In Arielle’s room, the young woman had fallen asleep. The maids had already changed her clothes to new ones. Firewood in the fireplace has also been added. Ronan approached to take Arielle’s temperature and placed his palm on the girl’s forehead.
It appeared that the girl’s body temperature would stabilize in the morning. It made Ronan breathe a sigh of relief. He walked to the sofa then counted every second and waited for William to bring his work.
Ronan intended to watch over Arielle that night. He was worried that suddenly, in the middle of the night, the girl’s temperature would drop like a few days ago.
When he found her a few days ago, Arielle’s body had been covered in snow. Even though Priest Elis had warmed her with light magic, Arielle’s body temperature continued to lower until Ronan personally intervened by choosing to distribute his body warmth to the girl.
There was a knock on the bedroom door and William came into the room. He brought a tall stack of papers that made Ronan widen his eyes.
"This much?"
"Your Majesty has left the palace to go to the Eastern border for two days. And today Your Majesty has not returned to the palace at all."
Ronan cursed softly, then closed the bedroom door tightly after William came out. He took off his mask and let out a long sigh. His neck felt really stiff, but he had to stay up tonight. The man began to read, one by one reports waiting for a response from him.
As Ronan was writing a reply to the Thebis Kingdom, he heard a small groan. He touched his mask, which he had placed on the table. He was getting ready to put the mask back on immediately if there was any indication that Arielle would wake up.
The moaning stopped, and Ronan got up from his seat to come closer to where Arielle was lying. Once again, he put his palm on to check the girl’s temperature.
"Normal," he muttered.
But when Ronan raised his hand, he found Arielle staring up at him, he then blinked a few times to see if she really was awake. Quickly, his palms covered Arielle’s eyes so that she couldn’t see his face.
"Yo-Your Majesty?" asked Arielle in a hoarse voice. The girl was confused as to why King Ronan covered her eyes all of a sudden.
"Close your eyes. Don’t open it until I give the signal," he ordered.
"O-okay," Arielle replied nervously.
She closed her eyes tightly again. The tone of the command from King Ronan just now sounded so sharp that Arielle followed her instincts to obey.
"You can open it again," said Ronan, this time in a softer voice.
Arielle’s heart pounded but she slowly opened one of her eyes. She looked at Ronan and saw that he was wearing his mask again. After the man’s mask was completely put on, Arielle opened her eyes.
"Is there something you want to do?" asked Ronan, approaching her.
"Um..."
Arielle looked around her and was sure that she was in her own room. Yet why was that man here at this late hour of the night? She looked around and was worried again when she didn’t find Tania near her.
Seeing Arielle’s worried face, Ronan touched the girl’s shoulder then poured her a glass of water.
"Relax, your servant is resting now. She was in another room. Drink this first."
Arielle received a glass of warm water from Ronan. As the warm liquid touched her throat, Arielle let out a sigh of relief. She put the glass back on the nearest nightstand.
Her eyes caught the pile of papers and several files scattered on the desk. As Arielle recalled, the papers were not there this morning. Even she herself was confused because she was not good at writing and reading.
So, it was clear that the papers did not belong to her. Then whose were those?
The answer to that question was immediately answered when Ronan sat back down on the sofa, taking out a piece of paper to read.
Arielle wondered, what was that man doing in her room?
"Uhm... I-sorry if I-I’m presumptuous to ask this..." Arielle was really nervous. She clasped her hands, trying to suppress her nervousness. "Wh-Wh-what is Your Majesty doing?"
"I’m at work," Ronan replied casually.
Arielle knew that too, but she didn’t dare to make a comment. The girl chose to sit on her bed without asking further.
Ronan, who felt the room was too quiet, then turned to Arielle, who sat simply in her bed with a faraway look in her eyes. He held the paper in his hand but his gaze was on her.
"Are you hungry?"
She heard the king speak and it made Arielle snap out of her daydream and she shook her head slowly.
"Then why not sleep? It’s very late at night."
Arielle bit her lip. How could she sleep when a King was in her room working? Maybe if Ronan was Tania, Arielle could sleep peacefully.
"I-I’m not sleepy," she answered quietly.
The room was silent again. There was only the crackling sound of the fire burning wood and the occasional sound of paper rustling as Ronan put them back down or took another from the pile of files in front of him accompanying them.