the garden. Ataraxia indeed has a very beautiful garden."

"I am glad that the Queen likes it," he said. "Ah, there is a petal on Your Highness."

"Where?" I asked.

"Right there, tangled in Your Highness\'s hair," he said, pointing towards my braided hair. Perita got the petal for me. It was a rose petal. Who knew when it got tangled in my hair?

"Thank you, Prince Caius."

"It is alright," he smiled. "By the way, can Your Highness ride a horse?"

"No, I am not good at it," I said.

"I see. I heard Your Highness is ill. Perhaps that\'s why," he said. "Is Your Highness better than before now?"

"Yes, I am fine now. Thank you for your concern."

"Then mind if we take a stroll together? I am actually quite interested in Your Highness. Please don\'t take it in any bad way. What I mean is, it is my first time meeting a human. That\'s all. But Your Highness looks just like us."

"Yes, that is true."