Wife of The Demon Prince
Chapter 273: Marry me

Chapter 273: Marry me

The search for the queen began from that night she went missing. All the soldiers in the kingdom were ordered to leave no stone unturned until they found Ara’s whereabouts. But despite all their efforts, they still found no trace of her, it almost seemed as if she had vanished completely had it not been the last trace of evidence that had been found on the cliff as the last place she’d likely been.

Nevertheless, as the search was going on, in the Boxton mansion, the news of Ara’s disappearance hadn’t yet reached them. The only problem they had was keeping the princess in their mansion.

Ever since that battle, Hamon had given his orders to Henry to take Eadlin away from the palace, he was supposed to take her to Dumbarton as she could no longer live as a princess after what her mother had done.

Merona had committed treason, and an unforgivable crime by killing the late king. And for that, even her daughter would not be spared if the officials knew she was still living in the palace, they would spare no efforts in making petitions to the king for the daughter of the traitor to be executed. Thus, Hamon had told Henry to take her away, But then after breaking into her room that night, he had found her in a wasted state. She looked thinner and her skin looked dull, and her arm...

Henry had felt guilt wash over him after seeing her condition. And when he offered to take her away from the palace, she had agreed to follow him without hesitation. He had brought her straight to the Boxton mansion as there was no place he could take her that was safer that night.

But the next day when he offered to take her to Dumbarton, Eadlin refused to go immediately, and when he insisted that she had to leave the kingdom, she pleaded with him in tears, she’d sounded so desperate. Henry had never felt so much helplessness like he felt on that day.

It would be improper to keep her in the Boxton mansion, but then, he had no choice and nowhere else to take her. Therefore, he made his decision to keep her until he found a good noble man who would marry her. Also he had been looking for an expert who could treat her paralyzed arm, but it been months now and he still hadn’t found one that was capable of curing her paralyzed arm.

Currently, Henry was training in his training hall as his mind wandered around. He moved swiftly with his blade sharply cutting through air, his handsome face looking troubled as he channelled all his frustrations onto his sword.

Eadlin had been unusually quiet, she didn’t talk much anymore, nor did she eat enough to keep her healthy. Even after learning of her mother’s death, she did not shed a single tear, but would constantly be found staring blankly into space.

She spent most of her time sitting on Anne’s favorite swing in the garden not talking to anyone but him. However, she still would only exchang little words with him whenever he went to convince her to eat if the maids failed to get her to have her meals, plus, she wasn’t able to eat with her left hand and had to be fed, but she mostly didn’t feel comfortable around any of the maids in the Boxton mansion, so Henry ended up taking the responsibility of feeding her himself.

Perhaps, had Anne been around, the princess wouldn’t have been this way, she would have had someone to keep her company.

Henry continued to swing his sword against the air while his mind tried to figure out a solution, but a maid soon rushed in interrupting his thoughts.

Maya, the maid he had assigned to Eadlin hurried into the training hall to inform him again, "Lord Henry...The young lady refuses to eat again, I think you should..." the maid trailed off, but Henry knew what she meant.

Henry sighed as he dropped his sword, "I’ll be there in a minute." He said calmly, and the maid bowed and left. All his life, not even his sisters frustrated him this much. It was like caring for a child everyday. And he couldn’t bring himself to refuse the princess, she had lost the ability to use her right arm because she was helping him, and he would try his possible best to pay her back.

’I should find the expert as soon as possible, and also find a match for her...’

The only way the princess could leave the Boxton mansion, was by getting her married, and he would take responsibility of finding a good man for her no matter what. She was his responsibility now that he had taken it upon himself to shelter her under the Boxton’s roof.

Henry quickly put on his shirt and made towards the room Eadlin was currently staying in with a tray of food in his hand. When he reached the door, he held the tray with one hand then knocked on the door softly with the other hand.

Eadlin’s tiny voice called from the inside, "Enter."

Henry pushed the door open, and casually walked towards the table before setting the tray on it. However, Eadlin was gazing out the window in a dazed state again not even looking at his direction. But he could tell she knew it was him. He cleared his throat to gain her attention,

"Ahem...princess, your breakfast is here." Only then did Eadlin turn towards him her eyes looking listless, her black hair was let loose pouring down her shoulders in waves, her brown eyes looked towards the tray of food sitting on the table, before nodding slowly. But she did not seem to pay any attention to the food and instead spoke up,

"...I am sorry if I am being a burden to you for the past months, I...don’t want to go to Dumbarton because I have no one to call family there, despite my uncle being the king, he won’t welcome me to his palace, and none of my mother’s relatives liked me anyway...They think I am too weak and naive to be part of their family..." She muttered softly as she glanced down at her lap not meeting his eyes. This was the first time she’d spoken so much words ever since her stay in the Boxton mansion.

