Chapter 23

Hysterical about losing his lands to Halbant, Ca.s.siax hara.s.sed Rose, tormenting her as if he intended on killing her and targeting her with all his pent up agitation.

It was also a time when the imperial family started to oppose the Etoile family through their clas.h.i.+ng perspectives on the war. Then her father, Count Jared, fell into their meticulously laid trap and was beheaded.

Rose, now extremely devastated, prayed every day that Maxim Lancert would conquer Solstern, in the process destroying Ca.s.siax and the imperial family.

Rose became more and more desperate each pa.s.sing day, forced to live under Ca.s.siax's feet. To such a point that it would be better to die at the hands of Maxim Lancert, the head of the enemy, than her own husband. However, a strange event occurred. Maxim Lancert, who had already won more than 70 percent of the war, withdrew his army overnight.

Why? Why did he do that?

“What are you thinking?” Rose withdrew from her thoughts at the sound of Yansen's voice next to her.

She shook her head and laughed as if it was nothing. “By the way, is His Majesty the type of person who's considered to be a madman?”

Yansen hesitated to answer her unexpected question. Rose thought Yansen, who had stood next to Maxim Lancert for quite some time, would know him best but Yansen shook his head and sighed. “I'm not sure either. Sometimes I have no idea what he's thinking.”

Yansen, reminiscent of his Lord, looked at the distant mountain with eyes that crossed between love and hatred. He had an expression of remorse as remembered the moments he had suffered while supporting Maxim and his rule.

“His Majesty is hard to predict as it is, not to mention yet another person whose thoughts I can't interpret has come and I feel like dying.”

Rose chuckled knowing that he was referring to her, choosing to s.h.i.+ft the subject, “It smells like the sea! Is the sea near here?”

“Yes. It's not far from here, we're facing it actually.”

“That's amazing!”

“Huh?” Yansen faltered in embarra.s.sment seeing Rose's now ebullient eyes.

“We can't go all the way to the sea today, Your Majesty.”

“No, I was just curious. Shall we go back?” Rose, after stating they would return to the castle, took the reins from her horse while looking at Yansen with a meaningful gaze different from any other he had seen previously, implying her hidden intention.

[I think it's time. Let's start with an opportunity to change things.]

At her silent sign, Yansen lowered his eyes and looked around. “Alright.”

They secretly exchanged glances and nodded slightly.

Swooosh. Swoosh.

The leaves rustled and shook like waves as a cool breeze blew past.

It was an emergency.

Freddie hurriedly ran down the stairs.

I was told that he would arrive tomorrow evening at the earliest, but His Highness and his army have greatly exceeded any such expectations.

The whole castle was busy with the return of the king, which was reported late into the night.

“Hurry, hurry!” Directed Freddie, completely overwhelmed by the current situation.

The kitchen was in a hurry to restart the oven fire, and all other servants were busy running around, hastily preparing the castle for the king's return, leaving the stable entirely unattended. The maids teased each other as they prepared an enormous bath and carried new clothes for the knights to change into after their strenuous journey.

“Be careful there! Don't let water fall on the floor!” Freddie instructed the servants, rattling off orders like rapid fire as he ran down the corridors to meet Maxim.

He was sure he didn't miss anything and thought everything was ready, yet there was a strange feeling of disquiet occupying his thoughts.

What is it? What's missing?

His eyes grew round as he looked around anxiously.

No matter how much I've looked for her, I can't find the queen who should have come down.

He grabbed a maid and asked urgently, “Where is Her Majesty? You didn't tell her His Majesty was arriving? Where's her maid?”

“W-Well, the maid rushed to the kitchen and told me to let her know.”

“But-!”

“Mrs. Katriana said it was no use going to notify her.”

“What?” Freddie raised his voice to the maid, asking what that meant.

At that moment, Mrs. Katriana, who appeared with a cold breeze in her wake, snorted and spoke in a confident voice.”You don't have to go. She won't be there anyway.”

“What? What do you mean?” Freddie challenged Katriana.

“She must have snuck out of the castle in the absence of His Majesty. I saw someone leaving earlier,” Katriana summarized.

“It can't be!” He denied, the soldiers were guarding the four gates thoroughly, so he would've known if she left.

“I couldn't believe it either, so I went to her room several times today. When her maid came out, she said Rose was sick and I wasn't allowed to see her.”

“She must be very unwell.” Freddie looked at Rose's room and her window with worried eyes.

Bvooum!*

The sound of a triumphant war-horn stretched into the darkness, resounding through the forest and piercing the chilly night air.

Black troops were seen entering through the drawbridge in the distance. As usual, the army split on both sides and only the leading group continued to gallop towards the castle.

