The Werewolf King's Bride

Chapter 239: [Bonus chapter] The Duchy

(From Blue's Perspective)

"Your Majesty, the Queen," the duke bowed. "I am very grateful that Your Majesty has come to the duchy."

"It's great meeting you, Duke," I said.

"I should be the one grateful."

Dem helped me get down from the horse and rubbed some dirt off my face. "How did you get dirt on your face? You were on the horse the whole time," he muttered.

"Your Majesty must be tired. I have prepared a room for Your Majesty. You can rest there," the duke said.

"What...?"

I looked at Dem getting surprised. He said that we were going to stay out the whole time, even at night.

"I have made a change of plan," he said. "You and I will be staying the night here and work only during the daytime. It will take two days instead of one to finish everything. But it's alright."

'Really? You changed your plan because of me?'

The knights were pretty happy to be able to take a break. I sighed and followed the duke inside. The duke's knights took the rebels away and locked them up.

It was my first time visiting the Querencia duchy. The area was huge, but not as vast as the Imperial Palace. There was a rule that no one in the kingdom could own more land than the area of the Imperial Palace. No one actually needed to since the area of the Imperial Palace was just too large.

"Where is the duchess?" the duke asked his butler. "She was supposed to be here... Ah, there she is..."

I looked in the direction the duke was looking and found a woman with black hair and blue eyes, coming down the stairs with slow but impatient movements. Her blue eyes were not like mine, rather the color was a bit too deep, just like Evelyn's and Ava's eyes. She had most of the features of Demetrius's father, King Axel. Her face was round and her face showed that she had a lot of energy.

"I greet His Royal Majesty, the King, and Her Majesty, the Queen," she greeted. "We are very grateful to be your very obedient servants."

"It must be a hassle since we visited all of a sudden," I said.

"It's alright, Your Majesty. We are grateful that both Your Majesty and His Majesty have come to the duchy," she said.

The duchess looked at her servants and told them to show us our room. Dem was going to stay with me for a while and then question the rebels.

"Your Majesty can wash up. Breakfast is already prepared. It will be served soon," she said.

"Yes, thank you," I smiled.

It did not matter who I thanked, they always said that I did not need to thank them and it was their duty. The duchess was no different. I understood that they said that because I was their Queen. But I was afraid that if this went on, perhaps I would someday forget appreciating someone's hard work and think that it was natural for them to serve me. That would be very wrong if it happened.

I was trying very hard so I did not lose my true self no matter what my status was right now.

I was not born a Queen, after all, just a normal human being.

"You want to take a bath?" Dem asked as he sent the maids away and closed the door.

"You do?"

"No, I don't need one. I will take one at night since I might be a bit dirty after coming back," he said.

What he meant by dirty was that he might have to take care of some trash, in his words. I had seen him like that twice. Once was when he killed the former prime minister of Ataraxia in front of me. And the other time was in my dream when he took my baby boy from me because the boy had black eyes like him.

Other times, Ruby told me that Dem came back covered in blood sometimes. But he never came to our bedroom like that. He always took a shower in another room and then came back.

I never asked him about it. I did not want to mention it, at least not now. These days, I was getting used to these kinds of things. At this rate, I had no doubt that one day, I would not mind any of the things going on.

"I will take a bath then," I said.

"I will wash you up," he said. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's not like I have anything else to do now. Besides, it's very normal for a husband to give his wife a bath, right?"

"We did it a lot last night," I said.

"We do it a lot whenever we can. It screams a great relationship between a husband and a wife. I don't want my wife to ever forget any part of me," he said and started taking my hair accessories off.

"How can I forget any part of you? I am your wife and I am going to be with you after all," I said.

"That's right," he smirked and kissed my cheek. "You are going to be with me."

"Let's not do it today," I said. "I have a bad feeling today."

"Bad feeling?"

"Like I am going to have my period... I can guess that," I said.

"Alright then. You won't be comfortable, so let's not do it. But I will still give you a bath."

I was getting used to being naked around Dem now. I was less shy. It was strange of me to still be shy around my husband even though we had been married for quite a while now. Perhaps I progressed slowly in some things.

As I sat in the slightly warm water of the tub, Dem started washing my hands with soap. His moves were experienced. His hands were very hard and rough, but he was touching me softly. Sometimes I wondered how those hands could embrace me so softly. It must be the power of love and care.

"You have been down these days. Is it because of those dreams, no, nightmares?" he asked.

"Hmm... They are draining the energy out of me and filling my mind with nonsense," I said.

He did not say anything. His face showed that he understood what I meant. "Are you having nightmares too?" I asked. "You don't look so good these days either."

He gave a nod. "They are disturbing...," he said. "I won't lie- I am a disturbing person too. My personality, my activities- they are all disturbing. But even so, someone like me found those dreams disturbing. They are all about the thing I fear the most."

'They are about me leaving.'

"They are just dreams. Dreams won't be realities," I said.

He did not say anything again. It was like he was not sure if those dreams would not come true. But I knew that they would not. I did not want to leave him and if I was in my right mind, I would not.

"Dem, do you see any change in me?" I asked after a while.

"You have become bolder," he replied without thinking even for a second. "And you have been working more these days. You think even more than before and sometimes, you look into the air as if you are confused."

"Nothing escapes your eyes," I chuckled. "Ruby also told me this. Luc told me that I have gotten bolder while talking. Perita said that I fight with more confidence now. Reece said that I have been working more than before. I can also feel that something has changed in me.

I just don't know if it's for better or not..."

"It's a good thing if you become bolder since you are a queen. But you should not work more than you can. You might think that you can, but it's bad for your health."

"You work a lot too, all the time," I pointed out.

"But I don't want you to do the same and get sick. I am glad that you have more confidence now. You know, you can do anything. But I just don't want you to go out of your way to match something," he said.

"I am not. That's the weird thing. I am changing just like that," I said.

'Even my thoughts are changing. It was after that day when I felt the urge to kill that woman, Dem's mother, right there. It was also after that day that I stopped looking at her as Dem's mother. She was just a woman to me, a woman who I did not like. Because he has made Dem like this. She has messe with his thoughts since he was a child. Stay tuned for more on m-vl-em,pyr

Redemption is not possible in her case.'