The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 123: Cover (1)

Tobias kept glancing at the door, waiting for Hazel to arrive to dinner. His mother was also missing so he was starting to think the two were together.

"Shit," Tobias cursed, touching his shoulder where someone hit him. It could only be his father so daring to abuse the prince. "There are plenty of targets on the training ground for you to hit if you are bored."

"If I had another son, you would be dead right now for all the trouble that you caused me," Jeffrey said, enjoying the feeling of slapping Tobias.

He had been itching to do it since Tobias did the proposal yesterday and couldn’t help himself now after seeing Tobias lost in thought.

Jeffrey looked at his right hand, still feeling the sting of his hand connecting with Tobias. "That felt good."

"No one told you to not try for more. This is how you treat your only heir?" Tobias asked, stepping away from his father so he wouldn’t be hit again. "I should tell mother."

"Go on and be disappointed. Your mother also wants to hit you," Jeffrey replied.

This was the one-time Tabitha might let it slide that he hit Tobias.

"Hazel will be here for dinner so stop looking at the door. I still wish to know how she did it," Jeffrey said, leaving Tobias’s side to take his seat.

"Did what?" Tobias asked, keeping his eyes on his father in case of a surprise attack.

"To fall in love," Sofia repeated what she overheard the maids saying. She couldn’t wait to meet her new sister. "When is Hazel and mother coming?"

"Soon. The three of us got here a little early so give them time to arrive. Now Tobias, back to what your sister said. How was it that Hazel got you to suddenly be acting like a fool in love? There must be a good story worth sharing," said Jeffrey, wanting to hear it so he could keep repeating it to annoy Tobias.

"That’s between me and Hazel. Did you already assign guards to Hazel? If you haven’t, let me do the picking," Tobias said, taking a seat in his usual spot. He had guards he could trust to watch over her.

"Tobias, you are acting like we do not know what we must do for Hazel. I’ve already picked out four guards for her. I’ve handled the matter with the same care as when I picked Sofia’s guards. I promised Nathan to care for his daughter, so I am taking the matter seriously. Relax," Jeffrey advised Tobias. "You look tense."

"I cannot relax until I know for certain she is safe. Where-"

"Announcing the queen and Lady Hazel."

"Why must they be so loud when it is just dinner?" Tobias muttered. It wasn’t like they were at a ball and since when were they announced for dinner?

Tabitha was the first to enter the dining hall and then Hazel came in a little after her. Their maids were left outside the door as dinner was a private moment for the royal family and only a special group of servants would be present to serve their food.

Tobias stood up to greet Hazel and from the way she was almost dragging her feet, he knew that something was wrong. "Hazel," he softly called to her as he approached her. "What happened? Are you in pain?"

Hazel couldn’t bring herself to speak just yet. After having a few minutes of sitting down, the queen had dragged her all over the palace to walk in the tight shoes. She yearned to just sit down and take off the shoes along with the dress. Her feet were starting to feel numb and by this point, some parts of them had to be bruised and bleeding.

"I just want to sit," she managed to speak. Her eyes were filling up with water, but it could stop if she could just make it to her seat.

Tobias offered his hand for her to hold as she walked, but what he would have liked to do was lift her away from here and take her back to her room. "Hazel, if there something that causes you great pain, tell me and I will get rid of it. Don’t push yourself."

Day one and something was already hurting her. How was it that his mother didn’t notice? He wanted to believe that it might be because of him paying more attention to Hazel than anyone else that she had not noticed.

He was going to think that his mother didn’t see Hazel hurting and ignored it because his mother wouldn’t be so cruel.

Hazel was grateful for Tobias helping her to seat because her knees felt weak and she could not make another step on her own.

Tobias sat down beside Hazel to watch over her. At the slightest sound of her being in pain or him seeing her trying to hide it, they were leaving. "Mother, what did you do today? With Hazel."

Tabitha continued to pay attention to Sofia rather than look Tobias’s way. "We sat down to have a little talk and I took her around the palace. It helped me get to know more about her and she got to know more about the palace."

"During that time, did she look to be in pain?" Tobias asked as he got out of his chair to kneel on the floor. He reached for Hazel’s left foot, but she moved it. "Do not move your foot, Hazel."

He was hardly in the mood to play this game.

Tobias reached for her foot again and this time Hazel did not move it, so he was able to take off the shoe. "Fucking hell," he muttered, angered by the state of her foot. "Send dinner to our rooms," he announced, leaving the shoe on the floor as there was no need for it.

He was careful not to be too rough with her foot to cause her more pain.

"Turn to me so I can take off the other-"

Hazel touched Tobias’s shoulder to stop him. It warmed her heart that he was quick to see that she was hurting and addressed it while everyone else had been turning a blind eye to it, but she was not going to leave. "I will stay. This will only give anyone opposed to our union something to speak about. I don’t want anyone to know about this."

Tobias helping her out of here when she just sat down would bring a lot of attention to why they were leaving and then with her shoes off, it wouldn’t be long before it would be put together what had happened.

She had already made it this for bearing with the pain, she could go on for a little longer and hide what happened. Hazel would rather suffer like this than let anyone know of what happened because someone from the court, a lady, or a maid would never let her forget this moment of how her first day in the palace went.

"Hazel, do you see the state of your foot? It needs to be treated now. You must have spent all day walking around," Tobias said as the damage couldn’t have been done in a single hour. Looking up at Hazel, he noticed that the dress had to be just as uncomfortable for her. "Mother-"

"Do not," Hazel silenced Tobias. She was in great pain, but what she endured today was pushing her to be stronger to be able to avoid something like this happening again in the future. Never again could Tabitha torture her like this.

Tobias did not want to stay with her in this state, but Hazel was pleading with him and was going to fight him on this. He didn’t care who wouldn’t like it, he was walking her back to her room and then he would sneak in to see her. "Fine. At least let me take off the shoe and send for a maid to get the ones you wore this morning."

Hazel turned to Tobias to let him take off the other shoe.

Jeffrey was confused by what was happening and looked to Tabitha as she might have an answer. "Care to explain what I am missing?" He asked.