Now that the active period had started, Kasser walked along the outer walls since early morning until the afternoon, patrolling the neighborhood. Among the active periods that passed, today felt unusual.

Soldiers gathered around the walls and busied themselves with making oiled arrows. They focused on what they were doing as the king passed by them from time to time.

Larks wear a shield-like material filled with special energy all over their body that ordinary weapons could not breach. Therefore, the soldiers’ attacks were carried out with the use of special oiled arrows or swords.

However, since the effect of the oiled weapon was half a day long, the soldiers had to work constantly on replenishing its oils.

Kasser stopped walking and stared out at the desert.

“The heat of the sun is different this time, my king.” Lester, the general who was assisting the king silently from behind, told him.

“Yes, it’s definitely different from yesterday.” Kasser replied

“The wind is soft. I always think it’s absurd that the weather is better when you’re stuck on a wall.”

“I think the weather that isn’t severe at a time when we can’t relax the most helps boost soldiers’ morale.”

Kasser smiled lightly.

“That’s another way to look at it I suppose.”

Lester was relieved that the king did not look uncomfortable. She assisted him and went out to the desert together and returned a few days ago and belatedly learned of the queen’s disappearance.

It was rumoured that the couple was not well-matched. But Lester thought that only the pair involved knew about it. So, she tried not to be curious about the royal couple’s matters.

It must have worked out well. I’m glad. She mused.

The king was stingy in expressing his feelings, but Lester had attained motherhood for a long time now, so she could understand his feelings to some extent.

Kasser put one hand on his chest. He contemplated the Praz that was crouching inside. At the beginning of the active period, Praz was always keen to reveal his presence. But this time it was strangely quiet.

Why is he so calm?

Since yesterday, the movement of Praz had been strange. It was not unusual in a bad sense. It was similar to the state in which a full beast was satiated, that it remained lounging, basking in the aftermath of his pleasure. But he couldn’t understand more than that.

When he pumped energy into her body yesterday, it was for the sole purpose of helping the queen. It was an act prepared for some sacrifice. As expected, he should have suffered some internal injuries. Far from hitting, however, Praz turned out to be in better shape.

The king’s Praz and Anika’s Ramita were polar opposites in their basic characteristics. Destruction and creation, of course, did not fit together.

Their abilities, much like water and oil, also affected their affinity for each other. So the king and Anika rarely attracted each other in a rational sense. It was also one of the crucial reasons why it was not easy for the king to produce their own successor.

The Kingdom of Hashi was already more difficult because of poor environmental conditions, much less the circumstances of their kings compared to the other kings were even more serious. The kings courted Anika by all means they had in order to obtain a successor.

That’s why Kasser accepted the queen’s contract without much resistance. Besides, the marriage between the king and Anika was a contract that weighed the benefits of each other on a very broad scale.

He gazed at the desert and lost his mind.

This activity was strange. He always felt something was starting to go off in a tight fit. But at this moment, he didn’t have an ominous foreboding, which made it even more strange.

Last night…

All night long he had lost his reason and was absorbed in coveting her. His blood curdled. No matter how many times he tried, the arousal he experienced could not be satiated. She was barely conscious, much exhausted with their nighttime passion.

He woke up at dawn and found her in deep sleep. He agonized over whether to wake her up or not. Had it not been for the need to check since the activation started, he would have climbed back atop her body and continued from where they’d left off.

He didn’t expect to be so absorbed in the queen. He had not touched her in three years. How could he ever hope to survive three more years now?

For at this very moment, he couldn’t keep the thought of her out of his mind. He felt a fierce hunger at the thought of tasting her plump lips, and he felt an insatiable thirst to bask in her very presence.