The Queen's Wife (girlxgirl)

26. Art of Attraction

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⚠️PG-13⚠️

Maud doesn't know how to find out the truth about her husband.

She doesn't want to be rude either, or make him upset by crossing the line. Surely he has a reason for keeping secrets, or maybe it's all rumors after all. Yeah, it's too risky for her to sneak behind his back to try to find things out. Saying it to his face would probably make him upset too. There is only one thing she can do.

Earn his trust, and make him hint at the truth, in one way or another.

And the best way of earning someone's trust, is closeness. Physical closeness, and mental closeness. Two beings intertwined by the most holy action of matrimony, and the most sinful action of attraction. Maud had a lot of time to think about it as she sat in her carriage for an entire day, traveling past endless fields of growing wheat, as the sun shone from above. The soldiers mumbled about the most useless things outside of her shaded prison, while she and Penny sat in relative silence throughout the boring trip. Nothing was happening outside the window, and whenever the soldiers would catch her glancing at the outside world, they would judge her and stare at her weirdly. Women shouldn't do that. Maud disappeared behind the curtain as quickly as she could every single time she was caught.

She hasn't seen Adelio during the entire time. He rides in front of the carriage, and there are only windows to the sides. Adelio's serious and grave voice couldn't be heard either, despite the soldiers next to him constantly trying to fish for his attention. People swarm around him like flies to a horse, constantly hoping to advance in life by trying to impress the crown prince. If Maud were one of them, she would simply prove herself to be useful to him by actions and not words. Adelio is like that. And that's when it hit her. She doesn't need to be one of them, she needs to be herself here and now, with the exact same tactic.

In order to prove herself to be trustworthy to him, she needs to use actions and not words. And so, sinfully, Maud decided to use the art of attraction. Adelio is a man, after all. Maud was taught from a young age that men are all weak to attractive women. If she becomes attractive enough for him, which shouldn't be so hard, he would probably feel closer to her at some point and eventually either slip or tell his secret. And once she knows his secret, she'll know exactly who he is and how she needs to play her cards in order to win in this life. In order to be a queen who's going to create fireworks in this world.

Maybe it's because this is her destiny. Maybe that's why she was sent away as a child, to live a poor childhood and teenage. For this. This is her destiny. She is a royal for the people, and a woman for other women. And she knows exactly what she needs to do next.

The carriage slows down by the first guesthouse, just a few miles away from the next town.

"Is my wife comfortable?"

Maud laughs, leaning back against the white duck-feather pillows. She stares up at the wooden ceiling of the inn with a smile still present on her face, seeing Adelio approach her from the corner of her eye. He is wearing his black pants from before, and a loose white linen shirt. It hangs over his skin like a drying piece of laundry, open in the front, showing off his upper chest. There is something white barely glinting behind the fabric. Maud wonders if he's gotten injured somehow, but doesn't feel the need to speak of it when he seems so relaxed and happy.