Empress Natsume ✓

XLII

"Where is she then?"

She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She's currently in Keito, your highness"

"Can you bring her here? I would like to meet her. The King of Xue's woman who share the same name as mine. I wonder what kind of woman she is?"

Jing shook his head with an expression that says 'A terrible horrible woman'.

"I'm afraid I can't. Moving the hostage here can be quite challenging. Yuan may had infiltrate our state with his men and believe me your highness, she's nothing similar to you. That woman is annoying to hell, it's not like we're torturing or touching her but she keep screaming at the top of her lungs in her cell. Can you believe that? The guards at the cell don't have a choice but to plug their ears. The stupid woman"

Natsume quietly laugh behind her Phoenix fan, imagining that scene.

"Let's stop talking about that infuriating woman, your highness. May I see the prince? That's my sole purpose of visiting here"

Her eyes brighten at the mention of her son.

"Very well. I will personally lead you to him"

She stood up from her dragon seat and descended from the stairs of the throne. She gestured at her twenty attendants not to follow her around for now. The general followed after her, two steps behind in respect to the queen.

"How is my husband faring in the Kingdom of Hoc?"

Natsume said, trying to suppress her feelings with an indifferent tone. It's been three years and she didn't hear anything from her husband, that's why she's asking the general even though she knew that he didn't go to Hoc, he still must have a news about him. He's a General, he has more military informations about the war going on compared to her, she's been caged in the palace without any news about her husband, they're keeping her in the dark.

The general noticed it though. It was just a simple question and it should be answered simply too-- No- that's not right, he doubt that answering 'he's doing well' is satisfactory on her side.

"His highness is homesick. He miss you and the prince a lot but he especially miss you, he even moaned your name in his sleep and he didn't touch a woman for the whole three years if that's what you're worrying about"

That nonsense letter of Eiji finally came to use. He and Quon waited for a whole two months to catch an information from Hoc. Eiji's letter doesn't have any relevant information about the war though, they even patiently finished reading the letter, hoping to fish some relevant information about the war, and to their greatest disappointment, it really is full of nonsense.

He talks about how he farted during dinner and Raiden kicked him out of the room and didn't let him eat, how he had a three women in his bed and do lewd things with them, how he stays in the restroom for the whole day because his shit won't come out. He then talks about Raiden, praising his virtue of not touching any woman from the army camp that are provided for the soldiers, and then insulted him because he thinks that Raiden is having a wet dreams about his wife. 'He acted like a teenage boy' Eiji remarked and the rest of his letter goes on and on.

"Why didn't he respond to any of my letters for the past three years then? What is he doing?"

She asked, not suppressing her feelings anymore.

"Your highness, didn't you talk about this with Izumi?"

Natsume frowned at the mention of Izumi's name, now she already knows why she didn't get a single reply from her husband. That bastard even dares to go between her and her husband, she had already reached her limits of being patience from Izumi's meddling with their affairs.