How the Abandoned Queen Made That Man Kneel - Chapter 66

“Would you mind staying by my side for just a little while?”

For the first time, Katharine realized she could produce such a brazen voice.

She felt like an evil demon dragging an innocent person into something wicked.

She admitted it was unlike her usual self.

But tonight, she didn’t think she could fall asleep alone in unfamiliar silence and darkness.

Perhaps it was because she had just woken from a vivid, chilling dream.

In fact, she felt as if all this might be an extension of that dream, and an unrealistic fantasy that she might open her eyes to find herself back on the cold prison floor overwhelmed her.

“Don’t tell me you’re throwing a tantrum, unable to sleep alone because you’re scared at your age?”

Farnese, held in place by her hand just in front of the threshold, slowly turned his head towards her.

For some reason, his forearm muscles seemed more pronounced than usual, tensed with strength, but his expression was perfectly calm.

As always, he treated Katharine as if she were an innocent, naive woman.

His face showed no sign of wavering, as if to say, ‘You’re not a woman capable of stirring my desires.’

Katharine had never been particularly proud of her charms or outward appearance, but she had never considered herself inferior either.

Throughout her life, she had always been in the position of receiving courtship from the opposite sex, and simultaneously in the position of rejecting it.

But now this wooden block before her eyes was firmly and solidly building an iron wall, showing only a mischievous smile.

“When did I say I couldn’t sleep alone? I just thought we could keep each other company since neither of us seems likely to fall asleep.”

Having her attempt at courage flatly rejected, Katharine replied with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Farnese let out a troubled sigh and scanned the dimly lit room where only two white candlesticks softly illuminated the bedding.

Then he looked down again at Katharine’s round head.

Her curly black hair rested lightly on her perfectly contrasting white ears, and her unusually long eyelashes cast mysterious shadows under her eyes.

Farnese wordlessly walked past her into the room.

He dragged the chair from in front of the fireplace close to the bed and plopped down on it.

Then he patted the neatly laid bedsheet.

“Come here.”

Katharine approached gently, with a small question on her face.

“Why that expression? I’m sacrificing myself to be your conversation partner as you commanded.”

“I didn’t think you’d really agree. And it wasn’t a command. That’s absurd.”

“It’s better than coming to a sleeping person’s room in the middle of the night, claiming to have had a nightmare and sobbing.”

“What do you take me for?”

“Alright, don’t get upset. Just come here and lie down. Goodness, you must be the only woman in the world to ask an emperor to stand night watch.”

As expected, he was only interested in teasing her.

At this rate, it seemed they might just end up playing mischievous pranks and falling asleep separately even on their wedding night.

No, he was more than capable of that.

From the beginning, marrying him was no different from a political marriage, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he declared he had someone else he truly wanted to make love to.

Katharine climbed onto the bed with a slightly sulky face and pulled the covers up over her head.

She couldn’t understand why she always acted so childishly and immaturely whenever she was with him.

“Are you sulking?”

“No.”

“I can see you pouting like a duck even from here.”

“Who are you calling duck-lipped?”

Katharine threw off the covers.

The chair where he should have been sitting was empty.

As she looked around, Farnese was coming out of the inner bathroom with something.

“Hand.”

“Pardon?”

“Your hand, give it here.”

Hating nothing more than slow comprehension and sluggish actions, he patiently waited for Katharine to extend her hand on her own.

“Why my hand?”

“You really have an excellent talent for irritating people.”

Farnese opened a small container he had brought from the bathroom.

He scooped out some thin cream with a fragrant herbal scent and slowly spread it on Katharine’s chapped hands.

She hadn’t particularly noticed in all the commotion, but it seemed her prison life had taken its toll on her body.

Looking closely, not only her hands, but her ankles and lips were all cracked and chapped.

“Let me do it. I’ll do it myself.”

Feeling awkward and embarrassed to be tended to by none other than the emperor, Katharine half-rose.

Farnese then pressed his fingertip to her forehead, pushing her back.

Flopping back onto the pillow, Katharine looked at him bewilderedly, covering her forehead with both hands.

“I told you just before. Get used to it.”

“Get used to it…?”

Having thoroughly applied moisturizer to her hands, he now took hold of her ankle and placed it on his knee.

Katharine protested in alarm, insisting it was fine, but he was adamant.

“You are to be my empress. Whether you like it or not, it means you’ll become an irreplaceable person to me. So get used to being treated preciously.”

