No matter what the truth might have been, however, Eugene believed that it was unforgivable for Katie to have just abandoned her son so easily. Eugene was heartbroken every time she thought about young Kasser being left all alone. And yet, she remembered remorse on Katie’s face, so she couldn’t hate her. But she was still curious about her.
She had no thoughts at all about meeting Katie secretly. The problem was that she would have to get her consent. And, somehow, that didn’t look like it was going to be easy to get at all.
<strong>***</strong>
Eugene stood up after chatting with the others for as long as she could. When she told them she was going to go, the Anikas asked her to stay.
“It’s been a while since you’ve attended a meeting,” one of them said. “Why not stay a little longer?”
“You need to go back to the kingdom, right?” another one added. “You don’t know when you’ll be able to attend the next meeting.”
They acted as if they were close friends. The Anikas way of expressing their desires was always simple and innocent. Even before the banquet started, they had started asking things like, “Can I visit the Arse Mansion?”and, “Can you show me the royal family’s mansion?” even, “Let’s meet often and get close to one another.”
“I have somewhere to be,” Eugene exined. “I can’t postpone it because I already made an appointment in advance. Let’s meet sometime soon and have a meal together.”
“Shall we?” one of the Anikas asked.“I will definitely attend,” another said. “So don’t leave me out.”
“Me too!”
Looking at the glittering eyes of the Anikas, Eugene sighed. She meant her words casually; she didn’t expect them to take it so literally. In any case, she had to make arrangements for a meeting soon if they insisted.
The Anikas followed Eugene out in a stampede. As soon as Eugene walked through the door, a servant approached her and bowed his head. It was like he had been waiting for her.
“My Queen, are you moving to the next item on your schedule?”he asked.
“Yes. Where’s the carriage?”
“It’s on standby.”
The servant signaled to the other servant waiting under the stairs. The servant then bowed his head and hurried somewhere else. In a moment, a carriage procession escorted by warriors on their horses entered the front yard. Therge carriage stopped exactly under the stairs and the two carriages that followed stopped behind it. From one of the carriages, the servants got off in a hurry and installed simple stairs leading up to therge carriage. The warriors dismounted from their horses and kneeled to their queen.
<em>They’re so loud.</em>
Even though she saw them leave a while ago, Eugene sighed when she saw that the number of servants who followed her was close to around 50 servants. The number of escorting warriors alone was already 30.
As they prepared for departure, Eugene couldn’t help but remain speechless at the sight of so many people. One would think they were going to war.
Eugene bid farewell to the people who came out to see her off and went down the stairs. Every time she passed by the servants and warriors, they bowed their heads. It was a spectacr sight for the Anikas who all watched her from afar.
After Eugene got in the carriage, the servant closed the door behind her and pulled the stairs away to prepare for departure. They were all familiar with their roles and moved like clockwork.
After all the carriage doors were closed, the warriors on their horses stood and nked the queen’s carriage right and left. Sven, who led the escorts raised his hand and signaled for them to start moving.
The Anikas couldn’t stay in their seats as the carriage started its departure. They couldn’t help but stand up and gaze as the carriage moved away. They had never seen anyone taken care of with such precaution such as the Queen Jin. From the warrior’s restrained movements to the attitude of extreme courtesy, it all seemed so magnificent. Also, the title of “Queen” sounded wonderful.
“I guess the rumors are true,” someone started mumbling.
“I heard that Anika Jin fell in love with the Desert King and married him,” one of them said. “Isn’t it the first time that a childless Anika married to a king hase and visited the holy city?”
“It is,” another Anika nodded. “I can’t believe there were so many warrior escorts. In the kingdom, warriors are treated as the country’s treasures.”
In the heads of the Anikas, Anika Jin and the desert king had be the main characters of the romance story of the century.
<strong>***</strong>
Eugene stopped the carriage before they reached the Scan and called Sven to hand over her gloves.
“Please keep this safe, these are important things,” she said, handing Sven a candy bag. “Please do be careful not to take out the contents or touch them. I suspect someone can track that thing down.”
Sven quickly understood and nodded. “We’ll keep it in a ce where no one will question it. We’ll keep a very close eye on it so that we’ll know who tries to approach it.”
The carriage set off again. Charlotte was outside, ready to meet Eugene when she arrived at the residence of Scan Mansion at the appointed time. Eugene met Mitchell, the host, right away too as she had also been waiting for her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the host said. “My name is Mitchell. Please forgive my granddaughter. She iscking in many ways.”
“You’re being modest,” Eugene said. “She is a very great person. I’m learning a lot.”
A few ceremonial greetings and pleasantries were exchanged. Mitchell asked about the status of his granddaughter-inw in the Hashi Kingdom and Eugene praised the prime minister’s outstanding ability.
It wasn’t a long conversation, but Mitchell’s eyes shed with brilliance. Although no one should really judge a person by their first impression, it is often the closest to their essence.
Mitchell had a rough idea of who Eugene was after receiving letters from Anika Jin and sending requested items or information. Mitchell’s ideas of people were rarely wrong because he had met so many different people in his life and was used to trying to understand them.
The Anika Jin he imagined was a sensitive person when it came to gains and losses. If she were to get what she needed and didn’t know exactly what she needed to do while things shifted underfoot, her attitude would change as well. Maybe it was a one-off transaction? Maybe she was not the type of person who could sustain long-term transactions.
However, Mitchell had be interested because Anika Jin was totally different from what he had imagined. When he found out that his granddaughter had be a liaison to Queen Anika Jin, he bit his tongue. It seemed like he was the one who had been hasty in his judgment.