Chapter 235 234: Royal Tension [Pt1]

"Welcome, dear guests. The royal palace is happy to receive you today."

The butler who came out to greet their party was professional and he carried himself gracefully. Not a flaw could be found in his greeting, nor the manner he spoke in. This truly was the butler of the royal palace, professional in every way.

The butler leads the four guests inside, not even batting an eye on Freshia's presence within the group.

Freshia pouted at being ignored this openly but there was nothing else she could do. She had never clicked with the staff of her lover's palace in the past so it was a given they all hated her.

"Dear guests, kindly wait here for the royal consort to arrive. You are free to indulge in any delights you can see in front of you."

The butler bowed and left the party in the garden. Silence ensured all around the clearing as no one spoke for a solid minute.

It was an awkward party they had there and Yohan was the only one who looked to be at home here. He was also the only one who did not look up awkwardly at Zadkiel's entry.

"My dear friend, it is nice to see you again. I hope you do not find fault in my current company that I brought with me. There was an issue on my side so things ended up like this."

Zadkiel looked at everyone in front of him. Two out of the three females in front of him had been hostile to him in the past. But despite that, Zadkiel decided to throw Yohan a bone.

"Of course, it is not a problem who you bring with you. The palace doors will be open for my friend for as long as I am alive and able to keep them open."

Zadkiel's tone was half-mocking, half-serious. His gaze was strong and made everyone flinch as soon as they looked at him with bad intentions. Huye looked especially uncomfortable as she watched Zadkiel.

The royal consort let the topic rest once he had made everyone uncomfortable. He picked up the teapot and started to pour the tea for everyone.

Zadkiel's every moment was full of grace and he also exercised enough caution to not break form. He was a trained soldier so it was easy for him to follow specific instructions.

People who wanted to find faults with him had no choice but to back down once they looked at him. There was nothing to criticize about Zadkiel and his craft.

"This is a beautiful palace. Do you maintain it yourself?"

Surprisingly enough, the first person to try and break the ice was Freshia. She looked around with a critical eye, trying to find any flaw with Zadkiel but she was unable to.

Anywhere Freshia looked, she saw her queen's handwork. It was clear that her queen had made arrangements to ensure that Zadkiel would not be belittled in a foreign company no matter what happened.

But the more Freshia saw the more she was annoyed by it. The queen hardly did such nice things for her when they had been lovers. Freshia was mostly given a budget she had to manage herself.

"Huh? This place? The servants take care of it for the most part. I do not have the times or the means to maintain it. I am also not of this world so I won't have any idea how to maintain a demon's garden."

Zadkiel openly admitted to not being a demon, much to the three woman's shock. What was more? Zadkiel did not even look like he felt guilty or regretful for what he has said.

His words sounded like he was stating a fact. His calm expression threw the three females off. It did have Yohan break out into laughter as soon as he heard Zadkiel's tone.

"Man, you crack me up. If only you were this sensible the first time we met, then we fight not to be in our current position."

Yohan's words were a jab and a scolding all mixed in one. He was the only one feeling comfortable joking around with Zadkiel.

"I don't think anything would have changed had I been myself back then. I was under orders and things would still have ended up the same way. And just for the record, I do not feel sorry or guilty for what I did. I will not apologize to you for what happened."

For the first time, everyone watched sparks fly between Yohan and someone. And that someone happened to be Zadkiel, the queen's consort. It was a tense moment where everyone held their breaths.

Surprisingly, it was Zadkiel who backed down first. He looked a little distracted for the time being as he looked toward the right. Then he turned to Yohan and no one noticed the small conversation that took place between them through their eyes.

"If you want to use the washroom, use the one in the left wing. The one in the right wing is being repaired right now."

Zadkiel's words were sudden and irrelevant to their current topic. No one but the intended person understood what he was saying.

"I see. Thank you for telling me this because I needed to go right now. My lady, in case I am late and you need to return, do send me a signal. I will meet you outside the palace as soon as I can."

Yohan promised this before he quickly walked away as Zadkiel had asked him to do. It would not be good if Yohan met the queen right now. He was not ready to face her and her massive power in the realm.

The law of this realm was heavily in the queen's favor.

As soon as Keith walked away, the awkward air came running back to fill the place. In the end, Freshia could not take it anymore. She had to ask Zadkiel the question that was wreaking havoc on her mind for some time now.

"Hey kid, why you? Why did the queen choose you over me? Was I not enough? Did I lack anything? Why was it you who was given the queen's favor in the end?"

Freshia's anger shined through her eyes. Her strong gaze met Zadkiel's to seek answers. He was the only one who could tell her what she did wrong.

Zadkiel sighed as he noticed Freshia's temper rise. The queen had warned him about this but Zadkiel had not paid her any special attention back then. Who knew that Freshia would run away from home because of him?

"My lady, I think you have the wrong idea about the relationship between myself and my queen. We are not-"

"But you are the royal consort. My queen promised to marry you when she did not even indicate anything like that to me despite being together with me for years. What did I lack for my queen not to see me? Tell this to me right now."

Freshia demanded as she clutched Zadkiel's collar and shook him. Her anger was reaching it's boiling point after all she had gone through.

She did feel sorry for Yohan since he would be responsible for Freshia's ugly temper as her Patron. But Freshia couldn't control herself any longer.

"My, that temper of yours certainly never curbs, huh Freshia? But that fire-cracker personality of yours was one of the reasons I adored you."

Everyone fell silent once they heard the queen speak. No one dared to make any noise as the queen, well, her chosen vessel for the day made her way toward the garden. Those blank eyes looked at everything, taking note of everything that was happening.

Freshia was frozen in place, her heart beating wildly as soon as she noticed her queen's presence in front of her. She did not mean to freeze, but she just did. It was always like this with Freshia and the queen.

"Your royal highness, you should not be here right now. I am sure you had a lot of paperwork-"

"But my consort has guests over for the first time since he was appointed. Of course, I need to be here. Especially more so when I look at the list of the current company you have. What if something ends up happening to you?"

The queen sounded serious and Freshia's face went red. She had been the queen's lover long enough to know that the 'threat' the queen was talking about was her.

She had no idea when the queen began to see her as an eyesore but it must not have been a recent phenomenon.

"Stop with your jokes. I know you missed your former lover and want to spend some time with her, so don't make me your excuse."

Zadkiel sounded tried but no one bought his words. They gave Zadkiel pity-filled looks and looked at Freshia with an angry expressions for daring to question their queen's decision.

Freshia was red in the face, not liking being humiliated like this. And that was also when she decided that she had enough of this.

"Rui, we are going back right now. I don't think I can take this humiliation anymore."

Freshia complained as she stood up. She was about to head out when the queen raised her hand and said a single thing.

"Sit back down."