The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 244: Will You Lie Again?

"Soleia!" Rafael exclaimed, immediately rubbing her back. "Just wait a while, I’ll heal you―" He focused his powers, trying to reduce her exhaustion, but Soleia shrugged it off.

"I’m fine," Soleia said, feeling a highly strong sense of deja vu.

Back then, Rafael had similarly fussed over her when they had emerged from Raziel’s dungeon. A lot had certainly changed since then, but her hand instinctively went to her belly. If Rafael had used his healing powers back then, perhaps he would have discovered the pregnancy and rendered her entire escape attempt moot.

Life certainly worked in mysterious ways. Rafael also caught the way her hand went to her belly, and his frown grew more pronounced with worry.

"Soleia, let me take a look at you," he insisted. "You are pregnant."

"I’m worried that if you heal me, I might end up taking your powers by accident," Soleia said.

"So what?" Rafael shrugged. "I’ve already gotten rid of two of the biggest threats to us for the time being. Even if you take my powers again, we can afford to wait it out before making a move. "

"And what’s our move?" Soleia was afraid of the answer, but she had to ask. "Since both your brothers are dead... that means you’re the heir apparent to the throne."

And Soleia was in no way prepared, in any shape or form, to be queen. But what other options did she have? If she weren’t pregnant, she would have made a trip to Nedour after Rafael’s coronation to reunite with Reitan. But now...

Even if she wanted to leave, she highly doubted Rafael would be willing to let her go alone. But he couldn’t go with her― not when he had duties here.

"Hey, why the long face?" Rafael asked, poking her forehead lovingly. "We’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. If you want to see Reitan, I’ll get Princess Nessa to bring him over. If you want to visit Nedour, I’ll go with you. Hell, if you want to visit your two older sisters, we’ll travel there as well. It’s not as though my father has any other options for an heir. If he does, I’ll just kill them too before we leave."

Soleia choked. How straightforward of him! But his words did wonders in relaxing her, and she agreed for Rafael to help her recover. Rafael focused on healing the bruises, his gaze darkening every time he felt a pool of stagnant blood in her body.

"I should have hurt him more," Rafael swore under his breath. "Should have just cut off his cock and stuffed it in his own mouth instead―"

"Such a sight might traumatize our unborn child," Soleia said with a wince. "And I’m not too keen to see your brother’s unclothed nether regions. More importantly, can you help me get my ring back?"

"Your ring?" Rafael asked in confusion, and Soleia cleared her throat in embarrassment. Her husband hadn’t seen it before.

"Yes... I made it in secret back then because I needed a weapon to help me escape from Raxuvia." From him. She did not say it, but the meaning was clear. She hoped Rafael would not be too angry.

"I see," Rafael said evenly. He did not like to be reminded of the many tricks Soleia had up her sleeve in a bid to run away from him, but hopefully, that was water under the bridge. "What does it look like?"

Soleia held out her hands to estimate the size of it. "It’s made of gold, and several small crystals are embedded inside it. Ricard used his powers to rip it off my hand before you arrived."

"Alright. Sit tight, my precious darling wife. I’ll scrounge it up for you," Rafael said, looking around the messy battlefield carefully for something that matched her description. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was Ricard’s decapitated head.

So he decided to vent his anger by kicking it away like it was a football. Rafael took great pleasure as he sent it flying a short distance away, causing it to bounce off a wall with a loud thud.

"Hmph. I thought it would sound... more hollow," Rafael mused, before he turned back to his task.

After a few minutes, he spotted something shiny in a bloody lump on the floor. Using his powers, he easily removed the residual blood to reveal a bright gold ring, with its crystals winking innocently in the moonlight.

He let out a slow, impressed wolf-whistle as he examined it further. His wife was truly ingenious. Before he passed it over to her, he made sure to scrub every inch of it free of Ricard’s disgusting blood. He wasn’t going to let Soleia touch anything of Ricard’s in this lifetime.

"Here it is," Rafael passed it over to her. Many questions tumbled out of his throat, and his mouth moved faster than his mind. "Are you going to use that to make another escape attempt? Will you leave me again?"

Soleia froze, and she seriously considered the question. "It depends. Are you going to continue to lie to me in the future?"

"No," Rafael promised fervently, reaching out to grab her hand. "I swear that as long as I shall live, a lie will never cross my lips. I will be nothing but the epitome of honesty."

"Then I suppose I could stay," Soleia said with a sigh. Only time would tell if Rafael would keep his promise, but after all he had done, Soleia wanted to give him a second chance. "Our child does need a father."

"And he’ll have one," Rafael vowed sincerely. "He’ll have a whole lot of friends too, my men would love to spoil him―"

Then he paused as he remembered. Landon and Oliver were both dead. His heart grew heavy at the thought.

"I’m sorry," Soleia said again. She caught the way Rafael’s eyes darted towards Oliver’s cold, unmoving body, and guilt coursed through her body. "He was your loyal right-hand man, wasn’t he?"