A Fairy Tale for Big Girls – 27. chapter

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When Mark rose from the table that morning in greeting as Lili entered the hall, he was certain he would not endure another spectacle like yesterday’s. He tried to avoid looking into her eyes as he bowed to her, but he could not resist. It was impossible not to notice that she had seen his weariness, yet she passed over it in silence and took her seat. Only when he did the same did she ask, her voice icy.

“Is Philip keeping us waiting?”

“He sent his apologies for breakfast. He had to leave somewhere,” Mark passed on the answer he himself had received only a moment earlier.

“Truly?” Lili lifted her gaze to him with pleasure. Her sincere smile after yesterday caught him off guard, and he watched as she turned to Martin, who stood beside them.

“Will you sit with us, please?”

“That would not be proper,” Martin shook his head.

“Come on,” Lili pleaded and tilted her head slightly.

Mark gave her a slightly surprised look and said toward Martin,

“Be so kind.”

So Martin sat in his usual place, and the servants hurried to set a place before him while Lili smiled, almost content.

“Thank you,” she whispered gratefully.

“It’s nothing, Your Majesty,” he replied uncertainly.

Lili’s smile vanished and she frowned.

“Don’t call me that, please.”

“And what should we call you?!” Mark attacked at once and pierced her with his gaze. “Elizabeth?”

She guiltily lowered her gaze to the table and answered quietly.

“I prefer Lili. My father called me that.”

Mark shifted in displeasure and softened his tone.

“I’m sorry. I was not at his funeral.”

“I know. Then we would have known each other.”

Mark chose to look down at the table before him.

“Why is this plate of grapes still near me when only Lili eats them?!” he growled irritably and immediately passed the fruit plate to her.

Without a word, she set it before herself and checked Martin’s face. She noticed his gaze flick from her to Mark, then saw him try to hide a smirk by lowering his head.

“What is it?” she asked with a light smile.

“Nothing,” he shook his head sharply.

Lili darkened. Mark looked at him.

“Truly, nothing. An improper jest,” Martin tried to defend himself.

“Well then, spit it out!” Mark ordered.

“I only mean… you actually had a queen tied to a chain for half a year. That’s even better than raping a virgin.”

Lili froze, heat flooding her cheeks, and skewered Mark with her gaze. But he chose not to turn to her, so she snapped at Martin.

“Is there anything you don’t know?!”

“No,” Mark answered and finally looked at her. “He knows everything. Including why I don’t beat you.”

Lili stiffened, parted her lips, and Mark leaned toward her.

“He knows that when you disobey, all it takes is pressing my dick into your ass. That always calms you down for a few days.”

Lili gasped for breath from shame and lowered her head. She exhaled sharply, calmly set down her cutlery, and wiped her mouth just as calmly.

“This I truly do not have to endure,” she said straight into his eyes and stood.

Mark automatically opened his mouth to make her sit back down, but realized in time that he could not do that to a ruler in public. She watched defiantly as he closed his mouth, then slowly turned and walked away with measured grace.

Mark felt as if he would explode. Lili was being insolent to him, and there was nothing he could do about it! He clutched the cutlery in his hands furiously and tried to calm himself with deep breathing. Martin watched him with sympathy and whispered,

“This must be hard.”

At that moment, Mark slammed the cutlery onto the table and sprang to his feet.

“It is damn hard!” he shouted and ran toward the stairs, then up them.

“Mark, don’t do this! That is an attack on a country!” Martin tried to stop him, but in vain.

Mark burst through the door of his bedroom only moments after Lili had closed it behind her, so she was standing in the middle of the room when he slammed it shut behind him. She spun sharply toward him.

“Have you lost your mind?! You cannot be here!”

“Explain it to me!” he barked roughly.

She swept her gaze over him and breathed out slowly. The anger left her face, replaced by resignation, and she leaned her hips against the dressing table. After searching for words a moment longer, she began.

“Philip has been pursuing me for years. Father refused to force me into it, but he died this winter, and Philip started pressing even harder.”

Mark said nothing. The fury had gone. He was only listening closely.

