Everyone started scrambling towards the direction that the ball fell into. Alicia also hurriedly ran between the trees trying to find the ball. The faster they find the ball, the more they can save time.As she searched around for a while, she suddenly was met with a turquoise-colored lake. Alicia admired the wonderfully clear water and walked up to it. Feeling the refreshing cool wind, she stood for a moment to cool her head that was dripping with sweat. She then found the white ball right next to the lake.“So here it is.”The ball was teetering on the edge, so Alicia was glad it didn’t completely fall into it. As the depth of this water is very deep, it would be hard to pick it out of the bottom.Alicia picked up the small whistle that is hanging around her neck that’s used to calling the people to come around her area. Just as she was going to blow on it as hard as she can, someone came from behind and pushed her hard as they could.Splash!Right away her body was engulfed with co
All the people that heard her words gasped in surprise. It confirmed that she had not fallen into the water by accident, but that there were people trying to bring harm to the queen in this area right now.The hands that held Alicia gripped harder than before.Ivan’s wrathful eyes headed towards Basil immediately. Basil became completely pale in the face as he kneeled down to one knee.“M-My apologies, Your Majesty…”“Search around the area around here with escorts. Don’t let even a little rat escape this area if they’re suspicious!”His voice seemed to grind the very bones of Basil. He was not going to accept a single mistake from this point on.“As you wish!”Instead of making any excuses, Basil immediately left to search for the man who tried to kill the queen.Ivan quickly moved towards the villa again. As Alicia shivered heavily from the cold, he hugged her tightly as he rubbed his face against her cold cheek.“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Ivan wasn’t sure whether he was calming her do
All the people that heard her words gasped in surprise. It confirmed that she had not fallen into the water by accident, but that there were people trying to bring harm to the queen in this area right now.The hands that held Alicia gripped harder than before.Ivan’s wrathful eyes headed towards Basil immediately. Basil became completely pale in the face as he kneeled down to one knee.“M-My apologies, Your Majesty…”“Search around the area around here with escorts. Don’t let even a little rat escape this area if they’re suspicious!”His voice seemed to grind the very bones of Basil. He was not going to accept a single mistake from this point on.“As you wish!”Instead of making any excuses, Basil immediately left to search for the man who tried to kill the queen.Ivan quickly moved towards the villa again. As Alicia shivered heavily from the cold, he hugged her tightly as he rubbed his face against her cold cheek.“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Ivan wasn’t sure whether he was calming her do
Ivan swept Alicia’s hair that was still wet with water. He kissed her on her forehead reassuringly.“Don’t worry. I swear I will capture them.”No matter who they were, or where they hid, he’d find them and kill them. He thought of ripping all of their skin off their bones. He had given up so much to get her back, after all. He had gone through hell itself, and to take her away from him like this, he’ll not accept such a thing.He grasped Alicia right onto his body. He promised himself over and over again that he would never let go of this warmth from her body ever again.“First, let’s warm up our bodies for a moment here then go back to the palace.”Hearing his words, Alicia nodded without much strength left in her body.“But who could that be? Who would do such a thing to me…”No matter how much she thought, there was no one that would hate her enough to do this.The best guess would be Seraphina Rissel from the previous banquet. However, she wasn’t seen even once outside after that
At her sudden words, Ivan’s eyes bulged, doubting the words he had heard and looked at Alicia with endearing and cautious eyes.“…What do you—”“Right now, Ivan, I want you to embrace me, touch me.”She wanted to feel alive and the only way to confirm that she was alive and breathing were the nerves and hot blood electrifying her body whole.“But to do that… your current condition is…”“Please, Ivan.”Alicia’s curled fingers stretched out and wrapped it around his neck. She swept her soft hand on his hardeTed back neck, moving it towards his tousled hair, tangling her fingers and pulling him towards her.His head naturally followed the gravity of her pull—his hardeTed lips pressed onto her soft lips. She was on the offensive; she wanted him. Her tongue dug between his closed lips and coiled itself around his.Ivan’s eyes remained open; he had rendered himself in surrender to this woman. His heart fluttered at her taking the lead.Ivan’s body reacted to her touches, his hip area rockin
“Hmmph!”Alicia’s body shook, engulfing his throbbing manhood in one movement. It had touched the deepest parts of her. She placed her hands on top of his thighs and threw her head back as she moaTed.Ivan stroked her back slowly for she was barely able to breathe. He gave her time to get used to the feeling while lightly grinding his hips in pleasure.“Go ahead and move as much as you want.”Up till now, the one who had taken the lead whenever they were consumed with passionate love was Ivan. Though she sometimes moved her hips together in slapping rhythm with him, there had never been an instance where it was her taking the lead.Not long after, Alicia realized that this position allowed her to move however she wished. She was in charge and the one to move her body to feel the induced pleasure.She raised her hand and lowered it onto his muscled ch*st and began her movement. Her hips moved, sliding her flower up and down his shaft by the motion of her hips while keeping her upper bo
