The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Blue's Perspective)

"What kind of shitty content is this? Is he making fun of me now?" I yelled.

"What happened, Your Highness?" Perita asked. "Do you want to kill someone? Just say the word."

"Can you kill a King?"

"His Highness? That will be treason," she muttered, "but, not impossible. This Perita can do anything for Your Highness."

"Not him. Gosh," I sighed. "Why would I kill my husband?"

"Then another king? Hmm, I want to kill the new Queen of Lacuna, but she is a Queen. Then, who are you talking about?"

"Just kidding, Perita. Don't mind it," I said.

The content of the letter was very strange. Evan was a chatty person, but he wrote very little.

Haha, are you worried about me, my friend?

That was the only line he wrote. There was no doubt he was making fun of me. I did not understand much about wars, so I had to take Perita's knowledge to understand the other files he sent me.

"Tell me what these things mean, Perita; every single thing as if you are talking to a kid who just started to learn the word 'war' properly," I said.

"This is my favorite subject. Your Highness can trust me," she grinned confidently.

***

Perita started telling about the code language, the position of the Trouvaille knights, and the war situation. She was talking like an expert; it was admirable.

"For this, I need the map of Trouvaille and Ataraxia," she muttered.

I quickly stood up, ran to the door, and opened it. I grabbed the hand of the maid who was just passing by. She did not even notice me and was startled.

"Get me the map of Trouvaille and Ataraxia from the library quickly."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"And run, okay?"

"Got it!"

The maid ran to the library and came back very quickly. Most of the maids had studied before, so they could do these kinds of things.

Perita spread the map on the table and pointed at important places and where Evan guessed Ataraxia could attack next.

"We have plenty of maps. Just mark it so I can understand better."

"Alright."

It took two hours for Perita to describe the whole thing to me. Because I was so dumb when it came to wars, it took just way too long.

"So, for now, Trouvaille has a bigger chance to win?"

"That is right, Your Highness. Ataraxia has asked for help from Querencia. If we help, Ataraxia might win," she said.

"It reached this morning," I said. "We haven't held a meeting yet. It's a good thing that I know the war situation properly now. The letter came at the right moment," I muttered.

If Ataraxia won, it would be beneficial for Querencia. But now, Trouvaille was winning.

'What I don't understand is why Evan would send a detailed description of the war situation which is obviously private. I wanted to know, but I did not expect him to tell me everything and even send me the secret code messages that he exchanged with his knights. Some of them are yet to be delivered to the person they were meant for.

The code messages were very important to understand what their previous move was and what their next move will be, according to Perita.'

That day, I asked Dem about his opinion during lunch. "What do you want to do? Do you want to help Ataraxia?" I asked.

"If Ataraxia loses, it will be a bit difficult for Querencia since Trouvaille can make someone from their kingdom the new ruler of Ataraxia if King Ford kills the whole Imperial family," he said. "It is something we don't want."

"Trouvaille will be more powerful then," I mumbled.

"That's right. We are Ataraxia's neighbor, so it will affect us. If we were in a remote place like Mazazine, we would not have to worry about any other kingdom."

"So, you will help Ataraxia?"

"What do you want?" he asked instead of answering me.

"Even if it is something I don't want, I have to do the right thing for Querencia; personal feelings are not mandatory right now."

"Personal feelings?"
Your journey continues on empire

"I don't mean it in any weird way, please don't misunderstand," I said, shaking my head. "What I meant is Evan has helped us about a few things, so I thought even if we don't help Trouvaille, we are not gonna help Ataraxia as well. It is just my thought. Don't mind it."

"Yes, he helped us a few times and he also… knows about my ability," he said. "I am not planning to help Ataraxia either."

"Huh? Then, are you going to reject Ataraxia's request?"

"Not just me, my Queen. It is going to be our decision. You have the right to say what you want."

"Ah, right… Then, what is your opinion?" I clarified my question.

"I want to break the war between them. It is possible if the other three kingdoms agree."

"Oh? I read something like that, but I am not sure if other kingdoms will agree…"

"I am sure though. I can make the King of Mazazine agree to it and for the Queen of Lacuna, it is possible too."

"How?"

"I previously helped Mazazine with funds when a flood and rare skin disease spread at the same time. That time, I asked for one vote from them on any matter. I can use that agreement now. And for the Queen of Lacuna, I will use a special technique?"

"Special?" I muttered.

I got angry right away hearing the word 'special'. I kept thinking about the worst scenarios regarding Dem and Queen Laetitia from the moment she had become the Queen.

"What do you mean by special? And why did you say 'special' like that?" I asked angrily.

"Hm? How did I say it?"

"It was not… normal. You put too much affection into the word!"

"Honey… What are you saying? Why would I do that?"

"I don't know… Perhaps you find her more attractive than your wife and wanted to talk about her in a 'special' manner?"

"… Are you jealous?"

"…"

"Haa," he sighed. "I don't mean it any odd way, my wife. I only meant that I will use a different way than the one I will use for Mazazine. Since the King of Lacuna has died recently, the Queen still has a long way to go to get a grasp of political affairs. I will take advantage of the situation and make a fake agreement document. It is rather easy.

See? This is what I meant. Honey, no one is more attractive than you. So, you don't have to worry. You used to not worry about these kinds of things before, but what happened now?"

'Ugh, I don't know as well. I am getting too worked up about matters like this!'

"I see… But you have to promise to not like anyone else romantically other than me!"

"Sure, I promise to only love my darling wife Blue for the rest of my life," he said and then chuckled. "I did not know jealousy could make my wife this angry… It is amusing, you know?"

"Don't make fun of me… You are like that too when you are jealous, if not more," I said.

'You attack as well, which I don't. I am rather well-behaved in that sense. Though I don't hate those attacks…'

"That said, I will show you the current position of Trouvaille in the war. It seems Trouvaille is winning."

"I had a feeling that might be the case. The current reports show that as well. Were you also getting reports on the war? I thought you did not understand this subject."

"I don't still, but I need to learn, right? And no, I am not getting any reports from my informers. Evan sent me some reports and Perita described everything to me."

"King Ford sent? Heh, that's probably false reports. Why would he send reports to the Queen of Querencia? He knows that if we help, it will be Ataraxia."

"Take a look at them. I don't think they are false," I said.

Dem came to my office after lunch and I showed him what Evan had sent me. I also wanted to show him Perita's notes that she took to help me understand, but he did not need them. He understood everything just by taking a look at the reports.

His eyes enlarged and he kept staring in utter disbelief and confusion. "They are real reports, right?" I asked.

"Is he dumb? Why did he send you these?" he yelled.

"Don't yell. Why are you yelling?" I grumbled. "I just asked him what is the situation, but I did not think he would reply this way."

"Did he tell you he likes you?"

"No! What are you saying?"

'Though Evan always said he wants to be my friend, he never acted like he likes me. I don't think he is the kind of person to like a married woman.'