Chapter Eighty-One: The Charges:

It didn’t take long for reality to check up to me. It all started when Yayoi tracked me down at my castle. I was at my desk when I heard pounding on my door.

“Enter,” I said. I didn’t look up from my paperwork at first. I heard screaming outside.

“Go away!” Judith yelled. “He is busy right now!”

“Get off me! I need to speak with him now!” a woman yelled.

“No!” Judith snapped.

“Just let me in!” the woman yelled. I froze. I knew that voice.

“Let her in!” I shouted. The door flung open. Yayoi ran towards my desk. Judith ran after her, grabbing her by the arms.

“What seems to be the trouble?” I asked.

“I’m pregnant!” Yayoi shouted. I dropped my pen onto the desk. It took a moment for the news to sink in.

“W-W-W-What?!” I asked. Yayoi struggled out of Judith’s grasp and ran towards my desk. My jaw moved as if to say something, but no words came out. The one thing I feared happened.

“I think I am going to be sick,” I said. I stood up and walked around from my desk.

“My lord?” Judith asked behind me. Her voice sounded to distant as I walked into the hallway. I could’ve walked out into the middle of nowhere and it wouldn’t have mattered. Yes. It was that bad.

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It didn’t take long for the news to spread. The whispers followed me everywhere I went.

“The king’s mistress is pregnant.”

“Is he going to marry her?”

“This was all her plan.”

“She always wanted to be queen.”

“She’s just using him to get to the top.”

“Is that baby even his?”

I did my best to ignore it. But Judith wouldn’t let me do that. Every morning, I came in to see her angry face glaring at me. Making judgements against me. One day, I just threw up my hands.

“What the hell do you want from me?” I asked.

“What are you going to do about Yayoi?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. I caught her glaring at me.

“I won’t marry her, okay?” I said. “Geez. What is wrong with you? Why don’t you like Yayoi so much?” Judith puffed up her cheeks as she looked away.

“She’s just bad news,” she mumbled. I raised her eyebrow.

“Wait… are you saying that you are in love with me?” I asked. Judith had a look disgust on her face.

“What?! No! You’re my boss!” she shouted.

“It all makes sense now,” I said. “You’re always on my ass. You’ve never liked the women I’m seeing. I have always wonder about that.” Judith looked seconds from hurling more abuse at me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” she shouted. “I care about this damned kingdom.”

“So you want to take over for yourself?” I asked.

“What the fuck?! Where is all of this coming from?!” Judith shouted. “Are you out of your mind?!” Her face looked so red. I could see the veins her neck. The horns popped out on her head. Her tail ripped out from her skirt as her nails turned into claws.

“What kind of a woman do you take me for?!” she shouted. The whole office shook. I could see her razor-sharp fangs. That was my cue to shut up. I put up my hands and backed away. There was only one way out of this.

“I am so sorry,” I said. Judith glared daggers at me.

“I will try to fix it, I promise!” I said. She didn’t respond. I turned and ran out of my office. I had no idea what happened in there. I was the king and I got chased out of a petite subject who was pissed off at me. Why did I even push her buttons like that? In all her years in my service, I would’ve never thought to say those things to her. What came over me? I figured that it would be best to let her cool off before I tried to apologize to her again.

Little did I know I would be asking myself what came over me for many more years to come.