Chapter 13
“Really? Your Mother didn’t seem to like Lav much. I thought you liked her.”
Rosander remained silent. Would the queen grant a request if Eizentine asked her to hand Lav over? Eizentine vaguely imagined the elusive image of the enigmatic queen.
After a few dozen paces, nearing the entrance of Star Palace, she spotted the familiar figure. As Rosander carefully set the princess down, Eizentine dashed toward the queen with the lightness of a bird’s flight. The rhythmic sound of her tapping feet on the smooth stone path halted before the queen.
“What brings you here, Mother?”
“What else? I’ve come to see my daughter.”
Queen Elaine leaned over and cupped her daughter’s cheek, smiling as the princess whispered something in her ear. Rosander watched them from a distance, waiting for the queen’s command.
“Have you practiced a lot?”
“I’ve been working hard, but they say I’m not ready for the real thing yet”
“Really? Impatience won’t do you any good. Let’s learn one day at a time.”
“By the way, Mother, what would you like for your birthday?”
It had been a decade since the queen had used the child in her womb to manipulate him. Escaping from the fortress in the midst of war, she transformed from a vile woman who ordered him to protect her into a mother who passionately loved her daughter.
“Anything our princess gives me will make me happy.”
Rosander glared at the queen’s deep dimples and took a deep breath. She owed him a great debt. It was his wife who was taken away by her selfishness. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. With such sentiments, he couldn’t genuinely protect Princess Eizentine.
Even so, entrusting the princess’s safety to him was nothing short of a joke.
Princess Eizentine was in the queen’s arms, whispering things to her. Amidst this, the queen’s voice suddenly rose in surprise.
“You mean the mermaid?”
Her face was pale and weary, yet somehow, there was a fleeting glimpse of what looked like joy. She had been so indifferent on that day she allowed the mermaid to be released in the lake. And yet, now she seemed more interested.
Rosander clicked his tongue at the queen’s whims and stood by. The end of winter marked the anniversary of his wife’s death. On the day she disappeared, the chaos in battle bestowed victory upon Archduke Clifford and wiped out the base of his fellow mercenaries.
The war wasn’t meant to last long. As seasons came and went, he returned to the battlefield to create the peace that would later nourish the princess.
“Sir Wayne.”
As a reward, Tiernan granted Rosander the disputed lands of the Waynes, giving him the dishonorable title of “Sir Wayne” instead of “Ross the Mercenary”. Though he sold off the land, he remained Sir Wayne. And the queen took pleasure in toying with him.
“Are you going to visit Olivia’s grave?”
The princess has already gone, and there are only two of them in the hall. The queen’s voice was affectionate, but the queen was still a witch, unable to deceive his instincts. The way she arrogantly looked down on people like she knew everything was sickening.
He clenched his teeth, resisting the urge to strangle her.
I failed to protect the one I truly wanted to protect, and yet you have the audacity to mention that name?
Her serpentine tongue whispered in the king’s ear, and King Xenon I granted him the dubious honor of being the princess’s swordsmanship teacher, a position he deserved for selling the land he had been given. This honor was enough of a consolation to keep him in the castle from time to time.
As expected, the queen kept him restrained for a long time. She brazenly told him to forget his grudge.
“I’ll be away from the capital for about ten days.”
“Make it so. I will send the court lilies with you.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Observing Rosander’s tensed jaw muscles, the queen smirked before noticing the end of the staff she had been holding.
Casually plucking off a green leaf from the staff’s end, the queen turned to Rosander and asked, “Is there anything else you might need?”
“It’s taken care of.”
As Rosander turned away, he realized she had genuinely been smiling just now.
For a queen who claimed to love and cherish her daughter, she had never truly smiled at her. The queen’s genuine smile only surfaced when someone was killed. On the day Rosander escorted her, he vividly remembered her violet eyes brimming with glee.
Apprehensive as to what she might be planning, Rosander felt uneasy.
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