The Cursed King

Elise realized the man suddenly fell silent because he didn\'t say anything afterward. She opened her eyes and looked at Loriel with concerned eyes. "Are you okay?"

Loriel shook his head and forced a smile. "I just got a minor headache. It\'s not a big deal."

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"Oh no.." Elise immediately felt worried. She sat up and touched Loriel\'s temple. "Does it hurt so much? Let me see if they have some medicine provided."

Loriel quickly touched her hand and took it with his hands. "I\'m fine. I don\'t like taking medicines. If I sleep it over, I will be better."

He remembered how he often faked migraines in the past to get onto Elise\'s bed. She lovingly took care of him whenever he complained about his headache and slowly they spent more time together which later led to them being intimate.

He knew Elise loved him deeply. So, she always loved taking care of him to get the opportunity to be with him. But that was in the past. The current Elise had only gotten to know Loriel for several months and her feelings for him might not be deep as what she had for him in their past life.

"What can I do to make it better?" Elise asked.

"Nothing, honey. I will just sleep it," Loriel didn\'t want to take advantage Elise\'s kindness as he did in the past. She would worry and take care of him, even though Loriel didn\'t actually have any headache.

Loriel had learned his lessons. Besides, Elise was very strict about hating liars. He was worried she would find out his lies one by one and hate him.

No, Loriel couldn\'t take that risk. He would stop lying to her, or at least he would try not to lie again. Elise deserved a husband who never lied to her for whatever reasons. He would slowly find ways to tell her the truth about who he was and what was their actual relationship.

He hoped Elise would take him back and they could become husband and wife again, and spend the rest of their lives together. He didn\'t want anything else, just her. Once the truth was revealed, he promised that he would NEVER EVER lie to her again.

He would always say the truth. 

"Are you sure?" Elise looked at Loriel worriedly. "Maybe I can give you a head massage or something?"

Loriel coughed and shook his head again. He knew she would say that. She was just too kind. Gosh.. he should really stop lying. He only mentioned his headache to distract her from his change of mood after he heard how much she hated liars.

"I am fine, honey. Actually, my headache is gone. I think it must be the sake. I drank too much of it during dinner. It\'s okay now," he said cheerfully, to show that he was really fine. "Let\'s sleep now. We want to explore Kyoto tomorrow, right?"

"Ah, you are right," Elise nodded. She lay down in bed again and closed her eyes.

Loriel did the same. He pulled her into his embrace and covered their bodies with the thick duvet. Ah… it felt so heartwarming.

Lying down next to his wife again, even if they didn\'t have sex, felt so amazing. Loriel was so touched that he almost shed tears.

Elise snuck her head closer to his chest and rested it there. Her arms naturally wrapped around his stomach and hugged the man.

Loriel was on cloud nine.

***

Because of the time difference, Elise woke up late and she felt slightly sick. Loriel was used to traveling the globe and never had problems with jetlag. So, he helped Elise to acclimate until she felt better.

"We can just rest and do nothing until you are okay," said the man as he came from the kitchen with hot chocolate. "Let\'s watch the snow from the window and talk or read, or do whatever."

Elise pouted her lips and massaged her head. "But we can watch the snow and sit back at home. Why not do something and sightsee while we are in Japan? I don\'t know when I can get another opportunity to visit this place."

Loriel hiccuped when he heard her words. His Elise seemed to be quite frugal and pragmatic. She wanted to take advantage of their free holiday to see Japan and do things here, thinking that she wouldn\'t be able to come here again?

Ahem… the man she was \'dating\' here was super-wealthy that he could take her traveling to Japan again without batting an eye. Not just Japan, but also all other countries if she asked for it.

His wealth was immeasurable. Just taking Elise back to Japan was a very, very easy thing to do.

"It\'s okay, honey. We don\'t have to force ourselves. There are plenty of opportunities to visit Japan. I promise," the man said with a smile.

He gave her the mug and asked her to drink her chocolate. "Take this to make you feel better. I also have some pills that can help you acclimate faster. Once you feel better, we can go to Kyoto."

Elise accepted the mug and sipped her cocoa drink. She realized that Loriel was right. If she forced herself to go and sightsee with her current condition, she would just give the man trouble.

She didn\'t want to bother him to take care of her. Finally, she nodded. Elise took the hot cocoa and sat by the window. The snow had stopped falling and they could see the view outside.

Tokyo was a very busy city, it reminded her of New York, however, everyone was so polite and organized.  She couldn\'t wait to see more. However, she told herself to be patient.

They took things slowly on their first day in Tokyo. After Elise felt better, Loriel took her to Shibuya, Tokyo Tower, and ate ramen in the small shop which he called the best ramen in the world.

Finally, on the second day, Elise felt a lot better and they could go to Kyoto.