The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 53: Joke (1)

"You don’t have to wear this tonight. Who put it in your hair?" Jeffrey asked, struggling to take the tiara out of his daughter’s hair without messing with her appearance. "I made it clear you don’t need to wear it unless we have guests. Why is it so tight?"

"So it doesn’t fall out easily," the young princess Sofia Castro answered. "You are going to ruin my hair and mother will think that I did it. My maid will take it out after dinner."

"You are sounding all grown up. What happened to my little princess who used to come and ask me to take it out for you?" Jeffrey asked, continuing to try to get it out of her hair.

"Mother doesn’t like it when I take it out for dinner so I don’t want to. I don’t want to upset her when she is already worrying about Tobias Will Tobias be coming tonight?" Sofia asked, excited to see her brother.

"I don’t know. He’ll be busy spending time with his future wife. You’ll be getting a sister soon," Jeffrey said to cheer her up.

’That will be fun, but then Tobias will be all grown up and spending less time with me. I don’t want him to have children soon. He won’t have time to play with me if he does," said Sofia.

Jeffrey knew that Tobias wouldn’t have time to play regardless because matters of the kingdom would keep him busy. It was rare for Jeffrey these days to get away from his duties to see his family throughout the day. He was trying to get two days’ work out the way to join Tabitha for the selection.

"Tobias doesn’t have time to spare for playing. He is preparing to be king. When that time comes, I will be free to play with you. How does that sound?" Jeffrey asked, knowing she would like it.

"Okay! Then, will I get to play with my mother too? She doesn’t come to see me at my lessons anymore-"

"Because you end up distracted. You are dismissed," Tabitha ordered the maids.

Servants were not needed until it was time for the food to be served.

"Mother!" Sofia called, leaving her father’s side to go to her mother who was here early.

"Do not run, Sofia. You might trip and why is your hair a mess? Did you get your father to try taking out your tiara again? That is why I asked them to put it in so it is harder to get out. Come here, Sofia. It needs to be fixed before someone sees your hair. I have both of you causing a mess," Tabitha muttered.

Jeffrey sighed, knowing his dinner would not be as pleasant as he wanted. There was trouble since Tabitha was here early and even though he didn’t want to hear about it, he had to. "Sofia, when your mother is finished with your hair, go get the poem you said you made today."

"She does not need to go back to her room," Tabitha said, not interested in a poem now when Tobias was on her mind. She could not enjoy the poem when she didn’t know where her troublesome son had run off to.

"She does if you want to speak in private. The second she steps out of this room, her guards and maids will follow her. Let her go to get the poem she is proud of. She will want to show Tobias if he joins us later. Go on," Jeffrey said, permitting Sofia to leave.

He was not going to speak about his wife’s troubles with Tobias around Sofia. The least they could do was keep their daughter oblivious to how stressful the selection was. They had been trying to make life in the palace somewhat of a dream for Sofia and it was not to be shattered by the selection.

"I will be quick," Sofia said, close to running off, but she didn’t so her mother wouldn’t scold her.

"You didn’t need to send her off. I would have waited for dinner to be over to tell you about our son who is missing. He didn’t show up to do his part in the selection tonight. I had to send the guards all over the palace to look for him and stand like a fool in front of those women. I had to lie that he is sick, but it is a lie anyone could see through," said Tabitha.

Jeffrey was surprised to hear that Tobias was not with his mother or that no one knew where he was. He was aware of how much Tobias hated the selection and being back in the palace, but so far, Tobias was carrying out his duties.

Jeffrey had seen Tobias’s side of the last argument he had with Tabitha, but it was wrong for Tobias to leave the palace without a word. Leaving his mother confused and alone with the women. Regardless of what happened, someone should know about his whereabouts. freёnovelkiss.com

The future king shouldn’t be roaming around outside the palace. There were many plotting on his life because they had others they were rooting for. His family were always to have guards with them and where they were going needed to be told to other guards.

Jeffrey didn’t care how skilled Tobias was to protect himself. Even the best fighters had days where they lost and died. "Edmund and Edgar were here. He might have left with Edgar, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary with him then. What would cause him to leave the palace and put you in this position?"

"Does it matter when-"

"It does because I need the full story for when I speak to him," Jeffrey said, speaking over Tabitha. "Tell me the truth. Nothing twisted to leave out what you did. I share your anger that he left, but now is not the time for lies. Speak the truth and speak it quickly.

"I did nothing to Tobias. There was a matter of punishing Hazel. I only did it because one of the other young women reported the issue to me. Had Hazel or one of my maids spoken of it, I would have let this matter go. It turned out that it was not only her sister who was asked to dance at the ball. I don’t know where, but Tobias asked Hazel to dance and she declined," Tabitha explained her side.

From this, Tabitha didn’t see what she had done for Tobias to decide to leave the palace. She had gone light on Hazel’s punishment with him in mind. She had called Hazel to speak alone to give her some attention since Tobias was so interested in her.

Tabitha had not anticipated Jasmine bringing her news. "I was fair. I ordered Hazel to stay in her room for the night so she would know how missing one opportunity with the prince could cost. She will be back in the morning."

"So that is why," Jeffrey said, chuckling as it was all funny now.

"Jeffrey," Tabitha said in a warning tone for him to stop. "How is this funny?"

"Because it is clear to me who our daughter-in-law will be. I will be back shortly and Tobias will be here for dinner. Don’t worry your pretty face," Jeffrey said, picking up her right hand to kiss the back of it. "While I am away, try to be more interested in her poems."