Chapter 75 - Tears

[WARNING: The following chapter may cause discomfort and contains potentially distressing material.]

Three days after the king's announcement, Azalea's wedding and coronation took place. 

In the Magi customs, a queen was regarded of the same rank as the Judges. The Judges and Generals themselves had no issue in the matter since their jurisdictions fell on an entirely different area as the queen.  However, since Azalea was a human, most of the nobles and other high-ranking Magi treated her as mere decoration. 

Due to this, what was supposed to be a joyous wedding and coronation, became a plain and dull celebration. Azalea herself did not enjoy the fake pleasantries she heard from the multitudes of Magi and the other candidates that came to congratulate her. Only the girls from her house, Tétartos, and the wise ladies from Défteros, gave genuine greetings to her. They even brought gifts, which the others didn't bother to do. 

For almost a whole day, Azalea sat there, beside the throne of the king, in a bejeweled throne created for her, dressed in the most elegant dress any woman could have. There were musicians playing beautiful melodies in the background. Each house also presented some entertainment for the king and queen. The food was great as usual and the decorations in the Grand Palace's banquet hall were superb like always. Everything looked perfect if one would assess by appearance. Except, Azalea never wanted any of this.

When the night fell, everyone started drinking and dancing. Azalea felt tired so she excused herself from the king and went back to the room she now shared with the king. The king followed her in his gaze as she left the banquet hall, accompanied by his servants. 

Not even a few minutes had passed, the king sighed and thought to himself, "Ah, this has become boring without her". Thus, he also bid his farewell to everyone and teleported back to his quarters. Upon arriving, he saw her standing on the balcony and staring at the night sky, with her clothes now changed into a pink nightgown. 

The king walked towards Azalea. He slid his arms on her waist and gave her a back hug. At the same time, he kissed her neck which made Azalea jolt in surprise. She immediately covered her neck - the part that the king kissed, and pushed him away from her.

"W-what do you think you're doing?" Azalea blurted out.

"It's our wedding day," the king shrugged, "we're supposed to spend the night together".

Azalea frowned. "I told you many times, I don't want this!"

"But you told me before, 'if it's a queen I want, then it's a queen I'll get', remember?" The king tilted his head and gave her a taunting look.

"That was when -" Azalea shook her head. "Ugh, nevermind". 

"Hm? Backing out so easily?"

"You just do what you want anyway. You don't listen. So there's no point in arguing with you," Azalea replied dejectedly. She shook her head again and walked back into the bedroom to get some sleep. The whole day was too exhausting for her. She didn't have any energy left to play with the king's silly games.

But the king wouldn't back down easily. He changed his clothes and followed her in bed. He pulled Azalea close to him and began kissing her passionately. 

Azalea was used to it so she didn't bother fighting back anymore. Starting from that night she saw him in the maze garden, the king enjoyed kissing her and hugging her every time he'd meet her - which was basically every day, every night, and even in public places, like the time when Azalea had to go to the Grand Palace to greet a couple of officials, he just won't stop. If Azalea tried to push him away, he would always blackmail her that he'd kill everyone from her house - something that she wouldn't dare take risks.

"Uhmm," the king moaned seductively, obviously teasing Azalea. "I really like your lips, so soft and warm. I never knew kissing was fun. I used to think it was disgusting".

Azalea was puzzled. "Huh? I thought you already kissed hundreds of girls," she answered, still frowning at him.

"Oh, what's this frown? Jealous?" he teased again and poked her eyebrows. "But thank you for thinking I'm a good kisser".

Azalea scoffed. "I-I didn't say you were -"

"- You didn't say but that's basically what you meant," the king interrupted.

Azalea rolled her eyes and sighed. "Can we go to sleep now?"

"No. I'm very much in the mood so you need to satisfy me". The king gave a malicious grin. His eyes pierced devilishly through Azalea.

"You've been kissing me nonstop that my lips are sore. What else do you want?"

"Oh? Didn't they teach you how to please men in bed? Don't tell me Genus is too kind to corrupt your innocent minds?"

