Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

What Seren saw was a sleek boat painted in luxurious green and gold, like a fierce dragon from the paintings inside the royal residence that had come to life. The seats inside were lined with dark green velvet cushions, and there was a small table in the middle covered by a gauzy white canopy, the linens forming a shade. 

Drayce helped her get on the boat before getting on too. The wooden boat could be considered large for eight passengers, what more there was only two of them riding it. With each of her footsteps, the boat would move unsteadily on the water, as it was floating against a current. Seren, being new to riding a boat, felt scared and held onto Drayce's arm to stand steady, in fear of falling into the water. 

Drayce helped her sit on the cushioned seat inside the boat. He had just sat opposite to her when he heard her say, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

The boat started to move in the water and took a particular path away from the gazebo. Startled, Seren looked at the oars which were steadily hung into either side of the boat. 

"What happened, my Queen?" Drayce asked, seeing her puzzled by something. 

"How come this boat is moving without those rowing sticks?" she asked. 

"Those are for ordinary people, not for us," Drayce said.

She realized what he was hinting at. 'Is he using his powers again?'

No longer minding the reason why the boat moved, she carefully crawled to one side of the boat and clutched on the side of the boat before looking down at the crystal clear water of the lake. Just as he said, she could see the lake closely this way. The bottom which she thought was shallow seemed to be deeper than her first impression. Those fishes, she could almost touch them if she were to put her hand out. Like a little girl on her first excursion, she immediately removed a glove from one hand and let her bare fingers touch the surface of the cold water. The ripples she made caused those colorful fishes to swim away from her. 

Drayce stopped the boat at one place. He pulled out one porcelain container from the side of the boat and opened it in front of Seren. "My Queen, you should give this to them." 

She looked at what was inside the container and asked, "Food for them?"

He nodded and she removed the glove from her other hand as well. She grabbed a handful of fish food from the container, and she slowly put what seemed to be dried clumps in the water. Soon, schools of fishes gathered on her side of the boat, to the point that one could no longer see the bottom of the lake due to the number of fishes flocking over. It was a treat to her eyes and she couldn't help but smile brightly. 

Drayce felt his wife should be smiling; sadly, the veil was an obstacle that stopped him from seeing her smile. 

'I wonder how she looks when she smiles,' he thought. He looked around to see the most obvious thing that could happen at that moment. Her smile caused the flowers around the lake to bloom as if it was in the middle of spring. 

The sight was nothing for Drayce, but the entire palace was shocked by this sudden change around them. The knights, soldiers, and the servants, who had witnessed this before during the journey, knew what it was and soon, the word had spread everywhere that the Queen of Megaris could cause the flowers to blossom like this.

----

At the same time, Jasper, who had just gone out to bring the runaway king back to work, arrived at the lake on his horse. 

He went towards Slayer. "What is happening here? Did Dray do this?"

"Our devil king managed to make someone smile," Slayer replied vaguely. 

Jasper scoffed. "He has never given me a reason to smile, and it isn't like he will resort to paltry tricks to make you smile. Then who are you talking about….ahh, our Queen? He made flowers bloom to make her smile."

Slayer shook his head. "Her Majesty's happiness caused this."

Jasper then recalled one of the reports he received from Captain Rulf. "Oh, so those rumors I heard from our knights are true then."

"Hmm." Slayer nodded and followed Jasper's line of sight. They were looking at the part of the lake where the boat had stopped. Aside from them, many other eyes were silently appreciating the sight of the dragon boat.

Once the food container was empty, the fishes dispersed from her side of the boat. Seren pouted under her veil, but she was also content with this much. The boat moved forward, and Drayce held Seren's cold hand which turned even colder due to the water in the lake. 

Sere could feel her fingers lose their sense of touch, but the warmth from Drayce's hands made her feel better. 

"You should be careful of the cold if I am not around. It's fine when I am with you," he said and continued to rub her palms with his.

His gentle and caring words made her heart flutter. She silently gazed at the man whose focus was on her cold hands. 

"Does it feel better now?" Drayce asked.

As soon as their eyes met, Drayce's ears could catch the sound of her heart beating faster. He smiled lightly as he kissed the middle of her palms gently, causing her pretty eyes to open widely and her breathing to turn heavy. 

Feeling scared with this sudden change inside her, she tried to pull her hands back but Drayce held them tightly. 

"Not warm enough yet," he said and put both of her palms against his cheeks. It made her body lean closer to him. 

With his handsome face cupped in her delicate palms, he asked as he moved his face closer to hers, the tips of their noses nearly brushing. 

"Does it feel better now?"

Seren couldn't believe her hands were holding his face and he was so close to her that she could feel his breath fanning across her face. She didn't know what to do, while Drayce relished the sound of her hammering heartbeats. It was a development he had waited so patiently for. 

He was sure it was not caused by fear, but attraction towards him as a man. Maybe, maybe, she was starting to have those kinds of feelings for him too...

A pink blush covered Seren's face, and suddenly, the colors of all the flowers turned pink as if the silent wave of pink color passed through the entire palace. Drayce noticed the changes around and couldn't help but feel amazed. 

'A small change in her emotions can subconsciously affect nature like this. Exactly what kind of power does she hold over nature?'

=====

Dear readers, this bonus chapter is to celebrate going up in GOLDEN TICKETS ranking from #7 to #6 and #10 of POWER STONE Raking. Once we enter the #5 of both golden ranking and the power stone ranking, there will be a MASS RELEASE. Only one place up is needed.. Keep voting golden tickets.