“He claimed he would declare war on my country if I did not marry him. I would have done it if it secured the safety of my subjects. But it is exactly the opposite. After the wedding he would become their ruler too, and my country would become as poor and miserable as his. I did not know what to do. I simply fled,” she said slowly, thoughtfully.

“How did you really get to my horses?”

That such a foolish thing interested him made her smile.

“One of your soldiers apparently did not hear my ‘no.’ I fought back, so he dragged me into the stables by force. I screamed long enough for your groom to hear me. But then the soldier accused me of theft, and before I knew it, I was standing before you.”

Mark went pale, clenched his teeth and his fists. With all his strength, he tried to drive from his mind the image of what that man had wanted to do to her, so he could master his rage. Instead, he went on.

“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

He wanted to add, I would not have touched you, but he was incapable of regretting that he had, so he kept the question simple.

“I was afraid you would hand me over to Philip.”

“Lili, you are the ruler of a country with which I have a peace treaty. I had not the slightest reason to hand you over.”

“I have such a scrap of paper with Philip too. Forgive me if I don’t trust them,” she scoffed. “I hoped I would manage to escape you.”

Mark remembered that mad feeling of emptiness when he realized Lili was not at the castle and that he might never see her again. He pushed that image away too and only nodded faintly.

“And now?” he asked.

“I will marry him,” she said quietly.

Mark felt as if she had slapped him. He had to draw breath before he could get the words out.

“When did it change that he would destroy your country?”

“…Maybe if I am his wife, I will have a chance…”

“You won’t!” he cut her off.

Only then did she look at him sadly.

“I have no other choice.”

“But you do! Me!”

She smiled indulgently and shook her head.

“He would make me a widow very quickly.”

He smirked in amusement and stepped closer to her.

“You don’t need to fear that,” he said confidently. “Leave it to me,” he urged her, his voice full of tenderness.

“If I left it to you, you would do something reckless,” she shook her head.

He stopped short and blinked in fascination. Then he smiled slowly and said,

“Unlearn saying that. I don’t like it, and I’d rather not have to give you a few heated moments.”

His warning tone carried sly excitement too, but it had no effect on Lili.

Very slowly, she straightened directly in front of him, lifted her chin slightly, and spoke in a royally firm voice.

“I will marry King Philip. That is my decision.”

Mark held his breath. Unable to move, he stared into her eyes and realized he saw the same thing in them as when she had refused to answer him. She would stand by her decision.

Lili proudly endured his gaze a moment longer, then lifted her skirt and thrust her leg forward.

“Take it off,” she ordered.

He slowly lowered his gaze to the golden anklet on her ankle. He remembered how hard she had cried when he put it on her, and now he understood why. She had known it would one day end up in Philip’s hands, and that anklet revealed everything. He looked back into her face.

“Why should I do that?”

“I will marry Philip either way. You have nothing to gain by keeping it on. But you can keep from drawing Philip’s fury onto yourself if you take it off,” she explained calmly and confidently.

“…What do you think will happen when Philip finds out you are no longer a virgin?”

“But he will not know who it was. I will not tell him.”

Mark’s face showed such displeasure that it moved Lili to tenderness.

“Mark, he would kill you!” she said, with love, despair, and helplessness all at once.

Tenderness did not work on him. On the contrary, anger seized him.

“And what will he do to you?!”

She hesitated, then answered quietly.

“He wants me alive.”

“He will torture you to death! He is a sick bastard!” he shouted.

“He will do that either way!” she shouted back just as loudly. “But he will not hurt you!”

Mark stilled, and after a few seconds he breathed out in disbelief.

“Do you truly believe I would allow you to protect me with your own body?”

No matter how hard Lili tried, the lift of her nose sounded childish this time, and so did her voice.

“I will marry Philip. Take it off!”

By contrast, Mark had regained control over his feelings, and, as always, he had enough confidence for them both. He leaned toward her gently.

“You won’t. And I won’t.”

She was clearly caught off guard by that calm and decisive tone, because his name, which she cried out in furious helplessness, rang out only together with the door he calmly slammed behind him.