She could not remember much of what happened after deep sleep overtook her. Half-awake, her consciousness slowly came back to its senses, noticing that she was in the arms of someone.A large hand stroked her face with profound gentleness.“…Ivan?” she said, unwittingly calling out his name.She saw the man’s lips tug to a smile.‘Why’s he smiling so happily?’ Alicia wondered.“Go on. Sleep a little more. We have a long time till we arrive back at the palace.”Alicia came to notice that she and Ivan were currently inside a moving carriage and that she had on a white sleepwear and a blanket wrapped around her. He may have carried her to the carriage while she was passed out in a peaceful sleep.She blinked her tired eyes several times as Ivan leaned over to kiss her, as if soothing her to go back to sleep.“Mmn.” Alicia nodded, following his recommendation and let sleep flood in. His warm embrace allowed her to drift away comfortably.Ivan smiled, wondering what she was dreaming of.Ev
Many years had passed since the name of the late king’s son came out of Ivan’s cold lips. Count Clovis, the eldest son of the late king, spent his days in solemn silence ages ago when he and his followers pushing to elect him as king were suppressed.Basil was unsure why Ivan suddenly spoke his name out of nowhere.“Do you find him suspicious? Or perhaps you’ve something?”Ivan shook his head. “No. That’s not it.”“Your Majesty, on that day, the count attended in the early morning for a moment for the sake of formality before heading back to his place. His wife stayed behind but she did not go anywhere close to the like, merely spending the hours with other noblewomen inside the tent. Under these circumstances, I find nothing suspicious at all,” Basil argued.“I understand.” Ivan let out a deep low sigh. “In anycase, the possibilities remain. Investigate them all. You aren’t allowed to let any single person pass.”“Understood, Your Majesty.”Basil bowed and left.Thereafter, Ivan went
Epilogue (1) – DimitriTranslator – YueYears later.“…and Elheim truly loved his human woman. But he was a God, pure and divine, so he could not remain too much longer on earth. If he stayed in the human world for too long, he’d lose all his divine powers…”The man who was reading the book out loud paused for a while and looked at a particular direction in his audience. There, there was a little girl with the same hair color as him. He saw her yawning while little eyes narrowed with displeasure, as though wondering why he’d stopped. The man resumed reading the book.“In the end, Eiheim had no choice but to leave the woman he loved and to go back on earth. However, he wept for the love he had to leave behind on the human world and those tears turned into rain. At the same time, a baby was growing inside his woman’s womb, a baby created from their union. This baby was born strong and healthy, and she had an incredible power. She had the power to turn himself into a bird. In the human w
Translator – YueT/N: This is the end, so extra-long chapter for today?Ivan irrupted into the room, sword in hand and a murderous look in his eye… to see Alicia licking her fingers. In front of her there was a huge plate filled with food. There was an abundance of seafood. Next to her was a worker who looked at Ivan with widened eyes.“Ivan?”Alicia quickly took her finger out of her mouth and looked at him. She asked again, nervous.“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”The inn worker looked alternated glances between Ivan and the sword in his hand, his legs shaking.“Oh… it’s just… it looked like your wife was pregnant, so I was only asking if there was anything she disliked so I could bring something else…”Since Alicia had taken her robe and coat off, she was wearing a light dress that showed her bulging belly clearly. It seemed that the inn boy had noticed it and was only asking whether she liked the food.Ivan felt ridiculous for getting angry over something like this.No, more
Translator – Yue“Salerno Inn”Alicia read the old sign that was hanging atop a building. It was an inn, so it definitely offered food and shelter to travelers.“It would take us around two hours to reach your mother’s mansion. It might be faster if we rode my horse together, but you can’t while pregnant… if you don’t want to spend the night in a place like this, then I’ll find another way…”Ivan murmured while trying to assess Alicia’s reaction. He knew that the inn was old and gloomy. He’d spent some nights here before himself but he knew that it was different for Alicia, who’d only lived in mansions and palaces. She might even find this place repulsive.He did not want the news of them here to spread too much, which was why he’d chosen this place as he could keep their identities hidden. But… perhaps he should have thought of Alicia more. Maybe it would be best to go to someone else’s house and reveal their identity so they could spend the night somewhere more comfortable.As he ke
