"Don't tell me I'm going to miss the wedding?" Felix lamented. "Maybe I should join you on the boat." His master, who was also his childhood friend, was finally getting married. How could he not attend? He didn't want to miss a chance. But he had yet to finish his work.
"What? Weren't you planning to join us?" Sebastian asks him.
Felix replied, "Didn't I say before that I had to go back to Synetia. My job isn't done yet. I only came here to get you out of your misery." He looked at Arthur and continued, "I'm more curious about the marriage. Were you trying to get married secretly?"
Arthur shamelessly answered, "Yes, that was my plan until you all got to know about it."
"That's not very nice," Felix complained. "We deserve to celebrate in your marriage ceremony. This is our birthright."
Arthur moved his horse forward and said, "Birthright? How come? This is between her and me. It has nothing to do with you."
Felix told him, "If you say that, Miss Veronica will surely run away from you one day. As far as I know about women, they really care about their marriage. Even if it's not grand, they want it to be memorable. If their husbands cannot provide at least that much, how can they love their husbands?"
Arthur looked at him and inquired, "You think so? You have underestimated her. Nica is not like that. She cares more about the situation around us. She feels guilty and she thinks that because of her we are in this dangerous situation. That's why she won't ask or wish for anything grand."
Sebastian agreed, "It is true that we are in this situation thanks to her. If Master wasn't involved with her, you would… not be here right now." He was going to say something else but changed the sentence due to his master's hard glare.
Felix refuted, "Whether she asks for it or not, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, when she will tell her grandchildren the story of her marriage, she will complain how tasteless you were. She will complain that you didn't have a heart, or you didn't understand a woman's heart."
Arthur questioned him, "Do you think I'm that much of a loser that I will give my future wife a mediocre wedding?"
"Will it be a grand wedding then?" Felix didn't hesitate to ask.
"It will be a memorable day," that was the last thing Arthur uttered about the wedding.
After that Sebastian parted. He went ahead to hire a barge for them. Just as planned, they met Sebastian in two days on the riverbank. The local fishers weren't used to seeing travelers. Their eyes didn't hide their curiosity.
As Felix promised, he already bought a barge and hired a boatman for them. "I wish you a pleasant journey," saying that Felix bid them farewell.
"Thank you for helping us, Sir Felix. Please stay safe." Veronica waved her hand at him. He did the same.
Felix was going back alone when he met a man wearing black clothes. He had a black stallion with him. His head was covered with a hood. He looked like a strider. He was nothing like a normal traveler. He was wearing a ring made of silver. There was something carved in the ring.
Felix couldn't recognize the character. He gave him one last glance before walking away.
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It was Veronica's first time traveling in a boat. So was Catherine's. They were all excited. They pranced here and there and looked around the barge.
"Did you see that, Arthur?" Veronica was laughing as she pointed at the river. She could see fishes jumping in the water. "I've never seen something like this," she confessed. "The smell of the water is refreshing." She took a seat and reached her hand to the river. Her fingers touched the cold water. She enjoyed the touch of the river water until someone splashed some water at her.
"Ahh!" Veronica yelped in surprise. She looked at the culprit and found Catherine was grinning at her mischievously. Her hand was wet.
Veronica realized who did this. "You asked for it," saying that she started splashing water at her friend. Both of them got wet after playing with water.
Like an adult, they realized they should stop. Veronica went to a private room to change her clothes. She didn't want to catch a cold.
She took off her blouse and then skirt. She was about to take off her undergarments when someone embraced her body. she was startled and turned around, only to see Arthur. She sighed in relief. "You scared me." She pushed him away. She was aware that she was naked in front of him. That made her embarrassed.
"That was my intention. I wanted to scare you." Arthur stepped back and continued, "I saw you having a good time with your friend. You completely forgot about me."
"I did not," Veronica denied his claim. "I was having fun with my friend. There is nothing wrong with having fun with her when you are around, is it?"
"What do you think?" Arthur directly asked her. "We will soon get married. Don't you feel anything for your soon-to-be husband? How heartless can you be?" He placed his hand on his chest, pretending to be hurt.
"I didn't know you would be upset if I played with my friend. Why would you be upset? It's not that I don't think of you or spend time with you." While talking, she covered her bosom with the skirt she was holding. Her face was flushed. She could hardly look at him.
Her shyness always triggered him. Arthur's eyes were glued to her body that was barely covered with her skirt. The more she acted conservative, the more it made him want to peel off her clothes one by one and see her reaction. Teasing her was his favorite leisure activity - he realized that now.
He grabbed her slender wrist and yanked her toward him. When her body clashed against his firm chest, he embraced her and whispered in her ear, "I'm not upset. I'm jealous. I only want you to look at me, talk to me, smile at me, and play with me. When you do it with someone else, I feel like eating you up. Do you want to know what I want to do?"