The Royal Mark-Chapter 263: Just Pretending

"Where have you been? We have been waiting for you for an hour now, and what happened to your feet? I saw you limping while walking," Andrius asked Elsa in worry.

Elsa’s knees were shaking after they did two more rounds on the bed and bath chamber. Chris had to support her in walking down the stairs for her legs can no longer function on their own.

Fortunately, Rocco was very cooperative and was still sleeping until they finished their lustful goodbye. He was not even bothered by how loud the room was, giving ample time for Elsa and Chris to bid each other farewell.

Elsa cleared her throat and looked at Chris who was making a poker face and staying silent. But it was not the same when she glanced at the werewolves who had teasing grins on their faces.

’I bet they can smell us, can they?’ she asked Chris via their bond who just laughed internally while keeping his poker face still.

"I’m fine, just tripped before heading here. Rocco woke up earlier and we had to put him back to sleep," Elsa said as her alibi which was a complete lie.

"The two of you had to do it?" Andrius questioned who was obviously doubting her excuse.

"Well... Yeah... I don’t want to say goodbye to my husband like that. I want to watch him leave too," Elsa said.

"Oh come on, Andrius. Leave Elsa alone. You’ll understand her situation once you get married. So why don’t you all now go and start the hunt so you’ll be less grumpy," Milda uttered.

Elsa looked at Milda and gestured ’thank you’ when she glanced at her.

"We should all get going," King Allister said. "We will go first so King Tyrion and Queen Ydril can go back home."

Everyone said their goodbyes before Queen Ydril used her magic to create a portal for King Allister, Mistress Valeria, and Arla. After the humans successfully used the portal back to Zemaria, it was King Tyrion’s turn to create a portal for him and his wife, going back to Qiryn.

"Queen Ydril, please give my mom a hug for me," Elsa uttered as she embraced the Queen of Qiryn.

"I will surely do, and please just call me Ydril. You are also a Queen now and you are like family to me, so drop the formalities."

Elsa smiled and nodded, "I will, and thank you, Ydril. I will surely visit Qiryn soon, once all of this craziness is over."

"We will wait for you then," the elf queen said before saying one last goodbye to Elsa and Elandir before stepping into the portal.

"We shall move too," Andrius said.

The sadness that Elsa was trying to deny and keep inside her quickly surfaced as she wrapped her arms around Chris’ neck.

"I miss you already. It hasn’t been even a month and we will be separated again," Elsa whispered.

"I will always let you know of my whereabouts don’t worry. I promise to catch that evil woman as soon as possible and go back home to you and Rocco," Chris replied before letting go of his wife.

With one last kiss, Chris headed to where Stefan, Andrius, and Drake were. The horn soon sounded, signaling the start of the procession of the troops going to the port where the ships going to Saldivar were waiting for them.

Elsa stood in her spot until Chris’ figure faded. When she went back to her chamber the servants were already busy transferring their stuff to the King and Queen’s room that Chris ordered to redecorate.

She immediately looked for Rocco and Rylie but didn’t find them there.

"Where is the Prince and my mage?" she asked one of the servants.

"Your Majesty," the servant greeted and bowed before answering Elsa’s question. "Prince Rocco was crying earlier and Rylie couldn’t make him stop. However, Princess Milda took him and he stopped crying. They went out since the princess was concerned that Prince Rocco was getting irritated by the noise that we were making with moving the things in here."

"Do you know where they went?"

"I’m sorry, My Queen, but I do not know."

Elsa went to Milda’s room but she was not there. She then checked the room of Rylie and Kaizer but no one was there. She started to panic and asked every servant that she would see but no one had seen them.

"Malvar!" Elsa exclaimed after spotting the gardener bringing in freshly picked flowers from the garden.

"Good morning, Your Majesty!" the old man happily greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Rylie? She should be with my son and my aunt. I can’t find them anywhere in the castle," Elsa asked in panic.

"They are in the back garden under the tree. You’ll see the flowers I am cutting in there. The Princess and Rylie offered to help me and I left them there," Malvar said.

