King wore a black, patternless mask covering his entire face in the darkness. He also wore a black trench coat that fully wrapped around him.
Apart from his height, one couldn’t tell anything of his appearance at first glance.
King was like the ruler of the night. Just him standing there, a chilling aura enveloped the surroundings, such that no one around them dared take him lightly.
At the sight of him, the Queen neatened her hair and smoothed her skirt. Then, with a smile, she started to walk over to King.
Barbarian, however, said, “Why don’t you see a doctor before going over? King is not in a hurry.”
The Queen had long since regained her usual poise and grace. She placed her hands at her abdomen and kept her back straight as she, in strict accordance with court etiquette, walked over to King. As she did, she said, “Mr. King is already here. If I choose to go to the doctor now, wouldn’t I be snubbing him?”
Barbarian hesitated for a while and then tried to dissuade her again. “There’s been an assassination attempt on your life, hasn’t it? It’s fine even if you make him wait a bit.”
Although there had been an assassination attempt on her life, and the Queen had been awfully flustered when she was upstairs just now, she maintained her pride at this moment and deliberately said within earshot of King, “This little hiccup is nothing. I’ve seen worse.”
“… But our bodyguards are all still upstairs,” said Barbarian.
“Why do you have so many excuses?” The Queen interrupted him and said reproachfully, “As my first bodyguard, you should learn to stay calm.”
The Queen spoke very gracefully and took the opportunity to educate him. Then, she added, “Besides, didn’t a lot of people from the Assassin Alliance and the Hitmen League also come over? It is their honor to protect me!”
After speaking, she looked at Nora with a gentle and elegant smile and said, “There are so many talented people around. Black Cat here can even mount the eaves and walk the walls!”
Nora glanced at her, hesitant to speak and also at a loss for words.
While the Queen was speaking, she had already come up to King. She bowed gracefully and said, “Long time no see, Mr. King.”
The Queen had practiced the action numerous times in front of the mirror.
King was not someone one could meet all the time.
The last time the two of them met had been three years ago.
The Queen maintained her pride and self-esteem in front of the person she liked, wishing to show him only her best.
King hesitated for a moment. His dark eyes first glanced behind her, seemingly passing over Black Cat quickly before he returned a bow of his own and said, “Long time no see, Your Majesty.”
King spoke in Welsh, his voice deep and pleasant.
The Queen’s eyes lit up, and she continued in Welsh and said, “Mr. King is as charming as
ever.”
King, however, looked around and didn’t answer.
Seeing this, the Queen suddenly realized something. She suddenly looked at Nora and asked in English, “Black Cat, do you speak Welsh?”
Nora shook her head without hesitation.
Only then did the Queen put her mind at ease.
King probably had some things that he couldn’t quite mention in public, so the two would need to have a private chat. Besides… Black Cat had been upstairs just now, who knew when she had reached there? The things that she and her aide had said in Welsh weren’t suitable for outsiders’ ears. However, now that she knew Black Cat didn’t speak Welsh, she could rest assured.
Only then did the Queen look at King.
For some reason, she felt that King seemed relieved too.
Although he still sounded distant, his words were more or less still pleasant. He said, “Your Majesty is as radiant as ever.”
The Queen covered her mouth and laughed. She said, “Really? I thought I’d aged since we last met three years ago.”
King: “…”
He gave the Queen a complicated glance and then replied, “Not at all. It seems that time doesn’t move for you, Ma’am.”
The Queen lowered her eyes and said, “I heard that you now have a daughter too. As it happens, she and my daughter are good friends. Your fiancée, Nora Smith, and I are also old friends. She was round and plump back then, but I heard that she has lost weight and become much prettier? I wonder who is more beautiful, me or her?”
… Hah, I have now witnessed for myself our farce of a friendship, Nora thought to herself.
At the mention of Nora, King glanced at Black Cat again. Something flashed across his dark eyes as though he was weighing something. At last, he said in Welsh, “You have a grander presence, Ma’am.”
The Queen bit her lip.
King hadn’t said that she was more beautiful but only that she had a grander presence. Although it sounded perfunctory, it was already very rare for him to say that.
As a businessman, King rarely participated in power struggles. Although he maintained good relations with the authorities of various countries, he never curried favors with them.
For every country, in addition to the military, their economy was also of utmost importance.
Therefore, no matter where he went, King was always welcomed, and he was also the object of everyone’s favor. Besides, King had said it straight to her face that she was ugly.
After a separation of three years, the man had surprisingly become less mean.
The Queen’s face glowed even more radiantly than before.
She smiled and asked, “Then, shall we have dinner tonight? Will Mr. King grace me with his presence?”
King answered, “It’d be an honor to.”
After speaking, he glanced at Nora again and then deliberately said in English, “It’s a custom in the UK to conduct business over a meal anyway, so it’s not a problem.”
The Queen didn’t understand why he had added that in English, but she didn’t press the matter.
Upstairs, the two assailants had been shot dead and the fire was extinguished, but the hotel had still suffered a lot of damage. Fortunately, the restaurant next to it was still open, and there was also accommodation available in that building.
Thus, the group moved over to the other building with great momentum.
The Queen said to King, “Why don’t you head to the restaurant first? I’ll go back and get a change of clothes.”
“Sure,” replied King.
Only then did the Queen head to the upper floors with her aide, who had been rescued, holding her arm. While she was heading upstairs, something seemed to occur to the Queen and she said to Nora, “Black Cat, you will stay close to me and protect me.”
Nora followed behind her without a word. Even after she walked far into the distance, she could still sense King’s gaze on her.
On the way there, the Queen and her aide continued speaking to each other in Welsh.
The aide smiled and said, “Mr. King is surprisingly polite today. He doesn’t seem entirely disinterested in you.”
The Queen, however, sneered, “Do you really think that is true? It’s only because he has something to ask of me! Otherwise, he would never go along with me like that!”
The Queen had dealt with King many times before, so she knew very well what he was like.
For him to suddenly go along with her, he must have something to ask of her.
However, the Queen changed the subject again and said, “Regardless, I held myself very well just now, right? I must have been very elegant, right? That’s exactly it; I want him to see how elegant I have become so that he will be filled with regret!”
The aide looked at her hesitantly.
The two entered the room that had been prepared for them. The queen held her skirt up and walked gracefully into the dressing room. And then…
“Ahhh!”
The Queen pointed to the woman with the dark, sooty cheeks in the mirror. “I-Is that how I looked just now?”
At the thought of how she had deliberately feigned elegance and gracefulness when she looked like such an ugly mess, the Queen had a mental breakdown.
The aide: “…”
“Barbarian! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Barbarian, who was standing outside the door: “…”
He had been trying very hard to, but if the Queen refused to listen, there was nothing he could do!
