“Marriage…? Me and… the crown prince…? No, he is the emperor now but… uhh. Never in my life did I imagine us together. All our life, he teased me and I hated him for that. Ugh… I don't know anymore,” Carol flops on the bed.
She rolls on the bed back and forth in frustration, covered in a bedsheet.
“I found a caterpillar,” Ragnarök enters the room, smiling in his half-undone white shirt,black pants and leather boots.
Looking refreshed, he comes to stand alongside the bed. He, along with the bedsheet, picks her up.
“What are you doing? Put me down,”
Carol swings both her feet, struggling in embarrassment. He dodges her punches.
“Wait a moment, I have something to show you,” he smiles and heads outside, carrying her in his arms.
“I know how to walk, put me down. Everyone's looking,” Carol gets embarrassed by the maids' whispers. But the whispers disappeared as Ragnarök gave them a deathly glare.
“Who cares if people see, we are not doing anything wrong,” his words assured her to calm down. She settles down in his arms, blushing up to her neck.
She tries to hide her face, leaning on his firm chest while holding his shirt.
What the hell is this? It's like my heartbeat isn't fast but running at full speed. Ah, I just want to disappear. He is so close! It's not my fault, it's his fault for being this handsome, Carol thinks.
“I know I am handsome,” he answers.
“What? Did I say it out loud?” Carol panics.
“I know I am handsome, so stop staring at me while drooling,” Ragnarök gives her a smug face.
Oh, shit! Calm down, you damn instinct, Carol thinks.
“Your Highness, I want to ask you a favor.”
“What is it?”
“Can I meet my family just once? I miss them.” Her saddened face, low voice, and the longing for her family made her sweet smile disappear.
“I apologize, Carol. But I can't make this happen.”
“Why?” She gets discouraged.
“Even if I pardoned them, they are still traitors,” he explains. “If the empire's own queen meets the traitors, this will only lead others to dare to do the same thing.”
“But my sister and mother weren't aware of the treason at all,” she tries to excuse her family.
“Can you one hundred percent say that is the case? Can you prove their innocence?”
“Then I can't prove my loyalty to you either, your highness. What if I was involved in treason as well?” Carol tears up.
A faint smile appears on his face as he says gently,
“You wouldn't do that, Carol. Now wipe your tears… Your mom and Chloe are with Baron Hemsworth, Chloe's fiancé. I suggest you wish them well from afar.”
She is heartbroken and miserable, but the fact spoken by Ragnarök leaves her speechless.
a while of walking, after passing the garden, Ragnarök stops and puts her down gently.
“What… is… this…?” Her eyes fill with excitement, making her smile from ear to ear.
A botanical garden developed inside the glass dome, with the chirps of different birds flying inside.
“Is this a physic garden? Wow… this place is filled with every herb I want, even the rare herb which I have only seen in the books.” She is electrified, animated by the view in front of her.
She runs around all over the place happily like a child.
“Your highness, how did you know that I make medicine out of herbs?” She delightedly asks him.
“There's nothing I don't know about you,” he says with a smile.
“Uhh?” Her smile disappears.
Only Chloe knows that I make medicine secretly and distribute it to the poor or people in need. Even my father doesn't know about it because it requires me to go to the mountains and other dangerous places. But how does His Highness know?
Many questions appear on her face as she thinks.
"Making medicine is a pretty rare thing; only royal doctors and certified physicians can make them. If an anonymous person makes it and gives it to poor people free of cost, don't you think I, the crown prince, should know who that person is?” He clarifies her doubt.
“I am sorry, your highness,” she bows to apologize.
He looks away from her, then looks back at her,only when she lift up her face from the bow.
“Don't apologize. This physic garden has every herb in the whole world because I don't want my queen to wander around looking for herbs.”
“Queen…? You know, your highness, it's still so vivid for me…" she fumbles while blushing.
“Carol, you… Why don't you talk to me like you did in the past?” He takes a step closer to her.
“How can I…?” She speaks in a low voice, while looking down blushing.
“Why can't you…?” He takes another step toward her.
“I mean, we…" she blushes enough to make her ears turn tomato red.
“We what?” he says as he comes close until there was no space in between, his rude and rough voice, become softer than a cotton pillow.
“Tell me, Carol,” he whispers in her ear slowly and softly.
Carol panics and punches him in the gut.
“Stop coming closer to me, you idiot,”
she shouts in embarrassment and runs away.
He bends down on the ground in pain.
“Even I felt that punch, how is she so strong with that body?
I have to be careful in the future,” he whimpers on the ground.
She ran as fast as she could, holding her skirt, till she reached her room.
“What was that? Why was he so close to me?
I know we are getting married, but still, why is my heartbeat so fast? Because of running, yeah, because of running.
That playboy…" she groans, leaning on the wall, hiding her red face.
AT THE BARON HEMSWORTH'S MANSION:-
“Chloe! Are you okay? What did they do to you?
You look so thin…! Those knights, how dare they treat the future Baroness like this?” Baron Grey Hemsworth, Chloe's fiancé, bawls his eyes out and hugs Chloe.
Grey Hemsworth, red hair and brown eyes are Hemsworth's Identity.
They are the family of knights, respected and brave.
“I am fine, Sir Grey. Can you please not shove your face into me?” Chloe frustrated says while pushing him away.
But still grey rub himself on Chloe.
“I am telling you, 'STAY AWAY FROM ME',” Chloe shouts at him while pushing him.
Suddenly, a punch approaches from behind Grey and knocks him over, making him fall to the ground.
“Ohohoho… I apologize for my son's behavior. He is still having seizures because of the war, even though he joined midway. Let's go, daughter-in-law, let's have some tea,” a sophisticated lady comes laughing. She takes Chloe's hand and leads her away from Grey.
“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Baroness Hemsworth,” Countess Beth appreciates their help.
“Don't be like that, you know how long we have known each other. Good thing we, the House of Hemsworth, are neutral, only loyal to the crown. Otherwise, we would have faced the same fate as those burnt on the stake. But Carol becoming the queen is still very alien to me. After all, rumors about the crown prince aren't good.” the Baroness says with a troubled face while sipping tea.
“ Carol was always close to the crown prince, and that fact was helpful to save your family, Chloe.
You do know how ruthless and scary the crown prince is, right?”
Baroness tried to calm Chloe.
Grey intervened in between their talk.
“Yeah, he was petrifying and hair-raising in the battlefield. I saw it with my own eyes, the crown prince slitting enemy one after the other, tearing them apart without an ounce of mercy on the burning red battlefield. He didn't need anyone else, just him on the war ground. Those people who call him a monster should have seen that frightening sight. He wasn't a monster, but the demon himself.”
Anxious, Chloe worried and prayed for her sister.
“I have to meet Dad.
I can't let Carol suffer." Chloe determined.
While Carol…
“Am I sick? Why the heck is my heart still beating so fast? For God's sake, he is Ragnarök, the same Ragnarök you hate so much. Stop blushing over him, dumbass.” she ruffle her hair in agony.
Chloe's concern was correct; Carol was frustrated with the crown prince but for a different reason.
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