He wanted to believe that Her Majesty was simply not feeling well, but Freddie kept thinking strange things.

Surely, there's no way? How did this happen? If Mrs. Katriana's words are true, where has the queen gone?!

Even in such condition, she still needs to come out to greet her husband when he returns from the battlefield. Had she not been feeling well, she could have said something earlier.

He wanted to burst into her room and see it for himself, but time was running out.

Freddie looked alternately at the queen's study window and the appearance of Maxim racing ever nearer on his steed.

Dust flew as Maxim's black horse, approaching his destination, raised his hoofs high before reaching an abrupt halt in front of Freddie. The knights who followed also dismounted their horses one by one. Immediately the servants gathered around them, causing a brief disturbance.

After jumping off the horse, Maxim threw his weapon at the soldier next to him and asked Freddy, “Everything's fine, right?” He looked around as if he were looking for someone among the crowd.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It's…”

Mrs. Katriana's confident voice interrupted Freddie's response, “You're just in time, Your Majesty.”

Mrs. Katriana walked triumphantly towards Maxim. Maxim glanced at her and looked back at Freddie with cold eyes as if asking, 'what did that mean?'

“What's going on?” Maxim demanded.

“Yo-Your Majesty.” Freddy was sweating profusely.

One of Maxim's eyebrows rose sharply.

“I hope it's not true, but I think the queen has left the palace. Maybe she couldn't adapt to the atmosphere and ran away. Tsk, tsk.” Mrs. Katriana answered for Freddy and shook her head as if shaming Rose.

Tulio and Rishar, who dismounted their horses, were dumbfounded by Mrs. Katriana's words. Come to think of it, no matter how hard they looked for her, they couldn't seem to find her face.

“The bride ran away after the wedding! I knew it! I knew it!” Tulio whispered in Rishar's ear persistently. “I couldn't even sleep and ran here as if my life depended on it only to get the back of my head smacked.” As Tulio continued to spit in Rishar's ear, Rishar shook his head annoyingly as if he was trying to shake off a troublesome fly.

“Ah! Get out of the way!”

“Yeah, Yeah. She's fine.” Tulio murmured with a sulky face as Rishar shouted in anger. Tulio had said so, but was actually worried that she might have really disappeared.

They believed a proper mistress had finally appeared to stay this time.

“Freddie!” When Maxim called, Freddie rushed out in front of him.

“There's a misunderstanding. The gates were protected well, so if the queen left, I should know.”

Katriana scoffed at Freddy's words. “She must have sneaked out through the back gate, that lowly thing.”

“Maxim glared at Katriana with golden dagger-like eyes, yet beneath the irritation laid uncertainty.”

She spoke politely, bending her knees slightly. “Why don't you go check it out yourself? The Queen may be so sick that she can't even come to greet you.” Katriana anxiously scrunched her eyebrows together, giving off a strange feeling.

Maxim walked past her and into the castle.

Because of his fast pace and large strides, the black cloak fastened to his shoulders fluttered dangerously in his wake as if he was emitting cold winds into the air.

How dare you fool me.

He clenched his jaws so tightly that his jaw muscles swelled.

After several days of fighting, he tried to arrive earlier than scheduled. It bothered him that he had left Rose alone on the day of their wedding. She is similar to his mother but completely different, so he wanted to trust her, even just a bit.

There's no way she was as weak and irresponsible as his mother.

Although their marriage was not made with desperate love, the two of them made a pledge anyway.

Regardless, he had a strong sense of pain and betrayal, like he had taken a hard blow to the back of the head.

What was that simply desperation?

Was it all an act?

Did you buy some time under the pretext of marriage to escape while I was away? Was it like that?

You said you wouldn't go back to Solstern even if you died, was that all a red lie?

What his uncle used to say now lingered in his ears.

'She's acting! You can't trust her!'

'That Solstern woman is sinister. It will bring tragedy to this castle again!'

Standing in front of her room, Maxim was frozen staring at the door.

Freddie, who had followed in a hurry, stood behind him, holding his chest, and Mrs. Katriana looked at them from a distance with a triumphant look. The maids and servants who tailed them watched the situation with breathless faces, wondering, 'What kind of chaos is this?'

Just as Maxim was raising his arm to knock on the door.

Click.

Natalie, who opened the door, faltered back in surprise at the sight of Maxim Lancert standing in front of the door with a raging fierce spirit.

“Your Majesty!” A soft but clear voice was heard behind Natalie, who was once more left surprised.

“What is the meaning of this?” Maxim's eyes narrowed when he heard the voice.

Bvooum!* – War-horn