The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me?!-Chapter 94: The Seeds of Hatred

"I see," Sevrin said. "In that case, I’ll give you three days off before the tea banquet. I hope you’ll use that time wisely."

Then, with a firm expression, he added, "But after that, I might give you your first real task as queen."

What?! So soon?! She hadn’t even made it through one full week of lessons yet!

The tea banquet would be held five days from now, which meant Sevrin was planning to give her a real royal duty starting next week.

Primrose tightened her grip around Bunnie. Panic rose in her chest. What if she messed up and caused chaos in the palace?

Sevrin must’ve seen the panic on her face because he quickly reassured her, "Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I won’t throw something too difficult at you right away."

[Maybe managing the tax reports isn’t so bad.]

Not that bad?!

Who in their right mind looked at taxes and thought, Yeah, that sounds easy?!

Unfortunately, Primrose couldn’t confront him about it since he only thought that to himself.

The only thing she could do was force a polite smile and say, "That’s a relief, Sir Dorne. I’ll place my trust in you."

• • •

Primrose hadn’t expected the problem Edmund was dealing with to take this long.

It had already been three days since he left the palace, and there was still no sign of him coming back.

She didn’t know all the details about the case yet, but Solene had explained that it was possible someone had deliberately set up the beast, forcing him into a fight that ended with him killing a human.

"This feels more like a scheme to stir hatred toward the beastkin," Solene said hesitantly. "Ever since you married His Majesty, things haven’t been very peaceful along the borders."

At that moment, they were in the palace greenhouse.

Primrose wanted to make sure the flowers looked beautiful in time for the tea banquet, which was only a few days away.

Primrose sipped her tea, while Solene and Marielle sat quietly in front of her. Solene looked calm and comfortable because it wasn’t her first time sharing a table with the queen, but Marielle was clearly on edge.

She kept fidgeting in her seat and wouldn’t even look Primrose in the eye. Instead, her eyes kept darting toward the rabbit doll sitting in the chair next to Primrose, like it was a special guest.

Honestly ... she couldn’t understand why the doll had its own chair like it was a person.

[More importantly,] she thought, [Why does Her Majesty always carry that doll everywhere? Yesterday, she even brought it to breakfast.]

[Does she really think of it as His Majesty?]

Primrose almost choked on her tea when she heard Marielle’s thoughts.

No! She did not think of that ridiculous rabbit doll as Edmund. As if her tall, muscular husband could be compared to a tiny stuffed rabbit!

She carried the doll around simply because ... oh, whatever. Who cared about the reason? At least the doll never annoyed her. It didn’t talk back, didn’t complain, and didn’t get on her nerves. Honestly, it was easier to be around than most people.

"How so?" Primrose finally responded to Solene’s earlier statement, once she’d calmed her mind down.

"For many years, the beastkin and humans living along the border always had their daggers at each other’s throats," Solene said. "That’s why, when His Majesty agreed to the Emperor of Vellmoria’s request to end the hatred between their people, it became easier for both sides to cross the border freely."

It sounded like a step in the right direction. But in reality, it wasn’t that simple.

After all, both sides had sown the seeds of hatred for centuries. It was impossible to erase all that in just a short time.

They needed time to adjust.

But unfortunately, some people didn’t want to adjust. Some were all too happy to keep feeding the cycle of hate.

"Actually, I don’t quite understand," Primrose said. "Is there a particular reason why humans and beasts never got along at the borders? I mean, they see each other more often there than anywhere else, right?"

Solene nodded slowly. "That’s true, Your Majesty. But that’s also the problem. The more often they meet, the more chances there are for tension, misunderstandings, and well ... fights."

Primrose raised an eyebrow. "So ... it’s just constant irritation? Like neighbors who never get along?"

"Exactly," Solene replied with a sigh. "Only in this case, the neighbors carry swords and have centuries of blood between them."

After all, people tend to hate what they don’t understand, especially when they feel too different from one another. Whether it was humans or beasts, both sides believed the other was worse than their own kind.

Marielle finally dared to speak up, though her voice was barely a whisper. "I heard some people say that beastkin used to take humans from the border villages ..."

Primrose frowned. "Take them? Like kidnapping?"

Solene quickly shook her head. "It’s complicated. Some stories are exaggerated, others are half-truths. A lot of fear was passed down through generations. Some humans believed beasts were monsters. And some beasts believed humans were invaders. Neither side ever tried to fix it."

Primrose stirred her tea gently, the clinking sound filling the silence. "And now, someone’s trying to make sure those old fears don’t die."

Whether it was the actions of humans or beasts, one thing was clear: neither side truly wanted their hatred to disappear.

The bitterness had become a comfort, a familiar enemy to blame, a shield to hide behind.

After thinking about it for a while, Primrose found herself wondering, what had Edmund actually done back then?

In her first life, she had known nothing about politics. She hadn’t paid attention to the details, nor had she been allowed to get involved.

All she had seen was the aftermath. The cold glances. The tension. The whispered rumors that followed Edmund wherever he went.

But now that she was in the middle of it— surrounded by advisors, reports, and endless duties—she started to realize just how difficult his position truly was.

Had he tried to fix things?

Had he fought against that cycle of hatred? freēwēbnovel.com

Or had he simply been blamed for trying at all?

Her chest tightened a little. Back then, she didn’t have the courage to ask. And now, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer.