The Werewolf King's Bride

Chapter 99: Swordsmanship Training With Ezekiel

(From Blue's Perspective)

"Please wake up, Your Highness. It's time for your swordsmanship practice."

Ruby had been calling me for a while now. But I did not want to wake up, so I was not answering. But it did not help as she threw the blanket away and forced me to get down from the bed.

"Your Highness, you're the one who told me to force you to wake up even if you don't want to," she said.

"Ah, right... But I still feel sleepy..."

"Didn't you sleep last night?"

"... I did," I mumbled. Yes, I slept but only for an hour or two. Mother and I talked almost the whole night. She told me a lot of things about Father-in-law, cursed eyes, and also that kings and queens did not have to be mates to marry. They married for political reasons and then took concubines.

Because of a potion, even if they found their mates, they could still mate with others. It was weird and I did not like the idea at all. If there was a way to change it, I would try.

"Your Highness, please look where you're going," Ruby said as I smashed my toe against the chair leg.

"Jesus, I think my soul has left my body!" I muttered as I was rubbing my toe with both of my hands.

"Who is Jesus?" she asked.

"My buddy."

It was pretty hectic when I got ready. I reached the palace ground and found Ezekiel waiting for me. I waved at him and he waved back, which was more like just a bit moving of his hand.

"Good morning, Your Highness," he said and bowed.

"Good morning," I said.

"But Your Highness looks so tired."

"Ah, I couldn't sleep last night."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I saw you too. Remember?"

"Yes. Your Highness waved at me."

"By the way, what were you doing that time? I mean, I saw you saving the rabbit..."

"I couldn't sleep as well. I was just walking in the garden. That's when I saw it," he said. He was more talkative than usual today. Other times, he barely talked a sentence. But I was glad.

"Where is it now?"

"I released it," he said.

"Oh...," I said, a bit disappointed. I could not tell him that I wanted to touch it. It would be so unlike for a queen to talk like that.

"My sister has a few pet rabbits. If Your Highness wants, I can bring one," he said as if he could read my mind.

"Really?" I said too excitedly, then quickly fixed my composure. "Excuse me... I just..."

"Your Highness, you can be yourself in front of me without worrying about maintaining your image. After all, I am your personal knight. There is no need to be formal with knights."

I looked at him with an unsure look. Did he notice that I was trying hard to maintain my image? Honestly, it was hard to keep being formal and maintain etiquette since I was not used to it. In my world, there was no way anyone would be this formal.

"It's alright, Your Highness. All nobles are like this," he said.

"Then I think it's fine. You won't mind, right?"

"Of course not. I will be glad," he said, "when you're yourself."

'Huh?'

The training was good and enjoyable. Ezekiel was a good teacher as well. He was very young, but during the training, he looked too mature and respectable. I could not help but giggle.

"What's wrong, Your Highness?"

"Haha, I was just thinking... You look totally different right now. I mean, you are always so serious, but right now, you look ultra-serious," I said. "You look like a real teacher. Have you taught anyone swordsmanship before?"

"No. It's the first time."

"Is that so?" I muttered. "I think you would be a good teacher."

"... Perhaps," he chuckled. "Your Highness is the first person to say so."

I was kind of surprised. It was the first time I saw him like that. He looked like... He looked like a cute little cat. I felt urged to save him. It was just like the time when I wanted to save a cat that I read in a manga.

If I could, I would pluck it out of the pages and make it alive.

"Perhaps we should take a break, Your Highness," he said.

"Right... I think I'm dying," I gasped.

I sat down under a tree. My heart was thumping as if it would come out of its place any time. I was having a hard time adjusting my breathing.

"You should sit down too, Your Highness," I said as he was standing in front of me.

When there was no response, I looked up at him only to find him looking at his left. It was as if he was deep in thought.

"Your Highness, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure," I said.

"What if you want something? Will you go for it?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Even if it's something that belongs to someone else?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's not like you can't have it. It's just you shouldn't. Will you still go for it?" he asked, not looking at me.

"If it's me, I won't want something that belongs to someone else in the first place. But if it's a competition, perhaps I would try to win just like everyone else. I don't know if these two are the same case. I think you should do what you want. I mean, I am not in a position to judge when I don't know the whole situation," I said.

"I think," he looked right at me with a slight smile curved on his lips, "I'll do what I want. It has been in my mind for a long time. I think I should put an end to this now. I will just do what I want, not what I think is right. I will go for it even if it's wrong. Perhaps I'm crazy, but at least, I won't have any regrets."

For some reason, I did not have a good feeling about this. I did not say anything wrong, did I? I mean, what if my answer had influenced his weird thinking? But I just said what I thought.

"Hey, you aren't planning to start a rebellion, are you?" I asked seriously.

"Of course not," he smiled again and sat down beside me. "I'm just doing what I want."

"I heard that day my sister went to treat Your Highness," he said after a while.

"... Yeah," I mumbled. I wondered if he knew why she went to treat me. That would be too embarrassing.

"I hate it when others aren't being considerate."

"Huh?"

"Werewolves are too strong. That's why dealing with humans, they need to be considerate."

I did not know what he was talking about. Was he interested in humans or something like that?

"Yeah. But I wonder if all the werewolves think the same way. I mean, they have never been near any human..."

"I hate this. I hate him," he said. "So immature..."

"Who?"

"A man who only thinks of himself and tries to possess, does what he thinks is right and doesn't care about anything else," he said with a disgusted face. "What do you think of that kind of man? Aren't they disgusting?"

"Uh...," I mumbled. I could not say disgusting. Well, Demetrius had some of these traits and I never found him disgusting, rather I loved him. Yes, that was the answer- I did not know about any other men. I did not care. But I loved Demetrius as he was and I accepted him.

So if it was only him, it was fine. "I don't personally like the traits. But when the negative traits in a person don't exceed the line, it's fine. Until then, it's fine. I know it well."

"Oh... How does it feel being tied down?" he asked all of a sudden.

"Tied down? How would I know?"

"You don't know?"

Somehow I felt like he was trying to express something through his words. It was weird. I did not want to talk about this anymore.

"I think we should start again. I feel refreshed," I said.

"Alright," he sighed.

Why did I feel like he was always trying to take Demetrius down? Was it just my imagination? It was indirect, but I felt like he meant Demetrius and perhaps he was thinking that I was being tied down.

Of course, that was not the case. It was true that I was forced to come here. But I fell in love with him and found out that he was good for me. And besides, he cared for me more than anything else and treated me as if I was the most precious person to him. He was the same to me. I wanted to treasure him and love him forever as well.

All of the members in the castle knew about our good relationship and they were even gossiping about it. I even once heard that they were saying that as we spent too much time together, there could be a kid any day.

But that was not the problem. The problem was why was Ezekiel behaving like that? First of all, he was just my personal knight. He was supposed to protect me on Demetrius, their king's order. Secondly, even if I was being tied down, he was not in any position to oppose. After all, I was his king's wife.

He could not oppose his king no matter what. Then why was he behaving like that, especially when I was not mistreated by Dem in the first place?