Loving The Cursed Werewolf King-Chapter 227: By The Lake

***

"Where is His Majesty the king?" Lucas asked William, who was struggling with the pile of papers on Ronan’s desk.

"He went somewhere," William said simply.

"Where to? Hasn’t His Majesty only been asleep for two hours?"

William let out a long sigh and scratched his head in frustration. He laid his head on the pile of paper. "I don’t know, Lucas. I thought I could sleep all day, but the guy woke me up and told me to finish the appeal with Thebis shortly, and he’s gone somewhere."

Lucas poured a gin concoction meant for Ronan into a glass and then gave it to William.

"His Majesty just wants to get this over with quickly so that Princess Arielle returns here as soon as possible. Drink this first so you get back to health," Lucas said understandingly.

William stretched out his hand limply and drank the potion in one gulp. He shook his head and patted his cheeks to get fired up again.

"Right! I shouldn’t complain much. It’s all for Princess Arielle’s sake!"

Lucas smirked and then left the room. As he passed, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Lazarus, fast asleep on the king’s work sofa. Lucas came closer to adjust the man’s blanket.

Lucas left the room and went to Princess Arielle’s room to feed the princess’s five rabbits. These few days, they were very restless because they couldn’t find Arielle anywhere.

Lucas had a hard time taking care of them. Usually, the king would take Riel to spend time together, but it seemed like today, Riel wouldn’t be able to meet the king because the man was on a long journey.

Lucas didn’t know where the man had gone, but his hunch said that he was on his way to see Princess Arielle. He shook his head in disbelief. How could there be someone like that? The King needed rest, but the man put his body condition aside just to meet someone he love.

"Does everyone do that when they fall in love?" Lucas asked while looking at the rabbits in front of him who were eating voraciously.

Riel came closer to Lucas and rubbed her cheek against his leg, making Lucas smile.

"Perhaps I will understand one day. Eat a lot, so you grow up fast and find your own partner," Lucas said as he pushed Riel away from his feet to let him continue eating.

***

Arielle could feel a small wave of lake water hitting her back. It didn’t take long for someone to hug her from behind. Arielle then put her hands on top of Ronan’s hands, which were wrapped around her body.

"The water is very refreshing. This makes my tiredness disappear," said the man while peppering Arielle’s shoulder with his kisses.

"This lake is indeed a bathing place for women in this village after they are tired of working all day."

The moon was shining so brightly. It made Ronan envy this place. If only the North had a lake that could be used like this. There was not much to do in the North. Almost all spring sources must have been buried under the ice unless heated by priests or people who could produce trigrams of mana.

Ronan cheerfully rubbed a handful of water on Arielle’s right shoulder and then down along the girl’s arm. Ronan also brushed Arielle’s long hair that covered her body. His brows furrowed after seeing a red mark on Arielle’s upper right arm.

He didn’t see it earlier because Arielle’s long hair covered her arms.

"This... what is this? It still looks red. Who hurt you?" asked Ronan in between gritting his teeth.

"Ah, I accidentally fell while running. And maybe without me realizing it, a branch scratched my arm."

"You fell?" asked Ronan in disbelief. "Are you telling me the truth?"

The girl nodded and looked at the wound once more. The wound was not very deep. Maybe in a few days, it would go away on its own. She also didn’t realize that she hurt herself when she fell, maybe because Arielle didn’t feel any pain in her mind. She only wanted to meet the man.

Ronan turned Arielle’s body and began to examine every side of the girl’s body. He lifted Arielle’s body to sit on one of the rocks in the middle of the lake.

"Ronan!"

"I want to check everything," he said firmly.

The night breeze made Arielle’s body tremble with a cold sensation. Her body, which was wet with water, was blown by the cold night wind. Ronan took Arielle’s hands and examined every inch of the girl’s skin.

Helped by the moonlight, Ronan could see a slight scratch on one of Arielle’s palms. Not a lot, just a little red. Ronan was annoyed with himself for not realizing that Arielle had been hurt because of him.

The man clicked his tongue loudly at the deeper wound on the girl’s knees. Southern people’s dresses were very thin because of the hot temperature in the summer like today, but it also made Arielle easily hurt if she fell like this. Northendell’s clothes were thicker, so if Arielle fell, it would be able to keep her from getting hurt.

Ronan looked at Arielle sadly. "You got hurt because of me."

The girl shook her head quickly. "No, I was injured because of my own carelessness. It’s quite dark in the forest, so I can’t see very well."

Ronan didn’t reply. He just looked at the wounds with a blank stare. If he didn’t come, then Arielle wouldn’t have to run around in the dark forest, and the girl wouldn’t fall and hurt herself.

The silence of the man just made Arielle feel uncomfortable. Arielle didn’t want Ronan to feel guilty. She got down from the rock she was sitting on and hugged the man tightly. "I ran fast because I can’t wait to see you again."

"But I don’t want you to endure pain like this," Ronan replied.