Chapter 3. Go tell her, she’s to serve him tonight
***
Kayan's smile was as calm as a still lake, but the Elmirs in the room felt like they were walking on thin ice.
There was no one to save the good princess who had become his target.
Queen Lena coughed in vain and glanced at Ihedia.
And Ihedia, who had been sitting like a statue, immediately rose from her seat.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed in all directions at regular intervals.
Then, standing before Kayan, she tipped the flask with a calm motion and filled his empty glass.
"Now... What are you doing?"
Kayan's blazing eyes pierced through Ihedia's.
The clear liquid was running down the back of his hand, not into the goblet, but onto the floor.
Ihedia stopped what she was doing and looked a little startled.
But everyone could tell she wasn't serious.
She inclined her head slightly and replied in a flat tone.
"I apologize for the unintentional disrespect. Unfortunately, I am blind in one eye due to an accident several years ago. I hope Lord Bayate will be gracious and understanding."
Having spoken, Ihedia slowly removed her mask.
There were audible gasps from all around as her hidden face was revealed.
No one could fail to recognize the ugly disfigurement on her face.
But there was a world of difference between hearing about it and seeing it with your own eyes.
People's pupils dilated as if they were seeing things they had never seen before.
She’s more clever than she looks.
An eerily cold gaze sliced through Ihedia.
She opened her mouth to send Kayan a smile that seemed to have been sucked out of her soul.
"If your anger is unrelieved, shall I be punished here?"
Her tone was uncertain whether she was being sincere or deliberately sarcastic.
But there was something pitiful about the sight of the princess asking for her own punishment with a face that was embarrassing to look at.
"A punishment is unwarranted. How could I be so disrespectful to the precious Princess?"
Kayan sneered with a low chuckle.
Then the Anuts giggled at the poor princess.
For a moment, Ihedia's lips curved into an unintelligible smile.
All the laughing and chattering froze in their tracks at her unexpectedly sympathetic demeanor.
The surroundings fell silent as a mouse.
"It sounds to me as if you are saying that the behavior you have shown to the Elmir royal family thus far has not been disrespectful."
Kayan's blue eyes widened at Ihedia's belligerent words.
His tone that followed, however, was relatively mild.
"Well, you're definitely mistaken. We've been called barbarians before, but I want you to know that our respect for Elmir is genuine."
Kayan spoke the words without changing his expression.
Ihedia spoke in a clearer voice.
"Your great Emperor Raquil..."
"...."
"During his lifetime, he worked tirelessly to create an Anut with the dignity and cultivation of a great empire."
At that moment, the mood of the Anut delegation quickly turned icy.
Raquil Shabob, the hero of Anut and the pride of the Wolf Warriors.
The moment Ihedia mentioned him, there was no longer any kind of smile on Kayan's face.
Ihedia went on to say something that would have made any Anut blush.
“I understand that the reason Anut’s delegation came to Elmir was all out of respect for his cause. Lord Bayate, and indeed all of you here, are undying loyalists of Anut, so let's not let personal feelings get in the way of his noble honor, shall we?"
How dared she boldly brought up Emperor Raquil, whom the Anut people respect like their very lives, and criticize their senseless obscenity?
Kayan found it oddly refreshing to see a woman so fearlessly provoking an emissary.
She was better than her pathetic brother, who would give his country's liver, guts, and all to an enemy nation no matter what.
Kayan gazed contemplatively at her face.
Again, he read the deep contempt in her eyes.
***
"Ugh!"
A steady stream of angry screams came from the king's bedroom.
Patrick threw everything he could find in his way.
It wasn't just objects.
The floor was littered with courtiers who had taken the brunt of his fiery temper.
Only Queen Lena could stop his rampage.
"Your Majesty, stop it."
Patrick stopped what he was doing only when he spotted Lena.
The light beige carpet was stained black with the blood spilled by the courtiers.
Lena grabbed her husband's hand.
"You must treat your body with respect."
Patrick sat back in his chair, drawn by Lena's hand.
His heavy breathing was ragged.
Lena knew this was coming and hurriedly opened the medicine chest she'd brought with her.
The courtiers lying around them like corpses were not on their minds.
"That bastard dared to disrespect me, the King of Elmir, in front of all those people!"
Lena applied the potion to Patrick's hand and blew lightly on it.
Then, with the most compassionate face in the world, she said.
"That man deserves to die, for he has dared to sully the reputation of the great Herilsmiller. However, if you kill him here and now, it will be difficult to bear the consequences afterward, but with Ihedia, there may be a way."
Lena's arrow struck Patrick squarely in the heart.
"Ihedia?"
"I don't suppose Your Majesty hasn't noticed that his attention has been drawn to Ihedia."
"..."
“From what I've heard, Kayan Bayate's temper is very violent. Every night, the cries of the female slaves brought to the Bayate mansion echo throughout the Anut capital. We don't know the full story, but it's clear that it's a dangerous place for ordinary women to be. But.......”
Lena's few words made the king meek, as if by magic.
"In our hands, a tamed Ihedia might do us some good, for she too is of the royal family. Wouldn't you be willing to sacrifice her for the future of Elmir?"
Lena continued to whisper in Patrick's ear.
"Ihedia, Ihedia................"
"Everyone in Elmir is a chess piece for Your Majesty, and killing them so easily would not be a very satisfying revenge."
Patrick ran a hand through Lena's lustrous auburn hair.
"You are the only one who truly cares about me, after all."
He wanted to rip Ihedia to shreds right now.
Only Lena's insistence that he wait until suspicion of the former king’s and Evan’s untimely deaths had subsided had kept him from doing so.
A series of obituaries from the royal court had been published, sending chills down the spines of the people.
At first, Patrick intended to get rid of Ihedia when the time was right.
Queen Lena had other ideas.
[Your Majesty, have you already forgotten the disgrace you suffered at the hands of the late King? Everyone in Elmir knows that you have been compared to Ihedia and Evan all your life.]
[Today, the maids of the North Palace were regaling me with tales of disgrace, saying that only those with the platinum hair and green eyes inherited from the late King have the rightful place in the royal family of Herilsmiller.]
[She's a disfigured wench, far from royalty anyway, even with her fair face. Now that we've purged all of the late King's people, there's no hedge to protect them, so I'd rather keep them aside and harass them to your heart's content until Your Majesty is relieved].
Lena was well aware of her husband's vindictiveness and inferiority complex.
It was so much like her own.
She roasted Patrick to a crisp, thinking it would be better to inflict a pain worse than death on Ihedia.
And so Ihedia's hell began.
And once again, Patrick fell prey to Lena's charms.
'It would be a different story if Anut's Kayan Bayate could be obtained by using Ihedia, which is difficult to obtain at a low price.'
Not only was Ihedia in an unfortunate situation, but her face was also damaged, so it would have been fortunate if she could be taken in as a concubine for an old nobleman.
If Ihedia could seduce the commander-in-chief of Anut, it would be a lucrative business.
With Evan in his pocket, she would never be able to escape him.
It occurred to him that if the Anut was indeed interested in her, whatever his true intentions, it could be a very interesting situation.
When he finished judging, Patrick's intense emotions were eerily calm.
He summoned his attendants.
"Go to Ihedia and tell her. Tonight, she is to serve Kayan Bayate."
***
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