How the Abandoned Queen Made That Man Kneel - Chapter 24

“Your Majesty? Why are you suddenly covering my eyes?”

When Challen started kissing Rose, Farnes, who first discovered them, unknowingly covered Casalin’s eyes with his palm.

Casalin just blinked her eyes, not knowing what was going on.

Her long eyelashes fluttered up and down quickly, tickling the inside of his palm.

“Your Majesty…?”

Farnes slowly pulled the reins to turn the horse’s head to the opposite direction.

Just as Challen and Rose, who seemed to be about to make a big commotion in the middle of the forest, were barely out of sight.

Farnes slowly removed his palm from Casalin’s face.

As Casalin opened her eyes wide in confusion, Farnes said as if making an excuse.

“There was a deer carcass.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Two of them, actually. It was quite horrible.”

Thank goodness you didn’t see it.

Farnes muttered meaningfully.

Casalin, still half-leaning against his upper body while riding the horse, timidly fiddled with her fingertips.

“Did you cover my eyes because you were worried I might get scared?”

“I just did it so you wouldn’t throw up on our Blackgriffon’s mane and make a mess.”

Of course.

Casalin quietly frowned.

As if understanding its master’s words, Blackgriffon shuddered as if it got the chills.

“Calling it ‘our’ Blackgriffon, you must cherish this horse a lot.”

“I watched it being born. We’ve been together for quite a long time.”

“Please cherish Duke Ludwick, who works day and night for Your Majesty’s sake, like that too.”

Farnes’s eyebrows went askew.

“Why are you suddenly mentioning that guy Ludwick? Did you get close with him?”

“Oh please, Your Majesty. Calling a man who looks well over seventy ‘that guy’? You should respect the elderly, even if he’s your chief advisor.”

“Ludwick isn’t even sixty yet. You’re making him sound ancient.”

“…..”

I’m sorry, Duke Ludwick.

Casalin apologized in her heart and quietly shut her mouth.

“By the way, why aren’t you hunting, Your Majesty? You’ve just been leisurely strolling around for a while now….”

“I was worried it might startle you.”

“Pardon?”

“Hunting isn’t as clean and elegant as it’s depicted in novels. Blood splatters everywhere and the flesh is gruesomely torn apart. Do you think you can handle seeing that?”

His frank words, coming in unexpectedly from a surprising place, deeply penetrated Casalin’s heart that had barely calmed down.

Despite the condescending and brusque tone, it was clearly consideration.

“I appreciate your words, but I’m not as weak as you think I am.”

“Really? That’s a relief then.”

“A relief?”

Farnes, who had dismounted from the horse, picked up the bow with familiarity and stared at a point in the sky.

Just then, a large hawk was circling overhead, making its distinctive screeching cry.

“Are you aiming for that hawk?”

“Yeah.”

“It seems too far away….”

Before Casalin could finish her sentence, an arrow swiftly shot out from the gently pulled bowstring.

As it hit the target with a single shot, a small gasp escaped from between Casalin’s teeth.

“Your skills are amazing.”

“Take it.”

“Pardon?”

“I said you take it. Boil it, roast it, whatever.”

Casalin’s gaze glided from the hawk that had fallen into the bushes far away to his face.

“But doesn’t gifting someone the game caught in a hunting tournament hold a special meaning?”

She expected him to say he doesn’t care about such pointless traditions, or give a brusque answer as usual.

However, Farnes remained silent for quite a while without responding.

His eyes, which held unknown thoughts, persistently stared at Casalin’s slightly reddened cheeks and the lips situated below like a flower bud.

“Your Majesty?”

“Is a special meaning not allowed?”

When a dumbfounded Casalin asked what he meant, Farnes avoided her gaze as if pretending not to hear and lightly whistled a signal.

Then, the guards who had been secretly following nearby approached, pulling horses.

“It’ll be sunset soon. Casalin, you should head back to the lodge before it gets late.”

“What about you, Your Majesty?”

Farnes stared into the forest where an extremely faint presence could be felt, unnoticeable unless one had keen senses, and answered.

“I’m going to catch a mean-spirited deer before I go back.”

Although there was no sign of the day darkening yet, a reddish hue was gradually spreading across the sky that had been blue during midday.

After sending Casalin back to the lodge with the guards, Farnes, left alone in the forest with an eerie atmosphere, walked leisurely somewhere as if enjoying a stroll.

“I wonder what others would say if they knew the king was trailing behind a lady-in-waiting.”

