The Cursed King

Right then, there was no question about it. This woman was Elise Leoralei Ashborn, his long-lost wife.

Elise looked relieved when she could smell the tea from the pot she was holding. She smiled happily and looked up.

"The tea is ready," she said. Right at that moment, her eyes locked with Loriel's who was looking at her with tears in his eyes.

Elise was stunned and she turned to the teapot in a panic. Her voice stammered when she spoke, realizing that she just showed her magic in front of another person. "I-I... didn't know how to turn on the—"

Loriel quickly realized Elise was worried that he would freak out when he saw her use magic to boil the water in the teapot. He batted his eyes to remove his tears and smiled dotingly. The man acted like what just happened was no big deal.

"Bring the tea here," he said with a smile. "It smells so good."

Elise was dazed when she heard his calm, almost nonchalant, voice. She was wondering if Loriel saw what she did just now, or not.

If he did, then why didn't the man act surprised or freaked out? No regular humans would use heat magic to boil water like what she just did, right?

Didn't Loriel think she was weird if he knew what she was capable of? Would he feel scared of her?

Or... maybe he didn't see anything? 

He was busy talking on the phone just now. So, he might not see her using her magic.

With those thoughts raging in her mind, Elise walked toward Loriel and brought the teapot with her. Her steps looked hesitant and she stopped right before the man.

Loriel reached out and took the teapot from her hand. He poured tea for them into two cups and gave one to Elise.

"Let's have breakfast," he said calmly.

Since the man didn't say anything, Elise's heart became calmer and she decided that whatever happened, whether Loriel saw her using magic, or not, Elise wouldn't make it a big deal.

She would pretend that it never happened. She also kept a mental note to be extra careful next time. Today, she was lucky. Some other time, she might not be as lucky.

What if the people she knew saw her using her magic and thought she was a freak? She must not let it happen.

Loriel pretended not to notice Elise's concern. He took some grilled bacon, cheese, tomato slices, and eggs and put them on Elise's plate. "Here, eat a lot. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Elise could only nod.

She looked at Loriel in awe and couldn't take her eyes off of the really handsome man. There was something nice and familiar about this man that made her feel so comfortable being around him.

Her nanny warned her of stranger danger and that she shouldn't trust men easily. However, her heart told her that she could trust Loriel. She had never been wrong,

She could immediately tell if someone had bad intentions just by looking at their eyes. That's how she knew that Julian and his father were trouble. She could escape and run away from home before they tried to do bad things to her.

She had not seen any bad intentions in Loriel's eyes. If anything, this man had been nothing but kind and helpful to her.

"Thank you," Elise said with a low voice. She wanted to break her egg but suddenly, Loriel had taken the eggs from her plate and started peeling the shell for her.

The girl could only watch in surprise. This man was so nice.

"Here you go," said Loriel. He gave her two peeled eggs and then continued eating his own food. For a moment, Elise looked at the eggs with a slightly opened mouth. She didn't know what to say.

Loriel did it so naturally, without any hint of awkwardness, as if they had known each other for a long time already.

"What's your plan for today?" Loriel asked Elise to break the ice. He thought she still needed to feel more comfortable around him.

"Well.. I need you to show me how things work around this house, so I can clean up and take care of it, as per our agreement," said Elise. She raised one egg to her lips and said, "Thank you for this."

"It's my pleasure," said Loriel. "Let me know if you want more eggs."

"This is enough," Elise replied. "I cannot eat more than two in a day."

'Yeah, I know, honey. That's why I only peeled two eggs for you,' said Loriel inwardly. Of course, he didn't say it out loud. The man just smiled. 

"I will show you how the household assistant works," he said to Elise. "It's quite amazing. I should say, a one-of-a-kind technology. You'll love it!"

"Ahh.. I look forward to it," said Elise.

She had a nice home back in Connecticut, but they still hired staff and maids to do most of the work. She didn't see any staff in this big and luxurious penthouse. 

So, she assumed either Loriel hired a part-time housekeeper to do the work or he just had to do it himself because he could no longer pay people to do it.

This place looked spotless and very tidy, she thought. If Loriel did all the cleaning, then this man must be very meticulous and clean.

This was something rare among men, she thought. At least that's what she knew from the books she read and the people she met.

This made Elise determined to do her best to keep this amazing place clean and tidy, like what Loriel was doing now.

"There is not much to do around here, to be honest," Loriel added. "My household assistant is very efficient. But I think, what I need the most is actually a companion to share this place. I have no one and it can be quite lonely at times."