Emlyn looked at Mars deeply. She could see how the man was not only feeling angry but also aggrieved. Mars kept thinking about how much his wife must have suffered because of their butler's betrayal. This thought pained him to no end.
What's worse was the fact that he was away when Emlyn experienced all the cruelty, caused by Ellena, his old friend, assisted by Roshan, his butler, and aggravated by Jared Strongmoor, his father.
Maybe Maxim was right when he said Emlyn's life turned upside down ever since Mars got entangled with her. That Mars was responsible for all the sufferings that Emlyn had to go through...
Mars knew that much, and he had been harboring guilt for a long ti. However, he had decided that he didn't want to let Maxim's words define his relationship with Emlyn.
For what happened in the past, there was nothing he could do about them. It also wouldn't do anyone any good to dwell on those mistakes.
At present, Mars and Emlyn were already married, they beca a family with an amazing daughter. They still had a long ti ahead of them.
Mars knew he must cherish what they had now and focus on how he could make his wife and daughter happy.
"It's okay, no need to aggrieve yourself with that scumbag. I already killed him. You can't kill soone twice. I would love to kill him twice if that's possible, but we know it's impossible." Emlyn touched Mars' cheek and looked at him soothingly. "It's my fault that I trusted him to be around us. I should have known if Roshan could be bought once, he would be bought again."
"What do you an?" Mars asked.
"I paid him money to remove your regular servant and sneaked inside your castle so I could serve you and hover around you when I first ca to Draec, rember? I did it so I could find the opportunity to kill you," Emlyn said. "I never really talked about how I entered your castle in the first place because I didn't want to implicate him."
She was angry at herself for this mishap. Roshan's case was just like a cheater husband.
If a man cheated with a woman, what's the guarantee that he wouldn't cheat on her too? It was no different with the loyalty between a servant and their master.
If a servant could betray his master for money, there was a good chance that he would betray his new master for money too.
"Oh.. that's right, I never asked you about how you could enter my castle, because..." The King of? Draec halted his words.
The truth was, he never asked because he fell in love with Emlyn so soon after she entered his life that he didn't want to know.
Mars would rather turn a blind eye toward her past actions and the fact that she ca to his castle to kill him.
Now, he realized it was a mistake. They should have talked about things more openly and put more trust in each other.
Emlyn also thought the sa way and regretted it. They should have known that soone who could betray their master for money, would do it again because they had no loyalty.
"Well... how much did he sell for?" Mars now decided to ask. "I an.. how much did you pay him to get access to my private chamber?"
Emlyn cleared her throat and replied with a flushed face. Ahh.. it was embarrassing when she thought about that mont. She finally replied haltingly, "I paid him one gold coin."
Mars clicked his tongue. "So cheap... I am disappointed that my butler didn't sell? for higher."
Emlyn wanted to smack her husband when she heard his comnt. "I was broke back then, okay? I worked hard to collect that one gold coin. If he asked for more money, I wouldn't be able to pay him. Besides, he probably thought it was a suicide mission anyway, and didn't think I would succeed."
Emlyn stopped her words because she didn't want to touch the subject that the reason she beca poor was that Mars conquered her kingdom and she lost everything that she didn't have any money to her na.
Mars realized this too. He nodded and held her hand. "I don't care if he sold for cheap. Between the two of us, you are the more valuable one. So, I think he must have sold you for a lot of money to Ellena. Before you killed him, did he tell you how much?"
Emlyn finally smiled again. She was wondering how her husband now could say all the right words and handle their argunts better. However, she still pouted when she spoke because she rembered how Ellena was Mars' old friend.
She said, "Ellena paid Roshan 500 gold coins, and he also stole the money you kept in the treasure chest. He was loaded with gold when I killed him. I took the money to fund my trip."
Emlyn raised an eyebrow, "So, how is Ellena doing now? I am sure when Queen mother woke up, she could tell everyone what really happened, that it was Ellena who tried to kill her."
Mars nodded. "Yeah... I already knew she was guilty, but I couldn't just punish her without evidence. People will think I am biased and unfair. I cannot bend the law according to what I want. So, I was waiting to get the evidence by intentionally keeping her around for easier surveillance."
The king added, "I am sorry it took a long ti to finally send her to prison. My mother did tell us everything when she woke up. So, the ministers, judges and my father could know for sure that Ellena was the person responsible for the plot to kill Queen Elara and fra you. She is now in prison, awaiting punishnt. I want to wait for you to co ho before I put her to trial."
Emlyn used to admire her husband's principle, that he wanted to be a good king, soone who would put his kingdom and his people above his own needs. A king who would be just and fair to everyone.
However, now that they were in this position, Emlyn realized she hated that Mars chose his kingdom over her. The man couldn't imdiately stand up for Emlyn and defend her in front of everyone who accused her of murder because all evidence was pointing at her.
He couldn't just trust her blindly and support her unconditionally, no matter what the evidence showed and what the false witnesses testified.
It was very different from Maxim who would ALWAYS take Emlyn's side. He couldn't care less about his throne or his kingdom when it ca to choosing between Emlyn or his kingdom.
In fact, he preferred to stay with Emlyn until they reached Castilse when she went to deep sleep in Myreen, instead of going to the frontline to imdiately quench the rebellion of his brother-in-law who took advantage of Draec's forces.
To Maxim, nothing was more important than Emlyn. He always made Emlyn feel safe and protected and she could do whatever she wanted without having to tip-toe on doing the right thing, or being on the right side of justice.
Seeing how different the two n were, Emlyn could only press her chest. Her husband was the knightly type, while Maxim was the villain type.
Mars was the kind of man who would sacrifice the woman he loved to save the world, while Maxim was the kind of man who would burn down the whole world to save the woman he loved.
Emlyn truly believed the woman who would end up with Maxim would be a lucky one, to be the subject of affection of such a man, who would do anything for her and destroy the world if necessary, just to be with her.
She hoped Maxim would find that woman after he got over his feelings for Emlyn and moved on.
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*************
From Missrealitybites:
If you read "The Cursed King", you will know that Emlyn was right. Once Maxim/Loriel found the woman he anchored his heart to, he would do anything for her. Even if he had to live a lonely 1500 years to wait for her, he'd do it because he loved her so much.
PS: Thank you, Harriet Moskowitz for gifting a dragon to Mars and Emlyn today. You are so kind! xx
I will publish more chapters today and give mass release on the weekend to make up for the slow release this week
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