Survive As The Brute’s Wife - Chapter 152

A month has passed since Alexandra left the capital city of Lathlin. She was staying in the underground tunnels where Arioch is staying. She has a separate room where she stays with Marcus. Arioch tried to get her to stay alone in a room, but she didn’t want to leave Marcus alone. And she made sure Marcus is around her all the time.

Arioch was pretty skeptical of her at first, but she did everything as he would want to. She praised him whenever she can and at times, she would talk to him as if he were Tubby. She affirmed the accusations Luke threw on her in their past life were true.

Luke loves to be proved right, even when he is wrong.

She played into all of his fallacies, and now he trusts her. Arioch wanted to keep the Choshech Orb in the gathering hall so that everyone will have access to it—for them to have a god to worship—as he said.

She could see that Inanis had started to communicate with Arioch. Inanis is in captivity for a long time and he shouldn’t know the language spoken by humans, but he was pretty fluent with it.

Alexandra stared at the Orb she keeps on her table. Inanis won’t affect her. And Marcus does not have a speck of darkness in him for he is a pure-hearted child. And so Inanis cannot corrupt anyone here.

But Inanis is reaching out to Arioch somehow and Arioch is insistent on keeping the Orb for everyone to look at. She knows why Inanis wants that. When Inanis is in contact with more people, he could feed on the darkness in them, and their fears, and he can get stronger.

She cannot let that happen.

A week back, Arioch was pretty insistent on bringing the Orb to the gathering hall, but she successfully distracted him by talking about Theodus and his father. She has sent an invite to Theodus to meet her. She had no hopes that he will meet her. He should be very angry at her for having a hand in his exile. He missed his family for three centuries. Although that is not a long time in the life of an Elf, it is enough time to miss one’s family.

Maximus had told her that Theodus is working for him and that he is still trying to find the entrance to his home. She wondered if Theodus met with Maximus in the past month. If so, she wanted to know how he is faring.

She talks to Ithildin often, and he says that Maximus’ darkness hasn’t expanded in these few days. But Ithildin said that he is preparing for war. Julius is with him and is keeping him from losing himself to darkness.

Alexandra wanted him to prepare for war. Because war is coming!  And in that war, Maximus is going to lose.

Leaning on the muddy wall, Alexandra closed her eyes.

[I miss you, Tubby… I want to see you, I want to breathe in your minty scent, I want to kiss and hug you… ]

“Your Royal Highness…”

The shaky voice of Lumina, one of the maids Arioch assigned for her made her snap out of her reverie.

“Your bath is ready.” The maid stared at her twisting her raggy cloth.

Alexandra felt something chilly on her cheeks and she wiped it.

[Ah… are these tears..? Am I missing Tubby that much? Enough for me to cry? Love hurts!]

She does not remember crying much as the daughter of the Dragon King. There wasn’t any good reason she found that it was worthy for her to waste her tears.

But the pain in her chest now… It is pretty much similar to the pain she felt when she saw Tubby kill himself.

It is unbearable.

She didn’t know falling in love would hurt this much. She wanted to bury herself in his chest and hug him. She wanted to sob in his embrace.

[I will finish this soon… I will get back to Tubby soon…]

“Where is Marcus, Lumina?” Alexandra asked the girl. The girl should be around sixteen years old. But she had no childish innocence on her face. Her cheeks were sticking to her jaws and there was no blush on her cheeks. She looked dark and hurt.

“Sir Marcus is guarding the door, Princess,” the girl spoke in a flat tone.

“Then keep him company. I will bathe myself,” Alexandra said.

“With him?” the girl was not pleased. But she shrugged and accepted it. “Will you tell me how pretty the garden of Eirene is, Princess?” the girl asked with her eyes twinkling.

“I will. After I take my bath,” Alexandra said.

She talks to a lot of people here. Arioch tried to implant her as the Drovarys and the savior. But she introduced herself as ‘The Brute’s Wife’. The people were scared of her first, but she slowly removed the fear in their hearts by spending time with them.

She would talk to them about life in the city and the food they eat. The people will listen to her as if she is some storyteller from a faraway land.

Although she missed the people back home, she has found a way to keep her sanity.

The girl left the room pretty happily. It was obvious the girl didn’t want to serve her, but just because Arioch asked her to, she is doing it.

Alexandra undressed and got in the bathtub. Although Lumina does not like working, she always gets the water to the right temperature for soaking.

She would prefer it if Flavia was here. She missed Flavia too. This whole place is dark and smells like dirt and moss. Flavia’s chirpy voice would light up any place.

There is another reason she does not allow Lumina to serve her. She didn’t want Lumina to get exposed to the Orb.

Leaning at the sides of the tub, Alexandra closed her eyes. She checked in on Inanis and she could see that the seven dark-obsidian eyes of Inanis were looking around from inside the Orb. They seemed to be scouring and searching for something. She had put on stronger spells around the Orb so that his voice won’t be reached by others.

[But who or what is he searching for? Maximus, perhaps?]

And staying here, she found out one another thing, although Arioch tries to hide it from her. Arioch has a habit of taking the women here to bed. He never sleeps with the same woman. And another abhorrent thing she noticed was, the brides are sent to his room the night before their wedding. It was as if everyone and everything belongs to Arioch; even their wives are not exclusive.

She couldn’t believe how these people are accepting this behavior. But then she could see how desperate these people are. They desperately need a savior and they are willing to do anything, even share their wife with Arioch, if that means they would be delivered.

[Their sufferings should end soon. I wish Theodus accepts my invite…]

At times, she would regret her decision to leave Maximus alone and do this. But seeing these people who desperately need help, she would change her mind. If she stays with Maximus, these people will die, or worse suffer for life under Arioch.

She got out from the tub and picked up the small box on the side. It was the small box that her father gave her in the Temple of Alta. That day, she complained to him that he ruined her clothes.

And so her father had given her an infinite supply of clothes. All she has to do is think of a dress and the dress would be found in the tiny box. Once she gets it out, the dress would get bigger and would fit her comfortably.

She got dressed and opened the door. Marcus was guarding the door.

“Want to continue your lessons?” she asked the boy. He nodded with a grin on his face.

“But you said you’d tell me stories!” Lumina whined.

“No, she changed her mind. Now she wants to teach me. Back off!” Marcus shouted at the girl.

“But she promised me first!” Lumina pushed him.

“Kids… Kids…” Alexandra with a chuckle kept the kids apart. “I’ll do both!”

“Yay!” Lumina shouted in joy. “Please wait till I bring the other kids. They love listening to your stories, Princess!” Lumina shouted and ran away to collect her friends.

Marcus grumbled.

“What’s that for?” Alexandra asked. Ever since she started talking to these kids, Marcus’ mood is getting worse.

“I don’t like her,” Marcus pouted. His nose scrunched up and he looked adorable. “I don’t like the other kids too.”

Alexandra smiled and patted his head. She thought Marcus getting jealous of other kids is cute.

“Don’t worry. You are my sole Paladin,” she comforted him.

“Yes, Your Royal Highness,” he bowed. “But might I ask why you are bothering with them? They are all stinky. They rarely bathe and their clothes are dirty. I saw some of them eating dirt. Why are you treating those dirty people as my equals?” he asked.

Alexandra was stunned for a moment.  Marcus is bigoted against them. She let out a sigh. It is understandable considering the teachings he received as an aristocrat.

But it has to change.

“Marcus, sit with me,” she said.

She needs to teach this little boy to treat everyone as equals.