The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Demetrius's Perspective)

It was a long day. Apart from slaughtering monsters, I also had to deal with a bunch of teenagers who kept making way too much noise near our tent. It was not until I sent knights to move them, they finally left.

They had come to a picnic apparently.

'Well, whatever. They can arrange a picnic somewhere else.'

I sat down to read the letters my wife had sent me. She sent me letters every single day. She told me how she was doing, described all about her day, and asked me tons of questions about how I was, if I was eating well and if everything was going well. She also never failed to ask me about my day.

It took twelve hours for her letters to arrive. I was a bit late today. Her letters should have arrived already.

But oddly enough, there was no letter, nor the bird.

"Did she forget to write to me…? But…"

The first thought that came to my mind was 'Is she sick?'. A few days ago, when I was not getting her letters, it turned out she was sick. Without a second thought, I left to be by her side. Was it the same case this time?

"Son of a bitch! Where were you the whole time?"

"Shitty bastard! How dare you barge into someone's room?" I yelled, turning abruptly towards the entrance of the tent.

"It's a fucking tent!" Luc yelled back. "I was looking for you the whole time! Do you know how long have I been waiting?"

"Why the hell would you look for me? Wait, did you use my toilet?"

"So what? I took a shit."

"You took a shit in my toilet? Gross!"

"Where else do you expect me to go? In the forest?"

I knew it! I knew someone used my toilet when I saw the door slightly open. I never kept the door of the toilet open.

"But why are you here?" I asked.

"Finally, you asked," he groaned. "Your wife, have you heard from her?"

"What? What are you talking about? Do you even know where I am and where she is? We only communicate through letters."

"I know. That's what I'm talking about. Has she sent you a letter? Or anything?"

"What happened to her?"

"I don't know! No one knows. She just… The maids are saying she did not return to her room last night after she left."

"Where did she go that time?"

"Your niece is sick. Blue went to meet her in the evening. Then, she brought her back to the palace and had dinner with her. But, after dinner, rather than returning to her bedroom, she went out with Sir Abel."

"Abel?"

"As her guard, he is supposed to follow her. Apparently, Calix or Perita was not with her because Blue told them to go to bed."

"She has not returned yet?"

Luc shook his head. "Fuck!"

I threw the belonging of the table on the ground. I had Abel guard her because I feared she might run away. It was also to ensure her safety. But now, both of them were missing.

"What are you gonna do now?" Luc asked.

"Search for her obviously!"

"I know that, okay? I also want to find her as soon as possible! But where? The whole kingdom? No one knows where she went?!"

"Yes, the whole kingdom! You think I am gonna sit still thinking about where to look for her?! Do I look like a very patient person to you?" I barked. "I will return to the palace right now. Tell the knights and mages to start looking for the Queen right now! Every single place, tell them to look for her everywhere!"

"Alright. Go back quickly," Luc nodded. He turned to me almost as quickly as he turned his back to me. "Let me teleport you to the palace."

I was so shaken that I was losing my sense of thinking. I had no idea when Luc teleported me back to the palace. He teleported me right outside my wife's office.

"You might find a clue or something," Luc said. "I will go back."

He was gone in a second. Not that I cared about that. I raced inside Blue's office and scanned the room. There was nothing unusual. She had left last night. But where did she go?

I looked through all the documents, and any piece of paper that I could find. I literally checked every single thing like a maniac. But there was nothing.

"Fuck! Where the fuck did you go?! I told you not to leave!"

I ran to our bedroom. The maids were cleaning the room. "Get out!"

As they left, I checked everything. Again, I found nothing. Frustrated and angry, I left the room and went to my office. I wrote two letters as soon as possible.

"Your Highness, you summoned me?" my mage asked.

"Yes, go to the dukedom and give this letter to the duchess. And the second letter to the duke," I ordered, handing him two envelopes.

The search began within half an hour. I began to search alone. I was searching my memory as well to remember if she ever mentioned a place she wanted to go, or even just mentioned the name of a place.

I searched near the palace area, the mountain where we went before I left and the place where we went on our first date until evening. When I came back to the palace to search our bedroom again, I discovered the duchess had come.

She looked shocked and shaken.

"Is Blue truly missing?" she asked, her voice desperate, as she saw the sight of me.

"I won't joke about something like this, will I?" I said coldly. "Does the duchess know anything that can be helpful? Has she sent the duchess any letter regarding going somewhere?"

"No, she has not. We were going to meet up, me, Ruby and Blue, at a dessert shop tomorrow. The last letter she sent me was about Lady Ava. Lady Ava is sick and she expressed her worry in the letter. She also mentioned she was going to go to the academy to see Lady Ava and maybe bring her to the palace if Lady Ava agreed. That's all," she said and handed me two pieces of paper.

"This is her letter. I have brought it with me thinking perhaps Your Majesty would need it."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I read the letter thoroughly. It was an ordinary letter. She usually told me about the contents whenever she wrote someone a letter. I did not know if that was to relieve me, or it had become a habit of hers.

She told me about writing to the duchess in her letter before. The contents were just as she told me.

'Haa, you tell me everything. Then, why didn't you tell me about going somewhere?'

"Your Majesty?"

"I have to do something. Excuse me," I said, leaving the living room with quick strides. I kept on walking until I reached our bedroom. It was the second time today that I had come to search the room.

I searched the room again. Then, again. Even after searching more than five times, I found nothing.

"I checked everything, every single thing," I muttered, scanning the room to make sure I truly checked everything. "Ah, the bin…"

I held up the bucket and looked inside. There was a broken collar of the cat. She told me about it in her last letter. She had accidentally broken her cat's collar while trying to improve it by herself. Along with the collar, there were some papers.

I picked those papers up. Most of them contained her writing. She wrote about the names of things she wanted to gift Ava, Abel, and Athena. How much did she like kids?

Then, I found another paper that gave me some sort of clue. It was an unfinished letter she wanted to send me. For some reason, she did not finish it. One paragraph gave away the clue and a bit of hope.

Honey, have I told you about the lavender field? Azure told me about it once, you know. The way he said it made me a bit suspicious. I think I will check it out. I mean, I just wanna see it. You said I can go out if Abel is with me.

So, I will take Abel with me. I am not sure when I will go though.

I held the paper tightly, wrinkling it more from the side to the point of tearing it. I controlled myself and loosened my grasp. It was the single clue I found. I needed to use it properly.

But why did she not send me the letter? And why did Azure mention the lavender field?