The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress

Chapter 387: Your wife.

King Raff eventually ended his temper tantrum and sent for his son. He had much that he wanted to say to

Roland and at the top of his list, the matters to do with Sigrid were sitting firmly.

Roland entered the hospital room with silent footsteps and dignity, head held high, his cloak trailing behind him

like a flag blowing at half mast. He stood near the foot of the bed and kept his arms behind his back.

"Sit." His father gestured at the empty chair next to the bed.

Roland obeyed, sitting in the chair with an uneasy feeling in his heart. Sitting meant a long conversation and he

was not sure he wanted to talk to his father at great length.

"You wasted no tin running the kingdom your way while | was down." He started.

No greeting, no wasting ton pleasantries.

"What else should | have done?" Questioned back.

King Raff looked at his son carefully, thinking back to Sigrid’s words. Did Roland really resent him so much? No

matter, he had a point to make and he was going to make it despite all that Sigrid had said. "Let us talk about

your wife, Sigrid."

Roland said nothing, only stared at his father curiously.

"She seems to think that she has a say in how this kingdom is run," King Raff continued. "She is always

proposing laws on everything, making adjustments to treaties without consulting the necessary parties like royal

advisors. She involves herself in matters to do with the army. She negotiates like a king, not a queen. Forceful,

Sigrid Thorin is too forceful and headstrong."

Roland's lips quirked upward, almost fondly. "You never did like headstrong women."

"This has nothing to do with your mother." King Raff retorted.

"She tried to be your equal and you froze her out in every way which led to resentment that was poured onto

your sons." Roland sneered.

"She should have understood balance." King Raff snapped. "Maurelia liked to pusharound in the beginning

just because her father helpedget the throne. But | put her in place just as you should do to Sigrid. | have

seen you both walking into rooms sometimes and she doesn’t walk beside you; she strides ahead."

Roland laughed harshly. "So, you have trouble with how my wife chooses to walk! | am not complaining. Why are

you?"

King Raff closed his eyes. His son was a fool in love and he was thinking with his penis not his brains. He took a

deep breath and leaned forward as much as his body could let him. "Do you know what | regret the most?"

Roland did not respond.

"That unnatural deal which | made because | was too greedy for the refined salt and salt mines the Thorin’s

owned." He paused. "I never should have allowed Sigrid to talkinto banning you from taking a second wife.

But none the less, this can be remedied."

Roland's brows rose curiously.

"I will rescind the decision and take all the blame." King Raff said, "You should start looking at the candidates for

a second wife. Keeley Valerius is a wonderful choice and she comes from a wonderful loyal family. She will not

compete for favor because she understand balance. Most importantly, she will respect you."

Roland blinked slowly, as if trying to translate the suggestion from an ancient tongue. "A secondary consort."

"Yes son, a secondary consort." King Raff said strongly, "I had one, your grandfather had one and your great

grandfather had five."

Roland's voice was calm, but laced with steel. "And he was killed by the three of his wives. But that is not the

story we tell the public now, is it? His house fractured just as my grandfather's house did and yours too. You all

gave birth to children that hated and tore each other part. Family feuds for us mean tearing the kingdom apart."

King Raff went on like he did not hear Roland's refusal. "As long as Sigrid remains the queen and first wife, she

will not make a fuss. Having a competitor for your heart and attention will soften her edges. It worked for your

mother so | know that it can work for Sigrid. You will dominate her in no time."

Roland had never heard anything more absurd. "Have you met my wife? Do you understand the kind of woman

she is? You think | could dominate her or bend her into something quieter!"

"I think you will never know if you don’t try." The King growled. "If you don’t keep her in line she will keep you in

line."

Roland looked toward the wall, where Elarin had stuck stick paper figures of a happy family of nine. Two parents

and seven children. "And what is wrong with that?

King Raff frowned. "You are a fool and a disappointment. Sigrid is trouble, she dreams too loudly. Her ambition

has teeth."

"Good." Roland stood up. "I love her even more for those teeth, | married her for them. Iron sharpens iron and

steel sharpens steel. | am a better man because of her."

"You married her because | decreed it so." King Raff reminded him. "I have seen the footage of the battle you

fought in Nemoris and | could not believe my eyes. You stood shoulder to shoulder with her like an equal. She

cup with the battle plan."

Roland found his father unbelievable. "So | should try to break her because of that? | should cheat on my vows

because she stood with me! That is what people in love do...."

"You are not a poet or a bard so stop all this love talk" King Raff spat impatiently. "Kings don’t have room in their

hearts for fairy tale love."

"And yet every fairy tale circulating seems to be about princes finding true love." Roland muttered. He raised his

voice. "Oh, we should not forget how you loved Consort Rina and treated her as if she was the most precious

thing in the kingdom, ignoring all voices that rose against her.

She murdered her servants for simply existing and you looked the other way. She boiled someone to death!!!" He

screamed. "Alive, by the way. That very night, you threw her a grand birthday party and wasted sixty thousand

gold coins on it.

The following day, you were back to seeking solutions to the flood in the South and urging for more taxes to be

collected because the royal treasury could not afford to feed all the affected.

You want to talk about men that were dominated by the women they married, you should be the first in line."