Archie's POV

I snuggle into the soft mattress as it gives me warm and comfort feeling. Pulling the pillow more closer to me, I hug it tightly. But I frown when I feel bumps on the supposed to be soft pillow. Blinking my eyes open, my heart flutters when I realise I'm engulfed in Kian's embrace. With my heart beating at a crazy speed, I quickly get myself from him only to get pulled back as he rounds his arms tightly around my waist and pulls me to him. My hands lose control and my face plants on his chest with my lips on his exposed skin. My eyes widen at the unexpected event and before I could do anything, Kian rolls us over by making me lay on my back while he lies on me.

With his face in the crook of my neck and his hands tightly wrapped around my waist, I literally feel my soul leaving my body. His soft breath fans over my neck and it makes me feels things. My chest raise up and go down with how hard I'm breathing. I take a minute before doing anything and try to calm myself down. When I slowly get back to normal breathing, I turn my head and take a look at the clock in the dark room. It reads 3 in the early morning. There are still few more hours to go for the morning and this isn't the time we usually wake up. So I brace myself in and decide to get back to sleep.

My hands which are still trembling, I lift them up and bring them to him. Placing one hand on his head, I drape the other over his waist as I nuzzle him to me. This feels like a once in a lifetime chance for me and I want to embrace it without letting it go. Closing my eyes, I slowly fall into sleep with a huge smile on my face.

***
"Come on Archie, you can paint that later. Let's go, I want to see how his cousin looks. I believe, he must be as handsome as Kian." Winny says excitedly while grinning.

I shake my head at his extra cheerfulness before carefully closing the curtains of my canvas so that I won't ruin the painting I've been working on for days now.

Today is the day Kian's cousin is going to get here and a word is spread that he has already arrived here and is at the palace gates. Winny is so excited to see him because he wants to know if Kian's cousin would look as good as him. By mentioning Kian's name reminds me of the early morning incident and that instantly brings a smile on my face. I still can't believe it happened, Kian and I, sleeping together in eachothers embrace. It seems like a dream, a real dream.

However, I don't know what Kian thought of us being like that when he knew about it. Because, by the time I woke up, he was already gone. Does he think I took advantage of him or something? I really hope that's not the case.

"I told you to hurry up, now see, this place is already packed by people." Winny whines when we reach the palace gates.

This place is crowded with guards and from here I can see few horse drawn's, the ones our visitors used for transportation. I can also see my in-laws whose backs are turned to me as they're facing the guest. But I don't see Kian. I wonder if he still didn't come here yet. Just as I think that, we hear an announcement for the arrival of the king. I step back and pull Winny along as all the guards back away giving the way for Kian to walk. A second later, I see him marching towards us with his guards following him. When I thought he would walk past us and go to his cousin, he stops right in front of me. Everyone bows at him and I look up at him confused.

"Let's go." He says while grabbing my wrist and taking me with him.

I stare at him from behind as he walks us to his cousin. Today must really go down in my history. I mean, it's not just we both slept together, literally in eachothers embrace, but even now Kian is including me in his important event, giving importance to me. He might be just putting up an act in front of others like how he told me on our wedding night but still it's making me happy. It might be an act for him but for me it's not, every little thing he does is a precious memory to me that I'll cherish once I leave him when the time comes.

"Greetings, king." His cousin says as soon as we stand in front of him and then turns to me, "my Queen."

I nod at his greetings and watch as he goes on to greet my in-laws. Once he finishes greeting everyone of us, the guards lead him inside. Kian tells him to wash up and rest for awhile. And then he takes me back to our room.

"Did you eat lunch?" He questions as he takes off his overcoat.

"Yes." I reply while standing by the bed.

Normally, we eat together but today he was busy with work so he informed he won't be here for lunch.

"Why did you get there without any security? What were you even thinking while doing that?" He sneers as he walks towards the bed.

"Hm..I didn't think about that. I'm sorry, I won't do something like this again." I apologise.

His furious tone kinda scares me. And also I didn't want to tell him about Winny because he might really get angry at him. It's fine if he says anything to me but I can't let him blame Winny. He's my only friend and dear person to me, I can't make him feel bad for anything.

"It's Winny's doing, isn't?" He states while sitting on the bed.

