Reiner walked unceremoniously into the dining room while his large hand at the small of my back kept me effectively from escaping. The maid was right, King and Queen were seated at the dining table, and it seemed like we had arrived right on time for dinner.
“Knight! Welcome back…” Queen said excitedly as she looked up from the dining table towards us and then her voice trailed off when her eyes fell on me.
“Natalia…wow…” Queen said as her eyes widened and she rapidly stood up from her seat and walked over to us.
“Hi…” I greeted her a little shyly.
It had been a while since I met up with her and I realized that I did miss her company. Queen smiled brightly at me, and I could tell that she probably felt the same way.
“Welcome back. It’s been too long…” Queen said as she pulled me into a hug.
Everything about her seemed the same including the perfume that she wore. Her hug reminded me of all the times she helped me out and comforted me especially when I was all alone when I first arrived on the island. I’ve always wondered where I would be right now without her help and then I realized that I probably didn’t really want to find out.
Queen let go of my body, but she continued to beam her supermodel smile at me. My body froze when I felt King’s eyes on me. The intensity of his stare made me shiver in fear and I wondered if he had already figured out our story.
“Did you marry her already?” King asked and his voice wasn’t warm and welcoming.
Queen’s eyes widened even further and then she nodded a little as her eyes swept over my body. That’s right, we were in our ceremonious clothes that Kuman provided. Our outfit probably told the story of what we had just been through better than our words. King’s cold blue eyes were on us as he waited for his answer.
“Yes. We started the ceremony yesterday and completed it with Kuman today,” Reiner said, and my hand instinctively went to the white bandage that was still wrapped around my arm.
“Oh my…congratulations to you both. This is just…amazing! I’m so happy for you both. Natalia…I’m so glad to have you back…” Queen said as she started smiling and crying at the same time.
She pulled me into another hug before she turned and pulled Reiner into her arms and hugged him tightly. Reiner made a slightly embarrassed face as he patted his mother a little with his large hand as if to comfort her. Queen’s outright display of her joy was a stark contrast to King’s reaction as he narrowed his eyes at us suspiciously. It wasn’t like I hadn’t expected this.
“You must be so tired from the ceremony and all that. Why don’t you come with me and we can fix you up? We can leave the boys to do the talking…” Queen suggested brightly.
“No one is allowed to leave until I get to the bottom of this. Sit down, all of you,” King’s cold voice cut through and killed all the joyous emotion at the scene.
Queen smiled at me comfortingly as she patted the back of my hand before obediently returning to her seat next to King. Reiner took my hand in his and guided me to my seat before he took his seat next to me. I felt a strong sense of deja vu as I sat opposite the dining table from Reiner’s parents. If my memories didn’t fail me, we had a poor attempt at a dinner like this when I first arrived on the island. The result of that dinner was quite memorable in a devastating way. It wasn’t hot but I was sweating like I had a really high fever.
“Explain yourself, Knight,” King commanded coldly.
“There’s nothing to explain. Natalia and I got married. We completed all steps as required in the wedding ceremonies so now Natalia is my wife,” Reiner replied just as emotionlessly.
I had to say that it was quite impressive how this pair of father and son could have such a seemingly detached conversation with each other when there was clearly so many emotions being suppressed that it felt suffocating to the audiences. Queen listened silently but occasionally she would flash me an encouraging smile.
“Is this the answer that you’ve chosen?” King asked, sounding completely unimpressed.
“Yes, it is,” Reiner replied without hesitation.
“The vows of marriage especially taken under the sacred ceremonies that I’ve chosen are not to be taken lightly. I will not forgive or let anyone go unpunished for abusing the ceremonies for personal gains and foul play…” King said as his tone and face darkened visibly.
Although I knew that King didn’t particularly favor me as a candidate for his daughter-in-law, I was still very surprised at how suspicious he seemed. His words, if I wasn’t wrong, implied that our marriage wasn’t sincere or genuine. Foul play…that’s just…
“Time will tell,” Reiner replied confidently.
“Indeed…” King agreed and for the first time he showed emotion by smirking at his son.
A chill ran through my body as silence settled all around us. I was so nervous that I didn’t dare to breathe, afraid that the sound of my breathing would break the silence.
“King, we always follow protocols…” Reiner stated as if he was trying to remind his father or something that I had no idea about.
Protocols? What does he mean by that?
“We do,” King replied matter-of-factly.
King turned his head and his blue gaze focused on my face. I wished that I could look away but that would just be completely rude, so I was forced to look back into his eyes. His blue eyes resembled the ones that Reiner has, and it was clear where Reiner inherited his beautiful eyes from.
“Welcome to the family, Natalia,” King said.
Although his tone wasn’t particularly warm or welcoming, his words alone and the way that he looked straight at me was more than enough. Even if it was just formalities at this point, I was overjoyed that King seemed to have acknowledged me a little.
–To be continued…