She could not help but compare it to her own situation—but with her, it was different. While her mother's whereabouts were unknown, Seren was at least put under the care of her birth father.

"I am sure when you visit the Crystal Palace, Grandmother will answer all of your questions. Let's not waste our time on it as I have to leave the next morning." After saying all this, Drayce picked her up in his arms and then took her to bed.

Seren was startled by his sudden actions, but it was not like she didn't expect this. She let him carry her and he gently placed her in bed. Seren was getting used to this, to the point she could even guess what Drayce would do next.

He lay on his side next to her with one of his hands on her waist, while the other was supporting his head so that he could take a good look at his wife. Drayce craved to see her appearance. He would be away from his wife for two excruciatingly long days and he could not even see her face to keep it in his memories. All he could do was to imprint the look of her precious purple eyes in his brain.

"Will you miss me when I'm away, my Queen?" he asked while tracing the soft curve of her waist, up towards her shoulders. He soon reached the border of her veil from her ear, and then her nose, before stopping when his finger landed above her soft lips.

Seren did not even need to nod as Drayce saw the answer in her eyes. He continued to murmur in a low, seductive voice, "What will you miss about me?"

Now, this was something Seren could not answer easily. 'What will I miss about him?' she thought.

"I'll miss… your warmth that allows me to sleep peacefully," she replied.

Drayce chuckled. "So I am some sort of bed warmer for you?"

"No, not like that. I just feel safe and peaceful when you are next to me," she explained quickly, which made him chuckle harder.

"Then I should stick to you all the time," he concluded with a light smirk.

'All the time?' She almost took it literally and said, "Night time will be fine."

"So you don't want me during daytime anymore?" he teased with a feigned wounded look.

The soft lights of the night lamp allowed Seren to see the laughter in his red eyes. He seemed to be enjoying his time teasing her. With a pout he couldn't see, she turned to her side to face him and hugged him, burying her face in his chest, not willing to respond to his playful antics.

Drayce hugged her back and stopped teasing. As his hands wandered around her back, he commented, "Why are you so soft? I feel like crushing you in my strong grip."

Seren didn't react as this was the best she could do from protecting herself from the teasing. Drayce caressed her head. "Are you sleepy?"

She nodded lightly. All she wanted was to be in his embrace and sleep peacefully after having an entire day going through her duties as a queen that she didn't like even one bit.

"Sleep then," he said as he gently kissed the top of her head.

She raised her head in surprise, and even without speaking, Drayce could guess the question forming inside her pretty little head.

Drayce merely smiled. It was not necessary to do intimate things every night. Sometimes, it could be just silent and peaceful like this. "Sleep. I'll be gone by the time you wake up. I'll try to be back as soon as possible."

Seren nodded lightly and slowly closed her eyes.

---------

When Seren and Drayce drifted to sleep, a certain someone, who was thrown towards the highest peak of the farthest mountain, had just gotten back to the forest near the Royal Palace of Megaris. A beautiful and elegant creature with silvery appearance—it was the moon elf, and he had returned to the spot in the forest where his pets were waiting for him.

Seeing? the two huge beasts that looked like tigers, he strode towards them and caressed their lowered heads. It was disorienting how the scary-looking beasts appeared like tamed kittens bowing before their master.

"So you two have finally found me, huh?" the moon elf chuckled as a smirk painted itself on his delicate lips. "Seems like you two missed me."

The two giant tigers rubbed their heads against his palms as if saying yes to him, but just then, the moon elf continued to speak in an amiable tone, "Or are you two searching for a new master, hmm?"

The two tigers stepped back a little. They could not even look straight in the eyes of their master, as if they were thieves that got caught in the middle of the act.

The moon elf chuckled again with a teasing smile on his lips. "You are my pets. What more can I expect from you? What I like, you two go for the same."

The two tigers felt relieved seeing their master smiling and heard him continue speaking, "But we first need to know more about her."

The two pets made a nodding motion to show they agreed to his statement.

"I am tired," he said in a wistful manner. "Let's arrange a nice temporary lodging for us to stay in."

The moon elf moved his fingers. All of a sudden, there appeared a small and quaint cottage surrounded by compound walls and lanterns hanging at the porch of the cottage.

He looked at the cottage and held his chin for a moment, as if examining an artwork. "It looks so bland. It is something we'll be using for a short term, but we need to add more decorations since we'll be staying inside."

Another flick of his fingers, and there appeared various plants with beautiful flowers in full bloom, making that place look lively. It was an image straight out of a fairy tale book. As he and his pets walked past the compound wall which was hardly two feet tall and made of wooden plates, the moon elf arranged a pile of dried grass on one side and said to his pets, "That's for you two."

The two tigers immediately went towards it and lay on it like tired kids.

Seeing them act like that, the moon elf sighed, "Who told you two to follow me this far?" Once again, he looked around the place. He moved his fingers as if tapping something in thin air and continued talking to himself, "Now this place is invisible to others." He then went inside the cottage brightened up with the lanterns and lay on the soft bed inside.

He stared at the ceiling and mumbled, "Why do I feel like I will get to meet that maiden again soon?"

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