The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Demetrius's Perspective)

"Hmm…"

She had been hugging me tightly and would not let me go from the moment we returned to our bedroom. Tomorrow, we would go back to Querencia.

I slept with her in a sitting position, leaning against the bed frame since she was on my lap and would not go down. I tried a bit, then did not try anymore since I did not mind if she slept that way.

It was not our bedroom, so I had a hard time trying to sleep. In the end, I gave up after trying a few times. My wife, on the other hand, had been sleeping peacefully. It must be because she was drunk.

I played with her hair, twirling a strand around my finger. I stared at her sleeping face as if captured. How could someone be so attractive, beautiful, and adorable? It was no surprise that a lot of people fell for her. Only she did not know what a beauty she was.

The thought of locking her up was a lot less now. Was it because she was in front of me almost all the time? Or was I getting better? I did not know the answer. Sometimes I was a mystery to even myself.

"Huh…"

She moved a bit in her sleep and hugged me tighter. It was mostly I who hugged her when she slept and did not let go until morning. But when she was drunk, it was her who clung to me.

Because of her drunken state, she behaved, unlike her usual self during dinner. I did not notice when she was drinking during the meeting. I should make sure to keep my eyes on her all the time.

Just like she always did, she started to act bolder than before after drinking. She even told Queen Laetitia directly to not fall for her husband. That was the best part of tonight.

Hearing Queen Laetitia and reading her mind, I came to the conclusion that she was interested in my wife sexually only, not romantically. Either way, I would never allow her to get close to my darling wife.

I had known before too, that she liked both men and women. It was at the banquet in Ataraxia when I found out about it after reading her mind. That was perhaps the second time I met her. The information was too insignificant to remember.

'Like, how is that any of my business who she likes or not? If I had enough leisure to care about things like that, I would rather read some books about extraordinary things to gift my wife.'

Since we promised to have breakfast with Queen Laetitia, we would leave after that. I could already imagine my wife's face when she would remember what she had done the previous night.

Around six in the morning, she started moving again. I could not sleep because of the strange place anyway. I could just close my eyes for a while and count the sound of the clock.

"Hmm… Dem…?"

I smiled. She always had the habit to call my name right after waking up slightly in the morning if she had drunk the previous night.

"Are you up, darling?"

"Mmm… Where…?"

"It seems your head is not working properly, hm?" I chuckled. "We are at a side palace in Lacuna. We have come here to get Lacuna's agreement. Your head also hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah… It hurts…"

"That's why I tell you not to drink, but you never listen to me. I would not have a problem if you drank, but you get headaches every time you drink," I said. "And when I tell you to drink warm milk in the morning, you don't do that as well." Experience tales at empire

"… I will drink lemon juice instead. Milk in the morning makes me want to vomit. I don't like milk anyway. There is this odd smell…," she pouted, squinting her nose.

"I will make it for you," I said.

"Okay…"

She did not argue, perhaps she did not have the energy to do so. After all, it was still six in the morning.

"Want to take a bath in the meantime? That will freshen you up," I asked.

"Hmm… Carry me…"

"I would do so even if you did not tell me," I said.

I carried her to the bathroom. Rather than a bathtub, there was a small pool there. I sat her down on one of the stairs and splashed some water on her face.

*cough*

"Ah, I am sorry…," I said and patted on her back until she calmed down. "Morning, darling. Are you up now?"

"Dem…?"

'Pfft! Again?'

"Why am I here…?"

"You are taking a bath. That said, let me get the nightgown off you. I forgot to do so," I said.

She raised her arms and I took the nightgown off her. She did not like to wear anything underneath the nightgown, so I had taken her undergarments off last night before changing her into the nightgown.

"Do you remember how drunk you were last night? And you said you drank a little."

"I did. I only drank half a glass," she said.

"The wine is rather strong here. That must be why. I almost got a bit drunk too," I said.

'I need to have special wines delivered to the palace from Lacuna. They have strong flavors.'

"Oh, really?" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Not entirely, just a feeling of lightheadedness. Don't get so excited."

"Is that so?" she sulked. "I wanted to see you drunk…"

"Perhaps I will drink very strong wine a lot one day," I said.

"No, that won't do. Drinking too much is not good for health."

"But it will be just for one day?"

"Hmm… A lot of people do so… But… I don't know. Let's think about it later," she said, shrugging.

"Alright, now that you are awake, I can leave you here for a bit. Wash yourself. I will make lemon juice for you."

"You will?"

"I can do it."

"Really? I didn't know that…"

"Darling, I am the one who made lemon juice for you last time you were drunk."

"Oh my, is that so? I didn't even know…"

"That's because your mind is not the brightest in the morning," I said. "Just sit here, I will make it for you quickly."

I did not get parental love in my childhood, but I surely got all the material luxury anyone could think of. Getting luxury was surely enjoyable. I did not realize the disadvantages before, or just did not care about them.

But when I started doing little things for my wife, I started to realize how much I lacked when it came to doing normal things like folding clothes, making juice, giving someone a bath, and so on. I asked the servants to teach me those things, including various hairstyles so I could tie my darling wife's hair; I liked to touch her hair too much.

It took me a while to learn how to make lemon juice. I took the help of a book and made it two times before getting it perfect on the third try.

Some maids thought it was embarrassing that I was bold enough to ask to learn those simple things. But I did not understand why they thought that way. The things that were normal to learn for them were not normal for me and the things that were normal for me to learn were not normal for them. It was the way the world worked.

I still could not wash my clothes. I had never tried that. At first, Blue tried to wash her own clothes until I stopped her and asked the maids to do so. I was not sure if I needed to learn that. If I needed, my wife could teach me.

I made lemon juice for both of us and brought it to her in the bath. I also got in the bath after undressing.

She looked flushed and kept sighing repeatedly. She even slapped her forehead a few times. I did not have to ask to know what was going on.

"Why didn't you stop me?" she asked.

"How could I do that? It's not possible to stop someone from talking even before you started eating," I said. "Was I supposed to gag you? I couldn't even bring you back since you hadn't eaten anything."

"Ugh, so embarrassing! I want to dig my grave and lie down," she said.

"Not happening."

"Just kidding. I am not dying… But really, why did I even think of drinking? I thought if I drank half a glass, I would not get drunk. I used to drink half a glass back in our palace, but I did not get drunk like that. My god… I am so embarrassed…"