"Danger" was what Azalea felt as soon as he spoke those words. She trembled at the thought. When they were captured, she knew everything would eventually lead to this. It was just a matter of being selected by the king, or some other Magi. But not this fast. She wasn't ready. Both her heart and mind were still unprepared for such things. She felt scared … too scared that it showed on her face even after all the bravery act she's been doing so far.

The king inched closer to her and kissed her again. Gently pecking, and nibbling on her lips. After a few minutes, his kisses started going down. He kissed her cheeks, her ears, then her neck, down to her collarbone then ... her chest. 

"S-stop! P-please …," Azalea quivered in fear and tears started falling from her eyes. 

But the king didn't stop. He untied the ribbon of her nightgown and slowly took them off of her, as he continuously kissed and licked her body. The maids made Azalea wear pink, sexy, laced undergarments since they knew it was their wedding night. The cotton fabric barely covered any of her private parts and the color was very light and thin that it was almost transparent. It blended well with her rosy complexion and this only made the king want her more.

"I must say … you're really beautiful and seductive right now. Never knew you were hiding such an alluring body under those cute and innocent dresses of yours," the king teased her further. 

"Please don't …," Azalea begged him but the king only chuckled at her.

The king got on top of Azalea and pinned her down. 

"Come on, stop crying. Your tears don't have any effect on me so you better save them on somebody else".

Then the king slid his hands on Azalea's legs, up to her thighs, and to her private - 

"STOP! PLEASE STOP!" Azalea shouted hysterically. She closed her thighs and wailed. Her silent cries a moment ago grew louder and her shaking body trembled further. 

Poor girl, she was too scared that she began to panic. Large droplets of tears continuously fell from her eyes. 

"Sniff … hu-hu-hu-hu … sniff …," Azalea weeped miserably. 

Seeing her trembling body and constant crying, the king loosened his hands on her wrists. Azalea immediately covered herself with her tiny arms and continued to cry.

The king stared blankly at her afterwards. Seeing her like that made him remember something from his childhood.

"Father?" an innocent, and kind-looking child wandered around the Grand Palace. It was the king when he was still four years old and had white hair which was the same to every child.

"Arghhh!" a sound of a man grunting in pain could be heard from inside the maze garden - the same maze garden where Azalea found the king.

"Hm? Father?" the little king immediately recognized the voice of his father. He ran towards the garden and flew over the hedges. Reaching the center of the maze, he saw his father leaning on the tree. He smiled brightly upon seeing him and quickly jumped down to go to him.

But his father was in no state to welcome him. A dark aura surrounded him and gave excruciating pain all over his body. 

The little king stopped when he noticed that his father was in pain.

"F-father … are you ok? What's happening to you?" he asked as tears started to form on the corners of his eyes. His little hands trembled when he tried to reach out to his father.

His father looked back at him. His hair was a very dark shade of black which was not a well-received hair color for the Magi. But his bright aquamarine eyes spelled nothing but kindness towards his son. Even with the pain he was suffering, he tried his best to smile towards him.

"I … huff … I'm fine, my son," he answered him as he mustered all his strength. 

Then, another memory came to the king's mind.

It was his four year old self again. But this time, it was raining hard and he stood amongst the crowd of thousands of Magi, staring blankly at a coffin. It was a burial ceremony. And the one being buried was none other than his father.

And on his golden coffin, a name was carved … 

"Sanguis Regis".

Then, another memory of his four years old self, crying alone in his bedroom. 

His tiny body trembled in fear …

And his eyes cried without ceasing …

He wailed and shouted …

But no one came for him … 

After unconsciously reminiscing a memory he never wanted to remember, the king reached out to Azalea. He gently patted her head and caressed her hair. Lightly, and very tenderly, he wrapped her around his arms.

Then, he softly whispered to her ears, with a voice that echoed nothing but warmth and kindness.

"I'm sorry ... You don't need to cry anymore ... I won't harm you".