Chapter 191

He was deep inside her, his lips pressed against hers, his tongue in her mouth, entangling hers. He nibbled and sucked her tongue.

“Hmm… Haa…”

Whenever he released her mouth for a second, Eugene would moan. She got used to the heavy presence between her legs, which suddenly felt like it belonged there to begin with, the length inside of her, rubbing her inner walls.

“Ah!”

After leaving only the thickest portion inside, he pushed back in. He covered her quivering body with his own, grabbed her hands and held them against the headboard of the bed, and began to thrust.

He penetrated deeply and her trembling thighs wrapped themselves around his waist. Whenever he pulled out, her small entrance followed wanting for more.

Her instinctive reactions aroused him. Kasser pounded harder and the sound of flesh slapping against each other reverberated in the quiet chamber.

“Hnmm… Ahhhh…”

Even the stiffness on the inside gave her pleasure and she felt goosebumps all over her body. Through time, her body had become more sensitive to his touch.

She seemed increasingly addicted to the feel of him moving inside her. However, she admits that she was a human weak susceptible to pain and pleasure, hence the occasional groans.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the sweat running down the man’s corded chest.

They say women are less susceptible to visual stimulation than men, but that didn’t seem like her case. A heat rose in her, his fold clamped tighter around his length as he pounded.

Kasser groaned and kissed her again. As reaction, he freed her arms and wrapped them around his thick neck.

♚

“Did you decide who will accompany me?”

The three aides looked at one another. No one answered. A few days earlier, Eugene had asked who would go with her. She planned to have just one aide accompany her to the desert with the king.

All three were willing to go with her, so she had asked them to discuss amongst themselves and decide.

“You still haven’t decided yet? We leave tomorrow.”

“….”

Eugene had said that she couldn’t help them, the decision was theirs to make.

“Then, let us decide by drawing a lot.”

The aides immediately objected. “Your Majesty. It’s too important a matter to decide by lottery.”

“I think it’s unfair to decide this with random luck.”

“Then who will yield?”

“….”

Eugene said after thinking for a moment.

“I suggest a method where both your choice and luck will work.”

Eugene unfolded a paper and drew three long vertical lines. Ladders were drawn by instructing the three aides to cross the vertical lines with horizontal lines.

With only the top and bottom visible, the middle was covered with paper, the three people were asked to choose one of the top lines. Eugene then encircled one line at the bottom, of which will signify the winner. After explaining the method to the three people, they proceeded with the ladder lottery.

The three women traced their paths in the ladders in deep thought, dubious of this method of lottery they witnessed for the first time.

In the end, Sandy won and her countenance displayed how euphoric she felt inside, while outwardly remaining composed as always while the other two tried to hide their disappointment. It would be such a great honour to be part of the seasonal royal ritual to the desert.

“Are there any disagreements with the results?”

The expressions of the two people who failed were glum, but they did not protest. Eugene fought to control her mirth and tried to keep a straight face.

“Since the ritual is an event that repeats every time the dry season begins, are there not many opportunities for you two as well?” Eugene asked, genuinely wondering why her aides were so keen on attending the ritual.

“Not anyone can volunteer. His Majesty and the former king always chose warriors as companies.” Regina answered.

“But queens are supposed to attend too, right?” Eugene asked, pertaining to herself and the mother of Kasser, previous queen of Hashi Kingdom.

“Yes, that is what is expected, but for the most part, His Majesty attended alone.”

‘Ah… that’s right. He said Jin only attended the first one.’

And it had been a long time since the previous queen left the kingdom and lived in the Holy City.

The queen’s seat had been vacant for a long time, so she was told that Marianne was actually in charge of the living conditions of the palace for a long time.

“When His Majesty travels alone, does he strictly limit the qualifications of those who go with him?”

“He does not. However, in reality, few people can endure the heat and difficulty the expedition to the desert would offer. Now that the heat is much scorcher and the storms wilder, the journey would take five days, longer than the usual three days. “

“ I see.”

She understood that it was a strong march that took place through the desert on horseback all day. The average person could not keep up with the incredible stamina of the king and the warriors.

“Isn’t the journey to and fro the desert still difficult? Why do you want to go with us?” Eugene queried with curiosity.

“I would like to see the sacred place where the ritual is held.”

“Just once, I wanted to go and see.”

The aides replied enthusiastically.

