Chapter 143: Chapter 143

143 Chapter 143 : Clovis’ curiosity

There were a few days left till the date the group had agreed to leave Ervelon for Lenora, and Ivan vowed to himself to stay as far away from his home as possible, just like he had done the past week.

The men had been given manors within Ervelon to call their own, where they settled with their wives, except Roland who was single and lived alone.

One night Ivan walked up to the door of his home quietly like he had been doing ever since his wife came to Ervelon, hoping Elena would be fast asleep. He had made a tendency of leaving home early before she woke, and would return very late after she’d gone to bed, he was not ready to be tied up, whipped, or gagged for that woman’s sexual pleasure.

He pushed the door quietly open, snuck in and gently pushed it closed. He hurriedly made his way past the lounge to the stairs leading to the bedrooms when a light flicked on behind him.

“Welcome home honey,” a sweet voice spoke from behind him. Sweet as her voice sounded, it always managed to riddle Ivan’s skin with goosebumps.

His heart almost leapt out of his chest when he heard her delicate footsteps approaching him. He dared not to turn around, he was terrified of what he would see. Most likely he would see an angry Elena wearing a sexy outfit and carrying a whip, ready to punish him.

Ivan vividly recalled the day Elena had caught him with another woman. She had traveled to Crasmere1 to visit her sister, and Ivan had invited a beautiful shy brunette who he had met at a bar, to the house for a night of pleasuring.

Ivan had just finished peeling the clothes off the woman and was kissing her seductively on the couch of their study when Elena walked in. Apparently she had decided to return home a day early for some reason.

Long story short, the brunette ended up bald and imprisoned for public nudity after Elena shaved her head and tossed her into the streets without any clothes. Ivan on the other hand was chained to the bed naked for three days.

.....

Elena stood mere inches behind Ivan who still hadn’t turned to look at her, “where have you been Ivan?!” She yelled, “you’re always sneaking in and out of this house, I haven’t seen you for days and I came all this way to be with you!”

Ivan didn’t respond neither did he turn, in fact at this point he wasn’t even breathing.

“Ivan why are you doing this?” Elena questioned the statue of a man again, “why do you always do this..”

Ivan stiffened when he heard an unfamiliar sound coming from his wife. Was Elena..? No that couldn’t be. He turned around to face her and immediately, his throat went dry and his eyes bulged in shock, Elena was sobbing. Never had he seen her cry before, all the years he had been with her, not even once.

This was something very out of character for her, so Ivan had no idea how to react. He nervously scratched the back of his head and mumbled the words “are you okay?”

“Of course I’m not okay Ivan!” Elena sobbed. She looked up at him with her teary eyes and quivering lips. Ivan had never seen her look so vulnerable and timid, it was almost cute.

“Why do you hate me Ivan?” Elena sobbed, “you avoid me, you lie to me, you cheat on me, and all I want is to be happy with you.”

“Happy with me? Then why do you torture me?” Ivan asked the woman.

Elana wipped some of the tears from her eyes before responding, “because before we met I heard of your track record Ivan, you’re a man who loves sex, so I wanted to give as much of it as I could so you don’t go out there and get it from someone else!”

“Well why are you so aggressive about it..?!”

“Because I love you you idiot!” Elena cupped her face in her palms and sobbed more. “It’s because I love Ivan, I always have. And I don’t want you going out there and sleeping with other women, everything that I do is to keep you with me.”

Ivan was speechless, did Elena really say she loved him? So all that psychopathic behavior was insecurities? That was actually kind of flattering.

The man inched closer to the beautiful blonde and embraced her in his arms. She immediately stopped sobbing out of shock and froze in Ivan’s arms. He had never held her so gently before. In fact he had never held her at all, she was always the one all over him.

“I’m sorry,” Ivan whispered making the woman gasp. “I have been hurting your feelings and I’m sorry Elena.” He stroked her hair gently and the woman buried her face into his chest, taking in his smell of way too much cologne and a hint of ale. Wow, he smelt wonderful.

“I was just a little intimidated by you,” Ivan continued, “you’ve always been so feisty and aggressive that I’d tend to look for timid and submissive women to be with.”

“I can stop,” Elena spoke between sniffles, “if it will keep you with me I will stop.”

Ivan sighed and tightened his embrace, “I guess it’s high time I settle anyway,” he whispered with a chuckle, “I’m getting too old for this playboy routine. It’s time I have a good family life with you my wife and maybe a few children.”

