Chapter 235 - Hot Water Spring
"Have you seen that flower on her forehead glowing?" Drayce asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Lady Tyra replied, knowing he was asking about his Queen.
It surprised Drayce as he had seen it glowing only in his presence and when he and Seren were in an intimate situation, but Tyra saw it glowing even in his absence because when he saw it, they were always alone.
"When was it?" Drayce asked.
"In the morning when Her Majesty left her chamber to go to the garden, she stopped at the pathway connecting to Your Majesty's residence," Lady Tyra answered.
At that time Lady Tyra had noticed the flower on Seren's forehead glowing and could understand what was happening with her Queen, but she disturbed her by calling her as she was sure the young Queen didn't know what she was doing.
"And what do you think is the reason that flower glowed at that time?" Drayce asked. Though he had already guessed he wished to make it sure from Lady Tyra.
."At that time, Her Majesty seemed to be thinking about Your Majesty and…."
"And?" he waited for her to continue.
"She seemed to miss, Your Majesty," Lady Tyra replied in a decent way but she meant to say her Queen was getting attracted towards where her soulmate was.
'So she has started thinking about me and missing me,' Drayce grinned inwardly and said, "Understood."
He went out towards the balcony of Seren's room and stood by the railing. 'So she loved this view of the sea and ships sailing on it. Soon she will like the view of mountains from my bedchamber more,' a wicked smile was painted on his lips.
After a while, he heard a sweet voice, "Your Majesty!"
Drayce turned to look at her, whose sweet voice always felt like a melody to his ears.
Seren was wearing a different winter coat this time which had a furry hood attached to it at the back of her neck and that hood was placed over her head, covering it. Her delicate palms were covered in the olive green-colored woolen glows that matched with the furry hood. Even a matching delicate scarf was wrapped around her neck. Altogether she looked like a cute doll and Drayce couldn't help but find her adorable, in fact, she looked cute with those bright purple eyes staring at him like a cute little kitten. She was truly so innocent and this is what attracted him more towards her.
Smiling pleasantly at the cute-looking kitten in front of him, Drayce went to her and stood up facing her. "My Queen, you might feel cold outside, where we are going at this moment. If you can't bear it, make sure to tell me."
"Yes, Your Majesty," she nodded and thought, 'Where exactly is he….?'
Drayce hugged her and the next moment they disappeared from the balcony even before Seren could finish the sentence in her mind. What was left behind was only the strong gust of wind.
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In a moment they reached the place where Drayce wished to take Seren with him. The moment they reached, a strong gust of cold wind touched Seren's nose and she buried it in Drayce's chest with her eyes shut tightly and held him tighter.
"My Queen, it's a little colder here because this part is closer to the mountains covered with snow," Drayce informed. "The wind obstructed by the mountains moves in this direction after turning even colder."
'Mountains covered with snow,' was the only thing that interested her and she immediately peeked her face out to see around as she wished to see those mountains even more closely. She let go of Drayce and looked around. They were standing on the vast green field surrounded by tall trees which were not dense but allowed the entire land to be brightened up by the sunlight. The mountains were still nowhere close to what Seren had thought.
She pouted under her veil, "Mountains are not close anymore," and looked at Drayce, "Can't we go to the mountains. I never saw snow."
"We will but not now. If I take you there now, My Queen, you won't even be able to breathe there."
"Is it?" she felt surprised.
"This is the normal temperature of Megaris but you still feel cold. If we go there now, even these warm clothes won't help you. My Queen first needs to get used to the weather here," he explained.
"Understood, Your Majesty."
"Are you fine in this much cold weather?" He asked to make sure.
She was covered in a thick layer of warm clothes so it didn't feel that bad. "It's fine," she replied, rubbing the tip of her nose over that thin fabric veil with the glove-covered hand.
Drayce understood it was because of the cold wind. "Stay still," he instructed her and moved his hands towards the scarf wrapped around her neck. Drayce pulled it up till her nose and settled it in a way to cover her nose so that the scarf won't move down.
"Is it better now?" he asked.
Seren felt warmth around her tiny nose and nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty."
"We are here to visit a hot water spring on this hill," Drayce informed.
"Hot water spring? Why?" she asked as she was expecting she didn't have to go into that hot water spring when she was already cold and wished to stay away from water either it was cold or hot.
As if he sensed her thoughts, Drayce smiled and replied, "So that my Queen can understand better what she has read in the book today."
It startled her. Before she could ask anything Drayce held her hand, "Let's go."
Seren walked along with him for a while and soon they heard various voices. After crossing a small distance across the hilly area, a mild flow horizontally spread waterfall came into their sights. The water slowly flowed down crossing the rocks towards the ground creating a shallow water bed. Behind it, the faraway hills covered with snow were visible.
