The Cursed King

"What happens now?" Loriel asked in confusion.

Elise didn't say anything. She just buried her head in his chest and cried silently. Loriel was astonished and for a moment didn't know what to do.

How to coax a crying woman? He was not good at this type of thing. The woman he loved almost never cried.

Emmelyn only cried twice before him and it was then Loriel realized things had become too hard for her… so he offered to step in and help her.

But Emmelyn's situation back then was really, really dire, so Loriel understood why she broke down and cried. 

However, this woman he married cried so many times for trivial reasons. So, Loriel didn't know when her tears were shed because things had become so hard for her, or if it was just her pregnancy hormones.

After his shirt was damp with her tears, he slowly wrapped his arms around her back and hugged her. He didn't know what to do with a crying wife, but he thought she would like him to hold her.

After several minutes, finally, Elise's tears subsided, and her faint sobs were no longer heard. Loriel stepped back to look at her face. "Are you done crying?"

Elise nodded faintly.

"You should eat something," said Loriel. He took her hand and led her toward the small table where Horatio put the tray of food. Elise sat on the sofa and obediently took the plate of food and ate slowly.

She realized Loriel was right. No matter how awful the food tasted, she had to eat something. Now she realized how hard it must have been for her mother when the queen of Myreen was pregnant with her. 

Elise took after her mother who had a frail body. During her pregnancy, she had a really bad mood swing, her whole body felt sore, the food tasted horrible, and she couldn't sleep well. It was torture.

But.. she loved her baby and didn't mind going through hell and back for him.

Loriel watched Elise eat her food. As he looked at her side profile, he realized Elise had gotten thinner than the last time he saw her before he went to the battlefield.

Was she suffering because of her pregnancy? He was wondering.

His gaze went down to her abdomen. She had not shown a protruding tummy. It was still flat. How big was their baby inside her now? Would it be a boy… or a girl?

What would he want? He was asking himself. 

Ah, it would be better to have a son, Loriel thought. A son could take over power from him. Loriel could retire when his son was of age to become the next king. There would be no power struggle if he had an heir.

But a daughter would be nice too. He remembered Emmelyn had a daughter and she was the most beautiful and cute little girl he had ever seen. That little girl could easily make even the most ferocious beast become weak and gentle toward her.

Loriel looked at his wife and thought Elise was much more beautiful than Emmelyn. If they had a daughter together, she would definitely look even cuter than Emmelyn's daughter.

Loriel had to pinch himself for thinking that. This was not a competition, wasn't it?

It's not a competition, but he was certain that he would have a more beautiful and cute daughter.

A faint smile unknowingly curved up on his face.

A daughter sounded good too.

Anything would do, as long as their baby was born healthy, he finally decided.

  *** 

After Loriel made sure that Elise ate her food. The man took his leave. When he met Horatio outside her chamber, he waved at the butler and called him to come closer.

"Call my servants to come here and deliver my things to the queen's residence. I will be moving there to stay with her throughout this period."

Horatio was pleasantly surprised by this request. Ahh… it seemed, the king and his wife had warmed up to each other. He had heard from Zaff that the royal family was expecting a baby. 

The butler thought this was such a joyous occasion for the Ashborns. He could tell that King Loriel wanted to care for his wife by moving into her chamber.

The butler nodded respectfully and he spoke with a wide smile "Yes, Your Majesty. I will come to your chamber with several servants and  do  it right away."

"Hmmm.."

***

"Your Majesty," Elise looked up to Loriel's sudden visit in surprise. The man was accompanied by several servants and all of them were carrying a number of things.

"Elise," Loriel nodded. "Pardon my intrusion, but I will be moving here now and my servants have brought my clothes."

Although she did expect that Loriel would come and check on her condition since she was pregnant with his child, Elise did not expect it to happen so soon.

"Oh…??" Elise could only mutter in surprise.

Loriel looked at Elise uncomfortably at first, but then cleared his throat. "I will be staying here to take care of you. You are the mother of my child so I will do my best to take care of the both of you."

"O-oh… alright, Your Majesty," Elise nodded. "Understood."

There was no stopping it, either way, the servants already brought the entirety of Loriel's belongings and not just a few articles from his room. 

The servants brought them to the drawers and organized them carefully.  Loriel saw the small clothes that were mixed in with his wardrobe.

The man picked up a small pair of mittens and then looked questioningly at Elise. "Did you make this?"

Elise froze for a moment but then nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. I made them when I learned I was pregnant..."

"They are beautiful," Loriel said as he looked at the soft baby blue color. So this was for a baby boy? He turned to Elise and commented, "I did not know that you can knit. I would have not expected that you knew how to work with your hands."

Elise stared at her husband with a mixture of confusion. The man saw her gardening right?

"I was wrong and have misjudged you as usual," Loriel clenched the mitten carefully and then approached his wife. "This time, you are free to tell me the things that I should change now that you are pregnant."

Elise looked up at him. "Huh?"

"For example, I was trying to joke earlier, but instead you cried…" Loriel averted his gaze. "I am not good at dealing with someone as delicate as you. So if you can teach me… tell me what you want, I will do better."

"You will do all of this because I am now pregnant with your heir?" Elise asked and was surprised at his consideration.

"Yes, that is the reason for all of this." Loriel nodded.

Elise stared at her husband and then shook her head. "Then Your Majesty do not need to do them. I assure you that I will be alright and I will give birth to a healthy child, Your Majesty. There is no need to put in too much effort."

"Then I should do as I want?" Loriel asked.

"Yes."

"I will proceed to what I have planned then," Loriel decided at last. "Even if you do not say anything, I will just do my best to be more receptive to what you need, Elise. I hope that you can be comfortable throughout this period."

Elise didn't really understand why he would go this far, because all Loriel needed to do was make sure that Elise was in good health. He didn't have to move here or actually participate in taking care of the 'child' now because it was not yet born.

But Loriel wanted to take care of her.