The Cursed Prince

"Ahh.. you are right. The king's town is actually quite nice. They have a big market, many restaurants, and shops. I think you will like it. I will take you there tomorrow."

Mars didn't go there often. He mostly just passed through the city to go to the royal palace. However, if Emmelyn wanted to roam the market and the city from end to end, he would gladly accompany her.

"Then, we can go there tomorrow after the funeral," said Emmelyn. She was glad he offered this. It would be good to distract her from her brother's passing.

"Okay, we will do that."

"Can we go without bringing your many guards? Or at least just bring one or two and ask them to watch over from a distance?" Emmelyn asked him when she remembered about the twenty soldiers who followed them earlier when they went to the woods. "I would like to do it low key. If they follow us everywhere, people would immediately know who you are and it might create a commotion."

"Hmm.. sure. They will keep their distance," Mars replied. "Don't worry about them."

"Ah, okay," Emmelyn smiled. "Now, I am relieved."

They enjoyed sitting by the window for another hour while sipping tea and talked about their life together in the future.

***

KIllian's funeral was solemn. Even though it was only attended by Mars, Emmelyn, the butler, and the gravediggers, it still felt perfect.

Killian was laid to rest in such a beautiful place, he must be happy, Emmelyn thought. Later in winter, when Wintermere flowers grew and bloomed again, she would bring some to his grave.

After crying for Killian for days, Emmelyn finally couldn't shed any more tears and she could only watch the grave being filled up with soil by the gravediggers with a heavy heart.

"Are you okay?" Mars asked Emmelyn after they arrived back in the castle. "If you want to stay home and rest for the day, we can postpone the sightseeing in town for later or tomorrow."

Emmelyn shook her head. "No.. I want to go. It would be good for me to distract my mind from what happened recently."

"Okay. We'll do as you wish."

They had lunch and a little rest before they changed into a slightly modest outfit and got ready to visit the town. Emmelyn wore a leather coat over her dress and brought a pouch with money with her. 

She was thinking of buying some stuff in the market. Mars wore a black robe and kept his sword at home, only carried a knife with him, so as not to attract attention.

He also tied his long hair and made an effort to look unassumingly, even though with his good looks that were rare for a man he would still inevitably attract people's attention.

Usually, when he went to town for a drink with Gewen and Edgar, he didn't care about such a thing. But it looked like Emmelyn enjoyed going out like this, so he would do things the way she wanted it.

Around 2 pm, they were already strolling around the market, holding hands. Emmelyn was captivated by the size of the central market. Draec was truly a big empire. It was evident from the very developed capital. 

The king's town was big, filled with fancy buildings and many businesses. The central market was truly the biggest one that Emmelyn had ever seen. There were so many shops and places that caught her interest.

She bought many buttons and handicraft materials, together with several boxes of cakes and sweets. Seeing his wife look happy with her purchase, Mars offered her to visit more shops.

The items that Emmelyn had bought were given to his 'assistant', one of the guards who were tailing them to keep them safe from afar. So, he and Emmelyn didn't need to carry anything.

"Gosh... I think I have bought so many things..." Emmelyn finally stopped when the gold coins in her purse were almost gone. "I am so impulsive."

"Ahaha.. it's okay. If shopping can make you feel happy and relieve your stress, we should do it more often," Mars said with a chuckle.

"I do feel better today," she smiled. "I think this works as a therapy. You are right... next time I will do it again when I feel sad."

"Well... you have the keys to my treasure chest," Mars reminded her. "You can take how much ever you want and spend the gold the way you see fit. I just want you to be happy."

"I know..." Emmelyn kissed him on the cheek and whispered. "I am happy."

***

Mars kept his promise to stay by Emmelyn's side for the whole week. They spent so much time in bed, relaxing, talking, making love, and enjoying each other's presence.

He worked hard to make her forget about the bad things that happened in the past week, and the fact that Mars would soon leave to find the witch.

They spent the last day of his holiday going for a walk in the woods and catch a rabbit for Emmelyn. As he had promised her, Mars trapped the rabbit himself, and then cleaned it and cook it for lunch, while Emmelyn sat and watched, enjoying being pampered. 

That was such a good closing to their short one-week break. And finally... it was time for Mars to go back to the royal palace and met Elmer.

"Do you want to go with me to the palace today?" Mars asked Emmelyn after they had finished breakfast. "I was thinking about it yesterday. I think it will be good to meet my mother and formally introduce you to her as my wife."

"Ah.. I'd like that," said Emmelyn.

She furrowed her brows when she suddenly realized he said he would introduce her to his mother, but he didn't say anything about his father.

Didn't King Jared want to meet her?

'Well.. if he didn't want to see me, I will be glad,' Emmelyn thought to herself. 

Even though she had forgiven the Strongmoor family, but she still couldn't force herself to like the king. 

It's true that they were now family, but it didn't mean she had to like all her family members.