CHAPTER 422: THE KING WHO ANSWERS SILLY QUESTIONS

Primrose never once imagined that one day, the Beast King would be sitting at her tiny tea party with her closest friends. In the past, they used to joke that if a man ever joined their tea circle, he would probably throw up rainbows because of how ridiculously sweet their decorations were.

Yet here they were, not only inviting a man, but the mighty Lycan King himself.

Thankfully, today’s tea party was just a casual gathering, not their usual pink-explosion tea party filled with flowers, frills, and cute ribbons everywhere. If it had been one of those, Edmund might have looked like a lost wolf sitting inside a dollhouse.

Though honestly, Primrose kind of missed their cute-themed tea parties. Maybe it was because she would no longer be able to host such themes in Noctvaris. After all, it would be odd for the Queen to use those kinds of decorations at a formal tea party.

For a long while, everyone just sat there awkwardly, sipping tea and stealing glances. Then finally, Cassandra opened her mouth. "Do you... eat humans?"

"Cassandra!" Primrose put her cup down a little too hard to show she didn’t like that question. "Show some respect!"

Out of all possible ways to start a conversation... she chose that?!

Primrose knew Cassandra’s tongue was sharp, but did she really have to stab someone with it on the first sentence?

"What?" Cassandra raised her chin. "I need to be sure before we start being friends with him! We can’t be friends with a predator!"

"He is not a predator!" Primrose protested. "My husband is such a sweet wolf!"

"But... but there are beasts that eat humans, right?" Aster whispered, nervous and trembling like a rabbit.

Surprisingly, Edmund spoke before Primrose could stop him. "Yes. There are beasts who eat humans to survive."

All of them stared at him in disbelief. The color drained from their faces, as if their souls had nearly left their bodies.

"But I am not one of them," Edmund added, firm and calm. "I do not eat humans."

They all let out a sigh of relief at the same time, and for some reason it made Primrose even more annoyed. "Humans eat animals too!" she argued. "So what’s the difference?!"

Cassandra looked at her like Primrose had suddenly grown three heads.

She didn’t even say anything yet, but her face already screamed: Has she really gone blind because of love?

Still, in her heart, even Cassandra admitted. [But at least the Lycan King hasn’t done anything wrong so far, so I don’t exactly have a reason to keep attacking him.]

On the other side, Ilyana cleared her throat, probably trying to ease the tense atmosphere. "Rosie, it’s not that we don’t trust him," she said softly. "We just need to be careful about things we don’t understand." Then she glanced at Edmund and added, "But... I think we’re ready to learn more about beasts properly this time."

[I’ve been observing him this whole time, and the only thing I noticed is that the Lycan King really treats my Rosie well.] Ilyana thought. [He even spread strawberry jam on her scone and poured warm tea for her whenever her cup was almost empty.]

[Not only that... they’ve been holding hands under the table this whole time!] Ilyana took a deep breath. [Do they think I wouldn’t notice?!]

Primrose froze when she heard her friends’ thoughts. She almost pulled her hand away from Edmund, but he immediately followed her movement and held her hand again firmly, as if he wasn’t just holding it out of affection, but also to find the strength to keep speaking to the strangers in front of him.

But honestly... Primrose could tell all of that, because his thoughts had been restless from the start.

[What if I say something wrong?! Will her friends abandon my wife?!] Edmund panicked in his mind. [NO! I cannot let my wife lose all her friends because of me! I must act friendlier, and... smile! Yes, I need to smile more! But what if they think my smile looks scary?!]

Primrose took a deep breath and gently patted the back of his hand with her other hand.

"I know it’s hard to understand something that feels so foreign to us," Primrose said softly after calming her emotions. "But if we stay inside our own bubble, then we will always stay blind."

"To be honest, I also once had many bad thoughts about beastkins," she continued. "But later... I realized I made a big mistake by letting my negative thoughts about them cloud my mind."