Stopping at a clearing where animal footprints were left here and there, Farnes spoke to the empty air where no one was present.

A while later, Challen walked out from behind the thick undergrowth.

In his hands were a bow and arrow stained red with animal blood.

“You’re misunderstanding. I was merely enjoying hunting while wandering through the forest.”

“Then it’s best you obediently go back now. Wild wolves appear in the area ahead.”

If you don’t want to be mauled to death, that is.

As Farnes’s low warning eerily resonated through the clearing, something large sluggishly appeared from the shadows.

It took Challen some time to realize that it was a real wolf, not a hallucination or a trick of the eyes.

“Wait, there’s a wolf behind you!”

“I’ve known him since my days as the crown prince. He’s quite intelligent. He’s hostile to ordinary humans, but he follows my words well.”

Farnes didn’t even bat an eye with a house-sized wild wolf right in front of him. He even petted the creature’s head.

The wolf seemed to have completely submitted to Farnes, closing its eyes tightly and rubbing its nose against him.

“When I was around fifteen, I think. It suddenly lunged and bit my arm, so I stabbed its shoulder blade with a knife a few times, and it became docile ever since.”

He’s out of his mind.

Isn’t it crazy to risk one’s life to tame ferocious wild beasts at such a young age?

Challen took a step back, trying hard to maintain a relaxed smile.

“Let’s hear my story first. I just want to give you a piece of advice.”

“Advice? What advice?”

Farnes asked lazily while stroking the wolf’s back.

The wolf, sitting still and quietly shining its amber eyes, seemed like it would pounce and tear Challen’s body apart the moment he gave the command.

“I’m advising you as a fellow man. Casalin is not a woman with a clean past. It won’t do you any good to get close to her.”

Farnes’s hand, which had been petting the creature’s fur, abruptly stopped.

An ominous silence filled the ashen forest.

“Not having a clean past.”

Farnes, muttering those words as if repeating them, looked eerie with his eyes losing focus.

Challen felt a chill down the back of his neck, but believing he could sufficiently persuade him as someone who had lived a similar life, he began to speak passionately again.

“That’s right. You don’t know anything about Casalin’s true nature.”

“Humans don’t even know their own nature, so how can you confidently claim to see through her nature?”

“Because I’ve known her for a long time.”

Challen was engulfed by the urge to reveal everything about his past relationship with Casalin.

That he had dated Casalin for a whole ten years, shared passionate love countless times, and fully claimed all of her firsts.

That he thoroughly knew the secret parts of Casalin that Farnes didn’t know about.

He wanted to boast so confidently, but the atmosphere surrounding Farnes was far from normal to put it into action.

Challen lowered his voice and continued.

“…Casalin is a cunning woman. Her kindness towards you is purely because she desires the position by the emperor’s side and his wealth. Don’t fall for her allure. I’m sincerely advising you.”

“She’s alluring me, huh.”

Farnes muttered as if he understood well.

Seeing signs of persuasion, Challen eagerly nodded.

“Surprising.”

Farnes recalled the image of Casalin he had quietly observed.

A person whose only hobby was to sit in a secluded garden and read books quietly if there was nothing special going on.

A woman who could live a more glamorous life than anyone else if she wanted to, but carried immensely deep loneliness and wounds.

Yet, she never complained and did her best in her assigned tasks.

That smile, occasionally beaming like a child, was meant to allure him.

How truly surprising.

“Do you know what food she likes?”

Challen narrowed his eyes at Farnes’s sudden question.

“Why are you suddenly asking that…?”

Challen, lost in thought, trailed off with wandering eyes.

Come to think of it, he had never really paid close attention to what she enjoyed eating.

Because such things weren’t important.

“Despite not looking the part, she has the taste buds of a child. She detests kidney beans and broccoli, but eats sweet fruits pretty well. Especially when she eats apples preserved in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, her cheeks flush red.”

“…..”

“Don’t you find it strange? You’ve known her for a long time, yet why do I know more about her than you do?”

Farnes walked over slowly with both hands tucked crookedly in his pockets.

Challen’s breathing became slightly rough from the overwhelming pressure, as if a huge rock or an old tree was crushing down on him.

“Hey, Your Majesty. Let me make it clear this time, even if Casalin is really alluring me, I don’t care at all.”

Farnes continued in a voice that sounded like it was rumbling from the bottom of the sea.

“If it’s her seduction, I’m willing to fall for it at least once.”