The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me?!-Chapter 437: The Soldiers’ Negligence

"But... the bandits are still going to attack his distillery tonight, right?" she asked softly.

Edmund softened his gaze as he replied, "I’ve asked some of our soldiers to guard the distillery." He gently caressed her hair to calm her. "You don’t have to worry anymore. Nothing bad will happen to your father or his business."

Primrose let out a slow, relieved breath. The thought of her father getting hurt felt like a nightmare she never wanted to relive.

Yes, she had seen Lazarus sick and injured before, but that didn’t mean she could ever get used to it. Especially if it involved something as serious as his leg being crushed.

But then, her mind drifted back to her first life. At that time, her father must have suffered so much because of it. Worse than that, Primrose never even replied to his letters, acting like a daughter who deserved to be slapped.

"And your father didn’t lose his leg back then," Edmund added quietly. "He managed to walk again after eight months, and I also helped him cover his losses."

Primrose didn’t know whether she should feel relieved or sad after hearing that. In one way, she was relieved because her husband had helped so much, but she was also sad because she never got to see it herself.

"Wife, you did nothing wrong," Edmund’s voice pulled her out of her bad thoughts. "What happened to your father in our first life had nothing to do with you, so you don’t need to feel guilty."

Feel guilty?

Was that what she had been feeling all along? Maybe. Because deep down, she truly felt like she had been an ungrateful daughter.

"I just thought... I should’ve replied to his letters," Primrose whispered, lowering her head. "He must have been suffering so much. Not only could he not walk and suffered huge losses, but his daughter also refused to speak to him."

Edmund didn’t respond immediately. At the end of the day, the broken relationship between Lazarus and Primrose in their first life was also partly his fault. If he had never appeared in her life, maybe they would never have drifted apart.

Because of that, he couldn’t bring himself to comfort her with empty words. All he could do was stroke her hair gently, hoping it brought her at least a little comfort.

Primrose, who could clearly hear the guilt in his mind, quickly said, "If you hadn’t married me back then, there’s a big chance I would’ve been taken as a concubine by the Emperor of Vellmoria." She lifted her gaze and added, "Honestly... my fate would have been much worse if that had happened."

Edmund’s face instantly went pale. "No—that... that really does sound horrible." He pulled Primrose tightly into his arms, as if reminding himself that his wife had never fallen into the hands of the Emperor of Vellmoria.

Primrose was about to say something, but quickly shut her mouth when she remembered there was still another person in the room with them.

[What the hell are they talking about?] the soldier thought, completely confused. [They were speaking as if the bandits had attacked the Duke just now.]

[Are they crazy? Or are they talking about something else entirely?]

Primrose let out a heavy sigh the moment she realized this man couldn’t be allowed to walk around freely after learning even a bit of their secret.

"Husband, we don’t need him, right?" she asked, gently pulling away from Edmund’s arms.

She had been reading the soldier’s mind from the beginning and concluded that the only thing this soldier knew was that the King had allowed the bandits to enter Azmeria’s borders, but he didn’t know the real reason why.

If they wanted answers, the only way was to read the King of Azmeria’s mind directly.

"No, we don’t need him." Edmund asked calmly, "Do you want me to kill him?"

The soldier’s face turned as white as snow the moment he heard those words. He knew he would eventually face the death penalty, but he didn’t expect it to happen this quickly.

No matter how tough a person pretends to be, everyone fears death when it’s standing right in front of them.

"If you’re the one who does it, the outcome will be terrible," Primrose said gently. "Let me handle it."

If Edmund killed the soldier, people could twist the story and blame him. They would say the Beast King was violent and dangerous, and those who didn’t know the truth might even think he deserved to be stoned to death.

Primrose wasn’t going to let that happen. So, she chose another path.

"You will keep your mouth shut once you walk out of this room," Primrose said, her eyes locking onto his. "And after you get far away from us... you will kill yourself. I command you."

The soldier’s eyes widened, and his entire body stiffened as the command took hold. And because Primrose had forbidden him from speaking, he could only nod helplessly.

A moment later, Primrose and Edmund stepped out of the storage room and saw several Azmerian soldiers arriving at the bakery. They stared at Edmund with strange expressions, though Primrose could tell they weren’t talking badly about him in their mind.

[I didn’t expect the Beast King to help Miss Talia,] one of them thought. [I thought he would ignore it, since I heard from others that the Beast King enjoys seeing conflict and bloodshed.]

Primrose frowned slightly. Just because her husband always won battles didn’t mean he enjoyed seeing blood or hurting people.

[So they really do have a good relationship...] The soldier lowered his gaze when he saw Edmund and Primrose holding hands tightly, as if their hands were glued together.

"Greetings, Your Majesties." One of the soldiers stepped forward. He was an older man—someone who had been serving since Primrose was still a child.

"Sir Brior, it’s good to see you again," Primrose said warmly. "I thought you had retired by now."

Brior chuckled. "I still have two more years before retirement, Your Majesty. Not this year."

Primrose’s smile stiffened for a moment. She suddenly remembered she hadn’t actually been away from Illvaris that long in this lifetime.

She cleared her throat to hide the awkwardness. "R-Right. I must have mixed it up." She quickly changed the topic. "Have you not patrolled the area thoroughly today? Sir Brior, I didn’t expect that you still haven’t been able to handle the bandits sneaking in again this year."

Sir Brior pressed his lips together. Her words hit him harder than she intended. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"We already increased the number of soldiers on patrol this year, but we never expected we’d still fail because one of our own betrayed us." He glanced sharply at the traitor among them. "Your Majesties, please forgive us for ruining your experience while visiting this place."

Truthfully, Sir Brior seemed to be directing his apology more to Edmund, since the Beast King was technically the kingdom’s honored guest, though ever since stepping foot into this kingdom, Edmund had never felt honored at all.

In fact, he had received so many insults that he had gone numb to them.

"Treason is not a small mistake," Edmund said calmly. "Your King must deal with this problem seriously, or your defenses will eventually collapse."

Sir Brior nodded firmly. "We will report everything to His Majesty, the King of Azmeria, Your Majesty."

From Sir Brior’s thoughts, Primrose could tell he wasn’t involved in any of this. If anything, he was genuinely furious at the soldier who had betrayed his comrades and caused trouble right in front of royal guests.

He then ordered the other soldiers to take the bandits along with the silent traitor. Since a prisoner awaiting execution often acted strangely, none of them questioned why he remained so quiet.

"Your Majesties, thank you! Thank you so much!" Talia rushed toward them the moment the soldiers left the bakery. After being on edge for so long, she finally couldn’t hold back her tears.

"If you hadn’t been here, I might have lost all my money!" Talia said, her voice shaking. "I don’t even know what words I can use to properly express how grateful I am to both of you."

Talia usually deposited her earnings into the bank twice a week, so she still had several days’ worth of money stored in the bakery today.

If Edmund hadn’t stepped in, she would have lost everything; every coin she earned, and even the capital she needed to keep her bakery running.

"You don’t have to say anything, Miss Talia," Primrose said gently. "Your bakery is still within my father’s territory, so you’re under our protection."

Still, the patrolling soldiers were chosen by the royal army, so Lazarus wouldn’t be blamed when a royal soldier turned out to be a traitor.

"Even so... if His Grace had been here instead of you, his money would’ve been taken too!" Talia said, still shaken.

Well... she had a point. Primrose’s father was a brilliant businessman, but he was hopeless when it came to fighting. Some people even said that Primrose’s mother was stronger than him and used to spar with the soldiers.

Of all the things her mother passed down to her, why couldn’t Primrose inherit that strength too?