The Cursed King

Chapter 272  Elise Leaves Her Husband

Elise ran out of Loriel's study after that, she ran as fast as she could and left the man alone so she could process everything that happened. Her heart beat loudly that she thought she would fall over and hurt herself.

Once Elise returned to her chambers, she fell on her bed and began to sob quietly and only muffled the sounds by burying her face into her pillows. Tears streamed out of her eyes and yet she couldn't stop them from overflowing.

"Please, please don't let it be true," Elise whispered as she closed her eyes and fervently whispered underneath her breath. Loriel's words came to her mind and his face filled her thoughts with grief. "Please make it all a dream and erase everything in the morning."

The good news that she wanted to tell Loriel was now overshadowed by all-encompassing grief that overtook her. Was it true? Was it all true that her mother cast a protection spell?

Why did her father and grandmother never tell her about this?

Did they not know about the protection spell too? Or.. did Loriel lie??

No, Elise knew her husband well enough. He was a proud man, and selfish at times, but he was not a liar.

And the fact that he said all those things when he was drunk, means he might not mean to spill the fact to her.

Elise clutched her chest and wept despondently until her sobs finally quieted down for real. If only she had known that there was something like this… perhaps she would refuse to marry Loriel and would try to find ways to break the spell.

Elise hated Emmelyn so much, not because the woman was a bad person. Not at all. It was because Loriel loved her. Like Elise said to her husband earlier, she hated it because Emmelyn had Loriel's heart while Elise only got his body.

She felt awful for the hate she had for Emmelyn, and she had to pretend that she was fine. But it was so hard to force her heart to accept it with humility. The heart wants what it wants.

However, even though Elise hated Emmelyn, she would have never wanted Emmelyn to lose everything in her life just because Loriel was in love with her. It was so unfair for Emmelyn to experience so much suffering.

Even if Elise was heartbroken beyond belief, it did not mean that she wished ill to come upon the woman. She did not want innocent people to die because of her and yet all of it already happened.

A kingdom was burned into the ground because of the spell that was cast over Loriel due to their betrothal. So many people suffered and it resulted in so many deaths that it almost felt like their blood was on Elise's hands.

It wasn't exactly like that, but it felt that way to her.

More importantly, Elise could now understand why Loriel hated her so much. Elise thought she could blame him and express her anger, but even his own anger had its own warrants. Weakly, Elise pulled up to her feet and shakily held on to her stomach.

The idea of having a happy family together with Loriel now seemed impossible with so much bad blood between them. Elise squeezed her eyes closed and let out a heavy but determined breath.

"I need to fix this," she muttered.

The queen of Summeria wiped her tears and looked around her surroundings. Elise reached for her bag and took away the most essential of things and packed them all away.

If her father and grandmother couldn't fix it, then Elise knew who probably could.

"I've already redeemed Dante's gift to me, but maybe… just maybe he or Dimitri knows how to break the protection spell and also make sure I can deliver my baby safely," Elise whispered to herself as she stepped out of her chambers.

Before Alina or any of her other maids could see her, Elise escaped into the night and once again took a horse to head off to her destination.

***

Loriel watched Elise take her leave while she was in tears and he didn't chase or run after her. The man knew he couldn't do anything now that he told her the truth. It was up to Elise to take everything in.

There was nothing else he could do.

While it wasn't entirely Elise's fault and King Alexander asked Loriel to keep it a secret, Loriel finally revealed it and he sat back down in his chair and poured himself another drink.

He took it all down in one go and felt his head throb. Loriel finally told Elise everything he had been carrying within him for the last three years of their life together and he thought he would find relief in saying it.

There was only a sense of bitterness in himself when Loriel spoke and the laughter he found in him earlier was replaced by a sense of dread and yet utter refusal to admit that he did anything wrong.

Perhaps Loriel would regret it in the morning if even right now while he was drunk, the man couldn't find the utter relief and satisfaction that he was looking for. Instead, Loriel's head throbbed wildly.

All of his aches and pains only disappeared when Loriel thought he felt a cool breeze enter his study. Loriel thought he could smell or see flower petals in the air or maybe he was hallucinating now from all the alcohol.

Regardless, all of this brought an immediate sense of relief to Loriel as his eyelids grew heavy and the wine goblet fell off his hand. His head slumped against the wooden table and the man fell into a deep sleep.

Loriel felt the sweet embrace of someone in his dreams and he slept soundly that night until the morning arrived and he opened his eyes to find himself with no hangover or whatsoever.

Instead, he found his surroundings littered with shards of alcohol bottles and other evidence of him getting rowdy last night. Loriel massaged his forehead and asked himself. "When did I get here?"

All Loriel could remember was him leaving the palace so he could drink and avoid Elise after everything that happened in the tower. After Loriel had servants clean up his mess, he called for Horatio.

It was all good timing because Horatio came to him with an urgent look on his face.

"Her Majesty is gone!" the royal butler informed him with a panicked look on his face. "She took a horse and left the palace last night, Your Majesty. Shall I send soldiers to search for her?"

Loriel frowned but eventually shook his head. "I think the queen probably wants to be left alone, the two of us did have an argument so she might have wanted to get away from here in Castilse."

He remembered when they were grieving the last time, both couldn't bear to see each other. Loriel needed space to be alone, and so did she. Things were better after they grieved in private for months. When they saw each other again, they were already in the process of healing and could then heal together.

So, maybe this time, Elise needed time to be alone. She probably left to visit her family in Myreen. With that in mind, Loriel finally went to his study and buried himself with work.