The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 435: Dance For Me

After calming his body down, Abel quickly shifted back into his human form at the entrance of the Queen Mother’s residence to wait for Dani. Soon, he saw her arriving.

"What took you so long?"

"Huh? You left me," she quickly retorted. "And why are you still outside? Why not go in first?"

"Let’s go together. The Queen Mother is already in her garden waiting for us," he stated as he offered out his hand to her. "Come."

"Oh, right. We should be a couple in front of her," Dani muttered as she accepted his hand.

Abel didn’t respond, but he grinned as he led the two of them inside.

"By the way, you can always visit Dahlia, so why not ask her how she is yourself? Just check on her if you want to know," Dani scoffed out of nowhere as they walked together. "She’s back after so many years, so I believe having her visited by familiar faces will be good for her."

A brief silence followed, and Dani first broke the silence she created since Abel chose not to comment. He was way too focused on keeping himself from jumping her to properly pay attention to her. She was at it again about Dahlia, and Abel wasn’t pleased at the fact that she was throwing him at another woman so easily. It felt like Dani wasn’t attracted to him enough for her to easily let him go.

Was he the only one getting deeply invested in this relationship? He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself so as not to punish this woman again. Or maybe she was doing it so that he could kiss her again? The latter thought somehow made him feel more at ease.

"I’m not really looking down on you, Abel," she defended herself. "It’s just that I thought... Who knows? I mean, Dahlia seems to be a nice woman unlike Rosela, an-"

That was it. Once more, Abel swiftly pulled her close to him. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he instructed her, "Smile. The Queen Mother is looking at us, Dani."

He grinned when he once again felt how Dani’s body tensed around his arms. If she wasn’t getting invested in this relationship, then he would just have to make her think she was so into him that she would be just as attached to him as he was to her.

Back to reality, he was having a lot of fun with what he was having right now with Dani. He still couldn’t explain why, but for some reason, having Dani around made him feel relaxed as if he had nothing else to worry about... which was a good thing since he couldn’t remember the last time that he felt this way.

With Rosela, he was always on edge; worrying about everything as he felt like he carried the whole world on his back. With Dani, however... He had a wide smile on his face the moment the Queen Mother met his eyes. He loved holding onto Dani’s hand with how warm it was. It was why he took the initiative to hold onto her hand whenever he saw a good opportunity to do it.

Well, Dani was like a tigress who always seemed ready to attack him at a moment’s notice, so he needed to be careful whenever he took advantage of her. He found her frowning to be adorable though...

"Queen Mother," Abel and Dani politely greeted Rania with a curt bow.

Rania nodded. The older woman was already seated in her chair, a slew of parchment scattered on the table in front of her. "You two sit down," she directed them. "Let’s discuss things about the wedding. I heard you already visited Lady Dani’s family. I’m glad you took the initiative on that matter."

Abel gulped at the praise. He could feel Dani’s glare, and it only made him more wary about turning to look back at her. He had lied to her that it was the Queen Mother who asked him to visit her family, so he could only assume that she was miffed at him.

Still, he smiled at Queen Mother as he explained, "I just heeded your advice to treat things seriously, Queen Mother. Also, Dani and her family are very respectable personalities in Ebodia. It’s only proper that they know that their daughter will be in good hands."

Dani remained quiet beside him, but he knew that she was probably already cursing him in her mind.

"That’s good. We’ll have the wedding ceremony in Dani’s manor in Ebodia first," Rania informed him. "After that, we’ll have the Coupling Rites here in your residence."

Abel nodded at the plans being given to him. Even so, a sly smile carved itself onto his face as he suggested, "I know that only the royal family are required to perform the Coupling Dance, but it would be nice if Dani would perform the same, Queen Mother."

"No!" Dani quickly retorted.

Expecting her outburst, Abel innocently turned to face her. "But I want you to dance for me like that..." he bluntly stated. "Seducing me to mark you..."

Dani’s eyes widened in terror at his words, and Abel could only try and control himself not to burst into laughter.

"That’s a good idea. Even if you’re not a part of the royal family, you still hold a high position in this kingdom," Rania sagely remarked. "Besides, the Coupling Dance is usually up to the couple’s discretion." She then looked at Dani with an encouraging smile and said, "It will be nice if you’ll perform the Coupling Dance, Dani. Don’t worry, they’re only comprised of some basic and standard steps. You don’t need to dance like how our Queen danced before."

She added, "The dances the Queen and Princess Niran performed were quite different if you noticed. Now, there are simpler dance steps for you to choose from. You should start practicing tomorrow."

"But... I haven’t tried dancing my whole life," Dani muttered with her head bowed down.

"Don’t worry, I’ll personally assist you, Dani," Abel offered. He then grabbed Dani’s warm hand and gently caressed them. Although, he flinched with how she tightened her grip on his hand.