I keep my head low and remain silent. I don't understand how can he always get things right even when I don't say it.

"Can you tell me about your friendship with him?" He asks while patting the space beside him.

I glance up and look at him through my eyes lashes before taking a step forward and sitting on the bed.

"Winny's father was the general when my father was the king. He would come to the palace with his father at certain times. One day, he accidentally stumbled into me but I walked away from him without saying anything. So, he followed me to my room and said we both should become friends. Even then, I didn't say anything to him. That didn't stop him, he would approach me everytime he came to the palace. He would talk to me even when I never responded to him. However, that slowly changed when he started talking about painting. As that's the only thing I'm interested in, I started having a conversation with him. That was how we become friends. He's my only friend." I tell him my story of how Winny and I became friends.

Ofcourse, I didn't tell him every detail. I was like that because my family never cared for me. They never included me as a part of the family, infact. That made me left out and I didn't want to get close to Winny because I was scared of loosing him at some point. But he was so persistent that I couldn't help but break my walls and become friends with him. And he proved me he would never leave me, even when no one is with me.

"You have me now, Archie." He says and I snap my head at him shocked.

"I mean, now you have all of us, mother, father and me as well. Not just Winny." He corrects immediately and I give a small nod at him.

What was I even thinking? He just mean everyone in general, not him specifically. And it's just until I'm here.

"Thank you." I thank him with a smile.

Just then we hear a knock on the door. Before Kian could go, I climb down the bed and walk to the door immediately. It might be Win.. Winny?! My eyes widen as I remember him. I left him when Kian arrived at the gates. How can I even forget about him? I'm so stupid! I just hope he won't be upset at me. My rambling in my mind halts when I open the door and see Kian's cousin standing here. Didn't Kian tell him to rest, why is he here? Surprised by his presence, I think of telling Kian about this by going back but before I could, my back gets bumped into something hard.

I turn my face and see Kian standing behind me while our bodies are still stuck together.

"What is it, Dean? Why are you here?" Kian asks his cousin as he pulls me to his side.

"Let's go for horse riding." The guy, who's name I came know as Dean, says without skipping a beat.

"Aren't you tired? Maybe we can go tomorrow." Kian suggests not completely denying him but not agreeing fully as well.

"I'm not tired. If you don't want to, I can go alone." He responds straightforward.

"Fine, we'll go. Just wait a minute." Kian sighs before agreeing to him.

He goes inside and puts on his overcoat before walking out.

"Archie, do you want to join us?" Kian asks me before they leave.

"Archie doesn't know horse riding." Winny appears out of no where and speaks this out.

"Winny!!" I hiss at him, he doesn't need to announce it to everyone.

"That's fine though, king will teach you." He says genuinely.

"Do you want to learn, Archie?" After a minute of silence, Kian asks me.

"Can you already decide something? You're wasting everyone's time." Dean complains irritated when I don't respond.

"Dean!" Kian shouts at him angrily.

I really want to say something and stop this argument between them but I'm in a dilemma. I do want to learn but don't want to be an embarrassment to Kian. When others find out the queen doesn't know horse riding, that would be a huge embarassment to Kian.

"Then, you talk to your queen and come later. I'll be waiting at the horsecamp." Dean says and walks away from us.

This is really making me sad. Dean might look down at me and think I'm nothing but a burden to Kian. That I'm not a suitable queen for Kian.

"Give us a minute, we'll be back." I hear Kian's voice before he pulls me back into the room.

He brings me to where my art articles are located and makes me sit on the chair as he knees in front of me.

"I'm sorry on his behalf. He just don't know how to talk. I'll teach you everything and make sure no one hurts you. Please don't cry." Kian urges before placing his hand on my cheek and gently wiping the tears with his thumb.

I didn't realise I'm crying. I felt really sad and the thought that I'm never enough for Kian made me cry. I can tolerate anything but when it comes to Kian, I can't withstand a thing. I know I'm not right for him but thinking and getting reminded about it hurts me more than anything.

"Archie." He calls me because I stayed silent.

"Okay, I won't cry." I whisper.

"Good, now let's go. Your learning begins from today onwards. Whatever you want to learn, I'll be at your every step." He assures with a smile.

I nod at him before smiling at him in return. I can do anything if it's for Kian. With that thought, we head for my training.