Elena looked up at the man in shock, “so you don’t hate me?”

Ivan shock his head and wiped the tears from her cheeks, “of course not.” A faint blush painted his cheeks when he felt his manhood hardening in his pants, “and I guess I’d be lying if I said I didn’t somewhat enjoy being tied up and whipped by you.”

Elena smiled and Ivan’s heart flattered. He had never seen her smile like that before. I mean he knew she was beautiful but when she smiled like that she looked absolutely gorgeous.

“Oh!” Elena sqealed when she felt something hard poke her belly. She looked up at Ivan who was as red as a beat and whispered, “should I get my shackles-”

“Yes please get your shackles..”

*

The golden rays of the sun showered Ervelon with light as the town’s people waved to the caravan of men who were galloping through the town heading to Lenora. Prince Gareth, Ozias, Zander, Odran, Beric, Roland and Ivan where at the front leading the men.

“I have to say,” Beric spoke as he waved at his wife who was waving to him from the balcony, “even after two whole weeks of being with the wife I’m going to miss her terribly.”

“I know what you mean,” Ivan spoke with a dazed smile as he blew kisses to Elena who was standing next to Beric’s wife.

All the men except Gareth looked at Ivan in shock. Wasn’t this the man who was terrified of his wife just a few days ago? What had changed?

“Well you seem happy,” Ozias spoke to Ivan .

“Yes I am,” Ivan replied proudly, “I have a beautiful and loving wife who I will miss.”

The men all gave each other confused glances, they really needed to find out what had changed between Ivan and his wife over the past few days.

*

Clovis poured Julia a glass of wine and handed it to her. He then made himself comfortable in the chair opposite hers and sipped on his own cup while observing the woman intently.

Clovis and Julia had become a bit closer over the weeks. Julia was hesitant about the whole thing at first, but Clovis was not the kind of man to take no for an answer. Every time Julia would be outside in the gardens having her tea or lunch, he would order the maids to serve for two, and when she didn’t show up he would follow her to her room and insist she dine with him. I guess you could say that at the end of the day, he left her with no choice.

The small green eyed woman sipped her wine and placed the half empty cup on the small glass table in front of her.

“Julia..”

From underneath her long lashes Julia’s emerald green eyes gazed at Clovis. “Your grace..”

The man sighed and leaned towards her, “I told you that you can call me Clovis.”

“Of course, err Clovis.”

The prince smiled and leaned back on his chair, “you told me of the events that occurred leading to my mother’s death last time, am I right?”

Julia shifted uncomfortably in her chair, she didn’t like talking about that line of memories. The queen’s death still haunted her dreams till date.

“I did..” she responded in a low tone.

“But you didn’t tell me what motivated you to do it.”

Julia looked to the side and sighed, “it was an accident,” she muttered, “I wanted to kill princess Melissa not the queen, I told you that.”

“Yes but why..?”

Gosh why was Clovis so concerned about her motives? He had been on her case for a while now about this, and she hated talking about it.

“I... I did it for prince Gareth,” Julia responded.

“Because you loved him?” Clovis asked further, “and Melissa was a threat?”

Julia bowed her head in dejection, “yes something like that.”

An awkward silence lingered between the two until Clovis asked a question that made Julia jerk upright.

“Do you still love him?” He asked

“No!” The green eyed woman yelled, and for a brief moment she thought she was a faint smile of relief on Clovis’ face.

“What about my brother?” Clovis asked, “do you love him?”

Julia knitted her brows. Love king Elric? Of course not! I mean yes she found him very attractive, but she didn’t love him. And even if she did, he too was in love with Melissa.

“I don’t,” Julia responded and looked away. She did not notice the slight hint of disappointment on Clovis’ face.

Why had she hesitated to answer, Clovis thought. Did she actually love his brother, or maybe she liked him? Either way for some reason that infuriated him.

He downed his wine in one gulp and quickly poured himself another and did the same.

“He will be arriving today so you’ll get to see him again,” Clovis spoke. There was a trace of spitefulness lingering on his words. “Looks like he found his beloved wife. I bet you missed seeing him around and having him visit you in your chambers.”

Julia looked up at the man who was downing his fourth cup. Why did he seem so upset all of a sudden? Was there some rivalry between him and king Elric?