Living As the Villainess Queen - Chapter 213
“But I do feel a little bad. I mean, we will be leaving for the Holy City together as a couple, but the ladies will have to leave their husbands for quite a while as it would take at least two months before we come back to the capital.”
Eugene wondered if the ladies will be delighted by her invitation or will they be reluctant to leave their husbands behind. When she let out a silly laugh at her own mischievous curiosity, she met eyes with Kasser who was staring at her in silence.
When Eugene realized his stares, she purposely widened her eyes as if asking ‘Why?’ to him. Kasser then shook his head with a smile on his face.
“If there’s anything you want to say, you can always just tell me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I often find you staring at me without words like you did just now.” Eugene told him off lightly but not in an offensive manner.
“Did I?”
“There’s no way for me to know what you’re thinking if you don’t tell me as I can’t read minds. So please tell me instead of bottling up.”
Kasser laughed as if he was amused by her words.
“I’m not bottling up anything.”
She looked back at him with a doubtful look on her face. She often felt an invisible distance between them as she sometimes couldn’t get a handle on what he was thinking inside. She also felt like she was in a lopsided relationship, as it was always him who made compromises for her instead of talking things over together.
‘But he sure is a changed man compared to his past self.’
He surely did speak more than he ever did before. And from his tender expression and thoughtful behaviors, it clearly showed that he had special feelings towards her.
Yet, Eugene was still confused from time to time. She skeptically doubted his ingenuous devotion to her, wondering if his kindness and affection was solely because she was an Anika who could bear him a child.
However, she knew deep down in heart that the root of her mistrust was in fact due to her own dishonesty. She felt ashamed of her own selfishness as she realized that she had been putting the blame on him the whole time.
No matter how hard she had tried to keep her composure to refrain herself from making hasty judgements, she always ended up feeling impatient around him. Maybe what she was feeling was fear after all. She was afraid that he might leave her someday, when he eventually gets tired of putting up with her.
Eugene deliberately hastened herself to hide her mixed feelings from him.
“I better go and make preparations before the knights arrive then. The ladies should be informed as well.”
When Eugene left the room, Kasser gestured to the chamberlain who was about to enter to leave him as well. He then once again unrolled Sang-je’s telegram and absently murmured the message written on it with a seemingly subdued tone.
He had felt a strange feeling when Eugene naturally assumed that he would be leaving for the Holy City together with her, although he never once told her before that he was thinking of accompanying her when Sang-je ever sends for her.
He then recalled her response to the telegram just now. The fact that she’d implied their return to the capital after their visit to the Holy City by using the word ‘coming back’ and the way she remarked Sang-je’s call as ‘annoying’, somehow eased his anxiety effortlessly.
He let out a small sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. He was seriously worried about his mood swings which were getting noticeably worse as time went by, as he now found himself responding to Eugene’s every word and expressions.
But he had no one to ask for advice if what he was experiencing was actually normal.
He’d been told all his life about how he mustn’t lose his composure at all times as he was a king, but he knew nothing about the exemplary behavior of a husband as his father was never a good example for him. In fact, his parents had never been a family before.
“Family…” He carefully muttered the word to himself as if he was mentioning some kind of forbidden word.
And he felt the same strange feeling inside him again as his heart started to pound like it did when he first heard Eugene say the word ‘couple’.
He had always told himself that he could simply live without it like he always had been, out of pride. But he had now come to realize that his longing for a family he once had as a child, hasn’t disappeared just because he’d gotten older. He just had kept it buried deep in his heart all this time.
One thing was clear for sure. It wouldn’t be possible for him to ignore his wife and make her leave for the Holy City all by herself, like his father did to his mother. There was no way he would be giving up on his first family that he had finally found after all these years.
Pides had finally made it back to the Holy City. And upon his arrival, he went straight to Sang-je’s prayer room to give his report on the progress. He went up to Sang-je, who was standing on the other side of the room as he opened the door and got down to his one knee.
“I, Knight Pides, have just returned from the Hashi Kingdom upon completion of the task, Your Holiness.”
– I highly appreciate all your efforts. You really have exceeded my expectations. It was an excellent judgement of yours to promptly deliver the news through a correspondence.
“Thank you for your generous compliment, Your Holiness.”
– But I’m afraid I can’t reward your hard work with rest, just yet. As I will have to assign you to a new task this instant.
“I am always at your service, Your Holiness. It is my great honor to serve Mahar’s will.
– I have sent an urgent telegram to send for Anika Jin to the Holy City upon the arrival of your letter and the knights have already been set out to escort her. I want you to ride down and join the knights as an escort to Anika Jin. I am sure she will be delighted to have you as her escort on her way back to the Holy City for the first time in many years.
Pides was well aware of Anika Jin’s feelings towards him for it was harder for someone not to take a hint when such a beautiful and noble young anika gives you a stare, always with a great affection in her eyes.
Whether it was a good thing or not, they somehow ended up going their separate ways from each other. When Pides was of an age where he could easily fall for the temptations, he restrained himself with such an effort of will as Anika Jin was still a young girl. But by the time she grew up to be a fine young lady, Pides had sworn an oath to serve God with all his body and soul for a lifetime by taking the vow of celibacy after he went through a great misfortune in his life.
On the very next day of his declaration, Anika Jin came to see him. But all she did was to give him a long stare in silence, with her sorrowful eyes which later turned to resentment before she left. Pides still can’t get over the look she had given him that day.
So, when he recently encountered her at Hashi kingdom, he sensed a significant air of unfamiliarity around her. Maybe it was because she was now married, or maybe the interval of three years between them was long enough to change how they once had felt for each other. He now spotted nothing more than a token of courtesy in her eyes when she looked at him.
Although he had realized that he no longer meant anything to her anymore, he obediently responded to Sang-je’s order without complaint.
“I will set off right away, Your Holiness.”
– And about the letter you sent, it contained no other news apart from the incident regarding the Lark tree. Are you certain that you have delivered my letter to Anika Jin?
“Yes, Your Holiness. And when she finished reading it, she had asked me to inform you that she was still in search, as her reply to your letter.
Sang-Je’s brow had slightly furrowed with his eyes still closed.
– That was all?
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
– …Very well.
Pides, who had vowed his head before he turned around to leave, came to a halt and hesitated before he spoke.
“Your Holiness. If only I may, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share your wisdom to a doubt of mine. “
– It would be my pleasure.
“Will it be possible for something other than a seed… a lark to actually transform into a tree?”
– It certainly is possible. In fact, the very tree in the main square which is widely known to the people was actually a lark instead of a seed.
“I beg your pardon? If so, how can it…”
– If the fact ever goes out to the world, the kingdoms then would scramble for Anikas during the active periods, to have them as a spearhead during their war against the larks. But Anika is not born to the world to be sacrificed for such a trivial purpose. Moreover, not all Anika have such power. The miracle was first realized by Anika Roxy, who was known to possess the strongest Ramita, and among all the Anika in existence at the moment, it was only Anika Flora who had the same ability as her. But now I believe, Anika Jin has got herself the same ability as well.
Pides was astonished by what he just heard as he revolved them in his mind. According to Sang-je, Anika Flora had a powerful Ramita, enough to be comparable to Anika Roxy’s, who is considered as a legend. And that now Anika Jin’s Ramita was no less than theirs as well.
– That is the reason why I have urgently sent for Anika Jin. As you must’ve noticed, Anika Jin’s Ramita is tenuous, but if her Ramita has somehow evolved, it surely is an unprecedented situation for us all. Therefore, Pides, I need you to bring Anika Jin back to the Holy City at all costs.
“Yes, Your Holiness. I will get right on it with all my might.”