Dragon King's Harem Chapter 96. The Snow Elf Queen and The Duke (Patreon)

Dragon King's Harem Chapter 96. The Snow Elf Queen and The Duke

As soon as I fell asleep, I could feel an excruciating chill biting my body, again. I opened my eyes. Just like yesterday, the view of a snowfield and an elf with a white crown entered my sight.

"Good evening, Your Majesty," she greeted me politely.

I stood on my four legs calmly and raised my neck since I was in my Dragon Form. The faint cracking sounds from the crisp refrozen slushy snow followed it
"It's you again," I said.

"Forgive my impudence, Your Majesty. But I hope you don't mind accompanying me for a small talk," she replied. Her answer sounded like a plea.

"Instead of a small talk, how about telling me why you dragged me here, again?" I said straight to the point.

"I just wanted to see you, Your Majesty," she said the same thing as yesterday.

"I know you want to tell me something, but you hesitate to say it," I spilled all my guesses.

"I--" She didn't continue her words and fell silent.

"So what do you want? An alliance? A request for help?" I guessed. Based on Evelina's information, I concluded, it was either the queen or the duke's first son who was playing tricks.

Again, she didn't answer me.

Irritated by her silence, I lowered my head and put it right in front of her face. My eyes stared at her in intimidation.
"Answer me," I demanded.
"Is it because you are lonely after your consort died five years ago? So you need me to warm you up?" I guessed.

But she only lowered her head sadly without answering me.

"It's an alliance? Since you want to take over the duke's power?" I guessed again.

Again, she didn't respond to me. But I could catch the sadness in her eyes growing more and more.

"Or..." I brought my face closer and tilted it a bit.
"Is this a cry for help since the duke has done something to you or your child?" That was my last guess.

This time, she turned to me with her eyes wide in shock. Her expression already told me everything.

I pulled my head and smirked.
"A cry for help it is," I said. Although I could see that my first and second guess was not completely wrong, my third guess was her main reason.

"Tell me what happened?" I asked.

She shook her head from side to side before looking at me with trembling eyes in emotion.
"I can't..."

"Why?" I frowned in displeasure.

Her hand touched her neck and looked at me in sadness. Her expression showed a silent request for help.

I stared at her in silence for a moment. My brain tried to process what she tried to convey for a while before another guess crossed my head.
"Do you mean, the duke will do something to you if you say this to someone?” I guessed.

She nodded. But then her hand touched her chest before she waved it from side to side, signalling the duke was not doing something to her but to someone else.

"Is it to your son?" I said since he was the perfect hostage for the duke.

She nodded again.

"Isn't your son his nephew? Why would he want to hurt him?" I asked in confusion.

"It's a love triangle, Your Majesty. He wants me," she replied in a gloomy tone.

"So the duke loves you, but you love his brother?" I thought it was a political marriage but it seemed I was wrong.

"No, Your Majesty. I love someone else. But for the sake of my kingdom and my people I have to marry one of the late duke's children." Her eyes that looked at me clearly showed who it was. Unfortunately, our high status didn't let us since marriage between the king and queen meant one of them had to acknowledge the authority of the other. In this case, which king or queen would want to bend his/her head to another tribe's leader l?

"Then may I know. Out of all people, why are you asking for my help?" It was her kingdom's internal affair and I couldn't interfere recklessly. It could trigger a war between the two tribes. Besides, wouldn't it be easier for her to gather other loyal nobles' supports?

"No one can stand against him other than me, right now. He's even gotten rid of his family. Unfortunately, I can't do anything either." She looked down sadly.
"The current me is nothing more than a puppet..."

It was worse than I expected.
"Then if he wants to own you and your kingdom, why doesn't he marry you?" It was the quickest and easiest way since I assumed the Duke had killed his father and brother for it.

"I asked for 5 years to mourn since I don't want to look like a cheap woman who immediately took another consort after her husband died. And he agreed. In exchange..." She put her hand on her throat again, signifying the duke had placed some sort of spell there to silence her.

"I see... How much time is left?" I asked.

"3 months. He already sent me his proposal..." she said.

"Have you accepted it?"

"Not yet. I told him I wouldn't answer his proposal before the time was up."

"So what's your plan?" Since she came to me, I assumed she already had it.

Unfortunately, she shook her head from side to side again.
"I can't think of anything, Your Majesty. I have tried a lot of things but failed."

"I can't help you this way. If your people think my interference as an invasion then the war will definitely occur for sure." At least I needed something to keep this matter from turning into a big war.

She looked at me in sadness. A bitter smile on her lips.
"It's fine, Your Majesty. I never thought of asking for your help. The reason I'm using my dream spell is… Because I want to meet and spend as much time as possible with you before I remarry. But who knows... You're so sharp and able to figure out what happened so quickly.”

"So you're just going to give up?" I said with a frown.
"It's your kingdom, your people and your son. Yet you leave it to a rotten man like him," I said in displeasure. I knew she was depressed. I knew she was crying for help. But as a queen, she shouldn't give up until her last breath.

"That's the reason why I gave up," she retorted. My words had made her lose her calmness. But then she pressed her lips.
"I don't want to lose them. I don't want to sacrifice innocent people because of this futile power struggle. So I decided to settle it peacefully..." she said in a much calmer tone.

A breath came out of my nose accompanied by a smirk that showed a few of my sharp teeth.
"If you think it's just about self-sacrifice, then you'll be disappointed."

My words made her shift her gaze at me again.

"He is a cunning man from the start. He could do as far as kill his father and brother just to get to you. What makes you think he won't do the same to you one day?" I asked.

"But what should I do?" she asked.

I was silent for a moment. With my current strength, I had to stay low and avoid war with other tribes. But this kind of ambitious man was also a potential threat to Draconis. It would be better if I got rid of him in the first place. So I decided to look for more information before I thought of a way out to solve this problem without creating too much drama.
"Could you tell me more about the duke?"