Eugene had been told that the sacred lands were the place where the King had laid the foundation of the country, but she imagined it as a nondescript place where only ruins remained. It was not until now that she knew that it held special importance for the people of this country.

“Don’t be sorry for the two who can’t go with us this time. There will be another chance in the next dry season.”

The assistants’ facial expressions changed as they replied. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

After the aides left, Eugene belatedly realized what their strange expressions implied.

‘Ah… Do they think they have no chance next time? Since in the next dry season, it’s not sure whether or not I will go with His Majesty?’

In short, the aide considered Eugene’s participation in this ritual journey was mere whim of hers. This was an event attended by both the king and his wife, but people got used to her absence and negligence of her responsibilities, which was disappointing. Eugene could only sigh and console her heart.

‘Just watch. The next one, and the one after that. I will attend without fail. ’

It wouldn’t do to just give them her word. She would have to uphold their belief in her.

‘Next, and the next…’

Eugene realized that she was drawing a vague yet concrete future. When she had arrived here, she was eager to just endure the day. And now, she’s here, not only surviving but also getting rather fond of the world she was thrown to.

She shook her head in amazement. A strange feeling of liberation overtook her and lightened her burden of worries. It felt like sinking deep in a pool of water and coming out, refreshed and rejuvenated.

‘The activity period is over.’

Eugene took a deep breath and smiled. She was ready to begin her life afresh.

***

Kasser was deep in thought. ‘The high priest…’

There were plenty of reports on the desk.

He looked again at the survey on the Mara Church, which he had seen a while ago. In particular, the contents of the organizational structure of the church were excerpted and examined separately.

Mara’s force spread evenly across six kingdoms. They were more active in the Hashi kingdom, which was relatively less oppressed, but not all cults were flocking to the kingdom.

Rarely did this kind of people leave their homeland. However, regardless of the location, this cult members, worshippers of the devil, need to be suppressed. Kasser felt more prejudice against them knowing that they had included his wife in their dirty games.

He wasn’t sure of the exact numbers, but he figured they were five to ten priests in this kingdom.

He recalled the conversation he had had with Eugene.

“Rodrigo told me that he would announce the status of a Saint through a ceremony. I don’t know the purpose of the ceremony nor his intent behind it. I couldn’t ask because he didn’t offer any details. But to anoint me as one, it’s probably…”

“This implies that the news hasn’t been published yet. “

“Yes. Therefore, I don’t think many people know that I was called Saintess by him. “

Kasser had come to a similar conclusion with Eugene.

It would be easier to cover up the whole thing if it could be solved only by catching hold of Rodrigo and keeping his mouth shut.

But what she said next, worried him

“Rodrigo says he wants the High Priest to meet me. I can’t remember who the High Priest is or whether I’ve met him before. “

“The high priest..?”

Kasser had no memory of ever receiving a report that said there was an upper class reigning over the priests. He went through all the reports again, but there was none.

This matter had been a sore to him recently. He thought that he was aware of all the socialites and kept an eye on them to be able to control them at any time, but something was amiss.

Even if he missed thousands of the underlings, he had to get the leader under him.

‘I need to do some research.’

Kasser wrote a brief order.

―Research the ranks within the cult again. Find out whether they have a rank called “high priest” or “saint” .

He called one of his men and handed him a sealed letter. “Give this to the chancellor.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Kasser roughly pushed aside the reports on the Mara denomination and opened the documents awaiting the king’s approval. As he thoroughly examined them, his hand paused mid-air as he turned the page. He frowned and then his brow cleared.

‘It’s over.’

***

At the end of the active period, he suddenly felt uncomfortable and looked down at his chest. His Praz was eerily quiet. During the active period, his Praz was violent in his body. It was like a state of excitement in humans. The awakened Praz offered an advantage of violent powerful energy, that was useful when hunting for Lark.

The only disadvantage was that Kasser had to keep himself awake and his nerves in control all day long to suppress his inner energy.

However, it has never been this easy to draw out powers while controlling Praz, like this activity period. And when he entered into the dry season right after the active period, the energy of Praz suddenly diminished, and he felt anxious.

This time, however, he couldn’t feel the difference.

‘Eugene.’

He raised his head.

‘Would she be alright?’

The change in season- active to dry and vice versa – have an effect on Anikas, as well as the Kings. On the first night of the activity period, he remembered Eugene writhing in pain.

He put down the papers he was reading and stood up.