The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 159: Fields of Green

"Entry for two?"

"Yes please," Ralph said. He smiled widely, but there was a lingering exhaustion in his eyes that he didn’t want to hide. He held Soleia’s hand tightly. "My wife and I have been on the road for a while."

"A honeymoon?" The guard keeping watch at the border raised his eyebrows. "That’s awfully lucky of you."

Soleia froze, afraid that Ralph might have misspoken. After all, most peasants did not have the luxury of going for honeymoons, but Ralph rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. He leaned in and spoke with the cadence of a Raxuvian native, handing the guard a token. Soleia didn’t even realize he had that with him.

"You can say that. We went to visit the lakes to pray for children. Now we must return to help my family with the farm!" Ralph laughed, and Soleia also smiled, cuddling closer to him, a blush highlighting her cheeks.

After a week of travel on foot, Soleia’s heart had managed to regain some semblance of calm at Sir Ralph’s casual displays of affection.

And there were a lot of casual displays of affection. But it wasn’t as though he had done them on purpose― it was simply the easiest disguise they thought of. One lady and her knight would raise eyebrows, and so would a pair of adult siblings.

No one batted their eyes at a married couple traveling together. After a week of hard travel, Soleia and Ralph looked no better than the hordes of weary travelers trying to enter Raxuvia’s borders in time for their spring harvest. When people asked for their names, Ralph went by Ronald, and Soleia became Susan.

The guard relaxed his shoulders when he heard the familiar dialect and saw the familiar crest on the token. This man’s family worked for one of the lords, and it would not be wise to delay their entry.

"Hope your wishes come true! But just a word of warning, it’s best to keep your head down in the farms."

"What’s the matter?" Ralph asked.

"I’ve heard the bandits are causing trouble, and the royal family isn’t doing much to contain them." The guard sighed. "The two princes went off for some wedding, and the princesses don’t care. No one cares about our plight." freewebnoveℓ.com

"Thank you for all your hard work," Ralph said sincerely. "At least we have guards like you looking out for us. Right, dear?"

Soleia nodded enthusiastically. They were waved into the gates. Only after they walked far enough beyond the guard’s gaze that Soleia let herself relax slightly. "Ralph, where are we going? Do you really have a farm?"

"I know someone who does have one, but that’s not really where we’re going," Ralph said with a shrug. "I can’t, in good conscience, make you till the fields or milk the cows. Instead, we’re going to visit an old friend of mine. His estate should be big enough to let us stay in, and we can work our keep."

That sounded fair enough to Soleia. Short of a brothel, she would have stayed in any house with a bed and a hot bath after a week on the cold hard ground. Food had been scarce on the way, and if not for Sir Ralph’s hunting and foraging skills, Soleia would be nothing more than a bag of bones.

They continued to travel. Soleia observed as Sir Ralph effortlessly bantered with shopkeepers to secure them supplies on their highly limited coin, and she had to wonder.

How did Sir Ralph know so much about Raxuvia? Why did he have Raxuvian currency lining his pockets, when he was in Vramid’s employ?

"This horse will ensure we reach the estate in a day or so," Sir Ralph said proudly as he led his newest purchase to her side. The horse was a sweet mare who bayed lightly in Soleia’s direction, as though she was greeting her. "My lady wife, do you want to take the reins?"

"Don’t mind if I do," Soleia said, and Ralph helped her up, only to sit behind her, his arms holding her in a tight embrace. Her ears burned at their intimate position, and the curious gazes of onlookers made her shy. But there was nowhere to hide, for Sir Ralph held her hands as tightly as he held the reins of the horse.

With one easy nudge, the mare began to move, leaving the curious onlookers in the dust. Eventually, they were on a well-worn trail. Soleia looked back cautiously; there was only a small group of peasants a distance away, who wouldn’t be able to overhear them. She relaxed further, instinctively lying against his chest.

"Sir Ralph, you’re truly playing the part of a devoted husband," Soleia began. "There’s no need for that now since we’ve crossed the border and no one is paying attention to us."

It was doing terrible things to her heart. They had not spoken about what they were to each other after their hasty exit from Vramid, not when there were simply too many things to worry about. Even with Soleia’s new status as a divorcee, Sir Ralph had not talked about their kiss. Now that she was effectively a fugitive, perhaps Sir Ralph was thinking twice about getting involved with her.

She couldn’t fault him.

"Whoever said I was acting?" Ralph pointed out cheekily, purposely jostling the mare so that Soleia would end up nestling deeper into his hold.

"Sir Ralph!"

"Princess Soleia," Sir Ralph said, his voice suddenly serious as he whispered in her ear. "No matter what name you take, I will forever be yours for all my days. Whether we live as humble farmers or as royalty ruling over the skies, I’ll only have you as my wife."

Soleia’s heart was beating so loudly she was sure Sir Ralph could hear it. She whipped her head around, only to meet his bright green eyes, shining earnestly as they gazed at her with unbridled affection.

"Is this... your proposal of marriage?" Soleia asked shakily.

Ralph let out a shy laugh. The mare continued to trot forward, as though mimicking Soleia’s racing heart. "You can consider it one, but I do promise that I have more to offer you than a horse and a bag of dried raisins."

"Let’s hear it then," Soleia said breathlessly. "What do you have for me?"

"A kingdom?"

Soleia laughed at the absurdity of his reply. "If I wanted a kingdom, I wouldn’t be sharing horses with you right now."

"Then how about a tidy home with children, with three hot meals a day, along with a fresh flower on your windowsill?"

"A tidy home with children sounds like something like a farce," Soleia said, her face reddening at the thought of raising children with Sir Ralph. She cleared her throat. "Anything else?"

"My time, my life, my hopes and dreams, along with my heart, my soul, and my very being. The very reason for my existence."

Sir Ralph smiled boyishly, yet there was a sincerity in his eyes that almost burned Soleia with regard to his devotion. Her heart skipped a tender beat and she soon found herself trapped in his gaze, unable to look away from his irises which were the color of the green fields around them.

"Is that enough for you, Soleia?"