(2) Living as the Villainess Queen

Chapter 196

Kasser glanced through the cage briefly. The little one was rotating the wheel playfully.

So, Abu is the Hwansu that the servant was talking about, thought Kasser.

“Don’t mind him. He will be back before sunrise”.

Being in the desert, Abu often disappeared at night.

Whenever Kasser came to the desert for a ritual or for inspection, it was only the warriors who accompanied him. Other than those companions of the King, nobody would know of the situation.

The attendant bowed his head in apology and the King looked displeased.

“I apologize for making a fuss over nothing, Your Majesty”.

The servant was in charge of managing the vehicles. He realized his frivolous mistake in hurrying away without paying attention to his surroundings.

The King spoke, “I could not tell you in advance. You do not have to worry about the Hwansu’s whereabouts”.

“Yes, Your Majesty”.

The attendant excused himself. He again thought of Abu, who was probably exploring the landscape in excitement. It had been a long time since Abu had the luxury of a wide open landscape, so his enthusiasm was understandable. This ritual would take a long time to complete, so he had brought his work along. He dealt with them whenever the schedule allowed him, and yet the work never seemed to end. He knew he had been dedicating less time to work than usual, but this was to be expected during the active period when his attention was occupied day in and out. The King reassured himself that he had not spent any time in vain during the last active season.

Any time spent with her was never a waste.

Kasser forced himself to pay attention to the documents he had abandoned earlier. He put down all the ones he had already read, and picked up a new one to peruse. He was yet again distracted by someone at the door.

“Hm, what is it?”. Kasser frowned.

It was a report from Verus. The report had arrived breathtakingly early, right before the ritual procession left the city. Although the matter was not urgent, it had been included in the documents carried by the attendants because the report had been specifically sent by the chancellor.

“Is Pides back?” The King asked. Verus had believed that the King was aware of the matter, but Kasser had not heard back from Pides.

Knights never acted alone of their own will. Every word and action of theirs symbolized the will of Sang-je. On another occasion, he would have thought that Sang-je had eyes on his kingdom and intended to interfere. However, it was something else this time.

“Did he hear about the Lark tree?”

If Pides heard a rumor on his way to the kingdom and had gone out of his way to confirm it, it could not be considered a problem. It was indeed a miracle of the gods that this one Anika was caused under the jurisdiction of Sang-je.

“It is a good thing I mentioned it in the response”.

Kasser worried greatly about what to say in his reply to Sang-je. If he mentioned the lark tree, Sang-je would surely call upon Eugene. He wanted to pretend that he did not know, but it was only a matter of time before the rumor spread to the Holy City. Kasser considered it imprudent to cause a problem only to get caught in the middle of it.