The Hidden King's Stolen Wife
Chapter 100: A Serious Man

Chapter 100: A Serious Man

"Excuse me?" Soleia spluttered. Only the shocked faces of the guards proved that she was not alone in experiencing a certain type of auditory hallucination. "Orion, you must be mistaken."

Orion, her current husband, had all but implied that he wanted to marry her!

Soleia pinched herself, and let out a tiny hiss as the sharp pain had forced her to accept that she had not been imagining things in her illness.

Orion’s head whipped around and he caught sight of the new red mark on her skin. He let out a displeased huff and turned his ire on the intruders.

"Are all of you hard of hearing?" He demanded crossly. "I did not realize King Godwin employed nitwits. I will be marrying Princess Soleia during the wedding."

And then as if he had not said anything shocking, he swiftly closed the door and moved back to the bed, dragging Soleia back under the covers. Since she was utterly befuddled by his words, Soleia could only let herself be manhandled inelegantly by Orion. When he tucked them under the covers, Soleia reached out a hand to grab his arm.

"Orion Elsher, are you ill?" she asked. There were still traces of Elowyn’s magic in his system, and she decided to purge the rest of it out of him. But then she frowned― Elowyn’s magic should not have made him mix up his bride!

Which meant that this entire change could not be attributed to magic. It was just Orion’s mind at work.

Which made even less sense!

Still, her selenite earrings glowed as she did her best to remove the lingering traces of Elowyn’s taint in his blood. To her surprise, Orion reached out a hand, curling his fingers to gently trace the shell of her ear before they landed right at her earrings.

Soleia squeaked, instinctively flinching at his tender actions. Goosebumps formed on her arms. This was such uncharacteristic behavior from him that Soleia wondered if he was possessed.

"I knew I wasn’t seeing things," Orion said, a pleased smile crossing his face as he stared at Soleia. "Your earrings were glowing before."

"You might not be seeing things, but I’m certainly hearing things," Soleia retorted, swatting his hand away as though it was an errant fly, using irritation to cover up her unease. "What’s this about marrying me instead of Elowyn? Did you suddenly get our names mixed up? Or is your mind suffering from some weird affliction?"

Gods. Soleia pulled herself up from bed, ready to open the doors and call for a physician to examine Orion Elsher’s head. Perhaps whatever had caused her to feel so ill had simply transferred over to him. However, Orion simply tugged her back down onto the bed, causing the mattress to bounce.

"I’ve never felt better. And what’s wrong with what I said?" Orion protested. "Didn’t you claim that me marrying Elowyn here would ruin your reputation? You should be happy that I’m changing my mind!"

Truth be told, he had a lot of time to stew in his guilt while she was unconscious in his embrace. His actions towards Soleia were utterly reprehensible to the highest degree. Every time he closed his eyes, it seemed that a new, long-forgotten memory of their interaction would resurface in his mind, causing him to curse himself.

He claimed he would never go to the king to ask for permission to marry Elowyn, but there he was, lying on a bed in the palace, while his wife had fallen ill planning his wedding to his mistress.

He didn’t let Soleia sit in the carriage from the very beginning of their journey. She wasn’t even allowed to sleep in it at night! And he didn’t even allow her to get a change of clothes or proper traveling gear before they set off.

But what made him feel the most guilty was when he had taken what meager belongings Soleia and Ralph had and forced them to make their way to the palace on their own.

He had made Soleia trek through miles of snow to arrive at the palace. Utter insanity. He wouldn’t even order his men to do this unless it was necessary, but somehow, he ordered his wife, a woman with no military training, to do this.

It was a miracle she had arrived in one piece― no, it was all due to Ralph’s own efforts. He had hunted animals for her, bartered for her, and used his low salary to keep his wife healthy on the long journey. His best friend had tried all ways and means to speak up for her, only for Orion to rebuff him for his actions and accuse him of having an affair with his wife.

He owed Ralph an apology. And he owed Soleia so much more than that. The physicians were right to lambast him for his dereliction of duty to his wife.

"I should be marrying you, to begin with. It’s simply right, especially when you’re the one in charge of planning the wedding."

"I’m not denying your words, I’m just not believing them." Soleia raised an eyebrow and ticked off her fingers.

"First of all, we’re already married, and I do not see the need to repeat our farce of a wedding," Soleia said, as she recalled how haphazard everything was, and how it ended with her having a bloody lip courtesy of her husband’s terrible kissing abilities. To her, a repeat ceremony would simply be nothing more than a waste of resources.

"Secondly, if it’s the wedding planning that made you change your mind, you can go ahead and change it again. As you can see, I am in no state to plan any wedding for you. I can hand you my notes so you can go over them with Elowyn. You can choose someone else to plan your wedding― you might even ask my father since he seems awfully supportive of your union with Elowyn."

For reasons even she couldn’t fathom. Soleia huffed. For someone who was rather keen on sending the Duke and his men to their deaths, her father was being rather generous to offer the palace as Orion Elsher and his new mistress’s wedding venue.

"Goodnight." With that said, Soleia turned around and tugged the covers to her side, trying to get some rest.

Orion’s mind was like a weather vane, and previous experience had taught her not to harbor any hopes for him― in fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to claim that her hopes had frozen in the wintry grounds where she was forced to sleep on while she made her way here.

The greater the hopes, the worse the disappointment. She had been scarred one too many times to fall for that trap again so quickly.

"It’s the middle of the day," Orion said, because he was a stubborn man with all the tact of a rampaging bull. Soleia rolled her eyes, and Orion rolled her over to face him with a simple push to her shoulder. "And I was serious about marrying you."

"Right," Soleia nodded, skepticism clear on her face. "And I suppose this is your way of placating me so you can plan a greater, grander wedding for Elowyn?"