He was surprised she didn’t struggle. She was content to glare at him anytime he looked down at her.

When he got to the carriage, he set her down and helped her climb inside. When he glanced around, he noticed that a lot of people had come out to watch them.

It was probably an uncommon sight for the King to be visiting at such an inn.

But what did he care?

He climbed inside after her and waited for her sister to enter before shutting the door.

At least with her sister present, she could be rest assured that he would not so much as lay a finger on her.

The way she treated him was ironical.

She was acting like she was the one who was gravely wronged, when it was the other way round.

He never thought her to be conceited. And funnily enough, she was the one who had accused him of being conceited countless times.

He finally glanced at her when the carriage began to move. Her face was flushed and there were tear tracks lining each cheek.

So she had been crying? Over what this time? He had to wonder.

Maybe he was being too harsh with her, he thought.

She held her sister’s hand tightly, squeezing it as if to draw strength from it but kept her eyes fixed outside the window.

And he noticed that her sister no longer gave him her usual shy smile.

What had Claire told her about him this time? That he was wicked? That he hated her?

Then out of the blue, she looked at him. She wasn’t surprised in the least when she caught him shamelessly watching her.

If anything, he thought she looked... pleased?

"Is there something you want to say to me, Your Grace?"

He just continued to stare.

Of course there was plenty he wanted to say to her... but not in front of her sister.

"Your hair is sadly in need of a brush." He said instead.

She combed a hand through her hair, her face paling. Then she turned to her sister for confirmation. Her sister gave her a glum nod, her curls bouncing with the gesture.

"Well, after everything I have just been through, you can hardly expect me to be looking prim and proper."

"You mean your self-inflicted situation?"

Her eyes widened.

"Would you ever let this go? Can’t you see that someone clearly did this! It’s just the same way... I told you not to drink your wine and you went ahead and asked me to drink it instead. And I ended up suffering because of you. Don’t you see that not everything is black and white?"

He leaned forward in his chair and fixed her with a steady gaze.

"What wine are you talking about, Claire?"

Her sister raised a brow at his use of her first name and quickly glanced at her sister to see her reaction.

Claire coloured in embarrassment.

"Forget I said that. I was just babbling, it must be my fatigue and..." she gestured in the air to make light of the situation.

But he knew her well enough to know that she never babbled - of course she talked a lot of nonsense, but it was never out of place.

He caught her hand midair and gave her a cold stare.

"Given everything that is going on, now is not the time to be keeping secrets from me, Lady Stenly."

She averted her gaze.

"Since he is a fugitive, I might as well tell you. But you must know that I am risking my life once again... for you."

Once again? She had done it before? He smirked. How could he not remember?

"We’ll get on with it."

She glared at him before saying, "If you remember the time during a council meeting that I advised you against drinking wine that I clearly thought was tampered with, you would remember also that you asked all of us to drink it."

The memory rushed in vividly. Of course he remembered, but he didn’t like what she was hinting at.

Not wanting to draw any uncomfortable conclusions, he decided to wait till he heard the rest of her sordid tale.

"After I drank it, I was perfectly fine. I almost even thought I was wrong about suspecting that the wine had been poisoned." She paused to catch her breath. "Until..."

She met his gaze briefly before gazing out the window. And he noticed she kept darting a glance at her sister with an expression of dread on her face.

It was clear to him that she didn’t want her sister to hear her tale any more than she wanted to say it.

"I’ve heard enough for now. You can tell me the rest when we get to Penbrook."

At first, a sigh of relief broke through her lips. But then her eyes narrowed. "Does that mean you plan to visit with us?"

He held back a mischievous smirk.

"Yes, dear. Do you have a problem with that?"

His eyes were dancing with laughter at her ghastly expression.

Being alone with him terrified her that much?

"My guards will be present." He said to reassure her.

But she didn’t look reassured.

"I hope you don’t plan to stay the night." She mumurred.

"I don’t. I do not fancy being strangled in my sleep."

She threw him a glare. "You should count it an honour that being strangled is the only danger you can think of." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He leaned very close to her ear and whispered, "Or should I be afraid of rape?"

Her entire face flushed crimson and she pushed him away.

He finally gave into the urge to laugh and let out a low chuckle. Her sister had an amused look on her face even though she didn’t know what was going on.

"Very funny." Her words dripped with anger.

When he glanced out the window, they were turning into a more quiet road lined with tall trees and a dense forest on each side. The sunlight they had been enjoying suddenly seemed to vanish, along with the warm air.

The atmosphere became chilly and misty as they continued along.

Even he couldn’t help but notice it.

No one had to tell him that they had turned down the path to Penbrook.

Yeren couldn’t help but wonder - was he doing the right thing by sending her to live there all by herself?