“But aren’t you the emperor, Your Majesty?”

“So what?”

“Pardon?”

“To everyone else I’m the emperor, but to you I’m just a husband. What’s wrong with me doing this?”

Get used to being treated preciously by her husband.

To Katharine, his words felt as unfamiliar as a foreign language she’d never heard before.

It was something she couldn’t have even imagined during all those years of dating and being engaged to Charlen.

Katharine turned to face him.

“Your Majesty.”

“What?”

“Thank you. For everything.”

His hand slowed as he closed the moisturizer box.

His face was half-hidden in darkness, making it impossible to see what expression he wore.

In the past, she might have found him distant and frightening, rarely revealing his true self, but not anymore.

She could tell he was a humane and warm person without needing to look too deeply into him.

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. I haven’t done anything deserving of your gratitude.”

“You don’t need to be so embarrassed. Anyway, I’ll try to sleep quickly before I encourage your sleep deprivation any further. Thank you for indulging my stubbornness.”

“You can say such things too? The sun must be rising in the west tomorrow.”

Thanks to his light joke and the fragrant scent of the moisturizer, her mind felt much more at ease, and she thought she might finally be able to tame the fickle friend called sleep.

Katharine buried her face in the pillow with a slight smile.

She heard him rise from the chair.

After lying with her eyes closed for a while, half-stepping into drowsy unconsciousness.

She felt his cold lips touch her cheek, as if he hadn’t yet left the room.

However, she couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t a dream.

“You just need to stay like this. Happy and without worry, inside the fence I’ve built for you.”

His lips moved frighteningly slowly along her skin, finally reaching the hollow inside her neckline.

He exhaled a suppressed breath as if restraining his boiling desire, kissing her preciously over and over again.

Farnese sat in the darkness for a long time.

Even as the clock hands ran past midnight towards dawn, he silently watched Katharine’s sleeping form with brightly shining eyes.

The regular breathing sound escaping between her teeth, far from calming his heightened nerves, only ignited a greater flame.

“You don’t know people’s hearts.”

If she had any idea of the unsettling mixed emotions that dominated his mind every time he saw those ankles that looked like they might break at any moment.

“Would you mind staying by my side for just a little while?”

She wouldn’t have carelessly uttered such words with that innocent face.

Farnese irritably rubbed his brow and left the room.

As he stepped into the corridor, the previously blue sky had retreated and the sun was showing signs of rising beyond the sea horizon.

Staying up all night.

Even to himself, it didn’t seem sane.

“Why have you come out without sleeping, Your Majesty?”

Duke Ludwig approached and addressed him.

“Even that strong person feels nervous, it seems. She appears to be a bit afraid of going to live in the Renel Empire.”

“Of course she would be. The culture, royal protocols, even small etiquettes will all be different from what she knows. Moreover, most people in the Renel Empire are strangers to her, so she must be worried about whether she can adapt well. But she will overcome it.”

Duke Ludwig continued with a benevolent smile.

Farnese questioned, as if not understanding.

“Overcome? What?”

“Pardon?”

“She’s a child who has already been hurt countless times. I will not create situations where she needs to struggle, make efforts, or rack her brains anymore. If anyone dares to be hostile to her, I should cut off their heads without hesitation.”

“Your Majesty.”

“That’s how I’ll prevent foolish people who disrespect her or presumptuously covet the empress’s position from causing trouble.”

Duke Ludwig hesitated, unsure how to respond.

“Your Majesty, that’s…”

Isn’t that beyond simple overprotection?

Duke Ludwig forcefully swallowed the words rising in his throat like indigestible food.

To think that he was already planning to identify and nip in the bud anyone who might harm young lady Katharine.

Indeed, it was as if he was seeing the young days of the late emperor overlapped, making Duke Ludwig shudder.

It wasn’t a phrase he particularly liked, but it seemed blood truly couldn’t be denied.

“Ah. And.”

Farnese suddenly changed the subject as if something had occurred to him.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Please command.”

“Quietly send word to Willard Aster.”

“Aster… You mean the man we parted from in front of the inn? May I humbly ask what business you have with him?”

“Well, it’s not so much business as a desire for cooperation.”

Farnese quietly looked down at the waves surging over the rocks with white foam.

“He too seemed to have that look in his eyes.”

Charlen Riche and Rose Riche.

True revenge against them was only just beginning.