Anna’s health gradually improved as she spent more ti with the group, finding solace in their company. Kyren’s unwavering support was a constant source of comfort to her, and each morning, he would take her for a walk on the deck.
As they took the fresh air, the ship’s crew who t them would bow in respect to the couple, addressing her as ’the lady’ and no longer ’the Imperial Highness’.
Anna found herself looking forward to these walks as the calm atmosphere invigorated her senses. As they joined the rest of the entourage for als, she felt her face growing rosier and more energetic each day.
The knights were a boisterous bunch, always joking and teasing each other, and she found herself laughing along with them. Now, she could eat properly, and her appetite returned with a vengeance.
The nightmares that had once plagued her every night had ceased, and Anna felt hopeful.
However, on rainy days, she still found herself retreating to the cabin, unable to face the dreaded weather. The sound of the rain tapping against the window was a soothing lullaby, and Anna would curl up with a blanket, finding comfort in Kyren’s embrace.
Six days had passed since the voyage began, and the cog ship was now in the middle of the ocean, sailing through rough waves without a hitch. Whenever a strong gust of wind hit the ship’s hull, it would rock subtly, making Anna shiver a little.
Although she still experienced trauma symptoms, Kyren’s support and the knights’ company positively impacted her. He would often encourage her to engage in activities that distracted her from recalling the past, and the princess found herself slowly but surely healing from the fear that had once consud her.
That fine morning, the knights gathered together by the railing, casting their fishing lines into the sea to capture so fish. Since it was Anna’s favourite nu, the activity had beco a daily routine for the knights. Among them was the grand duke himself, who was overly confident in his skills.
As the morning wore on, Kyren’s frustration grew when he watched the other knights pull fish after fish from the sea while his own bucket remained empty. He cast his line repeatedly, but it ca up without a single catch each ti.
"That’s it!" Kyren shouted in annoyance after a while. His face contorted in a grouchy expression as he clenched his jaws. "I’m never doing this again!"
In his frustration, the commander threw his fishing rod to the floor. However, Eli’s quick reflexes saved the rod from damage before it could hit the deck, catching it with an agile movent.
"Fishing requires patience and luck, Commander," Damon grinned teasingly when he saw the unsatisfied look on the grand duke’s face.
"Shut up, or I’ll throw you to the sea!" Kyren yelled at him.
His outburst had caught the attention of the other knights, who looked at him with amusent and let out small laughs. Leaving the crowd, he walked to Anna, who sat under the canopy, accompanied by Ayden and Rafe.
"Seems like you won this ti, Ayden."
Rafe let out a sigh, took out a few Doras from his pocket, and handed them to his assistant as he saw the commander coming their way.
A large smile ford on Ayden’s face as he received the winnings from their bet.
"I knew he wouldn’t last long. It’s not even a quarter of the hourglass ti," said the assistant healer as he pointed to the hourglass set on the table.
"Haa... and here I thought he would be more patient after getting married," said the healer.
Anna laughed at Rafe’s comnts. Having experienced a recent argunt with him, she was already familiar with her husband’s impatience.
"Fishing is definitely not for him," she said. "He’s just not a patient person." She giggled.
"He’s only patient with you, my lady," Ayden interjected.
"Indeed. His patience was relatively equal to none before knowing you," added the healer.
When the commander arrived, both Ayden and Rafe stopped talking and stood up to show respect to him.
Kyren sat next to Anna, and the healer and assistant took their seats after he sat down. Anna could sense the high level of respect the entourage mbers had for her husband, even though their duties on the frontier had ended.
"Did you have a good ti?" Anna asked Kyren.
"No, fishing is not fun!" he replied in a sulky tone.
To cheer him up, the princess held his hand, intertwining their fingers, and said, "All right... Let them do it for you if you don’t find it fun. You can stay here with . I was already getting bored because I couldn’t join in."
"You want to fish too?" he asked.
"I would love to, but I am afraid of the seawater. It’s safer for to stay here," she replied.
"You’re right. It’s not safe near the railing. You could fall," said the commander.
His tense expression eased when his wife touched him.
"I wish I could do sothing. This boredom is getting to ," she complained.
Kyren paused for a mont, then called for Luke to co over.
"Yes, Commander," the knight bowed upon arrival.
"My wife is getting bored here, so I think it’s ti for your class to begin," he ordered.
"Pardon ?" asked the confused knight.
The commander’s words triggered a mory in the knight’s mind. He recalled the cooking lesson he was supposed to teach the commander’s wife once they returned to Gerhard. However, he was surprised when the commander reminded him of it.
"Wait... you want to start now? I thought we were going to start the cooking class when we returned to Gerhard," the knight questioned Kyren, trying to clarify the situation.
"Oh, I don’t mind if we start now! Really!" Anna intervened, her eyes lighting up at the suggestion from the commander.
"Just go on... It’s fine since we have a lot of free ti onboard," Kyren replied.
The knight paused for a mont before answering, contemplating.
"But... Is it fine, Commander? The galley is full of n... and my lady is the only woman on this ship," he asked with a concerned expression.
"I’ll accompany both of you," Kyren decided. He stood up, holding Anna’s hand in his. "Let’s go!"
The princess gave a cheerful nod as Luke tailed behind, instructing the other knights to send the buckets of fish to the galley. Ayden also joined in on the activity.
