Chapter 22

The odour of liquor and smoke was the first thing the Queen noticed. She saw dozens of ripped and shredded pieces of papers sprawled over the room. 

"Where the hell is he?" The Queen pulled a face as she covered her nose with her hands. 

The King didn't look surprised, instead he pushed aside a few of the papers and made himself comfortable on the floor. Seeing the King like this was certainly a sight to behold but the queen was already irritated that she couldn't bring Kira with her. 

The King had accepted her favour of wanting to meet the King's cousin, however he was extremely secretive about anything regarding his cousin. Even before telling the Queen he had made sure no servants were lurking beside their bedroom doors. 

Arisa wanted to meet the King's cousin as soon as she could, she didn't like being apart from the concubine for too long. 

Maybe I'm getting far too attached… she thought to herself.  

"Just wait for a few moments, my cousin… he always comes late at night. I said we should set off later but you insisted on leaving in the morning."

The queen glared at the King but she seated herself in the room. She wasted no time in looking at the random papers that were all splattered on the floor. 

Picking it up, her eyes widened.

"You really believe your cousin was framed?!" She gleamed as her eyes traced over the painting of two naked men. Surely it was ripped and shredded but there was no denying it. It was definitely an erotic painting! 

Edward stayed quiet. 

The queen liked the silent despair on the King's face. 

"You insisted that your mother framed him… you cheeky bastard. But It was actually true, wasn't it!" 

After a few minutes the King cleared his throat.

"My cousin… is possessed." 

"…"

"Are you saying it's because he's an erotic painter?" 

"Yeah."

"And because he likes men?"

"Yeah."

The queen bursted out laughing, "you surely are something! It's never a dull day with you." 

The King looked down. "As much as I want to accept your compliments-

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm making fun of you."

The King smiled, and the queen spoke once more. 

"Liking men and drawing such paintings is deserving to be called possessed?"

"If not, then surely you're not suggesting he's sane." The King suddenly got up, he waved his hands as if he was trying to make a point.

"My cousin isn't himself right now and surely my mother had done something to do with this… ' he kept rambling on, "she's heavily involved with dark magic and it wouldn't be impossible to create an evil source of power to create something-

"Silence." The queen got up and stretched.

She looked at him, her uninterested look once reminded the King of how intense the Queen was. After spending all these nights with her, he had forgotten how intimating she was. 

"Leave if you're going to be like this." The queen wasn't joking around. Her eyes had become cold. She felt her stomach aching after she heard how desperate the King was to disprove his cousins true nature.

Is liking someone that bad? Is it that terrible that people would rather think you are possessed than be happy that you're in a loving relationship with your lover? 

These thoughts surrounded the queens mind and her heart broke when she thought of the concubine. 

I guess I'm possessed. She sighed to herself.