His Highness's Second Wife
His Highness’s Second Wife Chapter 97

Raena smiled as she slid her fingers over Kassian’s naked back, running circles over his hard muscles and tracing the line of his spine all the way to the sheet that was barely covering his firm a*s.

She had been doing that for the past ten minutes and he hadn’t moved at all – he lay on his stomach with a head turned away from her, his chest rising and falling slowly as if he was sleeping. She suspected he was pretending, but so far he hadn’t reacted so she was enjoying the peace and quiet, thinking how happy those few days had been, unburdened from the problems of the world and the mess that awaited them outside that door.

She didn’t realize when her hand had stopped moving, but she almost jumped when something wrapped around her fingers, pressing them against his back.

“Don’t stop,” Kassian murmured in a sleepy voice and Raena focused on his hand, which was guiding hers to his back. She laughed and started caressing him again while he turned his head towards her, smiling. “Good morning.”

“It’s way past noon.” Raena pointed out with a smile.

“It’s morning somewhere,” Kassian murmured, closing his eyes as if planning to go to sleep again.

“Can we get up and leave the room now?” Raena asked, sitting up. “I thought about getting up for breakfast and leaving you to sleep, but then I remembered how that ended up last time…” She added with a sour smile, looking down at the fading bruises on her wrists where he had tied her up to the bed when she tried to slip out. She noticed him smirking and hit his back, but he just laughed.

“Five more minutes.” He mumbled, wrapping his hand around her waist and pulling her down next to him. He hugged her tightly, burying his face in her hair and inhaling deeply. “I haven’t rested this much in years.”

“I haven’t exercised this much in years,” Raena murmured, running her fingers through his hair. It had grown a little in the past few weeks, so she could actually grab him by it if she wanted to.

She felt his lips press against her neck, sucking it gently, then he ran his tongue over it as if to soothe the tender skin. “We can’t stay in this room forever.”

“I know. Just five more minutes.” Kassian whispered in an unhappy tone before kissing her neck again. “We’ll go for breakfast, but then..” A loud knock came from the door, and Raena turned to look at it. For a moment, she thought it was Kara who had come to ask if she had any plans for the day, but that had been too loud for her maid. While her hands were much better, hitting them against something so hard would definitely hurt her.

Kassian mumbled, frowned in confusion.

‘Oh, no’ and she “Your Highness, are you awake?” Blaine’s voice came from the other side after he knocked one more time. There was no way anyone could have continued to sleep after that banging, Raena thought. “Your Highness, I am sorry to bother you, but there are urgent documents that need to be reviewed and signed, and I cannot process them myself. It’s just a few hours’ work, but I really need you to do it if we want to meet the deadlines.”

“No way, I’m on leave.” Kassian snapped in annoyance, his hands tightening around Raena. “Come back in three days. You’re on leave from your service to the crown prince, not from your work for your own household,” Blaine pointed out from the other side of the door, a note of frustration present in his voice as well. Raena barely held back her laughter, wondering if this was a normal occurrence between the two. Both Blaine and Kassian seemed so serious and responsible all that time that imagining the aide trying to wake his master in the morning and Kassian murmuring ‘five more minutes’ before turning to the other side, cracked her up. When she laughed, Kassian gave her a dirty look.

There was some incoherent whispering on the other side of the door and another knock followed, calmer and much quieter. Raena knew what was going to hear even before she heard the words.

“Mistress, please get up. I had breakfast prepared and there is work waiting for you as well.” She said in a much more respectful tone than she usually used. Raena glanced at Kassian, who shook his head. “Mistress, if you don’t take care of the restaurant’s problems right now, the place will go under you’ll never be able to get it back on its feet.”

Raena winced. Sometimes she wondered if Kara’s superpower was replaceing people’s weak spots and punching them there until they cried.

“l’m getting up,” Raena shouted, pushing off the sheets, “He is getting up, too. Get that breakfast ready.” Raena turned to look at him since he hadn’t moved, only to replace him making a disgruntled face. “Five minutes are up. Let’s get dressed.”

