âItâs not that!â
In the blink of an eye, Sidrain stood before him and Iris was caught in between them, being dragged from one manâs arms to another. Because Sidrain pressed Iris hard into his embrace, her ears touched his chest. She could hear his pounding heart and realized that he was in a state of great anger. Well, his wife was in another manâs arms, so which man wouldnât be angry? Iris relaxed her body, thinking as a commoner would. Sidrain was scary, but his anger was justified.
Sidrain was pleased that his wife was desperately resisting the insignificant man, and Iris, who was afraid of him, was relaxing as if she felt relieved by being in her husbandâs arms. Once again, he smelled the scent of his first love. It was a strange, yet sweet familiar scent. A scent that he couldnât help but fall in love with again. It was fate as if this had been decided from the very beginning. He felt like a stupid man, who knew it was a trap but walked happily into it. Itâs okay if itâs a trap. But the trap should only be for me.
Sidrain glared at the man while he guarded Iris carefully, holding her tightly enough that she could never escape. This man dared to hug Iris; it was not acceptable!
âMy Lady. Iâm sorry Iâm late,â Sidrain said, almost as an afterthought.
Late? She never even called himâ¦
âThat was scary, wasnât it? Iâm sorry.â Sidrain patted Irisâs head and stroked her soft hair gently.
It was scary. A man whom she didnât even know had hugged her. Sheâd been unable to breathe and could see he had wanted to try and kiss her by force. The man had felt her reluctance and had wondered if sheâd had a bad experience, perhaps sheâd been assaulted.
Iris herself didnât know exactly what assault meant, but sheâd heard how traumatizing it was. Today, sheâd been unable to wear the ivory bracelet, given to her by her teacher, to protect herself. The maids had prevented her from wearing it, saying it didnât match her outfit. It took time to raise magic without it and she wouldnât have been able to conjure a spell in time, and there was no way that this man wouldâve waited for her to do that. This had been quite a terrifying experience for her.
Iris was also afraid of Sidrain now, who was laughing like a madman and changing his behavior at times; it was scary as hell. But the moment he apologized, she felt relieved for some reason. She just felt that he was thinking of her. Although she didnât understand why heâd changed his attitude, he seemed genuinely concerned about her now. Heâd been the first person to truly worry about her in this palace since sheâd become a queen.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Iris closed her eyes tightly, holding back tears. She didnât know why she wanted to cry when there wasnât anything to cry about. As if he knew what she was feeling, Sidrain hugged her tighter.
âIâm sorry, I did wrong,â Sidrain said, trying to comfort her.
He didnât do anything wrong and heâd apologized over and over again. Iris shook her head and simply said, âThank you.â
If sheâd known at the time that Sidrain was hugging her tighter and taking off his gloves at the same time, Iris wouldâve thought of more words to say to distract him.
Sidrain took off his gloves roughly with his teeth and threw them in the manâs face, âItâs a duel.â
The tears that sheâd held back so bravely, cascaded down the sides of her pink cheeks. A duel?! She jerked her head up and saw Sidrainâs dreadfully handsome face. He was smiling. He was already a murderer by the look on his face.
âYou canât let the one who insulted you live, my Lady. Please wait for your knight to save your honor.â
At the same time, one thought struck through the heads of those who were watching the whole process. When did the Queen have any honor, Your Grace?!
The King remained adamant. Heâd called for a duel and it was irreversible.
The only conclusion that his people could come to was that Sidrain must be crazy. He mustâve fallen for the Queen and his people wondered how their wise and strong leader had ended up with such scum. This man had just arrived at the party, unannounced, and everyone was watching this ridiculous situation play out, holding their breaths.
Elaine spoke next, âWhat is this crazy situation? Why is my disciple so fond of the King over there? This is ridiculous.â
âOh, Sir Elaine. Long time no see,â a lady said.
Only his mother called him Sir Elaine. She was extremely proud of him as heâd become the owner of the tower. Elaine kissed his mother on the cheeks and asked directly, âWhatâs all this about, mother?â
âWe all stand here, looking this dazed because we donât know whatâs going on, Sir.â