The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 51: Disastrously Small

The young girl’s voice trailed off, and she looked so utterly miserable, that Soleia stuffed the rebuke that was threatening to emerge back down her throat. It wasn’t her fault for making assumptions― in this tiny town, hardly anyone knew of her existence despite knowing that Duke Elsher married someone.

And from the way Orion had been treating her, no one with a working pair of eyes would believe she was his beloved wife. That honor went to Elowyn, without a doubt.

"It’s alright," Soleia sighed instead, trying to smile but not quite succeeding. "You’re not the first person to have such an impression."

The girl looked even more wretched. "I’m so sorry! I... understand if you might not want to stay..."

Rafael wanted nothing more than to share a bed with Soleia, but he knew he couldn’t be the one to propose such an idea.

"It’s alright, there’s still room for one person." He gestured to Soleia, "In that case, might I trouble you to get Duchess Soleia settled first?"

"What about you?" Soleia asked, worried. "Where are you going to sleep?"

Rafael shot her a wry grin. "Worst-case scenario, I can make another shelter outside. I’m not too bothered. I’ll join you for breakfast tomorrow!"

Before Soleia could say anything, the door to the inn swung open, revealing a beefy man with snowflakes buried in his bristly beard. "Penny, I’m home! Oh, do we have guests?"

"Pa!" Penny cried out, her eyes darting to Soleia and Rafael. "Yes, I mean, no, I mean yes―"

"I hope my little inn passes muster!" He let out a guffaw and shook his head, and more snow fell off his cloak. "You’ll find my place a lot warmer and cozier than outside. The snow’s really coming down― it’s practically flooded out there!"

Soleia widened her eyes in panic. In that case, there was no way she could in good conscience send Sir Ralph out into the snow to suffer the elements.

"We’ll take the room," Soleia said, turning back to Penny, in a tone that brooked no argument. Both Penny and Ralph shot her surprised glances.

"Are you sure?" Sir Ralph asked. "Tongues will wag. The damage to your reputation―"

"Tongues will wag no matter what I do," Soleia pointed out tiredly. "Now, come on, let’s get ourselves to our room. I need a hot bath and a place to rest my head. "

Also, perhaps the bed would be big enough for two. She could put a pillow in the middle.

Penny nodded frantically, moving to lead them. "Yes! I’ll get you your rooms, and hot water! We don’t have enough for a full bath, but we have a tiny tub for you to soak your feet."

"Good enough," Soleia said, and she made her way to her new room. Sir Ralph could only dumbly follow her.

"Here it is," Penny said meekly as she opened the door, her fingers twisting in anxiousness. "It’s not much―"

"It’ll do," Soleia interrupted her kindly. She was too tired to think any further.

The room was small enough that she could cover the entire span of it in four long strides, but she couldn’t deny that after a week on the snowy roads, it looked like heaven. There was an even smaller bathroom attached in the corner. Soleia didn’t have to dig holes in the snow any longer!

However, she couldn’t deny the fact that it wasn’t as warm as she had hoped. There was no room for a fireplace, which meant that the floors were freezing cold.

The only place that seemed warm was the cozy bed smacked right in the middle of the room, with its plush quilt and fluffy pillows. It was obviously meant for a couple to share.

Soleia paused; the bed was tinier than she expected. There might not even be enough room for them to keep a safe distance away from each other!

"Thank you for all your help," Rafael said to Penny when it seemed like Princess Soleia had frozen, stricken by the sight of the bed. "I’ll handle matters here."

Penny nodded. "Let us know if you need anything else!" Then without further ado, she scampered off, leaving Soleia and Rafael standing alone in the doorway as they surveyed their new living quarters.

Rafael closed the door and sighed.

"So, Princess, how shall we do this? I’m open to sleeping on the floor," Rafael offered, despite hating the very thought of it.

"You can’t." Soleia shook her head. "You’ll fall ill since the floors are cold and we don’t have enough sunstones. It’s fine, we can share. We’ve already been sharing close quarters this past week."

It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, than Rafael. However, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. This was already a better result than he had hoped for!

Both of them washed up and prepared for bed.

Rafael very gentlemanly allowed Soleia to choose which side of the bed she wanted, although it hardly made any difference to Soleia. The bed was so small that when she climbed into it, she automatically found herself in the middle. With a reluctant sigh, she shuffled back until her back hit the bedroom wall, so as to give Sir Ralph enough space to sleep.

It seemed futile. Sir Ralph was a lot taller and broader than her, and he seemed to envelop the entire bed with his presence. Soleia gulped, while they had shared quarters before, there was always enough room for them to keep a sliver of distance, so as to maintain the image of propriety.

There was no room for that in this particular bed. Every single nerve on her body seemed to be ignited with heat in his presence.

She blew out the candles, plunging the room into semi-darkness.

This close, she could still see the vague outline of Sir Ralph’s body and feel the heat radiating off his skin. She tried to close her eyes, but she was startled as she felt the back of his hand brushing against her bare arm.

"Sorry, didn’t expect it to be so small," Sir Ralph apologized, immediately drawing back. "I’ll keep to my side of the bed, I promise. I’ll sleep like a corpse. "

Soleia snorted quietly. "As long as you promise to wake up in the morning afterward."

With that, Soleia turned away from him, forcing herself to fall asleep. It wasn’t hard, as the exhaustion of the past week crept up to her. Soon, her breathing evened out, and she descended into slumber.

Meanwhile, Rafael counted her breaths. Once he was sure that Soleia was asleep, he gently reached out a hand to smooth out the flyaway strands of her hair.

To his surprise, Soleia let out a tiny huff and rolled over to his side of the bed, squishing her face against his chest. Her legs and arms automatically reached out to hug him, as though he was nothing more than her life-sized pillow.

Rafael sucked in a breath, as his nether regions began to wake. Soleia nuzzled closer to him, oblivious to his turmoil.

This was going to be a long night.