After the judges announced the punishnt for Ellena Greystorm, Mars let Kira handle everything as she see fit. He just focused on his wife who started showing terrible symptoms after she passed her first trister.
Emlyn vomited most of the food she ate and even Bruinen's potions no longer worked to help her with body aches. She beca weak and took a lot of rest in their chamber. Fortunately, her appetite was still good and she ate voraciously each ti.
So, even though she would vomit so of the food she took, at least she could always eat more. Harlow started spending a lot of ti with the Greenan boys at their ho, or they would co to the palace to study and play together.
They couldn't do much outdoors, because the temperature had gone down really low. The weather outside by the end of autumn had beco gloomier by the day and snow was expected to co by next week.
Mars had renad the palace where his family resided as Winterre Palace because he had ordered the gardeners to plant Winterre flowers around it before he left for Sumria. And soon, when winter ca, he hoped those flowers could warm his wife's heart.
He knew it was Emlyn's favorite flowers and she loved it when he brought those flowers all the way from their native location and asked the gardeners to plant them in their castle yard.
However, now that they had moved to the royal palace, Mars thought it would be nice for Emlyn to see the Winterre flowers every day from her window. He didn't want her to travel to their old ho just to see them.
Another thing that Emlyn didn't know was that Mars actually ordered the ministry of environnt to plant the flowers everywhere in the capital. That way, when Emlyn went out of the royal palace, she would be pleasantly surprised to see her favorite flower was blooming everywhere.
He wouldn't tell her though. He wanted it to be a surprise when she decided to go sowhere, perhaps, like visiting Queen Elara, or doing a shopping therapy in the town center as she did in her previous pregnancy.
"How are you feeling?" Mars asked Emlyn after he gave her a back massage for over half an hour. "Are you still feeling nausea?"
Emlyn was closing her eyes and was in a state of bliss because she was feeling so relaxed. The gentle massage on her back and her upper arm felt so good and for a mont she forgot her surrounding.
"Eh?" She opened one eye.
"I asked if you are still feeling nausea," Mars asked softly. "Were you sleeping just now?"
Emlyn closed her eye and again. "The nausea is gone but now I am really hungry. Gosh... this is awful. I feel like a pig who is always hungry. Haven't I eaten seven tis today? And it's only 2 pm. This baby is a glutton."
Mars chuckled when he heard her complain. He rembered during her first pregnancy, Emlyn also ate a lot and always blad their baby for being a glutton.
However, now that he thought about it again, this ti, in this second pregnancy, her appetite was much much bigger than the last ti. Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, she also vomited her food. So, she didn't gain so much weight.
"It's okay, honey... our cooks are happy to make food for you. What do you want to eat this ti?" Mars replied without any change of attitude. His nimble hands still massaged her back gently.
Emlyn furrowed her brows and thought about many different dishes. Then, she turned around and said, "Perhaps, I can eat a slice of apple pie. I should limit my food intake. I have eaten too much."
"Okay."
"So, just one apple pie."
"Understood."
"Well.. maybe I can eat a little pork stew after the pie."
"Noted."
"Wait... before the pie, perhaps, I can have so soup?"
"Got it."
"And several slices of lon."
Mars chuckled as he motioned a maid who was standing in the corner of the room, ready to receive order anyti from the monarchs. He raised an eyebrow and asked the maid, "Can you morize this? Apple pie, pork stew, soup, and lon slices."
The maid nodded respectfully. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Ah, don't forget the bread," Emlyn reminded her husband. Mars nodded dotingly.
"Don't forget the bread," he told the maid.
The maid smiled and nodded to show that she understood the assignnt. Emlyn actually added two more dishes before she was done.
Once the order was complete, the maid imdiately took her leave and went to the kitchen to inform the cooks about the king's order. The kitchen staff had all been wondering if the queen was pregnant because of her appetite.
However, none of them dared ask the king if their suspicion was true. They also knew they shouldn't talk about what happened in the royal palace to outsiders.