Henry knew she wasn’t done and didn’t speak to interrupt her, she continued, "Everytime my mother sent me to Dumbarton, it was only because she wanted her relatives to discipline me, as she thinks I am too stupid to be her daughter...I sometimes wonder if she really was my birth mother with how she treated me...no mother would lock up her child for doing the right thing, no mother would starve her daughter for days without even caring if she’d eaten or how she was..."

"And no mother would want to forcefully marry her daughter off to some blind old nobleman...I don’t want to feel this way, but after learning she was dead...I felt nothing about her death, she had never once treated me like her daughter, and if she were still alive, I would have been married off to Sire Simon from the Osborne household..." As she spoke tears rolled down her cheeks, evident pain surfacing in her usually listless eyes.

Henry, who knew who the Simon she spoke about was frowned deeply. The man was rich and had a lot of connections in various kingdoms, however he was recently said to have been blinded by one of his wives due to his violent nature.

His marriages never last, as he ended up killing the women he married with his violent rage, he was known across Findara to be a man of short temper, and it was said that his last wife had damaged his eyes. But who would have thought the late queen wanted her daughter to marry such a man?

Henry suddenly felt an unknown anger fill him for no reason after hearing that. She would have been married to such a man if the queen was still alive.

When Henry didn’t speak, Eadlin glanced up at him with tear stained cheeks, "...I have decided to move out of the Boxton mansion, I don’t want to burden you as well, I will leave_"

"You won’t go anywhere, you will stay in the Boxton mansion." He said firmly but calmly.

But Eadlin shook her head, "No, it isn’t proper if I keep staying in your mansion, What do you think people will say about your family if they find out am staying here?"

Eadlin did not want to keep staying in the Boxton mansion, which also meant staying under the same roof with the man she had developed affections for, she was now the daughter of a treasonous queen, she was no longer worthy of a man like him. Not just that, it would bring disgrace to the family if people found out she was living in the Boxton mansion.

Nevertheless, even though she had pleaded to stay here at first, she had no plans of staying forever. Since there was no way to treat her arm, and no one would want a woman with one arm...She had decided to go and be a nun in some holy place.

Henry frowned,"They can talk as much as they want, but you will stay here, and I’ve already promised to find you a man that will take care of you."

Eadlin smiled bitterly, "No man will be with someone like me, the daughter of a treasonous woman... and also..." She glanced down at her slacked arm on her side, "Someone with one arm. I will leave today, and_"

"You won’t leave, princess."

Eadlin frowned, "You can’t stop me, Lord Henry, I have no reasons to keep staying in your mansion, I am not related to you in anyway. And again, you don’t need to help me anymore, it’s not your fault that I’m paralyzed, it was my mother’s doing, I only did what was right back then_"

"I will take responsibility for you to give you a reason to stay in the Boxton mansion." He cut her off. But Eadlin gave a self mocking laugh, "By marrying me off to someone? You don’t have to do_"

"No, I will marry you." He declared calmly, his usual rigid face looked a bit loosened and soft.

"...!" Eadlin’s eyes widened in astonishment. But Henry casually strode towards her, he held her hand then pulled the shocked Eadlin to her feet. He raised his hand and carefully wiped away the tears on her cheeks, her skin felt warm and soft against his rough palm, "Be my wife, Eadlin. Then it will give you a reason to stay." He said softly.

However, Eadlin gazed up into his eyes, his usual rigid expression had softened making her heart skip a beat, a faint hope arose in her, but it was soon extinguished as she quickly returned to her senses, there was no way she had missed the trace of guilt in his eyes, he just made that decision because he was feeling sorry for her.

Eadlin shoved his hand away from her face, before taking two steps away from him. "No, I don’t want to..." She muttered.

Henry’s brows knitted together, "Why?"

"Because...you’re only willing to marry me out of pity and guilt, not because you like me." She murmured softly with her head down.

Henry wanted to approach her again, but a loud knock came from the door interrupting him, and they both glanced towards the door at the same time. Before any of them could even speak, the maid’s voice rang from outside,

"Lord Henry! Bad news!"

Henry hurriedly opened the door, "What bad news?" He asked the maid irritatingly. She then bowed, "A messenger from the royal palace just came here to deliver... The queen had been kidnapped last night, and she’s no where to be found in Findara!"