20 Cursed

I walked hand in hand with Wystan as he explained every single room. He brought me to his room, all the other countless rooms, his parent's room, the throne room, the kitchen as well as the staff house.

I was expecting it to be a rundown palace but it was spotless. I thought it would be an empty place but many palace staffs were going in and out, maintaining it as though he lived there.

Undeniably, it is a typical palace that I've been to in other places. There was nothing unique about it but I guess it was a smart move on his part to have well-behaved children invited to play around. At least it gave the Palace personnel joy and something to look forward to.

"Why did you move out?"

"Hmm... Many reasons."

"And they are?"

"It's nothing big. Just a personal preference."

"Oh, come on. Share it with me," I said as I tugged his arms for answers.

He gave me his shy smile that reached his eyes.

"Pleaseeeee...." I bat my eyelid with exaggeration and pouted my lips.

"I don't want to be a useless King."

Whaaaaaat?!

"How exactly is staying Palace synonymous with being useless?"

"Many factors. Definitely, as the King, they would wait unnecessarily and do everything for you."

"And that is useless because...?"

"I just prefer to do what I can do. It's my privacy after all."

I scrunched up my forehead as I squinted my eyes suspiciously in his direction. It was hard to believe he was serious with his answer.

"You're a one weird King, you know that?" I complimented, smiled at the words I uttered.

"I aim to please," he reciprocated my smile. Glad that he took my comment as a compliment rather than an insult.

He showed me several more rooms until my feet could not take it any longer.

"Can we take a breather? My feet aches." I huffed and puffed, squatted on the floor with the tiring stroll that took most of my daylight hours.

Thankfully Wystan waited patiently as I tried to recover my breath.

"Which of the ballroom do you prefer out of all?"

"They're alright. Why?"

"We're going to have our first dance."

Why, it's exactly as what Papa said last night. I don't think I recall telling him that.

"Is it also a tradition here to have the first dance?" I tilted my head to read his body language.

"I wouldn't actually say it's tradition but..."

"But...?"

"It's entirely up to the bride and groom. I assume you would want it considering you brought up about living in Palace."

Hehe... he caught me! I twirled my hair in embarrassment as the floating black dot in my peripheral vision became my point of interest.

"Having the first dance would be nice," I answered coyly. "But will Papa be there?"

His face contorted as though I had asked him a difficult question. "Would you like to have him over?" he asked.

"Of course I do!" My eyes lit up and my hands clasped together with excitement. At least we could make up for all the times we missed.

"Alright, I'll make some arrangement."

We had lunch at the Palace and were done exploring by sundown. Wystan offered for us to sleepover at the Palace if I wanted to. Yet somehow I preferred the treehouse for now. Turns out the solitude did more good than I had anticipated.

"Wystan?" I called out his name in the silence of our journey back home. This time Wystan wasn't driving like Peter Rabbit who is late for his Party. This time it was a nice slow drive as my eyes feast on the nature that exists only in Hawthorn Empire.

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever used your ability to your advantage?"

"Such as?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe subdue an enemy to submit to you?"

"By ability, do you mean my combat skill in this context?"

"No." I didn't want to say it. Neither would I dare to face him. Because somehow I'm worried to hear the answer.

"No."

Relieved washed over me. Yet I could feel he was disappointed with my question but answered it nonetheless.

"Apart from our wedding, what have you used it for?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"To be honest, I used it mostly on women."

Ack! "Not to force them to sleep with you I hope."

"The contrary."

"Contrary? What do you mean?"

Another sigh followed as his body language showing signs of restlessness.

"I used them to ward off women."

That was unexpected.

"Wow! You either bend the other way or thousands of women must have flocked to you and jumped on you at every opportunity they could."

Wystan being Wystan, he neither accepts nor denies my allegations. But I would like to believe it was the latter than the former.

"What I don't get, right, is that you could simply marry anyone just to keep them off without pushing them away. Problem solved."

"Would you though?"

"What?"

"Is my power THAT bad that you think it was a better option to marry any random girl?"

"Ahh..." Tsk! My foolish mouth! This silly mouth of mine runs faster than my brain! Now that he put it that way, it does sound like a bad idea to marry a random person.

"Sorry..." I apologised meekly.

"It's fine. A curse is still a curse after all."

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