My Fiancée Hates Me novel Chapter 28

[The Past]

"Erik, I am going to the northern border for a bit," I told him as I began packing.

Erik pulled me by my arm into his lap.

"Whatever you can do, you can stay with me."

There it is... Erik is being needy again.

I touched his cheek with my hand.

"You have become King... You are in a position where you must not leave from your tower is what I should say," I said as I pulled his cheeks. "You have been sneaking out here and there..."

"Ow... how did you find out?"

"I know that you have been sneaking out with the number of books piling in our bedroom. Most of them are not even about law or medicine. That means that you have been obtaining these books outside of the Royal Library," I said as I pointed towards the unorganized pile of books.

A few maids would come and clean only once a week since Erik hated people coming and going out of our room often.

"I have seen you taking a few books here and there as well..."

I flinched slightly.

He found out...

Erik was an avid reader much like me and Garett. It was a bit unexpected seeing as though he loves to skip out on his official duties.

"Who do you think has to cover for you?" I asked him. "Even for sneaking out, you leave for far too long...Please think about your wife as well."

Erik pulled me aside and threw me on the bed. I fell down onto my side and pulled my legs up slightly as I curled my body and looked at Erik. He crouched over me and encased me in his arms.

"You are absolutely right. I have been disregarding my wife for too long," he said as he picked up the bottom of my long skirt.

I did not mean like this!

I felt like panicking.

"W-Wait..."

"Why wait? We are already married, Ari," he said as his hands ran under my shirt.

This might be a bit bad. Erik has had a bad case with overdoing things. If I let things go on like this, I will be bedridden and be forced to move my plans back a day.

He suddenly kissed my neck.

"...Erik, I really can't today," I said in a not so convincing voice.

I was suddenly pinched on my sides.

"You have gone soft..."

How dare he?

I grabbed the closest pillow I could and began smacking Erik as much as I could and left him as a decrepit corpse on our bed.

I had begun a sedimentary lifestyle with Erik's increasing truancy. I had disregarded my strict diet and exercise regime.

I was not particularly fat, but it is discerning if Erik is able to grab my sides and tell me that I have grown soft...The royalty life is a very scary thing.

I barged into the maids' lounge.

"Your Highness!"

I suddenly felt oncoming tears.

I was quickly surrounded by my worried maids.

"What is wrong, Your Highness?" a maid asked.

"...I need...I need to diet," I said as I began wiping my tears with my wrists. "His Highness grabbed my love handles."

My hands were suddenly clasped by the younger maids.

"Say no more," a maid told me.

"For honor! For Arundel! For the best body!" the maids said in unison.

I cannot let this go on before I head off on official business.

I was put on a strict diet by the maids and went intense training that was even more brutal than Knight training in the morning and night for the next three days.

In the end, I really did have to push my trip back, but my getting my body back in shape is very important. During the time I was under strict observation, I had avoided Erik the whole time.

"Congratulations, Your Highness!" a maid said as she measured me. "22 centimeters!"

Upon leaving, I was seen out by the maids who helped me get back to my ideal weight and a few close officials.

Erik was nowhere in sight. He must have been angry with me for leaving him alone while I went on my diet. He should have at least seen me before leaving.

I was crying before I knew it.

"His Highness is such a dummy!"

I left for my trip right afterwards.

"Welcome to the Northern Fortress Stella, Your Highness, Queen Arielle," Commander Darian Derek said. "I hope your trip was smooth coming here?"

The commander seemed to shake slightly in my presence.

"Milady, your glare is frightening the Commander," my butler Sebastian whispered.

I am still mad about Erik.

I went to put back on my official smile.

"Thank you for your very warm welcome."

"Shall I show you around, Your Highness?"

"I am very honored to be shown around by the Commander himself...Even so, I may be an esteemed person, but there must be other people that are less busy with their work to show me around. There is no need for the Commander himself to serve as a tour guide for me."

He seemed taken back by my remark.

"Yes...Things are not as busy around here as the capital."

"I trust that management must be as smooth then," I said with a sly smile.

He seemed to be taken back by my presence. I am a little girl to them, but at least they still respect my position.

"Of course..."

His response was rather delayed...

"...Could I take a look at the training of the Knights?"

"Of course!" he said as he brought me to the training area.

I was brought to an open training ground.

The ground maintenance was rather poor and the tools they were using were rather worn down and old.

"There are awfully a lot of younger men."

"We usually get new blood sent here to train. Some come from the Academy, while most come from small surrounding villages with little education. Over here, we accept everyone. We could use all the help we can get."

"What does the training regime look like?"

He handed me a written list of their training regime.

"This is written up by them. They mostly train amongst themselves."

"There is no one to oversee their training then?"

"There is someone..."

Commander Derek looked over at a man sitting under an umbrella who seemed to be sipping some lemonade.

"How comfortable looking..."

"He is the son of Marquis Pillar...It is difficult for even me to tell him how to do his job."

Sebastian handed me a sheet of paper and a pen. I quickly wrote up a new training regime and handed it to the Commander.

"This is the same training done by the Knights in the capital. I expect them to at least do half if they intend to stay as soldiers."