The Werewolf King's Bride

"Should we head back then?" I muttered. "He said... he would be here, though..."

Did he not want me to meet them? Was he using this way to not let me meet them? But I did not understand why. If my assumption was right, then it was very unfair for me.

"Perhaps His Highness is busy," Perita muttered carefully though she did not look convinced herself. She was looking at me over and over again to see if I was alright.

But of course, I was not alright. I did not like it at all. Everything needed to have a limit. His protectiveness and controlling attitude seemed to just increase more and more.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?"

"Yes... Let\'s go back," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright, Your Highness."

"Please excuse me," Perita muttered as she took my hand and kissed the back of my hand. It would be a lie if I said that I was not surprised.

"Your Highness, please don\'t push yourself. If you want to feel like doing something, you can. Your Highness might need to act strong in front of the subject, but I hope Your Highness would not shut yourself in in front of me as well. Your Highness can show emotions," she said.

I smiled. "I understand. Thank you," I said. "I will try to be free... with you."

"I am glad, Your Highness," she said. "I am a mere knight, but I will try to support Your Highness as much as I can. Even if everyone is against you, please let me be by your side."

She knelt in knight\'s style and bowed. I had seen knights do this when I first became the queen. But it was the first time that someone did it individually for me.

"I hope you don\'t go... back on your words, Perita," I said.

"I won\'t, Your Highness. Please let me serve you."

"Then I will be in your care."

Perita led me to the palace. Though Perita made me feel a bit better, I still was feeling heartbroken. I thought this time he would not behave like this. But it seemed I was very wrong.

"Can you hear... something?" I asked, looking around.

We were downstairs and it seemed like there was a faint sound of someone groaning in pain coming from somewhere.

"Please do not pay any heed to that, Your Highness," she said.

"W-Why? What\'s that?" I asked. I had not heard this kind of sound before. Perhaps because I never took this path back to the bedroom. I had only taken a tour around the palace once, but I had not seen the whole palace. It was so big after all.

There was no way I would be able to look around and know every single place. I just knew about some of the important places.

"The sound... It\'s coming from that door...," I mumbled, pointing at the door in front of us. There were two guards there.

As we approached the entrance, the guards bowed at me. Perita was fidgeting slightly. Now I could understand that there were a lot of things I did not know about.

"What\'s there?" I asked.

"His Highness told us not to resolve anything regarding it to Your Highness," one of the guards said.

"So, you are saying you won\'t answer my questions? You are being rude to the queen?" I asked sternly.

"No, that\'s not what I meant, Your Highness. Please forgive me for my rudeness," he said quickly, bowing.

"His Highness told us not to say it to Your Highness, that\'s why...," the other guard said.

"Alright, if you cannot tell me anything, then move. I will see it myself," I smiled. "His Highness told you not to say anything to me, but I can just look for myself, can\'t I?"

"Haven\'t you heard Her Highness?" Perita barked. "Move and make the way for Her Highness."

The guards moved and opened the door for us. Perita went to the front and I followed her. "Your Highness, I tried to stop you earlier as well. It\'s just... I thought Your Highness would not like the sight, that\'s why. But please forgive me if I was rude," Perita said.

"What sight...?"

Perita did not need to answer me to let me know. I had already found out the moment I stepped inside.

There was a rotten smell and the path was dark. If I was right, it led to the underground dungeon of the palace.

"Do you want to go further, Your Highness?" she asked.

"Yes, let\'s go..."

After going down the stairs, I found out I was not wrong at all. It was indeed an underground dungeon where prisoners were kept captive.

The sound of loud groans came from a further cell. I could not look around as it was not in a position to be called a sight anymore.

I did not know why, but I could not help but get curious. I had never been here before. Though it was disgusting, I still wanted to take a look, just a single look.

"Is someone being beaten up or s-something?" I asked.

"The dungeon is for that purpose, Your Highness," Perita replied. "In the dungeon, the prisoners are kept for interrogation; some of them are waiting for the order- like what kind of punishment they will receive, or what will happen to them, and there are some for torture because of their deeds. His Highness sometimes comes down himself to check on some certain captives."

"Check on? What do you mean... by that?"

"Well, what I mean is, sometimes His Highness also shows the prisoners hell," she said, hesitating a bit.

"I... see," I mumbled.

"I heard that the prime minister of Ataraxia has been caught."

"Prime Minister of Ataraxia? We\'re going to A-Ataraxia though..."

"I mean, former prime minister," she said. "Actually, His Highness, King Demetrius was the reason he was exiled from his position. His Highness gathered evidence of him making a connection with Lacuna. Lacuna is a western country while Querencia and Ataraxia are both eastern countries, located on two sides of the east. The prime minister was planning on helping Lacuna take over Ataraxia.

Werewolves of Lacuna are like beasts and I mean literally. They fight like monsters. If they tried, they had a huge chance to win against Ataraxia."

"But it would affect the political and financial power of Querencia since Ataraxia is our neighbor. His Highness could not just sit still while it happened. And besides, Lacuna and Trouvaille are on the same sides in almost everything. Querencia and Trouvaille are enemies for lives. That\'s why, if we give even a single chance to them, they might try to take over Trouvaille as well.

If Lacuna could take over Ataraxia, then perhaps Lacuna and Trouvaille would bond and attack Querencia together. It\'s true that our knights are very famous for their skills. But still, if two kingdoms attack us together, it will be difficult for us to win."

"Knights usually have some unspoken rules that we follow. We usually don\'t break those since it\'s accustomed to our pride as knights. But as I said, Lacunas are like monsters. They don\'t have much of a manner in the battlefield and aren\'t afraid to pull out their dirty moves," she added, gritting her teeth. "Actually, I hate them more than I hate the werewolves of Trouvaille."

I heard that most werewolves in Querencia hated Trouvaille since it was their biggest rival. And besides, the king of Trouvaille was said to be very sly.

"No manners even as knights... Really?" she grumbled to herself.

"So, why is he here now? I mean, if the prime minister of Ataraxia has been exiled, then even if he has to be punished, isn\'t it supposed to be Ataraxia\'s duty?"

"That\'s right, but the prime minister escaped the moment he heard that His Highness had sent enough evidence for him to get executed to Ataraxia. But His Highness knew this would happen and so, he had someone spy on him. His Highness was supposed to only know what he is going to do, but not catch him.

But then, I don\'t know what, but something happened and His Highness brought him here to interrogate himself."

"Just interrogate?"

"If His Highness decides to interrogate himself, it can mean only one thing," she said. "They just have to die."

I shivered slightly. Though I knew that Demetrius did not fear killing anyone, I was a bit taken aback. Here, killing was nothing much. Living in my world made it hard for me to accept those things.