Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Queen Swan''s Decision


    Gale turned his head to check on Aria who was still lying weakly on the cold floor. He seemed to be as nonchnt as ever as he said, "Take her to the guest room and let the doctor check on her."


    "Yes, Your Majesty!" Maya picked Aria up and carried her like a sack of potatoes, followed by Myra behind. The cat maids walked out of the throne room, giving a private space for their Princess and the Beast King.


    "D-do you think she will be alright?" Swan asked worriedly. "I don''t know why she suddenly faints like that."


    Gale picked Swan up and sat on the throne. He sat her on his thigh as usual, andforted her, "She''s fine. I can still feel the dung scent mixed with flowers around her body. She''s still alive. She''ll stay in the guest room for now with her mother. But it''s been ten minutes at most, did something happen while I was waiting outside?"


    Gale asked calmly to make sure Swan wouldn''t feel like she was being investigated. It had only been ten minutes, and honestly, he started hearing the ordering from Swan for Aria to lift her head five minutes before that.


    For some reason, his keen sense picked up something strange for the first five minutes right after he left the throne room. Because he could not hear anything during that interval.


    Gale had a super hearing that could pick up the sound of a dropping pin inside the throne room, especially when he was leaning at the door the whole time.


    However, the first five minutes were deadly quiet inside, so quiet that he thought the entire throne room had just disappeared.


    Swan was a little nervous.


    She refused to tell Gale about her identity because she was scared of what would happen if he found out.


    Would he be overjoyed because Swan was not just a ''crippled human''?


    Or would he get angry at her because it was obvious that she had been protecting Rock Silverfang all this time?


    Or maybe... he wouldn''t like Swan anymore, because she wasn''t as pitiful as he expected.


    Swan heard a few gossips from the servants that the Beast King kept her because she was crippled. She looked thin, pitiful, and hopeless. She would never betray him because she couldn''t even run.


    Swan firmly believed that Gale wouldn''t be so cruel to kick her out, but she was still too scared of all the possibilities.


    She was frozen by fear of the unknown. She was scared that Gale wouldn''t love her anymore after the truth was out.


    Hence, she tried her best to conceal her identity.


    "I-I did nothing for the first five minutes. I was trying to collect myself because everything that happened in Holy Achate was too shocking for me. When I told Afia to lift her head, she simply fainted," Swan lied through her teeth. She told herself that it would be fine to lie


    because she had taken the


    witchcraft talent out of Aria.


    As long as Aria couldn''t use her witchcraft anymore, she wouldn''t be able to harm anyone, right?


    Gale still felt it was highly suspicious, but he wouldn''t try to press this on Swan, as


    he knew that Swan would never lie to him about anything.


    He sighed and caressed her golden hair that had grown to a shoulder length.


    "I saw your distress when your mother-if you still think she''s worth to be called that told you about the situation in the Holy Achate. I stil think it''s justified because their Queen has done a great sin of neglecting my wife, but I don''t want to put you in too much distress," Gale said. "So, you can tell me now. What would you do to Holy Achate? Would you forgive them even if they''ve neglected you for so long?"


    Gale paused for a few seconds. He got angry whenever he imagined Swan forgiving her mother and sister who had wronged her.


    He knew that Swan would do that. She was just a forgiving person by nature.


    It made him angry and annoyed knowing he couldn''t do much to convince her otherwise.


    ''If only you could be cruel and tell me to make sure everyone in Holy Achate dies, I would execute them all in a heartbeat,'' Gale thought as he got frustrated over the situation.


    Truthfully, Swan had been thinking about forgiving her stepmother and half-sister after everything they had done before. She would never forget all the bullying and intimidation she experienced, but she wanted to save the innocent people in Holy Achate. They had never known about Swan''s identity before.


    But, she changed her mind after Aria told her that she sacrificed fifty people


    already, and thirty-eight of them were innocent children.


    She knew that Queen Anastasia must''ve been aiding Aria to kidnap those children


    since there was no way Aria could do it all by herself.


    ''If I allow them to stay in power, then there will be no end to their tyranny. Even if I lift the trade ban, they will still find a way to hurt those innocent people in the Holy Achate,'' Swan recalled how gleeful Aria sounded when she revealed that she had killed so many children to make her witchcraft stronger.


    ''If I allow them to stay in power, then I am no different than them. I''d be the same monster who allows so many people to die meaninglessly,'' Swan pondered.


    Gale thought Swan would quickly reply that she forgave her mother and sister, and begged Gale to lift the trade ban, so the people in Holy Achate wouldn''t starve to death.


    But he was wrong.


    Because Swan stared at him with aplicated gaze.


    A sliver of hope began to appear in Gale''s heart, hoping that Swan would finally stand her ground against her family, "Just tell me what you want, Sweetheart. I will grant it for you."


    Swan bit her lower lip, and leaned closer to whisper what she had in mind.