Princess Liviana's POV
Few days before the festival, my brother and Prince Andrew invited my husband to watch the bullfight. The royal family organizes the bullfight every year few days before the festival. People from the neighboring kingdoms visit to watch the bullfight for fun and gambling. However, people from the royal family and aristocrats are prohibited to lay bets.
Conrad doesn't get along with my brother and Prince Andrew, so I wonder why he accepted their invitation. I wonder if he will enjoy that kind of event. I am bothered for an unknown reason. We barely talk about each other, so I don't know much about him. Maybe I will just follow them once the Queen was done lecturing me.
"I'm sure you're giving your husband a bad time being with you, doesn't he?" She asked as she raised one eyebrow at me. "Besides, you're good for nothing woman. What he will get from marrying you? He's just wasting his life on you. I pity him." She stated. She really speaks her mind whenever she was talking to me.
She asked about my life as a wife and how my life has been great since they decided to marry me off. She was telling me to be grateful for what they did to me. She was saying how their life changed for the better when I moved out, that I was a stroke of bad luck to the kingdom. To sum up, during the conversation that we had, she just asked for my presence to insult me.
Since only God knows, she was treating me like trash, and her insults are nothing compared to what she did to me before. However, I don't know why I'm tearing up right now. These tears are betraying me.
"Oh, hush. You're so boring to talk to. Get out." She finally said with an irritated reaction on her face. I wiped my tears before turning my back on her and walked out of the room.
I run going to my room and locked myself up. I dropped myself on the bed and cried to my heart's content. I covered my face with a pillow and yelled. I was in deep pain. Every word that she speaks pierced through directly to my heart. I understand why she was furious with me. I know where her wrath was coming from, but I still cannot bear all the things that she was doing to me.
~*~
Mate! Mate!
I open my eyes, and I felt something heavy wrapped around my body. I think I dozed off from crying. I wonder how many hours I slept. I woke up because of the same voice I heard from time to time.
"What are you doing?" I asked Conrad. I did not know that he was back. However, the big question was why my husband is hugging me from the back. I can feel his breathing from my nape, and I got a tingling sensation because of that. "Answer me." I commanded.
"Why were you crying?" He asked in a serious and soft voice. My body tensed up by his question, and I got nervous all of a sudden. I haven't told him yet that I was adopted, and the Queen was furious with me because of that. I don't know how he will react once he finds out. Is he going to accept me for being who I am, or is he going to throw me away as my parents did?
"Was I? I did not know." I said. My heart is pounding hard. I wish he doesn't ask more.
I heard him sighed. "The room was locked from the inside. I asked for a duplicate key to enter the room." He said as he sighed again. "You're not just going to lock the door if nothing happened." He stated. "This is the first time I saw you crying. You seemed in pain. The thought that you were crying alone wounded me. I want to know what made you cry. I want to know all about you. I want you to speak your mind to me." He declared.
I suddenly felt happy because of the words that he said. His words gave me comfort, and I felt his sincerity. I want to open up to him. I want him to know who I really am and the stories behind my tears. However, I know there is a right timing for all the things that I need to tell him. "I would love to do that." I said while holding back my tears. I don't know why I am tearing up again. "I was crying because I had an argument with the Queen. She just told me to treat you better and become a better wife." I stated. "She knew that I am just a nuisance to you." I added.
He sighed again. "You knew better, my Princess." He said as he planted a kiss on my head. "You should've defended yourself and tell her otherwise." He added.
I shook my head. "It's fine. She was right." I said.
"The next time you will feel like crying, run to me. I don't want you to cry alone. Let me carry your anguish as well." He said as he tightens his hug.
I chuckled. "I don't want to cry anymore." I said. "I'm not a cry baby ever since. I trained myself to understand everything that is happening to me. Simple and shallow things won't make me cry. So, once I cried, that means I am in deep pain. Crying means I am feeling an unbearable pain that I cannot take. Crying is the last thing I want to do when I am experiencing suffering in life." I explained.
"All this time I thought you're a strong woman, but little did I know you are stronger than I thought. You're such an amazing woman, my Princess." He said as I smiled widely. I never thought he will praise me in this kind of situation. This is one of the rare moments where my husband is being sweet.
"That's a huge compliment from you, my dear husband." I said as I chuckled. I was taken aback when he planted another kiss on my head.
"I know this is so sudden, but I want to say this thing in my head for a long time now." He said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I want to work this out." He answered. I wish I can see his face right now, but I cannot move an inch from his tight hug. I know from his voice that he was embarrassed. He paused for a while and sighed. "I want to make our marriage and our relationship to work out. Please give me a chance to prove my worth to you as your husband and as a partner in life." He proclaimed.
I smiled widely as my heart beats abnormally in happiness. I feel like my heart was going to explode, and I feel something weird in my stomach. "Will you say something?" I was back to my senses when I heard him spoke. I did not know that I was spacing out or rather caught in my fantasy.
"I would love to do that. Let's make this work." I said casually. However, deep inside me I feel so embarrassed as hell.
"Thank you, my Princess." He said as he gave me a peck of a kiss on the cheek. I was surprised by his sudden action and that made my ears and cheeks felt hot. What a random show of affection.