Chapter 289: Nagging
No one will hurt you from now on."
Dem never smiled at others or behaved friendly. He said that it was not needed. No matter how many times I tried to make him understand, it did not work. Well, it was not easy to change a person\'s behavior since he had been like that since childhood.
But it did not mean he wanted bad for others. Well, he did not necessarily wish well for others either. He just did not care. It was a lot better than wishing bad for others.
"Then, do I not have to go back to the temple?" she asked.
"Of course not. If you don\'t want to, no one can take you there," I said.
"But the head priest said that I am to be there until the day I die," she mumbled.
"He is dumb. You are going to be where you want to be. No one can select it for you, Athena. Don\'t pay any attention to what that old man had been saying. From now on, think that it\'s your life and you will live the way you want to. I will help you.
We all will help you," I said. "You just have to be happy, sweetie."
She suddenly looked into my eyes and started crying. Before I knew it, she jumped on me and started crying loudly. I hugged her back and patted her on the back with my left hand.
"It\'s okay. It\'s fine," I whispered.
I was sitting on the bed since she seemed to like it when I was near. But I did not expect her to jump on me so suddenly. Since the teacup was in my hand, the tea fell all over my right hand.
"Your Highness, the tea..."
"It\'s alright," I said, motioning for her not to say more since Athena might feel guilty. She did not know that it would happen.
She soaked a clean cloth in cold water and then wrapped it around my right hand. Athena did not notice since she was still crying, hugging me.
It took quite a while for her to calm down. Perita was muttering something very quickly to Luc, who nodded in agreement. These days, Perita did not talk much because she had a sore throat. That was why sometimes it felt like she was not present at all.
"Have you calmed down?" I asked and she nodded.
"I am sorry..."
"Why? It\'s alright to cry." Experience more on мѵʟ
"But in front of Your Majesty..."
"That\'s fine. Even I cry in front of certain people," I said.
"Who?"
"The King. Whenever I feel sad or just want to cry, it is mostly him who calms me down."
"The King doesn\'t scold for crying?"
"No. Why would he? It\'s completely fine to cry."
"But my mother said that if I cry or resist, the King will get angry and kill me."
"... Your mother lied," I said, maintaining my tone so I would not express my anger. "The King is not like that at all. He might not be the best person out there, but he is not someone to kill a person for crying. That\'s just baseless. Then wouldn\'t he have killed me already since I cry so much?"
"I did not believe Mother either... She lies a lot, so..."
"That\'s right. Don\'t believe her. She doesn\'t deserve to be your mother. A sweet child like you deserve someone a lot better than her," I said, patting her on the head.
"Does Your Majesty cry only in front of His Majesty?"
"Mostly him because I am the most comfortable with him. Sometimes, I cry in front of Sapphire too."
"Sapphire?"
"She is my cat. She is really cute and amazing. I love her," I said. "I will bring her to you someday. She is probably sleeping. She sleeps a lot.
Usually, she wants to go out with me. But I think she is angry at me because I did not give her food in the middle of the night two days ago. She even hissed at me this morning, which is rare. It seems she likes food more than she likes me. I thought I was her favorite person."
"Wow... I would like to see her someday, then," she said, her eyes twinkling with curiosity.
"Sure," I smiled.
"You sure talk a lot when it comes to your cat," Luc chuckled.
"That\'s given since Sapphire is just so cute," Ruby said.
"She is quite dangerous too. She bites and scratches," Perita said.
"Well, that\'s just her nature. I am glad. I heard she scratched Demetrius, too," Luc laughed.
After spending some time with Athena and others, Perita and I returned. Luc teleported me to Dem\'s office for some reason, even though I told him to take me to my office.
"Haha, good luck," he grinned and left before I could ask him why he did that.
"I would like to leave too, Your Highness. Good luck," Perita said and almost ran out of his office.
"Eh? What\'s wrong with everyone?" I mumbled, dumbfounded.
"Who cares what is wrong with everyone? But what is wrong with your hand?" Dem asked, looking angrily at my right hand.
\'Ah, so that\'s why... Well, it\'s really scary when he gets angry. But did that Luc has to bring me here? I would have applied some ointment myself.\'
"Tea spilled on my hand," I said as Dem approached me and touched my hand.
"How?" he asked as he unwrapped the cloth. "Your hand is all red. I have an ointment."
He quickly brought an ointment out of one of the drawers of his table and started applying it to my hand. It was very cold. He was being very gentle, but it still hurt a bit.
"Explain," he said.
"Well, I was drinking tea when Athena hugged me all of a sudden. It\'s not her fault. She did not know."
"Who is Athena?"
"That child."
"Isn\'t her name Amber?"
"She hates that name and told me not to call her by that. So, I gave her this name," I explained.
"Why didn\'t you get it treated right away? This is the very reason I am so worried about you. Will you still say that I worry too much? You keep getting into trouble and hurt yourself. You got sick just a few days ago because you worked too much. Don\'t you think it\'s high time you became careful?
I should have gone with you. And what was that silver punk doing? Wasn\'t he with you?"
"He was. But it happened so fast that no one could do anything."
"Then what was your guard doing? Isn\'t it her job to protect you from getting hurt?"
"Dem..."
"Don\'t tell me to calm down. It must have hurt a lot," he said.
\'Haa, he is really overprotective...\'
"I\'m sorry. I will be more careful," I said.
He looked at me suspiciously and then hugged me. "You worry me a lot. Please don\'t get hurt. It makes me sad. I want to be with you all the time and go wherever you go. But as a King, it\'s not possible.
So, take care of yourself when you are not with me. Be careful not to get hurt."
"Yes, I will," I said, hugging him back. "Don\'t worry."
He nagged me a bit more before finally calming down. The people who said that women nagged the most should meet my husband.
"By the way, I caught those men."
"Those who did bad things to that woman?"
"Yes," he nodded. "They are in the prison, their dead bodies I mean."
"Oh...? You killed them already?"
"You told me to kill them, didn\'t you? I did not personally kill them since they are pretty gross and I don\'t want to go near them. I got their dicks cut off and they died. What do you think of this method? Since they just went along with whatever that part wanted, I thought that it would be the best way to show them hell."
"... I don\'t feel sorry for them at all. What they did was unforgivable. I am glad that you gave them a painful death. But how did you even find them?"
"Well, it isn\'t that hard. Being a King comes with a lot of advantages. You can find anyone with even just a bit of a clue. You just have to go near that place and look for witnesses. That place is quite populated. Some people don\'t go to stop them in the act because those dumbasses are scared of those bastards.
But they will open their mouth if you give them money or just reassure them. If you find just one of those culprits, you will find the rest of them in no time."