“How can you be so excited about paperwork?” He murmured as he rolled off the bed while she got up and stretched. She took a couple of shaky steps but her legs didn’t betray her this time so headed for the adjoining room that held her wardrobe and pulled one of her light, easy-to-put-on dresses she had at hand when she had to dress herself. She heard Kassian stride in after her and she glanced at him through the mirror.

He headed towards one of the chairs by the wall where a set of male clothes sat neatly folded and picked up the shirt. Considering she didn’t have any men’s clothes in her room, Raena fiqured Kara must have come in earlier to prepare them.

Her maid was two steps ahead, as usual. Once they were ready and stepped into the corridor, Kara and Blaine were waiting for them impatiently. Kassian closed the door and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes while the two waited expectantly.

“Erm, wel.” Raena said awkwardly, looking between Kassian and his aide before settling her eyes on Kara. “I’ll have my breakfast at the office. Are you two staying for breakfast or heading for the Main Palace right away?”

“There is enough space in your office, right? l can read from anywhere.” Kassian said while Blaine’s face darkened.

“But all the documents are..” the aide started. Kassian must have given him some kind of sign because he stopped himself mid-sentence and sighed. “I’ll go bring them now.” Raena glanced behind her, but her husband just smiled innocently.

“I’ll walk sir Blaine out and come back with your breakfast,” Kara announced, following Blaine down the corridor. Raena stared after them for a second before heading towards her office. She glanced at Kassian as he followed, but he seemed too busy looking around to notice. It was after she opened the door that he focused on her.

“This is the first time I see this place in broad daylight. It has changed a lot.” He pointed out as he let his eyes roam around her office, stopping at the library on one of the walls and over to the furniture they had carefully picked for the place. “In a good way. It looks warm and cozy.”

“Well, it’s definitely better than the condition I received it,” Raena said without thinking.

She glanced at Kassian, who winced, running a hand through his hair. “No need to apologize. We’re all been young and stupid.”

He raised an eyebrow with an amused look on his face, then took a few steps towards her, wrapping his hands around her shoulders. He kissed her head, then leaned his chin on it, looking out the windows.

“l actually meant from the time before – when my mother and I used to live here. This place never felt this inviting even then.”

Raena looked up at him, but he was still staring outside with a thoughtful expression. A knock came from the door and then it opened even before Raena could call for them to come in. Kara stepped inside, followed by two maids carrying an assortment of foods, which they carefully placed on the coffee table in the corner. After a quick curtsy, they tiptoed out of the room and Kara moved to follow, saying she will be back with the documents.

Raena headed towards the table, reaching out to grab one of the fluffy croissants while her stomach grumbled. She was just about to bite into it when Kassian’s hand caught her wrist. She looked up at him, only to replace him frowning.

“How can you be so careless after everything that had happened? Where is your taster?” he asked, his frown deepening.

“Kara was there, which means she made the cooks taste the food before bringing it up. It’s fine.” Raena sighed, trying to free her hand, but he tightened his grip.

“No. Call your taster.” Kassian insisted. Raena stared at him, half-expecting for him to fold under her displeased glare, but she was sourly disappointed.

She ended up calling the taster, who confirmed the food was fine. They ate in silence, with Raena chewing without the previous hunger.

Soon after, Kara brought her the documents she needed to go over and Blaine returned with a huge stack, which he dumped on the table in front of Raena’s desk. Kassian had refused to take the desk, saying he only needed somewhere to sit and made himself comfortable in one of the sofas.

Minutes turned into hours and before she knew it, she was so absorbed by numbers, complaints, and reports that she completely forgot Kassian and Blaine were there. Kara kept coming in and out of the room to bring refreshments and snacks, which often remained untouched, and the only time anyone talked was to decline them.

Kassian and Blaine conversed in hushed voices when the former asked about something he read, but most of the time the only sounds were coming from the bird’s nest that a pair of swallows had made by her window or the servants talking in the garden while tending to it.

“And done.” Raena sighed, slamming the last paper on the top of the pile and slumping back into her chair. Kassian glanced at her, giving her a smile, then returned to his reading. Blaine shifted in his seat as if for the first time in hours, picking up small stack of scrolls and getting to his feet. For a moment she thought he’d leave to take them wherever he was taking the rest of the work Kassian finished, but to her surprise, he walked towards her desk and set them down in front of her.

