"I like your little brother, he is like all your other brothers and sisters. I think I only did not met the fifth princess and third prince. They are twins, right? "
Kaida and Huli were in the carriage and were on their way to the Northwest tribe. They were supposed to stay the night in the second village because Huli thought that Kaida would find it tiring to continue traveling, but she insisted that they stick to the usual schedule.
"Yes, they are twins, they are under my grandmother's care. They are very cute when they are in a good mood "
After Kaida said that, there was an awkward silence in the carriage and it was completely silent. Neither of them said anything even though they both wanted to open their mouths. But no sound came out.
Huli was busy viewing documents again. Kaida looked through the window at the landscape. It looked beautiful.
At that moment she missed Long, because she would like to fly on his back over the landscape.
Huli looked up from the documents and looked at Kaida, who looked a bit gloomy. He wondered if that was because they had not yet spoken about what had happened. He put the tuft of hair over her face, behind her ears. And asked
"What's wrong my queen?"
Kaida looked at him and smiled
"Nothing my king, I just miss Long"
Huli looked at her and suddenly thought that he indeed had not seen Long for a while. He didn't know where she was either. So he asked Kaida
"Where is Long my queen? It is not uncommon to not see her for a few weeks, but she has been gone for a few months now "
Kaida closed the carriage curtain and turned toward Huli.
"Long is with Teru. I sent her to chase him. And from what I received from Long, they can get along well together "
Huli nodded and then another silence fell. Huli was the first to interrupt the silence.
"My queen I would lie if I said that I know what I exactly did wrong, I am a person of little words and I have never been a warm person since my youth"
Kaida looked with wide eyes at Huli, who visibly didn't know what attitude he needed to take on and rubbed his hand over the back of his head. She grabbed his hand and smiled reassuringly
"My king not only you have been wrong, my mother always said that in a good marriage communication is the key. Our communication left a lot to be desired. In addition, I was very annoyed by your attitude towards your mother's behavior "
Huli grabbed her hand more firmly and looked at her with a gloomy look
"It was not that I agreed with her, my queen. I chose to address her privately about her behavior, just like how I addressed you privately in our chamber. So that none of you felt that I was partial. "
Kaida frowned
"My king precisely because of that you gave her the opportunity to get so far. You should have shown her that we were a front and aligned. Because of your attitude, she had absolutely no respect for our marriage. I had to ask your father for help myself. "
Huli looked at her in surprise, wondering what she meant when she said she had to asked his father for help. It had long been his intention to have his father stand by in case his mother would struggle to leave.
"My Queen I have always had a good relationship with my mother, she was the only one where I could be a child and myself. I was not the genius of the foxes tribe, I was not the suitable candidate to succeed the throne, I was just Huli, her son. That is why it was difficult for me to be straightforward with her and not to say things direct to her. It was too late when I realized how my mother stood between us. That is why I had decided to give her another chance during the council meeting in which the names of our children were entered in the royal birth register of the fox tribe. I was going to make it clear to her what the line was and her place if she would accept our children. Unfortunately she did not accept all our children and luckily I had already sent my father a message to be on standby. "
Kaida looked perplexed at Huli, the first reason was because she had never heard Huli talk so much and see so many emotions in him, and the second reason was because he said he had sent a message to Okuri to be on standby.
She had been under the assumption that Okuri had come because she had asked him for help.
Huli looked nervously at Kaida who had a complicated look on her face and when she said nothing he asked cautiously
"May I ask my queen what kind of help you asked my father?"
Kaida was taken out of her mind and looked up and said casually
"Help to get your mother to leave the palace"
Huli grinned relieved and kissed the back of Kaida her hand.
"My King, I can live with the fact that your mother would not accept me, but my children are a different story. In addition, it was painful for me to hear how you behaved towards our children. "
Now it was Huli's turn to look perplexed at Kaida. How did it hurt her? Yes he was distance to keep up appearances for his mother, so that he was certain that his mother's behavior was not influenced by his actions and that she would accept the children herself.
But he never left them alone without their personal maids and it was mostly he who took care of them, mainly Hiroki's care.
"I don't understand my queen, do you mean my outburst during your delivery? Yes my reactions were fierce, but I was afraid of losing you "
Kaida ran her hand down Huli's cheek and smiled
"Why would such a powerful man like the king of the foxes tribe be afraid of losing only one woman. The only certain thing we have in this life is that we will go to the hereafter"
Huli put his hand on her hand and kissed the palm of her hand.
"Losing you is not just losing a woman, you are my queen of the fox tribe, the mother of my children and the only woman who makes me feel a warmth that I have never felt before."
Kaida blushed and looked lovingly at Huli.
"I was not concerned with your outburst, but with the stories I heard, I interpreted your behavior and took it as a sign that you were not looking after the children. It has been my fault to think so and not to ask you for clarification, my king. "
Kaida lowered her eyes and looked shyly at her legs.
"I'm normally not like that, but I don't know what it is that sometimes makes me so insecure. I don't know this feeling "
Huli grabbed her chin so that Kaida looked at him
"It was never my intention to make you insecure. I would take this into account and tell you as much as possible the motives behind my behavior or actions "
Kaida smiled and nodded. She opened her mouth and closed her mouth again. She doubted whether she should ask the question she wanted to ask. But somewhere she wanted to know what place she had in his heart.
"My queen, I haven't said the most important thing yet"
Kaida got jitters in her stomach because of the way he looked and smiled at her
"My queen the first time you had my attention was during our conversation in the betrothal chamber. The first time I was worried about you was during your first task as the Queen of the Fox Tribe. The first time my thoughts were just full of you was the moment I saw your first match at the tournament. the first time you had my heart beating faster was during your fight with Nana. The first time I was speechless about your beauty was at the dragon ceremony."
Kaida looked at Huli with her hand in front of her mouth with tears in her eyes. She was so moved by his words. And they were words she didn't think she would hear from him, but he wasn't finshed yet.
"The first time I really missed you was during your trip as an envoy of the fox tribe. The first time I knew for sure that I loved you was when I saw you in the garden in the wolves tribe. The first time you made me the happiest man of all the tribe was when you told me the news that you were pregnant. The first time I knew that my heart belonged to you was during your delivery. The days that you were unconscious felt like my heart had been pulled out of my chest and even though it got better when you were awake. But because of the distance you had taken my heart continued to hurt. "
Huli wiped tears from Kaida's cheeks and gently kissed her.
"My king my heart belongs to you just as yours belongs to me."
Huli smiled and hugged Kaida. He already knew what Kaida felt for him because during the early stages of her pregnancy she regularly visited him when he was working and it had slipped out of her mouth more often that she loved being in his presence.
In her later stage of her pregnancy, she regularly said how much she loved him, especially when he came with lemons. He was fond of her directness and she usually said what she thought.
"My queen, I always had in mind that if things between us were good again, I would suggest that we could go back to our old quarters, but now I am a bit found of the south wing of the palace"
Kaida laughed broadly and nodded
"Yes, my king, I am too fond of it to!"
Huli was happy to see Kaida smile so cheerfully. He kissed her several times on her cheek and hugged her tightly.
Kaida laughed and put her hand to his mouth
"Wait my king, I want to talk to you more"
Huli stopped giving Kisses and looked at her lovingly
"Your wish is my command, my queen"
While they were on the road to the Northwest tribe Huli and Kaida were talking about anything and everything and it was visible that their bond had become stronger