The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 171. Again, why me not her?

Chapter 171: 171. Again, why me not her?

"If I had been informed earlier about your visit, I would have prepared better, your highness. It breaks my heart that all I can offer is this, when this is the first time you will be visiting my home." Regina said as tea and snacks were served for the crown prince and Princess.

Neriah looked at the woman, she seemed completely fine now. However, Neriah wondered if Regina was really alright. Her wings had almost been ripped out of her back. She was in so much pain that day and although she was looking physically fine, who knew if she was still in pain and just hiding it.

"I did not want to go through that process of sending and receiving letters. It would have been a waste of time." Neriah explained.

"But I should have also thought of it from your point of view too. Such a sudden visit might be inconvenient."

"Oh, no. Not at all. I was merely enjoying my reading time when I was interrupted and informed that Your Highnesses had arrived in our estate." Regina smiled brightly but indeed, Neriah could hear it in her words, their visit was a huge inconvenience.

"How are you feeling, Lady Regina?" Neriah asked, seeing that it was better to get down to the reason why she had visited in the first place.

"Oh, as you can see, Your Highness. I am well." Regina simply said. Neriah did not know what to say any further. How was she supposed to apologize to someone who seemed to not care for an apology at all.

"Maybe I should leave you two to discuss." Barak spoke up for the first time after he had greeted Regina when they arrived.

"Oh, forgive me your highness, but I fail to see why you came with Her Highness in the first place." Regina shrugged and Neriah, who was about to hold Barak down when he spoke of leaving, retracted her hands.

Barak on the other hand just made a face at Regina and the Lady responded with the raise of her brows and the shrug of her shoulders.

He turned his gaze to his wife and she looked like she was telling him to go while at the same time begging him not to leave her. But it was clear that leaving them alone to talk was the best idea, so he just smiled and rose to his feet.

"Then I shall be on the training ground."

"Please, Your Highness, do not break the shooting targets again! They were just replaced this morning." Regina said as he walked away.

"You do not have to address him as Your Highness every time I am around. You can just call him by his name as you normally do." Neriah spoke up, not wanting the atmosphere to get awfully awkward as soon as her husband walked away. She chose the only topic that she could quickly think of.

"Really? Then alright, thank you, your Highness." Regina calmly said. Then the awkward atmosphere that Neriah was trying to avoid followed as there was nothing to say in response to Regina’s words.

Neriah picked up her cup of tea and as she drank from it, her eyes locked on Regina’s and she quickly averted her gaze, choosing to stare at her tea over the red-golden eyes that did not move from her body once.

Seriously maybe it was because she was a commander, she had this dominating gaze that really disturbed Neriah. Once again, Neriah had that thought, if Barak had such a perfect beauty beside him all this while, why did he not marry her instead? Why choose a stubborn, lying princess over a self-made Commander of the same tribe, race and kingdom.

Is it even possible to have had such a woman by your side for a long time and not once fantasized about her? Was it possible to have fought many battles alongside this woman and not sought her warmth during cold nights?

Wait! What was she thinking again? Neriah’s eyes looked up at Regina and her cheeks flushed as she quickly averted her gaze again, realizing what she had been thinking about.

"Your Highness, are we really going to sit here like this?" Regina finally broke the silence.

"Huh?"

Regina sighed, shaking her head as she picked up a cookie from her plate, "You came here to apologize, did you not?" Regina asked as she munched on her cookie.

"N_no." Neriah shook her head, placing her tea cup back on tbe table. "Why would I?" Neriah had said the words before she bit her bottom lip, beating herself up for lying. She was so used to lying that the lie just came out like a quick reflex.

"No? You invited your subordinate, lied about wanting to be friends, put sleeping potions into her tea, knocked her out, stole her face, and by the way, black looks good on you..." Regina pointed out and Neriah gasped. She had really forgotten about her hair color! And it seemed everyone in the palace were still shaken up about the incident and were also not in their right mind yet as not even Aria had mentioned anything about it. Even Barak had not talked about her hair color.

"Then you took yourself into the dungeon, impersonating a commander and almost got yourself killed, your highness... Just for the crime of impersonating a commander Trago, you would have been hung were you a common person. And no? You are not here to apologize?"

The funny thing about the whole matter was, Regina did not raise her voice even once. She spoke so calmly that Neriah felt like she was of Barni’s age and was being scolded in a very calm and reasonable manner.

Neriah sighed with embarrassment, thinking why did she lie? "You were right. I came here to apologize. What I did was not very princess-like and I caused you to risk your neck for my sake in a battle that could have been very much avoided, for that, I ask that you forgive me." Neriah finally said. And as the words flowed from within her, it felt as though her chest became somewhat lighter.

"This might sound rude, Your Highness, but I believe you have learnt your lesson and will no longer try such stunts in the future... Not that I will drink anything you give me ever again." Regina muttered the last sentence to herself.

"Indeed. Barak was right, the dungeon is no place for a princess." She nodded.

"Well then, I hold no grudge against you, Your highness." Regina said with a straight face and Neriah could not really say what she had been expecting but the matter seemed to have been handled much easier than she had expected.

"Thank you." Neriah said and picked up her tea cup again. Once again, there was nothing to say and the silence was prolonging.

"Fine tea." Neriah said awkwardly.

"Ah, thank you." Regina bluntly responded. Neriah thought a conversation would brew from her compliment but it was just a thank you! When a host’s tea was complimented, didn’t the host usually go on to talk about the tea and what stuff it was made of? Indeed lady Regina was a different breed. Just a thank you and nothing more.

As Neriah drank her tea, her eyes wandered the face and body of Regina, and again, that thought came to her head. For a commander who went to battles, other than the almost undetectable scars, her almond colored skin was as smooth as oil. Indeed she was a beauty, so was it possible that there was nothing at all between the woman and Ba—

"Your Highness, you will bore a hole in my chest, just ask what is on your mind." Regina urged and Neriah laughed a very forced laugh and blushed, wondering how much she had stared to the point where she was even caught.

"Ask whatever you wish to ask, Your Highness. Who knows when we will have such a chance to sit for tea alone again."

The question hung at the tip of her tongue but it was embarrassing to ask. How was she to ask?

"If you cannot bring yourself to ask, then shall I take a guess?"

Neriah’s brows furrowed and her lips bent to one side, her eyes stared at Regina skeptically, "You think you can guess what is on my mind?" She asked.

"In fact I believe it is really obvious what Your Highness will be curious about." Regina shrugged and picked up another piece of cookie.

"It is obvious?" Neriah almost laughed, "My, please, do tell. What do you think I am curious about?"

"You are wondering, ’She is so beautiful, why did Barak not choose her instead.’" The smirk on Neriah’s face instantly disappeared and her back straightened as Regina continued to speak. "You are also thinking, ’Since they have been friends for so long, it would have been easier to become lovers, could they have been together at some point?’ You are also wondering, ’They go to war together, go face to face with death together, is it possible that they haven’t spent a single night together?’ and also, ’She has everything worthy of a crown princess, why did he choose me instead?"

The tea cup in Neriah’s hand was the one suffering as she gripped it with so much strength that it cracked, but she placed it down before she could break it.

"Well, Lady Regina, you are quite the mind reader, aren’t you?" There was no point in denying it. She was curious about those things. Maybe now was the time to clear up those unending questions that resounded in her head.