411 Leaving The Palace
Esther stared at the door with watery eyes. Her entire body felt as if it was thrown in the middle of an ice lake during the harshest night of winter. Had she not expected this? She knew he was angry and hurt, but she had to make it happen. A lot of problems could be solved the moment her husband had a child of his own. The only thing that was stopping him was her, right? He didn’t want her to feel betrayed, but Esther already made up her mind that the best option for their future was to share him with another woman. She had already decided to treat his child as if it was her own child.
‘Once he calms down, he will realize my good intentions. I should give him some time alone,’ she thought and decided not to follow him.
That night was the loneliest night she had ever since she came to this kingdom.
The next morning, she went to see him in his bedchamber. It felt unbelievably strange as it was the first time she had to do it. Every morning ever since they were married, she would wake up with him in her bed.
“His Majesty has left early today,” the King’s servant informed her when she came to his residence.
It was clear that he wished to avoid facing her due to what she said the previous night.
The entire day, King Theron kept himself busy. When Esther decided to see him in his study, she learned that he went outside of the royal palace to attend to some important matters outside the capital. That night, he didn’t return to his residence and Esther could only continue waiting for him. She had powers and she could go to him anytime she wanted but she wished to give him time. Given the situation, it would not be ideal for them unless he wished to see her on his own.
Just like this, one more day passed by but not even once did King Theron come to her.
‘I can understand his anger but ignoring me will not solve anything,” she thought to herself. When she asked her lady-in-waiting to check, she had confirmed that the King was not meeting with anyone and was simply working through the night in his study at the Grand Palace.
“Your Majesty, Queen Esther is here,” Sir Galien informed him. “Should I let her know His Majesty is occupied with work?”
King Theron didn’t wish to disrespect her in front of his knights by denying to see her when she came to him in the middle of the night.
“Let her in,” he said with a tired sigh.
When Esther entered the King’s study, Sir Gallien gestured for the aides to leave together with him to give the royal couple private time for themselves. For the past two days, Sir Galien and the other knights were confused as to why their king didn’t go back to his residence.
He was the type to normally order one of the dukes to leave in his stead whenever there was a need to travel, but yesterday, he took the chance to stay outside the capital for work. It was an unusual situation as it never happened that he never stayed with his wife at night. In fact, King Theron used to always look forward to finishing work so that he could go to her. Seeing what happened tonight, they could guess their king and queen were having a lover’s quarrel.
Esther stood quietly by the door, watching her husband handle documents as if he wasn’t aware of her presence. On the other hand, King Theron was doing his best to pretend to work, but not even a single word registered in his head the moment his lovely wife came inside his study.
Not even once did he look at her, even though he desperately wanted to see her and take her in his embrace. He was worried that she would ask him the same thing again and didn’t wish to give her that chance.
While going through a scroll, he cleared his throat and said in a nonchalant manner, “If you are here to say the same thing, then I have no option but to disappoint the Queen.”
She stood in front of his desk, a few steps away from him. “I am not here for that.”
King Theron felt relieved to hear her response and thought that staying away from her was worth it though it hurt. He finally looked at her, only to hear something shocking.
“From now on, I plan to stay in my residence outside of the royal palace.”
“What?”
“I want to stay in my manor in the outskirts of the capital until you find it in yourself willing to talk to me.”
Esther looked like she was serious, that she meant every word she said.
“Why?” he asked.
“In order to avoid me, you have been neglecting rest. I don’t want you to not return to your residence. Do you wish to continue spending the next nights here in your study? When was the last time you properly slept? Since you wish to not see me, then I better stay away from your line of sight,” she said.
Staying away from him? Not going to happen! “I-it’s not that, Esther. I…”
“I have decided, Theron. I am a queen who can’t even give an heir to this kingdom. It’s better to stay away from here.”
The young king stood up and went to her. “Why are you thinking like this? It doesn’t matter if we can’t—”
“But it matters to me, Theron,” she said firmly. “I want you to have a descendant even if I am not his or her birth mother. I want a child in our family.”
He felt helpless in front of her. The last thing he wanted was to not have her around him. “Esther…”
“I am here to inform you that I am leaving the palace tonight,” she said and turned to leave. Her beautiful face looked cold and emotionless, as if she could not feel anything.
“Esther, don’t do this,” she heard him saying behind her.
Without turning to look at him, she said, “I will be back only if you agree to what I said.”
“Esther…”
She pretended to ignore his calls as she left through the large doors of the Grand Palace. Her carriage was waiting for her outside and she climbed it despite hearing his footsteps behind her. The moment the carriage moved, the strong front she maintained in front of him broke and tears rolled down her cheeks.
‘I can’t let you be deprived of that happiness due to my destiny which doesn’t allow me to give you a child.’
The Queen’s carriage left the palace in the middle of the night.