Chapter 462

“No, I’m scared. I’m so scared that I don’t know what to do,” Arthur muttered

Veronica found his behavior strange. “What do you mean? Why are you scared?”

Arthur tightened his grip around her when he heard her question. Then, he let out a deep breath.

“Nica, are you okay?” he asked in a worried tone.

Veronica answered in a light tone, “If you are talking about last night’s incident, I’m perfectly fine. They are too unskilled to leave a scratch on my body.”

“I don’t mean that.” Arthur took a deep breath and then continued, “I mean your heart.”

“Pfft!” Veronica covered her mouth. Her whole body shook as she tried to hide her laughter.

.....

“I’m not joking.” Arthur seemed serious.

Veronica controlled her laughter and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. I never thought you would be scared of anything.”

Arthur responded with a solemn expression, “I’m scared that you might leave me.”

“Did I say that I would?” Veronica pushed him as she wanted distance between them.

“Enough whining. Go and take a bath. You must be exhausted running around. I’ll wait for you in bed. Do you want dinner? I can ask the chef to serve you a simple dinner.”

“No need. I’m not hungry.” After that, Arthur went to the bathroom.

When he was done, he came to the bedroom and found Veronica on the bed.

With the table lamp on, she was reading a map.

Arthur wasn’t the slightest interested in the map she was holding. Rather he came to bed and hugged her waist.

Then, he put his head on her shoulder and muttered, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you well.”

Veronica was startled by his apology.

The Arthur he knew was like a king who ruled the most powerful people on earth. All magicians were under his command.

He could change a kingdom with a single flick.

For him to apologize was something Veronica could hardly imagine.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I hid things from you and you ran away thinking I cheated on you. After that, you lead a harsh life. It’s because of my negligence that you had to learn to dirty your hands.”

Guilt overwhelmed his mind. His heart felt heavy.

When Veronica heard his comment, she looked at him directly. “Dirty my hands? Now you hate me for that?”

Arthur straightened his back. Afterward, took her hand and kissed her fingers in response.

Then, he said, “There is no way I could never do that. I saw you as a pure and humble being. I wanted to protect you so that you never had to touch impurity.

“It’s all on me. I’m at fault. I’m not good enough to protect you.”

He wanted to take all the blame. He regretted his decision when she went missing that night.

However, now he felt like he could never look her in the eyes.

If he didn’t hide things from her, she wouldn’t run away and wouldn’t do something she hated doing.

He never wanted her to face what he had faced in his childhood.

Killing people wasn’t something a soft-hearted person could do in a sane mind.

He could imagine how desperate and helpless she was when she decided to kill the first person in her life.

He could also feel her pain and guilt as the killing event haunted her day and night.

‘How can I not understand her sufferings when I was in her place too,’ he thought while reminiscing about his harsh, bloody childhood.

Veronica agreed with his theory. “In a way, you are right. I knew attacking a human isn’t something to be proud of but that’s survival.

“There are people out there who enjoy people’s sufferings. If you want to live a life, you have to hurt those people. I had nightmares for months after I killed a man.

“Even though I was suffering, I had to kill more bandits before they could attack an innocent family. I felt guilty to the point I couldn’t sleep. People thanked me for saving them but I didn’t feel better.

“Deep down I knew that I was wrong. Even though I had to save people, I had to find a way not to hurt the bad people. But sometimes, it was easy to slice your enemy. Later, I couldn’t take this anymore.

“That’s when someone told me – if I ever suffer because I killed a bad man, think that person wasn’t a human; just a worthless worm – that lesson helped me a lot.

“Now, I just accepted fate and got used to it. I don’t suffer anymore.”

When she described, Arthur wanted nothing more than to take her memory of that period.

He felt even worse because Veronica didn’t blame him. She calmly accepted her guilt and didn’t accuse others to reduce her pain.

Her maturity was admirable but he knew how much she had to suffer to stay rational.

It was something he never wanted for her. That’s why he could only blame himself for letting her face all that alone.

He muttered, “If I could only protect you...”

Veronica touched his lips, blocking him from stating the rest of the worst.

“You don’t have to,” she said. “I’ll do my best to protect myself. I understand that everything you wanted to do for me was for my own good.

“I wish you were with me so that I didn’t have to kill. I don’t want to be selfish. I wanted to learn about the world and now I know. So, stop feeling guilty about it.”

“...It’s not that easy,” Arthur whispered.

Veronica smiled. “It’s not. Even so, we have to make it easy, don’t we? Or how will we be able to live for long?”

Arthur hugged her tightly and placed his head on the nape of her neck.

Veronica wasn’t used to seeing him acting like that. She stroked his arms tenderly, doing her best to reduce his self-reproach.

———-

The next day, Arthur went to his office with a solemn expression. After that, he called for an emergency meeting.

Oivor dropped his work and came to his office. Ironin, Darius, Felix and Zinnia came as well.

Noticing Arthur’s grave expression, everyone was quiet. They put on a serious face. The temperature of the room was chilling.

Finally, he opened his mouth. “We have to do something.”

Ovior instantly said, “If it’s about Duke De la Pole, I’ll handle the matters of villages. The Magic Tower will approve of free lands that don’t have to pay tax to any lords. They will have an ambassador who will send the money to the King.”

Felix asked, “What if the ambassador is a bastard? If he takes half of the money and tells the King that the village didn’t send any money?”

Ovior explained, “That’s why this time it will be different. There will be an Imperial Official who will be there when the ambassador collects the money.

“There will be 4 money receipts with them. Four receipts will be sealed by the three of them. One will stay with the village head, another one with the ambassador and another one with the Imperial Official.

“The last one will go to the King. So, even if someone wants to accuse, it will be invalid since the villagers have proof to prove their innocence.”

“That’s fascinating!” Darius was impressed.

Zinnia stated, “If the lands are going to rebel, Duke De la Pole will try to control them. He doesn’t have enough funds to hire more people to fight against the people of all his lands. He might ask for the Queen’s help.”

Felix agreed. “Sure, he will. That’s when Arthur needs to warn the King and the Crown Prince to keep an eye on the Queen.

“Once the Imperial Guards are involved, no one can rebel anymore. And we don’t want that. Duke De la Pole has to end his reign.”

“I’m not talking about this,” Arthur interrupted their conversation.

All of them turned toward him.

‘So, why did he call us?’ they wondered.

He slowly mentioned, “It’s Ver. We need to do something about her.”

Everyone exchanged glances. Zinnia, Darius and Felix already found out about the chopped hands incident.

‘Does he want to control her?’ everyone pondered.

Darius licked his lips. “Hey man, I know you want to do something but I wish you don’t. She just acted the way she thought would be best in that situation. Don’t be too hard on her for that.”

Darius was known as the most ruthless member of Arthur’s friend circle.

Whenever Arthur wanted to punish someone, he enjoyed it the most, like a heartless bastard.

For him to take Veronica’s side was a new change.

Darius groaned inwardly.

.....

‘Oh man, I didn’t want to go between a couple. But I hate to see the girl suffering. She is already like that because of Arthur. Now if she is treated harshly, she will run away again. If she can’t, she might kill herself!’