"Oh, goodness, thank you so much!" Elsa didn’t wait for Malvar to reply and swiftly headed towards the said location.

When she arrived at the said location, she saw Rylie and Milda laughing while chatting and removing the leaves of the flowers that Malvar cut. Her eyes wandered, looking for Rocco.

Milda smiled and waved after seeing her and pointed her hand to the gazebo. When her eyes shifted to it, she saw Rocco sleeping in a swinging crib with Kaizer.

She headed towards her son and checked him, but Kaizer signaled her to be quiet. So after peeking at Rocco’s crib, she went straight to Rylie and Milda.

"I was looking for you," she mentioned as she sat down.

"Rocco was very fussy earlier. But the breeze here made him sleepy although he wanted that swinging crib to constantly move or else he would wake up and cry," Milda said.

"We don’t want to disturb you, so we tried our best to calm him down, and it was only when we went out that he stopped crying. I think he likes nature," Rylie remarked.

"I think my mother spoiled him since she could easily move the crib with her magic," Elsa said.

"We should eat together here in the garden for lunch. Let’s just relax today, for tomorrow your tasks as Arcanis’ Queen will start and you will be busy," Milda suggested.

"How I wish I could relax today. Lexi was already looking for me earlier and I just told her that I am looking for Rocco. After lunch, she wants me to be in the library to continue studying Arcanis’ history and laws," Elsa said.

"I could look after Rocco for you since I have nothing to do here. It will keep me occupied as well," Milda offered.

"Who said you will have nothing to do while staying here? You will accompany me, you will study too!" Elsa jested and laughed at how shocked Milda’s face was.

"Are you serious? But I have no plans of staying forever in Arcanis, I don’t like studying as well. I better go back to Zemaria!" Milda retorted causing Elsa to laugh more.

"I’m just kidding. Aunt Elena is urging me to look at the dress and decor that she ordered from the merchant in the capital’s market area and it’s really not my thing. I have no talent for such a thing but I heard from Andrius that you like doing something like that.

So I told Aunt Elena that I would send you on my behalf if you agreed. So if you like, you can choose my dress with her. I also told her to request dresses for you, Lexi, and Rylie since we will be together for quite some time here. I plan to always bring you girls with me."

"Oh! That is way much better than studying! I am now excited to meet your Aunt Elena. Just remember Elsa, if it’s about shopping, count me in!" The three women laughed before Elsa called and told the servants to serve their lunch in the garden instead. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Like a good student, Elsa went to the library after eating where Lexi was already waiting.

"My goodness! Will I also have the young prince as my student for today?" Lexi excitedly asked.

"Yeah, better teach him early how to be a King right?" Elsa quipped.

When the servants who helped Elsa bring Rocco’s stuff left, Elsa turned to Lexi and said, "I am so sorry I brought him to our class. But I sent Rylie to Aunt Elena and thank goodness Milda agreed to go with her. I still can’t trust her with my son, even though she’s not showing anything unusual or something that I need to worry about."

"That is perfectly fine. I understand you and you did the right thing. We still need to be careful around Princess Milda even though she’s saying that she means no harm. We don’t know if she is just pretending and still has contact with her mother," Lexi uttered.

"It’s the same thing in my mind. She offered to look after Rocco earlier. She also took Rocco from Rylie earlier so my guard is still up around her."

"I almost forgot, I heard one of the servants say that Princess Milda went out of the castle last night," Lexi said.

"What?!"

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A/N: Hi readers, March is my birth month and I won’t be uploading daily for The Royal Mark since I want to rest as a gift for myself. I hope you will not get upset. It is up to you if you want to buy the privilege Chapters but I would suggest that you wait for April since that’s the month that I will resume uploading daily. This book is almost done too, hopefully in April.

I am writing my 3rd book very slowly hahahaha and fortunately, it’s coming together. I hope I will be able to release the free Chapters before April. Writing is not my full-time job so I am very slow in doing everything.

Thank you for all your support up to this point and hope to see you on my next book!