"There are so many rumors about them, but aren’t humans also not more holy than they are?" she added. "We also kill, hunt, and do many terrible things to beasts simply because we hate them."

The hatred between their kinds had grown deeper than anyone could imagine, and that hatred was passed down again and again through time.

If Primrose wanted to slowly break that hatred, then she had to cut that chain in her generation.

"We are all like two sides of the same coin," Primrose said, looking at each of her friends. "There are bad people, no matter the race, and there are good ones too. We cannot throw away a whole barn of wheat just because one or two grains look bad."

Her friends fell silent all at once. They didn’t know what to say, and they were too embarrassed to admit all the mistakes they had made toward Edmund earlier.

Then, after a moment, the timid Aster was the first one to speak. "You’re right." She adjusted her glasses that had slipped down her nose, then looked at Edmund with a kinder expression. "We shouldn’t have been so rude. I apologize for my bad behavior earlier, Your Majesty."

[If the King of Beasts was really that evil, wouldn’t our heads already be off our shoulders by now?] Aster shuddered at the thought. [Even the Emperor of Vellmoria would immediately hang anyone who insulted him.]

[So maybe... the King of Beasts really is a good wolf.]

He was indeed a good wolf! So there was absolutely no reason to hate Primrose’s sweet and kind husband!

Aster nudged Ilyana’s hand, signaling her to speak as well.

Ilyana cleared her throat before finally saying, "Y-yes, we truly did something wrong by judging someone before getting to know them first."

She lowered her head. "Please accept my apology, Your Majesty."

Once their minds calmed down, they finally realized that the man sitting in front of them wasn’t just Primrose’s beast husband, he was also the King of Beasts, someone they really shouldn’t provoke.

"I accept your apology," Edmund said. Edmund’s voice was calm, but Primrose felt his thumb gently rubbing the back of her hand under the table, like he was still grounding himself, still nervous, but trying his best.

Cassandra finally let out a long sigh and rolled her shoulders as if dropping a heavy weight. "Well... fine," she muttered, crossing her arms. "I guess we were wrong. But don’t expect me to suddenly act sweet and cute just because you’re married to our Rosie."

Primrose raised an eyebrow. "Cassandra, you are the least sweet and cute person I know."

Cassandra clicked her tongue. "Good. Just making sure no one expects me to start throwing flower petals and heart confetti."

Ilyana quietly hid her laugh behind her teacup.

Aster, however, leaned forward with sparkling eyes.

"So... if the King of Beasts doesn’t eat people... what do you eat?"

Edmund blinked. Then, slowly, he looked at Primrose.

Primrose whispered back, "Answer honestly."

Edmund cleared his throat. "...meat."

Aster gasped dramatically. "S-so like... steak? B-beef?"

Edmund nodded politely. "Yes. Meat from animals. Preferably cooked."

It was honestly a silly question, because even though he was a beast, he looked completely human.

"Do you like vegetables?" Cassandra asked next, now looking more curious than rude.

Primrose could only sigh softly when she heard her friends start asking her husband a bunch of foolish questions, but as long as they weren’t insulting him, it was already great progress.

Besides, Edmund was becoming more relaxed after answering simple questions like, "Do beasts also celebrate birthdays?" or "Do you have animal ears and tails?"

Yeah, all of them were just basic questions until suddenly Ilyana asked something that made Primrose almost choke on her tea. "Do you love Primrose?"

"I do," Edmund replied without hesitation. "I do love Primrose, my wife, and I will cherish her for eternity." Then he added something that made Primrose choke for the second time. "I even hope our child will look like her when they are born."

"What?" Ilyana’s eyes widened, along with the others. Not long after, she turned to Primrose. "Are... are you pregnant?!"

Primrose coughed several times, and Edmund immediately patted her back. She glared at Edmund for a moment, because she honestly wasn’t ready to announce her pregnancy that fast.

"Rosie, you’re pregnant?!" Cassandra asked as well. "I knew it! That’s why you look fatter!"

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Primrose defended herself. "My baby just needs more nutrition!"