“If you’re done with your other work, Your Highness, please take a look at those.” He said respectfully while Raena straightened up in her seat.

“What is this?” She asked, picking up the scroll on the top and unfolding it.

“Those are matters related to His Highness’s harem. Allowances, repair requests, extra funding, and anything related to the cubines residing within the residence.”

Raena’s smile dropped, and she glanced at Kassian, but his attention seemed to be completely absorbed by what he was reading. Frustration sneaked into her mind, so loud and annoying, she couldn’t put it down.

“No,” Raena said, dropping the scroll on the pile with the others.

“No?” Blaine repeated with a confused expression. “Are you denying all the requests without reading them?”

“No. I’m refusing to deal with this. It’s not my harem, so it has nothing to do with me.” She added, forcing a smile onto her face. She locked her eyes on Kassian and waited until he finally looked at her. “If you want a harem, deal with it yourself.

Otherwise, get rid of it.” Raena said, surprised at her own biting tone. Just a few weeks ago she probably wouldn’t have said that and would have just smiled and done the work Blaine asked her to do. But after spending all this time with Kassian and after all the other hurdles they had just been through together, just the thought of him lying in bed with another woman made her want to punch something. Especially if that woman was Lara.

But this was the world she now lived in, and some of those women, like Hetti, had no fault in this situation. And it didn’t feel right to tell him to get rid of them because she got a little jealous.

“Fine,” Kassian said with a completely unbothered tone, returning his eyes back to the paper he was reading.

“But Your Highness, this is your wife’s responsibility..” Blaine sighed, his complexion turning paler. Under any other circumstances, Raena would have laughed – the poor guy probably just didn’t want to deal with all that work himself since she doubted Kassian would actually do it himself. But right now, she didn’t replace it particularly amusing.

“You heard her,” Kassian said in the same uninterested tone. “Just get rid of it.”

A heavy silence filled the room and nobody moved while Kassian continued to read, casually taking another sheet of paper. Blaine glanced at her with a half-opened mouth before looking back at his master.

“Get rid of what, Your Highness?”

“The harem,” Kassian replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Disband it. Give them enough money to live comfortably and replace them somewhere else to stay.” The look on Blaine’s face was priceless, but Raena couldn’t even enjoy it since she was pretty sure she was wearing a similar expression. Kassian signed the papers he was holding, adding them to the others. “And done. These were the last ones, right?” He finally looked up at them, raising an eyebrow. “What’s with the faces?”

“Erm… are you sure?” Blaine asked, shooting Raena a glance. “lt’s no small deal..”

“Yes,” Kassian replied, getting from his seat witha grunt and stretching his hands above his head. His eyes moved to Raena, and he smirked.

“I won’t be needing them, right, wife?”

“Um.. right” Raena muttered, trying to compose herself. Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest that she was afraid both of them could hear it. She got to her feet, so she had something to do while Kassian turned to Blaine.

“ls there anything else?”

“Gerrin wanted to see you at your earliest convenience,” Blaine said with a defeated voice.

He should be doing inspection right about now and later he will be training the new recruits if you want to replace him.”

“Understood.” Kassian nodded. Blaine stood still as if wondering what to do, then walked to the table and gathered the papers, bowing and leaving without a word. Kassian glanced after him then turned towards Raena with a small smile.”

Well, this took longer than I expected. I’m starving. Do you want to order some…”

He didn’t get to finish since Raena strode to him, grabbing his shirt and yanking him down so she could k**s him. He returned the k**s with a smile, his hands pulling her closer to him.

“If I knew something like this would make you this happy, I would have done it sooner.” He said as she pulled back for breath and wrapped her hands around him. Raena leaned her chin on his chest, staring at him thoughtfully. “I didn’t…”

“I love you.”

Kassian’s words trailed off and he stared at her with a surprised expression that turned into a happy smile a moment later.

“I definitely should have done this sooner.”

He whispered before claiming her lips again.