Crazy Duke and Fallen Queen

After soothing my Duke's pain for the cut lips, and some more wounds he pretends to have, it's time to take a break.

From travelling, not just making out.

When the carriage stops, I split from him and realise that I'm all dishevelled. My hair is unkempt, the dress wrinkled, and my shoulders full of light bites.

I can't get out like this. I sigh while combing my hair with the fingers before finding a brush in the pocket luggage.

After tying the hair in a simple bun, I smooth the skirts with my hands and put the sleeves back in place. Now, all the bites are covered.

The wrinkled clothes aren't worse than when I fall asleep on the couch, so they can pass.

The only issue remaining is my swollen lips. And the cut on Alexander's. What will people think if he gets out like this? That I torture him in our private time?

I turn his face to me and check the wound. Too bad that I don't see anything. Even his lips are just as perfect as always. Not the least reddened.

Life is so unfair! I look like a soldier that lost a battle while he's fresh and ready to continue his day.

«We're not required to get out of here,» he says when he notices my stare. «We can stay here some more.»

«Yeah,» I mutter. «So that people can imagine who knows what...»

I'll stay here, indeed. But he has to get out and save my reputation.

«You go first. I'll join you later. I'm sleepy now.»

His eyes analyse my expression with attention, looking for anything that would make me unhappy.

«My husband strained me out of all the energies,» I complain, pouting my numb lips. «And now, he doesn't want to leave me alone...»

He lifts his eyebrows.

«Is he such a cruel man?»

«He is,» I nod.

«Have you ever thought of running away from him?» he says while sitting next to me. «I could help you...»

He pecks my cheek and chuckles while getting off. At last, alone, I can rest for a few minutes. Being the Lady of Kyre is a lot of work.

After half an hour of rest, I get out to take a walk. I don't feel like I need exercise, but who knows when the next stop will happen.

A few steps from the carriage, Alexander grabs my hand out of nowhere and pulls me towards a camp chair.

«Don't overexert yourself, wife,» he declares while offering me a bowl full of berries.

«Have you picked these by yourself?» I sigh.

He still collects fruits for me whenever he sees some. I can't refuse after all the efforts he put into it.

«I don't remember this road,» I mumble while chewing the soft fruits. «I must have slept this part on the way from the capital.»

«Oh, we haven't passed here.»

Indeed, the mountains on the south weren't visible from where we passed. We could only see those in the north after travelling a few miles within Kyre.

It looks like the south isn't all plain.

«Why the change of path?»

Because of the weather?

«Because we're taking the panoramic road...»

«Is it longer?»

«A bit,» he chuckles. «We're going to split from the caravan here.»

«Does it mean it will be just you and me?»

«And a few guards. But not all the luggage. Just the necessities...»

«Why so?»

«Because it would be difficult to move with so many people, Thea.»

«How longer will the panoramic road be?» I chuckle, surprised.

«A couple of months.»

«What?»

Two months? Are we going to tour the continent?

«Where are we going?»

«For now, we're going south. We'll take a ship and travel on the sea from there...»

Oh, Queen Theodora's regret was not cruising with him. Is it because of that? Whatever, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

It will slow down my plans to get rid of Grahm's plots, but it's fine. I'll spend two months travelling with my husband!

Also, if people don't know where we are, they can't send assassins after us. In a weird and intricate way, it's safer than following the normal road.

«But what about the rest of the carriages?»

«They'll proceed along the road you planned, my dear. No one will notice that the Duke and Duchess are lost until they reach the capital. It will be late to track us back, then.»

«Have you planned our new road?»

«No, we'll go with the flow,» he laughs.

«Really?»

«I sent a knight in exploration. He'll come back by evening and report about the closest city. We'll think about the other stops later in front of a map.»

«You're dragging me in the wild without a plan?»

«I decided yesterday, Thea. Be patient with me.»

As the horses are turned towards the south, I collect my gowns and get on the carriage with a grin. I'm ready to see the world.

In the end, I decide to let Alexander organise everything. I just enjoy the adventure of visiting foreign places and seeing new sceneries.

The first stop is a small village with a single inn with barely enough rooms for us and the guards. However, the hosts are kind and bring us hot water to wash and dinner in the chamber.

The villagers drinking in the tavern have observed us with curiosity but without any ill intention in sight.

The food doesn't have salt, not even one gram, but it's delicious.

The vegetable's cream is perfectly warm when I sit at the table and start stirring. Alexander has just started washing, so he told me not to wait for him.

The aroma reaches my nose every time I move the spoon, and I try some just to check if the taste is as mouth watering as the scent. And it is.

I can't even discern the ingredients, so I just eat with gusto. This morning's breakfast has been so heavy that I couldn't eat anything for lunch except for the berries Alexander picked up for me.

Now I'm so hungry that I would eat a whole cow. But there isn't much meat on the table. Just a few tiny slices of smoked beef.

I'll leave it for Alexander since he likes meat more than I do.

The rest of the food seems good enough. Especially the cheese. It's yellow and dry, maybe smoked together with the meat.

It was cut in flakes, and the waitress suggested making it melt in the soup. Once the heat has done its work, it becomes stringy. Even the fried buns are filled with cheese. It's funny, trying to eat it.

Every time I take a bite, the melted cheese stretches. I can't move the bun far enough for the string to break. When it cools down a degree or two, it loses elasticity and becomes just regular cheese.

But the seconds before that moment are simply fantastic.

Why haven't I eaten something like this in the Palace? Not even in Kyre! It must be villager's food because no one ever proposed to make melted cheese.

«You seem to be playing with food rather than eating, Thea,» Alexander replies after sitting down next to me. He's wearing his nightclothes, and his hair is still wet.

I wash my fingers in the bowl with warm water and grab a towel from a chair.

  «I'm done, actually,» I mutter and start rubbing his hair. «I wouldn't have imagined that a village inn would offer delicious food like this...»

«Folks have their own recipes. They don't have access to many ingredients, so they have to use some creativity to make do with what's within their reach.»

«I like the texture of wholemeal bread. The taste is odd, and it's not as soft as white bread, but it's interesting.»

«I suspect it's also nutritious. These people work hard from dawn to sunset by eating bread and drinking beer. Have you ever tasted beer?»

«No, I haven't.»

The only time I drank alcohol before meeting Alexander was before the surrender. And I had a cup of wine with my friend in a tavern in the harbour.

It was enough to make me remember the events in a cloudy manner. I don't recall the details: just that I danced for a while and that the bodyguard convinced me to go back before making some trouble.

I managed to walk back to my Palace on my own feet, but I needed to follow the guard to remember the way to my chamber.

«I haven't,» I say. «But I'd like to try.»

There is a single mug, as everyone assumed only men drink beer. I haven't considered it, but now I'm curious. It was full of foam that has dispersed because of the time my husband took to bathe.

«It's bitter,» I complain after trying it, but I don't refrain from taking a second sip.

«It's the way it is. Do you like it?»

«I still prefer wine.» I shrug and return the mug to Alexander.

Too bad that wine was crossed from the list of food I'm allowed to have. I don't even know if the reason is my health or Alexander's mental stability.