The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me? Chapter 416: The Queen Has Finally Returned Home (II)

She fell silent for a mont as she stepped down and stood on the soft red fabric. Her eyes slowly wandered across the faces around her, so she hadn’t seen in so long, and others she didn’t recognize at all.

When she finally looked up at the manor, her breath caught in her throat. It still looked almost exactly the sa as when she had last seen it.

Well, of course it did! In this lifeti, she had only been gone to Noctvaris for a few months, and yet... standing here now, it felt like she was returning after a lifeti away.

The flowers in the front garden had long withered, buried beneath a soft blanket of snow. Still, the sight brought back mories of the days when Primrose would walk through the garden, breathing in the sweet scent of blossoms every ti she argued with her father or needed to clear her head.

Even the day before she was sent to Noctvaris—after a terrible fight with Lazarus—she had wandered through that sa garden more than twenty tis, pacing in circles until her feet ached.

Not far from there, she noticed a swing hanging from the old oak tree, its ropes stiff with frost.

It was her childhood swing, the one she had used nearly every day growing up. Even after she beca an adult, she still loved to sit there, gently swaying back and forth as she watched the stars or listened to the rustle of leaves.

Now, the swing was buried under snow, the seat frozen solid, like a perfect reflection of Primrose herself, who had been gone for so long that all her mories here felt frozen in ti.

For a brief mont, she could almost see her younger self everywhere; running through the garden, laughing, waving at her friends as they visited, or crouching beside the maids to discuss what flowers should be planted next.

Three years.

She had been away from ho for more than three years, long enough that she had almost forgotten the life she once had here, the life she lived before being forced to beco the living truce between two races.

"L-Lady Primrose, what’s wrong?" one of the maids, Layla, asked nervously when Primrose didn’t say anything.

Her worry deepened when her lady suddenly crouched down, covered her face, and began crying so loudly that everyone could hear.

"My Lady, what’s wrong?!"

"Did we not make the red carpet long enough for you?!"

They all rushed toward her, but all movent stopped the instant Edmund stepped out of the carriage.

[I-Is she crying because the Lycan King did sothing awful to her before they arrived?!]

[What is he going to do now?! Is he angry because she’s crying?!]

[I won’t let him hurt her again! I’ll never let Lady Primrose return to Noctvaris!]

But before anyone could act, they saw sothing none of them could have imagined.

The mighty Lycan King knelt down beside their lady, gently patting her back. Then, to their utter shock, Primrose threw herself into his arms, sobbing against his chest.

"What’s wrong?" he asked softly, so gently that everyone froze in disbelief. "You’re ho now... so why are you crying?"

The maids stood frozen in silence. For the first ti, they weren’t looking at a king feared by all, but at a man who held his wife as if she was the most fragile thing in the world.

[N-now that I think about it... the Lycan King actually looks kind of handso.]

[Could it be that he’s not as scary as people said? Lady Primrose only hugs people she really trusts!]

[No wonder His Grace didn’t cry every day after sending his daughter away. Turns out his son-in-law is such a good boy!]

Primrose took a deep breath. She wanted to cry, but sohow, she couldn’t do it properly because people’s voices kept echoing inside her head.

One mont they were insulting Edmund, and the next they were calling him handso and acting like he was so well-behaved boy.

Wait, who the hell just called her husband a good boy?!

He wasn’t a dog!

"It’s just... because I’m ho," Primrose murmured, finally pulling away from her husband’s embrace, her cheeks flushed pink. "Everything here makes feel so emotional."

Edmund leaned closer and whispered, "People keep staring at us. Do they think I made you cry?"

Primrose let out a small laugh and whispered back near his ear, "They think you’re handso."

"You’re lying," Edmund muttered, looking away quickly as his ears turned red. "I’m not that handso."

The two of them kept whispering back and forth, their words soft and playful.

The guards and maids standing nearby exchanged uneasy glances, unsure if they should keep watching or look away. Sohow, the fear they once felt toward the terrifying King of Beasts had completely disappeared.

When they looked toward the Noctvaris soldiers, the beasts only sighed and shook their heads, as if to say, ’Yeah... we see this every day.’

Finally, after what felt like forever, the manor’s butler, Denish Lennox, cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Your Majesties, forgive for interrupting, but it seems the snow will start falling again soon. It would be best if you ca inside the manor now."

Primrose and Edmund lifted their heads, turning toward the butler, who was about the sa age as Lazarus. Primrose was the first to rise to her feet, followed—sowhat awkwardly—by Edmund, who stood beside her like a dutiful husband.

"Mr. Lennox! Why are you being so formal with ?" Primrose wiped her tears and smiled brightly at the middle-aged man. "I’ve missed you so much!"

Denish’s lips curved slightly as he replied, "You are no longer our young lady, but the Queen of Noctvaris, Your Majesty. It’s only proper that I show the right respect."

Primrose sighed softly. She’d been called by that title for years, but hearing it from soone she’d known since childhood made her chest tighten. It just felt... distant.

"Don’t be so formal," she said, slipping her arm through his like she used to when she was younger. "You can call the sa way you always have, at least while we’re in this house. Please don’t make feel like a stranger in my own ho."

Denish’s eyes softened instantly, the stern look on his face lting into warmth. "If that’s what you wish, My Lady," he said gently.

"So..." Primrose smiled sweetly, though her eyes glead with mock annoyance. "Where is my dear father? How dare he not co out to greet his daughter at the gate?"