Chapter 193 - Love Bites
When Drayce returned to their room, freshly bathed and dressed in a new set of clothes, he saw Seren sitting in bed with her robe nicely wrapped around her. She merely glanced at him before lowering her gaze.
Catching sight of her eyes for a fraction of a second, Drayce could guess what was in her mind— she was definitely cursing him. He couldn't help but smirk. "My Queen, make sure to have a nice relaxing bath. We have to travel to Megaris today."
"Yes, Your Majesty," she replied with her eyes still fixated on the marble flooring of their room.
"I will be heading out first. My Queen can have her time to get ready," he said and left the chamber. It did not take a minute before Eva and Marie entered inside.
"Good morning, Your Majesty!" both said together and Seren accepted their greeting with a slight nod.
As usual, Marie went to arrange the bath for her while Eva arranged her clothes for the day.
Marie came out of the bath. "Your Majesty, it's ready."
The two lady servants were yet to notice the marks that their queen was unknowingly hiding because of how securely she had wrapped her robe around her in fear that Drayce would try to take it off again. In addition, part of her hair fell on her shoulder, covering the soft curve between her neck and her shoulder.
Without a word, Seren got off the bed and walked towards the bath. Eva helped her take off the robe, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of Seren's neck.
"Your Majesty, this…"
"What happened?" Seren asked.
Eva blinked a few times and then looked back at Seren, but no word came out of her mouth.
Marie, who was standing by the bathtub to assist her queen in getting in the hot water, turned to look at them. One glance was all it took for her to understand the reason behind Eva's sudden reaction.
Marie went to Seren to check if she was hurt like last time and asked, "Your Majesty, may I see your neck?"
Seren didn't know why these two were suddenly acting like this. "What happened? Is there something wrong?" Seren asked as she was sure this time he didn't bite her. There should be no reason for them to feel worried about her.
"Let me first check, Your Majesty," Marie said and pushed away the reddish-brown hair from one side of her neck. Every inch of the young lady's milky white skin was covered with small reddish bruises and marks of teeth.
Poor Eva could only gulp seeing it as it almost scared the young unmarried girl. She looked at Marie. Both could only think how their king was so energetic and loved their queen a lot.
They never heard the King of Megaris showing romantic interest to a lady, much less accepting any woman before. Ever since he was crowned, his sole focus had been on work—quelling internal troubles with the nobles and expanding the territory of the kingdom. That was one of the reasons why Drayce Ivanov was hailed as a devil by his people. As servants in the royal palace, they were aware of how their king never spared a glance to any woman. Their Queen was his one and only exception.
"It's nothing much, Your Majesty. This is something that usually happens between husband and wife. Eva was merely surprised. She's young, so please pardon her rudeness," Marie replied to the curious and worried-looking queen.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty! I overreacted!" Eva immediately bowed.
Seren caught an interesting choice of words from Marie's polite speech. "Usually happens? What usually happens?"
Marie pointedly looked at Eva. "Bring the mirror."
Nodding, Eva left and returned in a while with a small oval mirror that had a well-carved golden handle to hold it.
Marie got the mirror from Eva and held it in front of Seren to show her neck and the top part of her chest.
Seren gasped. She grabbed the mirror from the servant's hand in shock and observed her neck clearly. Panic covered her face. "It's—Are these rashes? Did I catch a skin disease or did someone poison me?"
"No, no, Your Majesty. Nothing happened to you and no one poisoned you," Marie said. "Before anyone could poison you, our heads will roll first…"
Seeing the fear in Seren's eyes, Marie cursed herself for simply exposing these things to their young queen like that without being careful with her words. It must be her first time to see her skin like this and must have no idea what had caused it.
After serving the young lady these past few weeks, Marie understood their Queen was ignorant and innocent about the common affairs of people. It made Marie feel the urge to be more like a protective mother rather than an older sister or a servant to Seren. She felt constant worry about what their king had done and would do with her in the future.
Last time, their queen's ankle was hurt and they didn't know what their queen had done to their king to deserve such a punishment, or what the king did to cause such harm to his wife. Afterwards, he bit her brutally, to the point blood was drawn, and now, he made all these marks that would be difficult to hide with makeup and must be covered with a high-collared dress. Love bites were normal to have between couples, but the prominent ones their king gave looked really brutal on Seren's delicate skin.
"T-Then what is it?" Seren asked in fear.
"Your Majesty, it's….It's what His Majesty has done with you, is it not?" Marie answered hesitantly.
"Then did he poison me? I remembered he gave me water to drink," Seren said anxiously.
"No, Your Majesty," Marie said, not wanting to cause more misunderstandings. Eva didn't know what to do and thus chose to remain mute. She just left it on Marie as she was married and more experienced.
Feeling anxious, Seren failed to understand that Marie had said no to. "Will I die now?" Her face looked sad.
"Your Majesty, first, sit here. Let me explain to you," Marie said and Eva pulled out the wooden stool for Seren to sit.
Once the young queen sat down, Marie kneeled in front of her and held her hand. She let out a shaky breath as she tried to choose the best words to say.
"Your Majesty, it's not what you think. Please calm down. Don't be scared. Those are not rashes. They are love bites and they won't harm you. It's...one of the ways a husband shows his love and affection to his wife," Marie explained as she thought in her mind, 'Though our king had overdone it.'
"Love and affection?" Seren asked.
"Mhm." Marie nodded. Eva too listened carefully by the side, though she was already aware of it. Just like Marie, she too thought their king had overdone it with their delicate queen.
Marie was struggling to find the right way to explain this to the young lady without sounding vulgar at all. "Your Majesty, when our skin is rubbed or hit harshly by something, we get some discoloration on our skin, right?"
Seren nodded. Her gaze was pure; she looked at Marie like an obedient and innocent student who wished nothing but to understand the world.
"This is what happened with, Your Majesties skin,"
"But I did not rub anything on my skin," Seren said innocently. "Neither am I hit harshly."
Marie cleared her throat. "Does Her Majesty remember what His Majesty did the previous night to you?"
Seren recalled it the next moment. Her face turned red, and she gulped at the memories. Though her face was half-covered with a veil, Marie could see the heavy blush crawling over Seren's ears and neck.
"Now, you understand, Your Majesty?" Marie asked.
Seren nodded lightly as shyness and embarrassment covered her though she didn't know why she had to feel like that. She mumbled, "That...he tried to bite me…but I…."
"It is fine, Your Majesty. Intimate things between husband and wife should not be casually mentioned to others. Just remember, His Majesty never meant to hurt you. It happens sometimes," Marie explained.
Seren stared hard at Marie, as if she had something in mind. She knew the lady servant was also married so she peered at her neck. "You don't have these on your neck."
Cough! Cough!
It was Marie's time to turn embarrassed as she didn't expect this from her queen. Beside them, Eva couldn't help but hide her laughter. Still, a broad grin was pasted on her face.