Rafe called out to Eric, the second-in-command knight, in a singing tone. A smile spread across his face as the sea wind blew through his fuzzy grey hair.
The knight ca over to him and asked, "What?"
With only the two of them on the main deck, Rafe gestured for the knight to follow him to an isolated spot near the railing while the other crew mbers were busy with their tasks on the ship.
When the knight arrived, the healer’s smile grew even wider, prompting Eric to question his intentions.
"What’s with that smile?" Eric squinted at him. He knew sothing was up his sleeve whenever the healer wore such a grin.
With a smug expression, the healer claid, "I know your secret about the lady’s status." Eric quickly checked his surroundings, looking serious and concerned.
"How did you find out?" he asked urgently.
Rafe’s smile never faded.
"I got the information straight from the source," he replied.
"Did the commander tell you?" inquired Eric.
"Who else? Of course it was him," confird the healer.
The knight let out a frustrated sigh. " Darn it! Now I couldn’t brag to you anymore," he said disappointedly. "You seem to know all of his secrets, as usual. No wonder they used to call you the ’Crown Prince’s lover’."
Rafe was taken aback by Eric’s words.
"Excuse ?" he asked, wide-eyed.
The knight chuckled.
"Haven’t you heard the rumours?" he asked, noticing Rafe’s confusion.
"What rumours?" asked the healer, growing increasingly annoyed.
"It’s an old rumour that started circulating after the commander announced his decision to hand the throne to His Majesty and proclaid himself celibate three years ago. There were speculations about his reasons, one of which was that he preferred n over won. So even suspected that you were one of his lovers since you were always by his side," Eric explained.
Rafe’s face turned red with anger.
"That is absurd and disrespectful to the commander!" he replied.
"It was a wild guess by them since you too had no woman by your side."
"How am I supposed to find any woman when I’ve got my hands already full taking care of a bunch of stinky knights?" the healer grunted.
The knight laughed at him.
"Well... thank goodness we can put this rumour to rest now that the commander is married. I can’t wait to see him knock them down with a feather when he shows how he treats his wife before them," said Eric with a smile.
Rafe felt relieved and placed a hand over his heart.
"I’m glad this rumour will finally co to an end. Why wasn’t I inford of this earlier?" he wondered.
"Well, I guess no one dared to ntion it. They didn’t want to risk angering the commander. And if they had told you, you would have told him imdiately," explained the knight.
"Hey... I’m a tight-lipped person! I know how to keep a secret! Unlike you," countered the healer.
"Yeah... keeping his secret from the others definitely!" Eric snarled. "We haven’t finished discussing the matter that day," he added.
"Oh, co on! Not that again!" Rafe grunted. "I told you I can’t tell you more than that!"
"Ah... hush, Mr Not-good-at-story-telling! How long will you keep it from ?" he asked irritably. "If the commander can tell about the important matter of the lady’s status being the Princess of Ardel, soon he’ll let know about that too!"
"Then wait until he tells you himself!" answered the healer. "It’s his personal matter, not mine!" he hissed.
"Fine!" Eric let out a defeated sigh. "At least, please answer this question, as I’m dying to know. You don’t have to elaborate. Just say yes or no," he requested.
"What?"
"His decision not to ascend to the throne... Was it because he’s unable to produce an heir?" the knight whispered.
"What?!" Rafe shouted at the knight.
"Don’t yell! Keep it down!" Eric cautioned him.
"Of course not, you id*ot! He can have as many children as he wants to!" the healer firmly stated.
The knight pondered for a mont, rubbing his bearded chin.
"So... It’s not because of an heir... and it’s also definitely not because he couldn’t marry a woman," he surmised.
"As I said, he’s capable of having an heir. There’s no problem with it," Rafe paused. "It’s just... he has so kind of condition."
"A condition? It can’t be due to him having a problem performing!" Eric muttered to himself.
"What do you an?"
"So even said he couldn’t do ’it’, so that’s why he was never interested in any won before. You know... the ’night duty’. But I’m sure he can perform well after his wedding night. Otherwise, the lady won’t be alive by now," explained the knight with a mischievous grin.
"Oouff... you have no idea what a beast he is! He’s so engrossed in his lust that he once was rough with the lady and hurt her! I really want to hit his stone head for that!" Rafe blurted out in anger before quickly covering his mouth, realising he had revealed a confidential matter.
Eric chuckled at his friend’s outburst.
"Seems like our commander has beco depraved. I hope the lady doesn’t hate him," he said with a hint of sarcasm.
"You know how she is. She would never complain and just swallow everything," the healer comnted. "However, I was quite grateful that she stood her ground when they argued the other day. At least, for once, she fought for her freedom. I must say that it was a courageous act for her to stand up against the commander."
You’re right! She appears frail and vulnerable all the ti. But when it cos to her beliefs, she can be quite stubborn. Honestly, it was an eye-opener. Even we don’t dare to oppose the commander, but she did so anyway, despite her fragility," Eric added.
"She has hidden inner strength," Rafe smiled, recalling the petite lady. "After all she went through, it’s proven that she is one determined princess."
"All right now, let’s go to the galley and see how the cooking class is going," Eric suggested. "I hope no pots got burned or flew off," he joked.
"Ah, don’t worry! The only thing that will get burned is the commander’s eyes seeing his wife surrounded by n," Rafe said confidently, eliciting a chuckle from his companion.
The two friends shared a laugh as they made their way to the galley.
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