Page 118 of I Ran Away to Evil
“If she gets locked up in a dark space, I’m going to find the culprit and rip out their still beating heart—aftergetting her out.” He frowned. “If she doesn’t kill me in the process. Bringing us back to the point.”
“That your princess could easily kill you during a lovers spat?”
Keith sighed. “I’ll have to reach out to other enchanters, since there won’t be anything useful in Feliwyn’s hoard … maybe Violet can reach out to her uncle Lorthar in Hemlock Hill? I wouldn’t be surprised if the Witch of Winter’s End has a spell or two, and I know Slake Drakeford, adventurer extraordinaire has a bunch of weird spell books in his loot collection …”
“Don’t tell me, tell Scholar Violet. Have her reach out to anyone and everyone if you have to - Just dosomething, or I’m going to continue nagging you until it’s done.” Rufus put his notepad aside, taking off his reading glasses and placing them on top. Stretching, he said, “Let’s go get lunch.”
Keith eyed the beastman warily. “But we just started, and we haven’t talked about my issues yet.”
“Keith, I’ve known you since you werefive.” Rufus chuckled. “Iknowwhat your issues are.Youknow what your issues are.”
He waved at Keith, sitting there in a defensive position on the edge of the daybed. “Are you ready to talk about them today? How about you get over them right now and go beg your princess to marry you because you lo—”
“Don’t say it,” Keith interjected. “Not yet … I need more time.”
“I think you’re ready.” Rufus chuckled. “But why waste my time when you refuse to accept it? You’ve already promised to work on things with her. You have a plan: take better care of yourself and stop running away from relationships.”
“When have I ever run from a relationship?” Keith protested.
The reply dripped with sarcasm. “Ah, yes. You’d have to actuallyallowone for you to run away from it. My bad.”
“I put up withyou, don’t I?” Keith griped.
“As you said; you are areasonableadult.” Rufus opened the door to his dungeon office and waved out the king of the Dark Enchanted Forest. “You know when you’re doing things that are dangerous. You just don’t care. Start caring. If you don’t, you’ll hurt the people whodocare.”
Keith left Rufus to his own devices after lunch, when his commander general proposed going for a refreshing swim in the moat.
Rufus liked to chase sticks and wrestle monsters as a nice afternoon exercise and was insane. Henrietta was taking some time to herself. Julia and Chloe were lost in each other’s company, and he wasn’t sure if they even knew he was back yet. So, the Dark Lord grabbed a few cream puffs and sought out a quiet space to think.
After everything that had happened yesterday, Keith couldn’t get the image of Henrietta out of his head; from her smiling up at him in that garden to her behavior in the dungeon to just … Ria.
And when he thought of their difficulties in the dungeon, that actually made him like hermore.
The fact that she knew his less-than-ideal traits andstillwanted to continue the courtship was reassuring. Being the king of a magical realm meant he was under a lot of pressure. He’d had his fair share of marriage offers from many prospective partners around the continent. Few had piqued his interest. Their letters went from boring dowry lists to long pages full of dreams to conquer said continent. Was it too much to imagine that he wantedmorethan world domination? Keith was impressed that he could sustain a single country’s mixed populace without civil war—and that by sheer will of paperwork and oppressive strength.
Not his actual Strength, of course; just his level was security enough.
Henrietta enjoyed his company, and her struggles were something he wanted to support her through. Everyone got angry. Everyone lashed out in their ownway. Aside from [Void Damage] utterly murdering his ass in a moment of anger, he knew that they both liked to talk things out, so that shouldn’t be a routine occurrence.
As for the other stuff … Well, he’d just have to let go and let Henrietta in. Maybe.
He finished his cream puff and headed for the library. He had some books to return.
CHAPTER 71
Far, Far Away
Henrietta
When I finished my morning session with Rufus, I felt raw and angry with an overwhelming sense of frustration. At my parents. At my life … At myself.
My usual disposition kept my spirits up; I could embrace a well-balanced life juggling parentally enforced naivete with the power to crush skulls in one hand and organize battle formations with the other … It was a wonder I’d been able to survive this long. Rufus had given me some book recommendations that might help with that, but most of them weren’t in the library at present.
“I’m sure His Viciousness will be done with Ms. Green’sFindings on Childhood Trauma Theorysoon,” the librarian, Scholar Violet, assured me. She was a dark-skinned human from North Sumbria who kept her frizzy black hair in a partial updo. I half expected the librarian to be wearing glasses, but instead she had a spyglass hooked to her belt and dangling from a chain.
“Thank you, Violet. I’ll just take a look around, then.” I nodded, leaving the scholar to her work.
I’d been to the library a handful of times since arriving, mostly when I needed to look up things that came up in the kingdom reports I wanted to research … Or checking out their culinary section. As much as I enjoyed the odd story, I preferred baking in my spare time and looking up fun new recipes!
