The Cursed King

Elise's face flushed red when she heard Loriel's words. Was he serious with what he said?

She looked up at him and assessed his expression. 

Ah… he was not joking. Her heart pounded uncontrollably at the thought of this. Did he... really express his desire for them to take bath together?

They had never done anything like this before. Just thinking about it made Elise's face heated, as if she suddenly contracted fever.

"What do you think?" Loriel asked Elise teasingly. From her expression, he could see that she was shy but also secretly excited about his offer. He knew she was still in love with him. Elise was so easy to read.

Her love was so obvious and Loriel could tell she wanted to take a bath together with him. He wanted her too. His nights were lonely and cold for the past five months when he was away. He missed her warm and soft body in his arms as he went to sleep alone.

Now that they had met again, and they were no longer drowned in sadness, all he could think about when he saw his wife was how she was naked under him, panting for breath as he made love to her passionately.

Elise lowered her head shyly and finally, she nodded, very very slightly. Loriel smiled and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Then, it's decided. I will talk to Horatio to prepare our bathwater."

"Okay," Elise replied in a barely audible voice. She felt her body tremble slightly. Her mind went to the past when she and Loriel were being intimate.

She remembered his muscular body on top of her as he made love to her. She had not seen him naked for a really long time, and now she realized how much she missed it.

Loriel waved at Horatio and gave him the order with a flat face, while Elise hid her face on Loriel's chest. She couldn't look at Horatio when Loriel spoke about the bath for two.

"How long can you get it ready?" Loriel asked Horatio. The butler thought about the flower petals, the candles, and whatnot, and finally gave his estimate.

"Around one hour, Your Majesty," he said politely. Deep inside, the royal butler was so happy to receive this request. He empathized with the king's and queen's sufferings and wished they could be happy again.

He knew the king went away to grieve, and the same went for the queen. She was also drowned in sadness for so many months. Now that Loriel had returned, he and Elise had started spending time together and their relationship seemed to improve.

And now, the king suddenly asked Horatio to prepare his bathwater so he could bathe together with the queen?

Ahh... this was truly the best order a royal butler could ever receive.

"Okay, then. We will wait," Loriel said. He motioned Horatio to leave and then turned to Elise. "Do you want to continue drinking wine with me while we wait for the bath to be prepared?"

Elise smiled and nodded sheepishly. So, they went back to the dining room. After Elise sat on her chair, Loriel poured wine into two goblets and gave one to Elise. She took it with a happy heart.

"Wine can also help with insomnia," Loriel said.

"That's true... but I have drunk enough," Elise said softly. "I should drink more slowly. If I took too much, I might become drunk."

Loriel sipped his wine while watching Elise's beautiful face before him. Her words made him realize he had never seen his wife drunk before. She was always so graceful.

"I never see you drunk," he commented. "I wonder what type of drunk you are."

"Huh?" Elise looked at the man in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Loriel cleared his throat. "Some people sleep when they are drunk, some people talk too much, and some others wreak havoc. So, I am wondering which one are you."

"Oh...." Elise pressed her lips. "I don't know. I am never drunk."

"Yeah, I notice," Loriel nodded. "Does that mean, you can hold your liquor or do you just never take too much to get drunk?"

Elise thought about it for a while, then she shook her head. "I think I just never drank enough to get drunk."

Loriel chuckled. Just as he expected. His wife was such a good woman. She was always so graceful and sweet. Even if someday she got drunk, Loriel imagine she would probably just sleep like an adorable baby, not talk too much or wreak havoc.

As for Loriel himself...

"Well, when I am drunk, which rarely happen, I usually would—"

"You would talk too much, Your Majesty," Elise said, unintentionally interrupting Loriel.

She remembered when he was drunk that one time. He kept talking about the fairy who saved his life. Ah... the memory put a smile on Elise's face.

Loriel looked at her in confusion. "How did you know?"

He didn't remember ever getting drunk around his wife.

Elise immediately realized her mistake when she saw his curious expression. She never talked about the incident where Loriel was so drunk that he slipped and talked to her about the 'fairy' who helped save his life when he was younger.

Elise later found out that the 'fairy' was herself and this memory always made her feel happy inside.

"I..." she smiled. "I saw you drunk one time. You don't remember."

"Oh..." Loriel was so surprised by this revelation. Suddenly, he felt worried that in his drunken state he said things that he shouldn't say. He looked at Elise's beautiful face intently, trying to assess her expression.

Seeing her big eyes looking at him still with that affectionate gaze, Loriel breathed a sigh of relief. It's good. That means he didn't say anything stupid or hurtful to his wife when he was drunk.

He cleared his throat. "I hope I didn't say anything stupid."

Elise shook her head. Her expression was still as sweet as ever. She said, "No. You were actually really sweet."

"I was?" Loriel couldn't believe Elise's judgment that he was being sweet to her when he was drunk. He knew himself well enough. He was not sweet. And Elise loved him too much, so she must be biased.

"Yes, Your Majesty, you were," Elise smiled to confirm her words. She found him endearing when he was drunk and kept talking about the beautiful fairy and how much he wanted to see her again.

"What did I say back then?" Loriel asked again. He became very curious.

Elise bit her lip and avoided Loriel's gaze. She didn't want to lie to him, but at this point, she couldn't tell him the truth.

She spoke in a low voice. "I am sorry... I don't remember exactly, but I only know that you said sweet things to me. Please forgive my poor memory..."

"Ahh.. okay," Loriel smiled too. Well, he was just relieved that he didn't act like a jerk and say hurtful things to his wife when he was drunk. He knew he was not exactly husband of the year with how he had been treating Elise after they got married.

He avoided her, acted cold and distant, and made her place known from early on...  that she was not loved and he didn't intend to consummate their marriage.

Even though he changed his mind and his attitude, later on, it didn't remove the fact that he was not a good man during their early days as husband and wife.

"Your Majesty, the bathwater is ready."

Suddenly Horatio appeared by the doorway and gave his report that the king and queen could now take a bath together.

"Where did you prepare it?" Loriel forgot to ask the butler to prepare the bath in his chamber because all his clothes were there.

Horatio replied, "We prepared it in the queen's chamber."

"Ah, okay," Loriel nodded. Elise's chamber was okay too. He could ask Horatio to get his clothes from his personal chamber.

However, before he could say anything, the butler said, "I have prepared Your Majesty's clothes beside the bath."

"Ahh... good." Loriel was really pleased by his butler's initiative. Horatio really knew him so well. The king turned to Elise and reached out his hand. "Wanna take a bath now?"

Elise nodded sheepishly. She could no longer hide her happy expression. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Yeah... we should go now before the water gets cold."

Walking hand in hand, they went to the queen's residence. When they entered Elise's chamber, they could immediately smell the aromatic scent from the candles, mixed with some vanilla, musk, and flowers from the bath.

Loriel was impressed by his own idea. This was truly relaxing, he thought as he cast his glance around the chamber and saw the flickering lights on the candles and the flower petals inside the bath.

He closed the door behind them and pulled Elise's hand toward the bath. It looked so inviting.

"We should get dressed," he murmured with a hoarse voice. When Loriel turned around, he saw his wife was taking her clothes one by one. The man gasped and swallowed hard. Elise batted her eyes in confusion when she saw his reaction.

"D-did I do something wrong?" she asked him shyly. Apparently, Elise was already thinking of undressing before Loriel even suggested it. So, she was surprised to see Loriel look at her with a weird gaze.

"No..." Loriel shook his head. "You did nothing wrong."

He couldn't take it anymore.. The king pulled his wife closer and started kissing her passionately.