It was a pretty sight to Seren's eyes. Cian had taken her to show waterfall on her last outing in Abetha but it was different. The water from that waterfall fell down high up from the peak of the mountain and nothing was visible beyond it, but this one was different.
"It's pretty," she commented and her eyes moved towards the voices coming from the water bed in front.
Before she could ask anything, a knight came there and bowed, "Captain Azer, Greets Your Majesty King Drayce and Queen Seren!"
The two looked at him and the knight informed, "Your Majesty, everything has been arranged according to your instructions. Today only the kids up to the age of five are allowed to be in this hot water spring. As their mothers are not allowed, we have appointed a few palace maids to look after them."
Drayce nodded and Azer left. Seren recognized that knight who she had seen in Drayce's study when she went there after lunch.
"My Queen, don't you wish to go closer to the water?" Drayce asked.
Seren looked at that shallow water bed of clear water that shone brightly under the sunlight and the mild vapors could be seen coming out from the water. A number of kids were playing in that water.
Seren walked closer as Drayce accompanied her and soon she realized those kids were naked. "Your Majesty. Those kids are not wearing clothes. It's…."
"They are just kids and it's fine. Everyone plays in the water like this when they are kids," Drayce explained.
As they walked even closer, the palace maids noticed them and greeted them after bowing.
"My Queen, this hot water spring is said to have medicinal water that increases one's immunity towards the various diseases and even heals the injured body faster. Soon there will be winter so everyone living around comes here to soak in this water so they can be stronger in the freezing temperature of winter," Drayce explained.
Seren understood and nodded with a slight nod as her eyes noticed something. There were kids up to the age of five playing in that hot water. It was shallow water that hardly reached the knees of those kids. From the faces of those innocent kids, all looked the same. It was hard to differentiate between the girls and boys as they all had long hair and similar bodies but later Seren could differentiate them from their lower body parts.
Drayce glanced at the silent young queen standing next to him and realized for what he had brought her here, she finally grasped it.
Just as he was busy praising her, Seren moved her head towards the man standing next to her as his chest was the first thing that came into her sight. She didn't even bother to look up at his face but instead moved her sight further down from his chest as she lowered her head a little to take a good look at his body.
Before her sight could move further down his stomach, Drayce immediately turned to face her and held her at the shoulder to make her look at him, "My Queen!"
She looked at him, feeling surprised by his sudden movement that disturbed her from taking a look at his lower body part. Though he was wearing clothes she couldn't help but look at him.
"My Queen, do you now understand why I have brought you here?" He diverted her attention.
This woman was boldly going to observe his manly part over clothes in broad day sunlight when the knights were present around and even the palace maids.
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty. I can now identify man and woman from that defor….." she stopped before saying that word or she was sure she would anger him, "Umm...Apologies, Your Majesty...I understood now."
"Good," he said and warned. "One more time if my queen calls it a deformity, it will force me to show my queen what it can do to you," and released her shoulders gently. His deep red eyes looked scary that showed he meant it.
She felt scared and nodded, "Understood, Your Majesty," but heard her again, "That looks weird and uncomfortable."
Drayce sighed, "Do those rounds on your chest feel uncomfortable, My Queen?"
She immediately nodded, "They do," and asked, "Don't you feel uncomfortable, Your Majesty?"
Drayce exhaled, 'Only if she was aware of what she was asking,' he thought and replied, "I do but I have a way to comfort it."
"How?" she asked.
"My Queen can be a comfort to me and also, I can comfort where my Queen feels uncomfortable," he replied in a serious tone.
'Again he is talking about comfort,' her heart skipped a beat as that 'comfort' word was the scariest word to her now and she immediately changed the topic, "Y-Your Majesty, did you play in the water like this when you were a kid."
"Hmm," he nodded, not teasing her much.
Seren observed how happy those kids looked while playing and their cheerful voices made it even more evident. "No one took me to the waterfall. Only in summer, Martha used to put me in the water tub and I played in that water with my toys."
"It's fine, my Queen. You can do it now even with me," Drayce said.
"Huh?" she blinked a few times and a thought came to her mind, 'With him? No clothes?' the realization shocked her and she straight away rejected, "I don't like to be in the water now as I have grown up. Your Majesty can go ahead."
"My Queen, soon winter will start and you have to soak yourself in the medicinal hot water on this hill."
Being naked in the water and in an open place, felt embarrassing, "No need, Your Majesty…."
"You don't have to do it in this water pond. We have different ones for the royals and the best ones for the King and the Queen," he interrupted her, knowing what must go on in her mind. "There, no one will come and see you when you will be soaking in the water…." he said and the rest he finished in his mind, '...of course only I am allowed to see,' and grinned inwardly imagining them together soaking in the water.
"Then, it's fine, Your Majesty," she agreed.