"I will do it," she said, her weak voice sounding oddly determined.

"What?" he asked.

​​

"The thing Your Majesty said. I will—"

"Really?" he interrupted her, leaning closer to her suddenly. He stared deep into her pretty eyes, as if he wished to look through her innocent soul.

His action caused her to move back, making her swallow her next words. '—wash your clothes.'

She no longer voiced out the rest of her statement and simply nodded hesitantly. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

She did not know why, but there seemed to be a change in the man sitting beside her. She tried to be calm under that intense gaze from his red eyes, but she's failing to get her composure back.

"So from where should we start, my Queen?" he asked.

Her mind turned blank. The way he looked at her made her forget everything else. All she could hear was the sound of the carriage moving on the bumpy road.

"My Queen needs to answer me," Drayce spoke. "Where should we start?"

"Umm?" Her mind quickly tried to think of what to respond and she looked at Drayce's robe. "Y-Your Majesty needs to remove his robe."

Drayce stared at her in disbelief. He thought he would tease her and enjoy her embarrassment but this young lady, his Queen, seemed to be so bold already. Did she want to start at this very moment inside the carriage? Well, not bad. It saved his efforts to woo a lady.

"Then?" he asked, hoping to hear something more exciting.

"Then, I will need water," she replied with a calmer voice, not knowing what kind of thoughts the man in front of her had in his mind.

"Water?"

"Hmm." She nodded, looking at him with those purple eyes full of innocence.

'She must be thirsty,' he thought before grabbing his water carrier that was kept inside the carriage and offering it to her. "Here."

She looked at the slim elbow-length water carrier carved in fine wood.

'Where have I seen it?' she wondered as she found it familiar.

Seeing her grow silent, Drayce opened the lid of that wooden water carrier and held it closer to her. "You can have this water."

"Will this be enough?" she asked as she eyed his long and heavy robe.

On the other hand, Drayce was eyeing her stomach where the outer robe had a long ribbon tied around her tiny waist. "It never dawned on me that my Queen's stomach can empty an entire water carrier this large."

Seren blinked in confusion. "Stomach?"

"As per my understanding, after drinking water, it goes to one's stomach," came the sarcastic reply from the red-eyed king.

"Drinking?" She blinked again. "No...the water, I mean... will this water be enough to wash Your Majesty's robe?"

'Wash? My robe?' Drayce repeated the odd choice of words in his mind. He then noticed where her sight lingered often—at his shoulder.

With his expression not showing his puzzlement, he followed the direction of her gaze There was a wet patch on his robe in the area where she laid her head on earlier.

Before he could say a word, Seren spoke up, "I will clean the robe, Your Majesty. My apologies." She lowered her head immediately, trying not to meet his eyes.

Drayce left out a deep sigh and thought, 'What was I expecting? This young woman is a blank parchment who knows nothing at all.'

"The Queen of Megaris doesn't have to do such lowly work," he spoke coldly.

She lifted her head slightly to peek at his expression. "But…"

He looked at her with one eyebrow raised up as if asking her—did you not understand what I just said?

She swallowed her words back and instead lowered her head once more. "Understood, Your Majesty."

After that, Seren no longer said a word, and Drayce did not initiate the conversation with her, causing the rest of their ride to be filled with silence. When Drayce looked out of the window, he realized that they had traveled far from the capital of Abetha. Many hours had passed and he realized they needed to take a short break somewhere as his men and their horses needed to rest. He would have done it earlier, as stopping in a city or town would be most comfortable for everyone, but he didn't want to disturb his queen from her sleep.

Although they were in the middle of a wilderness, Drayce ordered the coachman to stop the carriage. When he opened the window, the captain of the knights who were escorting them urged his horse to approach.

"Your Majesty, the scouts said there is a flatland on the upper banks of the river several minutes away from here. If Your Majesty wishes, we can camp there to let the horses rest for an hour."

Drayce nodded, and soon after, their carriage reached the said area.

The entire royal entourage had stopped in grassland near the river. As the carriage carrying the people with the highest status, the carriage used by Drayce and Seren was the last to arrive. The knights could be seen pitching camp, while the horses were allowed to graze and drink water from the river. One knight opened the door of the carriage for Drayce and Seren.

"We will take a short break here," Drayce informed Seren and she nodded.

Drayce stepped out first by stepping into a small stool kept in the ground. He then looked at Seren who was ready to step out after him.

He offered her his hand and she accepted it as stepping down this carriage wearing such a heavy dress was not easy. By now, she understood that whenever she would need help, she had to accept it from him.

One more thing she noticed was that whenever he held her hand, he would always brush his thumb across the scaly marks on the back of her palm. 'Does he like my scales that much, or is he just making fun of me by constantly reminding me of the ugly scales on my skin?'

When the newlyweds climbed down the carriage, the two female servants who came to Abetha from Megaris immediately approached the royal carriage to begin their duties. They bowed before their king and queen.

One of them talked to Seren. "Greetings, Your Majesty the Queen! I am Eva, and she is Marie. We are your personal maids for this trip. Let us know if there is anything you need our help with."

"I will leave you in their care," Drayce said before turning away to talk to his knights who were waiting for his instructions.

Seren was not used to having anyone by her side other than Martha, but then she looked at the red-eyed man surrounded by his knights and thought, 'With this scary man stuck by my side, he makes these two servants seem not a big deal.'