Translator – YueAfter listening to Mrs. Cessly’s words, Ivan immediately hopped on a horse and sprang to port. This time there was no Basil by his side, it was just him. While he galloped top speed, the events from these past six years came to his mind.When he arrived, the ship had already sailed. He was too late, again.He felt an empty space in his heart. He got down his exhausted horse and slowly walked to the edge of the beach. He had a desperate expression on his face.He stood there looking at the horizon when he felt something hot. There were hot tears trailing down his face. All the tears he’d held back all this time suddenly broke free.Despair and desolation surged from inside him. He sobbed and cried.Six years ago, when he’d missed her just like this, he’d managed to hold back his tears since there was still hope of seeing her again in the future. Instead of desolation, he turned his back to this very sea with the hopes of seeing her again soon.However, this time it was
Translator – YueThe Port of Salerno remained unchanged. Tall, imposing walls surrounded the beach. There were numerous houses with scarlet-colored rooftops everywhere. A seemingly endless turquois-colored. Everything was as calm and beautiful as before.There was only one ship resting on the shores. A white, modern, elegant ship.When the Queen’s carriage arrived to port, the usually hectic port city suddenly turned tranquil. The carriage’s door opened and the Queen descended from her vehicle surrounded by her guards. She was wearing a thick coat, hat and gloves all made of silver fox fur, as though she was planning on going somewhere far colder than Ehrlich. A little while later, the ship’s captain approached her.He took out his cap and bowed to the Queen of Ehrlich.“Greetings to the most honorable woman in Ehrlich, Your Majesty the Queen. May Elheim’s light always shine upon you.”A smile came up to Alicia’s lips.“Greetings, captain. I’ll be under your care.”The captain pointed
Translator – YueT/N: The chapter we’ve been waiting for?Mrs. Cessly wailed and started savagely criticizing Ivan.“This is all Your Majesty’s fault. It’s because you allowed the Queen leave for Coulson. Why did you do that?”“All I did was give her a choice.”“A choice?”“I told her to choose. To stay here, or to leave with the baby.”“Why on earth did you tell her that?!”“There’s a reason behind my marriage to Alicia. I lied to her and forced her to come here.”“Ah, I remember the Queen told me something like that. That Your Majesty did not wish to marry her, but Princess Helen. Is it related to that?”Ivan nodded.“Yes. I had no choice. If I had proposed to Alicia, she would have run away from as fast as she could.”Mrs. Cessly looked at Ivan intently with a complex look in her eyes. Seeing that Mrs. Cessly’s head was spinning top speed to find out what could possibly make Alicia want to run away from Ivan, he added in a slow voice.“She definitely didn’t owe me money nor anythin
“Alright. Go ahead, do it. Call me if you need any help as well.”“I will.”When their conversation came to an end, Ivan slowly rose from his seat. Alicia got up as well. Just when he was about to turn around, Alicia spoke.“I wish for you to stop feeling guilty of all that’s happened to me.”Ivan’s eyes focused intently on Alicia. For some reason, she found it hard to look him back in the eye, so she averted her gaze.“I don’t dislike you anymore, Ivan. I’m grateful to you for letting me live my life again and leave this place with my baby.”“Grateful…uh.”While he bitterly mumbled to himself, Alicia nodded her head.“After all, you did put in a lot of effort in saving my life. I’ll make sure I do everything in my power to live a happy life from now on. I’m not completely alone anymore, after all.”Alicia placed a hand on her belly.“Once this baby is born, I’ll only let him see and listen to the most wonderful things. I know I can’t stop the darkness of this world to reach him, but
Translator – YueAlicia’s jaw slowly opened.“When you say, ‘a chance to end this marriage’…”“You never wanted to marry me in the first place. You were forced into it because the Crown Prince threatened to kill your cousin if you didn’t.”“But why are you giving me this? This marriage will automatically end in a year, anyways.”Their contractual marriage had a time period clearly stipulated. Alicia couldn’t understand why he was giving her a choice right now.“If you want to end this marriage, then you don’t need to wait for the time to be up to do so. I’ll make sure you leave this country safely first thing tomorrow if you so wish it.”“Then… what will happen to the baby I’m carrying…?”Alicia’s voice faded. Her eyes darted to the contract clauses. There, she herself agreed on leaving all rights concerning the child to Ivan if she were to get pregnant. With the opportunity he was giving her, she’d be able to flee and hide somewhere far, far away, and he’d never be able to claim his
Translator – YuePatricia’s execution took place the following morning.In spite of being very early, many people gathered around the execution place. People gathered there to insult her for killing her own father, her benefactor and even trying to assassinate her own sister and Queen. She was seen as a true villain, an evil rarely seen before.Patricia listeTed to their insults and taunts until her very last moment.Even though Alicia had said that she’d no longer show any consideration towards Patricia, she did make sure that the most skilled executioner was selected to carry out her punishment. She’d heard of previous rare cases in which the neck was not cleanly cut off in one single strike, forcing the executioner to hack at the neck, which caused lots of pain and anguish before dying.After Patricia’s death, Alicia passed her days in a state of continuous astonishment. She rarely went outside and spent most of her time in her room. However, she did make sure of eating and resting