Betrothed To The King

Chapter19

“But how could you all be careless enough to allow snakes inside the dungeon? What if they harmed her, which I’m sure they did!” King Archer yelled angrily at his guards as they knelt in shame for not protecting their queen.

“My king, we are sorry, and we know that we deserve to be punished badly, but still, my king, I left the queen in there without any sign of snakes. This is the first time we are encountering snakes in this castle, and I am shocked to my bone marrow,” Otis pleaded to the very angry King whose veins were already popping out in anger.

Indeed, this was the first time. The castle was so secure that no wild animal or parasite could come in. They wondered how the snakes had come in and why it must be inside the dungeon where the queen lay.

Agent Fox was behind the snakes attacking the dungeon. It was a plan between him and Queen Zinnia with the motive to hurt Queen Pearl.

Fox passed through the passage leading to the dungeon as he knew that all the guards in charge of discipline were eating. He went through the passage with the box he kept the snakes in and a lamp.

He got to the dungeon and noticed that it was tightly locked. Lucky enough, there was a space under which he made the snakes crawl through. He had been bitten by one, but he had already made an antidote available.

That was how the snakes got into the dungeon. Fox stood by the side of the king, acting as if nothing had happened. He was angry, noticing that the snakes hadn’t harmed Pearl as he wanted.

The poison in the snakes could terminate the pregnancy if any had bitten her, but it still didn’t work.

Soon the doctor came in.

“Has she been sleeping since?” the doctor asked as he scanned Pearl’s body.

“She has been like this. I think a snake bit her,” Archer said as he ran his fingers through his thick dark hair in frustration, trying to pull his side cut back, which still came back to its position.

“There is nothing wrong with the queen, only that one of the snakes might have passed through her lap, causing this mark,” the doctor said as he pointed at the red mark on her right thigh. “But that isn’t a problem, King Archer. I will drop a cream that will heal it fast. The queen seems too weak, and that’s the main reason she hasn’t woken up. Has she eaten anything?” he asked as everyone shook their heads.

King Archer suddenly felt guilty for throwing Pearl into the dungeon. He would have punished her in a different way altogether. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened. What if she had lost his baby? That would be the worst.

“Get her lemonade to drink so that she can regain her strength first, then make her food ready. That is all she needs now,” the doctor said as King Archer threw a bag of pounds to him, which he smiled at.

“Thank you, my king. I will be leaving now,” the doctor bowed and made for the door.

“No, doctor, you can’t go. It’s too late. The guards will prepare a room for you.” The doctor nodded.

The king turned to the guards and gave them a hard glare.

“Are you all still here!” he yelled as they all ran out to go message the maids. It was late in the night, and the maids were probably asleep.

“Fox, do you think what I did was wrong?” the king asked Agent Fox, who shrugged.

“Not exactly, my king. She did something bad and deserved to be punished. Maybe you went too hard on her.” Agent Fox had to say that in order not to sound suspicious or as if he hated the queen.

“Yeah, I went too far in punishing her,” the king mumbled coldly in frustration as a maid walked in with a glass of lemonade.

“My king, should I feed her the drink?” the maid asked as Archer walked to the bed where Pearl lay.

“I will take care of her; just go get her meal,” he said and sat down at the corner of the bed, placing Pearl’s head on his lap.

Another maid came in with the food and kept it on the table.

“You all should go. I will take care of my wife, including you, Fox.” The way he mentioned the word wife sounded possessive.

Just as they were leaving, Zinnia walked in to see the king doing for Pearl what he had never done for her, and that made her heart burn with rage. She couldn’t just watch the king treat Pearl in such a nice way when she had never had a sweet moment with the king.

“My king, there is no need to do all this when we have hundreds of maids in this castle. You are literally taking your crown off to serve her!” Zinnia blurted in a jealous tone as the king kept trying to get a good amount of lemonade into Pearl’s mouth.

“Zinnia, I see nothing wrong in taking care of my wife. By the way, you caused this,” the king said coldly without looking at Zinnia.

“My king, I am also your wife, and you have other wives, but you haven’t treated any of us in such a nice way before. But here you are doing just that for your new wife!” Zinnia muttered as tears streamed down her eyes.

“Zinnia, leave this room, or I will call the guards to help you out,” the king warned, now glaring at Zinnia with his burning hazel eyes filled with fury.

Was he caring for his wife? He never had such time to care or love any of his wives, but here he was treating Pearl like his queen. He didn’t understand the feeling he was having for Pearl, but he could swear that he didn’t like the feeling and he wouldn’t let it take the better part of him.

Zinnia ran back into her room in tears. Just when she thought she had won the king’s heart back and made Pearl suffer, the worst happened. It was as if the more she tried to hurt Pearl, the closer Pearl got to the king’s heart.

Pearl was lying on the king’s bed peacefully, and the king was taking care of her. None of the queens had experienced such a sweet side of King Archer. They only lay on his bed during s*x, and once the king was done pleasuring himself, he would ask them to leave immediately in an unpleasant manner.

None of the queens had experienced love from the king, but here Pearl was enjoying the feel of Archer’s kind treatment.

But you can’t blame the king. Pearl is his only wife that was betrothed to him, which means his legal wife. She was betrothed to him right from when they were young, but the rest of them were married out of lust.

**

I woke up hungry and weak. I had slept hungry on that cold dungeon floor but woke up to find myself in the red velvet room, which made me realize that I was in the king’s room.

I expected to wake up still in the dungeon, but instead I woke up in the king’s room. Why is that?

I stretched my body tiredly and noticed that my previous dress had been changed into a comfortable night garment. I tried remembering what had happened in the night, but I couldn’t remember anything. All I could remember was sleeping in the dark dungeon.

I hoped the king wasn’t the one that changed my dress. There is no way he would change my clothes without having s*x with me. I wasn’t sore underneath.

But then, what am I doing here?

My eyes drifted to the covered food on the table, which made my hunger increase.

I drew the food closer and dug into it. Soon I was done eating and made my way out of the room to see the king sitting on his throne and addressing two guards.

“Oh… you’re awake,” the king muttered as a slight smile curved his lips.

“Yes, and I will be heading back to my room,” I said as I bowed.

“You won’t be returning to your room until I am sure you are fine,” he said as I wrinkled my forehead in puzzlement.

“Of course I am fine?” I said in a questioning manner.

“A maid will be bringing a dress for you, and get prepared. Tomorrow, we are traveling to Prussiate,” he said and turned back to his guards.

I walked back to his room as it was clear that I wasn’t going back to my room anytime soon. I would have to stay with him here, and that meant I wouldn’t escape him.

And now another piece of news, I can’t just stay a day in this castle without one meeting or outing or the other. What is the reason for traveling to Prussiate?

Prussiate is a bad kingdom, and they are enemies with the Guham kingdom. I have a bad feeling about going to that kingdom.