CH 228

Chapter 228: The Children

It was around the time where the carriage was arriving at a path in the forest where not many people go by when the carriage suddenly stopped. Rihannan opened the curtain of the window. The commander of guards that was responsible for the procession stopped his horse near the window of the carriage and lowered his head towards Rihannan.

“What is happening?”

“Please do not worry. We’ll take care of it soon.”

“Take care of it? What you mean take care of it?”

“Well…”

Rihannan saw that he was making an uncomfortable expression, so she pushed her head outside of the window. She soon then realized what he had meant. Several large trees were piled up in the middle of the road and blocking progression.

“How did that happen?”

“It seems that the locals around here that were logging had left their wooden logs in the road like this. If you wait for a moment, we’ll soon push it out of the way.”

“Is there no other path?”

“Yes, my queen. This is the only path that’s headed towards the royal villa, so…”

The commander’s face became quite nervous. He had made the royal procession stop right in the middle of the road and forced them to wait for a delay, meaning that he would get severely reprimanded once he comes back from this procession.

Rihannan nodded her head.

“Well that’s good, I wanted to take a rest since I wasn’t feeling very well. Let me get out of the carriage for a bit and take in some fresh air for a moment.”

“Would you like to do that?”

The commander’s face immediately brightened up. As Rihannan stepped off the carriage, the commander laid down a thick blanket onto a nearby grassy ground and guided Rihannan to sit on it. He even put a thick shawl around her shoulder. One of the soldiers quickly boiled up some warm tea and gave it to Rihannan.

“If there is anything else bothering you, please tell us.”

“Right. Thank you.”

As the remaining soldiers endeavored in clearing the wooden logs, Rihannan enjoyed the late autumn atmosphere around her while they did so. The skies were particularly high and clear as if droplets of white paint were strewn across a blue canvas sky. Underneath that picturesque sky were trees with canopies colored in gold color. As she admired the endlessly stretching ridge and river twisting and turning into the distance as well as lush vegetations all around her, Rihannan noticed that several children were hiding behind a tree and looking at her direction.

It seemed like they were children who live in a nearby village. Their hairs were all frizzy and dry as if they weren’t particularly well-fed and taken care of.

Rihannan gestured with her hand.

“Could you come over here? I’ll give you all something to eat.”

The children all hesitated, not coming over right away. Glancing at the guards that were fully armed standing nearby Rihannan, they became even more scared and hid even further back into the trees. Rihannan turned to the guards and gave an order.

“Tell them to bring a little of the food that was packed to be given to the queen mother here.”

“Huh? But…”

The guard’s words trailed off but hid many feelings they had about her order. They were asking if it was right for food that was prepared for the queen mother to enjoy being given to scrawny little kids like them without actually saying it.

“If the queen mother hears about how the food was eaten deliciously by hungry children, I’m sure she would be delighted. And the children seem afraid of you all as well, I think it would be better for all of you to stay a little away from here.”

“Yes, understood.”

Hearing the queen’s order, the guards couldn’t do anything but comply and move away from the place. Soon, beautiful and expensive looking meals that were plentiful were laid out fully on the grassy ground. From perfectly baked bread to rare fruit and sweet desserts. The children gulped back their saliva as they looked from behind the tree.