Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 259: Pay attention (4)

Natalie’s amusement in Vivienne announcing she would take other men did not last long as she now worried about Darius losing his spot as king.

That couldn’t happen as then all her hard work would be for nothing.

Natalie didn’t care about Darius. What she cared about was the king. It would be hard to seduce the next king after carrying a child for Darius, and Natalie didn’t want to start over getting anyone’s attention.

Natalie patiently waited for Darius to finally let Vivienne leave. "She must still be speaking out of anger. She will vote for you. Her anger should not cloud her judgment now and cause her to lose her seat as queen. Should I speak to her?"

"Now is not the best time for you to speak to Vivienne. You must avoid her and remain out of sight to keep our child safe. I will set Vivienne right," Darius replied.

"I shall follow your wishes and stay away from her. Forgive me, but I am worried about what she said. Regardless of what anyone says, you make a fine king. No one would ever be able to replace you," said Natalie.

"No one will replace me. There will be a war in the palace if they are so foolish as to claim I am no longer the king. The vote won’t matter," Darius said since he wasn’t giving up his title. "I will always be your king, and you will always be the woman of the king."

Darius now realised he needed to go to the court to announce Natalie’s new status. He had been avoiding the court since he didn’t want to hear about the voting, but now, he had to go there.

"I am honoured to be at your side," Natalie replied.

However, this wasn’t going to be enough.

There was a queen who wasn’t grateful for her seat, which Natalie would gladly take. Having an official position at Darius’s side was only the beginning. There was much more for Natalie to get in the future, thanks to the child and Darius.

Darius no longer thought of the other women he spent his time with as Natalie managed to get his full attention. "Do you mind if I have other women?"

Natalie smiled. "My answer hasn’t changed. I knew you were never only mine. You are the king, so you are free to do as you feel. I only seek to follow your command. I don’t want anything more."

Darius ran his fingers through Natalie’s hair. "If only she would be more like you or if you came from her family. Perhaps you need to teach Vivienne how to act as a woman by the king’s side."

Natalie touched Darius’s hand and stroked it gently. "I have been by her side long enough to know she is only upset now. It doesn’t matter what family I came from since you have only loved Vivienne, and I hope she will see it. You do know how to love."

Darius pulled his hand away from Natalie’s touch. He didn’t care for the interaction. "Vivienne will never admit that I have only loved her. She prefers to argue with me instead of working on our marriage. I should have known her wishes to fix it were lies."

Darius stopped speaking about Vivienne after realising how much of his private matters he was revealing to Natalie. "You are talented at getting me to speak without doing anything. I will visit the room which will be assigned to you tonight. You will need a servant to start preparing your things."

"My brother joined me in the palace, so I will send a servant to inform him of my move. He was of great help to me when I found out about the baby. He rushed to my home and escorted me here. Will it be fine for him to visit?" Natalia asked.

Darius nodded. "It is only fair since he was so helpful,l and I will reward him."

"Thank you. We are family-"

Darius’s laughter stopped Natalie in her tracks. "The child and you, since you are the mother, will be my family. Your brother and others will not, so I hope you will be prepared to send them off when they come looking for favours."

Darius didn’t want to be bothered by people he did not care for. Natalie’s family wasn’t too important for them to be considered his family.

"I shall let them claim the child, but they don’t have any ties to the palace. I will not keep you from seeing your family, but I shall not meet with them. Understood?" Darius asked.

"I understand, and I’m sure the others will also understand. As long as I am safe, my father or brother will not bother you," Natalie said, but her thoughts didn’t match her words.

It was foolish that Darius didn’t think her family would be his. Her side of the child’s family were not to be looked down on, and they wouldn’t be for long.

For now, Natalie would go along with it until the right time.

Away from Natalie and Darius, Vivienne thought of her next move as she walked toward the court. She would have men at her side and since many of the men in the court had sons, she knew they would secretly push for what she wanted.

Vivienne walked to clear her head, but a familiar face upset her. "You knew all along that Natalie had been sleeping with my husband. I didn’t know you could be so sneaky."

"Me? I am not the sneaky one here, Vivienne. I only suspected the king was her secret lover. Had you been paying a little bit more attention to the king, you would have suspected it as well. Don’t get angry with me," said Juliana.

Juliana wished she could have been near to hear the big reveal to Vivienne, but Vivienne’s appearance now satisfied her.

"Had you not been so quick to toss me out of the palace, I would be at your side. Now I find myself leaning toward the friend I can trust more," Juliana said, folding her arms as she approached Vivienne. "I will not be leaving the palace. I quite like it here."

Vivienne laughed at Juliana’s attempt to upset her. "I will admit that I should have kept my eye on Natalie more. She is smart to know how to get what she wants. You aren’t any concern to me since you are so foolish to view her as your friend."

Vivienne poked Juliana’s stomach with her finger before it was swatted away. "You should pray to any God who will listen that you are pregnant. Trusting in Natalie to keep you here wouldn’t be smart. She’s going to send you away when she has no use for you."

Juliana knew she couldn’t trust Natalie forever so she already set her eyes on someone else who could keep her in the palace. She had heard of the others who would be considered to replace Darius were around the town.

"I am smarter than you think. You will not turn me against Natalie while you sit back and watch. Had you not turned on me, I would have helped you now, but you’re all alone without a friend at your side. You remind me of someone," Juliana said, circling Vivienne.

"Aren’t you the same as Selene? We laughed at her husband bringing a human, and now we can laugh at you missing your friend who had taken your husband. I’m sure the others will find good gossip in this. You should hope you are pregnant to take the attention off Natalie," Juliana said, poking Vivienne back.