Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 319: Fixing past mistakes (4)

"You must stop showing up at Xavier’s home like this. You are bothering me with these visits, and I am sure they are bothering him. It won’t be long before he arrives since you have made it here from the palace," said Josephine.

Now that she thought about it, Josephine found it odd that Xavier was not home yet since Nathaniel was here.

Unless.

"Were you invited to vote on who the next king would be?" Josephine asked.

"How could I be present when my son and father are against me? They got another Blackthorn to vote on my behalf. They have all embarrassed me. I am almost certain that he will start making use of Ragnar, though I have been the one keeping this family together," said Nathaniel.

Josephine enjoyed hearing that Nathaniel wasn’t invited to the palace. It was a good punishment for him to have his place to vote taken away.

It was best to hurt Nathaniel using the things he cared for the most.

Josephine laughed, which wasn’t taken well by Nathaniel. She never thought she would see the day that Nathaniel would become like this.

"It is not funny," Nathaniel said, growing even more angry thanks to her laughter.

"Oh, but it is. You only have yourself to blame for what has become of you. Don’t blame Xavier, Selene, or your siblings. Your need to be in control has placed you in this position. I am not going home with you," Jopsehine said, still certain this was the best choice.

Josephine continued to say, "You have not learned anything. You have lost everything which made you turn to me. Our lives will be long, and I don’t want to spend them hearing you speak about Selene or your siblings. It turns out that vampires get tired too."

"I won’t continue to come to you like this, Josephine. Even I have my limits," said Nathaniel.

"I have been asking you not to come here, but it is you who persists on showing up. I am starting to gather that it is because amongst everything else, you don’t want to let it be known our marriage is fading away," Josephine said, seeing this as the real reason he came.

"I will not be living here shortly, so that means you are not to come to Xavier’s home. I will not be returning to you. I want my space, and I expect that you respect that. I have given you plenty of chances to fix this," said Josephine.

"Is it that you want us to leave or to rest for a moment? Come, we can go now. We’ll talk and do whatever it is that will make you stop this act," Nathaniel said, stepping away from the gate so Josephine could come outside.

Josephine stared at Nathaniel, asking herself a question Nathaniel might have asked himself years ago. "What did I see in you? It’s been so long since we first met that I am starting to forget. Why did I ever trust you?"

"Don’t start with this, Josephine. You’ve never questioned our love before. Did you take one good look at those two and decide to compare us? We have years together that cannot be compared," said Nathaniel.

He believed even more now that Josephine was allowing Xavier or Selene to get in her head.

"No," Josephine replied, silently wishing Nathaniel well. "I am just paying more attention to the state of our marriage. I must have loved you then, but I don’t think it is the same now. I still love you, but I am tired of you."

Josephine didn’t understand how the two emotions were there. She loved Nathaniel, but she had to love him from afar.

"We’ve been together for a very long time. I’ve dealt with you caring about the Blackthorns every year of our marriage. I think we need some more time away from each other. Time for you to lose your anger concerning your father and siblings," Josephine decided.

Josephine wanted more of the space she got away from Nathaniel. She needed more distance to test if she yearned to go back to him or if she wanted to continue just being Josephine.

Josephine continued, "If you find yourself drawn to someone else, then I won’t get angry. I can’t have you wait forever."

Nathaniel approached the gates to grab hold of them. "Josephine. Do you hear yourself?"

"With my good hearing, I do. I don’t want a long, boring life, Nathaniel. I want a life filled with excitement. One where I am your first focus, and you care about how I feel before how your family will react. For the first time in years, a weight is off my shoulder," Josephine said, feeling free.

It wasn’t until Josephine left the home she shared with Nathaniel that she realised how stressful it was to be the wife of a Blackthorn. There were so many rules not enforced by the Blackthorns, but by Nathaniel, who wanted her to act a certain way.

"If you love me, then you can wait a little more. Let me enjoy being carefree and getting to visit my son as I please, without you coming around to ruin the mood. If you cannot do that, then let me go. Do not hold on because you will look bad to your peers and family," said Josephine.

"You’ve let them get in your head," Nathaniel said, walking away from the gates to leave.

Josephine was disappointed Nathaniel gave a response she expected, but she wouldn’t allow it to ruin her day. Her curiosity about what Nathaniel had to say was gone. She was going to move and enjoy the freedom she had.

Josephine looked up after hearing some noise above her, and to her surprise, she saw that it was Xavier. "You!"

"Why do you bother your time with him? I need to start setting up traps outside my gates for unwelcome guests. Why does it feel like you are on the verge of crying?" Xavier asked, touching Josephine’s face. "Do you want to go with him? I shall not hold you back."

"I do not want to cry. What were you doing flying?" Josephine asked, looking at the sky as though he would be there again. "Since when could you fly?"

"Since I fell and never hit the ground. It was the fastest way to get back home. Are you done here?" Xavier asked, keeping a close eye on Nathaniel, who made his way back over to the pair.

"I am," Josephine replied.

"Good," Xavier held his mother’s hand so they could leave the gates. "We should head back instead of bothering ourselves with a pest."

Josephine walked away with Xavier before Nathaniel could say something foolish and end up in the dungeon beside Morgana. She knew this wouldn’t be the last time Nathaniel came to her, but it wouldn’t be so easy for him to get a response that time around.

Josephine needed Nathaniel to be alone for much longer to regret the decisions he made.