They were scared of John, the royal butler, who was strict with his job and had fired servants who couldn't keep a secret and gossiped about the royal family to outsiders.
"I feel so lazy..." Emlyn touched Mars's hands on her back and then turned around to see her husband face to face. Her beautiful features looked especially more alluring than usual, and for a mont, the king was actually dumbfounded at seeing her beauty.
Perhaps it was the pregnancy glow, or the fact that Emlyn was now happy and didn't have anything that worried her and made her sad.
After she found out the reason why she was cursed and went through so much, Emlyn had made peace with the past. She no longer blad her husband and his family for her misfortunes and for losing her family.
There was nothing she could do about the past, but she could do sothing in present to change her future. And that was exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with the people she loved, her husband, children, and friends, and never took them for granted.
She had lost so much ti with them, and now she just wanted to make up for the lost ti. She wanted to spend precious ti with them and have a good life.
Mars really doted on her and spoiled her rotten. Just like today. He didn't flinch when Emlyn asked to be fed, again, for the seventh ti at only 2 pm.
His treatnt of her made the wounds in her heart slowly recover and she felt so freaking happy every day, that secretly Emlyn actually thought that maybe soday she could also forgive Jared Strongmoor and see her father-in-law again.
No matter what, without Jared Strongmoor, her beloved doting husband would never be born. So, Emlyn could forgive Jared's cri for her husband's sake. But not so fast, she thought. Maybe give it several years.
Let Jared reap what he sow first. That was only fair.
"It's okay, honey. You are allowed to be lazy," Mars said. "You have worked so hard for so long. The journey that you took from Draec to Sumria, then Myreen, and then back to Draec must be so exhausting. Now it's ti for you to rest and enjoy being pampered."
"Hmm..." Emlyn nodded dreamily. "You are right."
"We will have snow soon," Mars said. "I can't wait to show you the Winterre flowers I planted in the palace garden. They will look so beautiful."
"Yeah... I can't wait too..." Emlyn said happily. "Oh, by the way, when will Ellena be sent to the forced labor camp?"
"Before winter," Mars said. "I let the judges handle the punishnt. I don't want to deal with her again."
"So, it should be this week, no? I think next week is already winter."
"Yes, you are right." Mars raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"
"No... I'm just wondering. I haven't seen Gewen all week," Emlyn said. "Usually he is very tight with Harlow and would be around her anyti. But after the visit to prison, I haven't seen him much. Do you think he still has so regret or hard feeling that Ellena is punished for her cri? You know how much he and Ellena were very close in the past."
Mars thought about it too. Gewen didn't even want to see Ellena in prison at that ti. He couldn't bring himself to see his childhood friend in that situation. And after that day, he went to Southberry with Kira and had not visited the palace at all.
Mars had not seen Gewen for weeks now. Did sothing happen to him? Was he feeling bad about Ellena's fate that he decided to stay away for a while until he could accept the reality that his childhood friend was going to spend her whole life as a slave?
"You are right. I haven't seen Gewen for a long ti," Mars rubbed his chin. "However, I don't think it was because of Ellena. Perhaps... it had sothing to do with Kira?"
"Oh... I haven't seen Kira much either," Emlyn looked at her husband deeply. "She said she needed to check in so people last week, and I had not heard from her again."
"I am sure she is fine," Mars imdiately changed the subject because he actually knew where Kira was and didn't want to make his wife worry.
Kira was working with so thugs to rob Duke Preston's house and planted evidence that he paid people to help Ellena escape. This evidence would be used to charge him with treason and execute him.
Mars was a good king, but he was not shy from using so dirty thods if necessary when the enemy truly deserved such treatnt. He had learned from experience how his trying to be righteous in the past had caused his wife to suffer so greatly.
Duke Preston managed to pressure him, together with his father, to chase Elyn and punish her for a cri she didn't commit just to appease them and the ministers. Mars would never forget it.
Now, he wouldn't be too righteous, especially when dealing with wicked people.. Experience had taught him well.
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