20. Are you barren?

"How was the tour?" His cold voice was the first thing to hit her ears when she got back to the bedroom.

'What was he doing here, shouldn't he be out taking care of something?' Anna's mind reeled with thoughts. She was hoping to come in and sit by herself, wallowing in despair.

What she had seen in the water broke her to her bones, she had tried so hard to hold them back here, only to see him seated at the reading table, with glasses on and a book in his hand, looking like a learned poet.

"It was great," Anna lied, forcing a smile on her face,

"I saw a lot of places, and Uhm... I must say that it's a very beautiful Palace you have here."

"What do you expect of the ruler of this realm? To live under a shed that's crumbling under the moonlight?" He asked Anna without taking his head off the book and she responded with a long sigh.

"It is beyond my imagination, that is all I can say."