“Distance is not a problem if it meant she’d be able to visit me.” Seriousness masked his face as I reckoned him already treating Sylvia as an ambitious traitor-all because she hadn’t paid him a visit. I didn’t know whether to think of him as petty or simply guarded up.
I felt all my energy draining with the kind of conversation we were having, all before I could even convince him otherwise. It wasn’t like this when I talked with the others. Perhaps it cost too much to persuade him. Now I ran out of ideas on how to bring him around.
“As I try to connect the dots, it’s more likely that this particular Alpha is training private soldiers at the border.”
“How is that even possible? Keeping private soldiers is not like keeping a pet. People will know, and they will talk. Don’t you think you should be able to find out about it by now if that’s the case?” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him but failed. My annoyance shot through the roof. I had to take back what I said before. Rufus wasn’t a quiet and reticent man at all. The moment he talked about something with finality, he had the tendency to be very long-winded.
“Mom, I’m not being over-suspicious over nothing,” he leaned forward. “Think about it. The border separates our territory from the vampire’s, and so does the pack there. If they decide to collude with the vampires near the border, the consequences will be unimaginable-and you know there’s a fat chance of it happening. When we fought with the vampires back then, there were spies among us who leaked all our battle strategies. That’s how they stood a chance against us. I have to put my guard up against something this serious. I won’t allow something similar to happen again-not on my watch,” Rufus stated seriously.
Another sigh escaped my lips. I understood where he was coming from. It was not unusual for him to have doubts. He was the lycan king, so it was normal for him to think more about something than others: a bare minimum demanded from him. If he wasn’t prepared for danger in times of peace, the empire would easily be at stake.
The war brought nothing but pain. I knew that Rufus was in a dilemma. After all, he had the entire empire’s burden on his shoulders now.
But the problem at hand was that Sylvia couldn’t see Rufus at all! It was entirely a different picture.
An unspeakable anxiety was gorging me whole.
My head throbbed. How did I get myself sandwiched in this situation again? Anyway, I had to at least assure him that what he was thinking was far from happening. “Rufus, don’t worry. Anyone else can betray you, but not that Alpha.”
Rufus shot at me a baffled look. “Why are you defending that Alpha, Mom? You’ve never spoken for anyone like this before.”
For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.
Rufus’ POV
My mother’s reaction further aroused my suspicion and curiosity about this Alpha.
Since I was kid, I had never seen her be so partial to anyone, except this Alpha, in whose defense she had spoken several times.
She had also confidently claimed that anyone could betray us, but not this Alpha.
I resolved to meet this mysterious person.
“Mother, I don’t care how, but I need to meet this Alpha. I have sent a message to this Alpha requesting her to attend the military parade this year. It is also an ultimatum.”
She coughed and cautiously asked, “What if she still doesn’t come?”
I sneered, “If she still refuses to come to the imperial capital, I will personally lead my soldiers to the border to meet this mysterious Alpha.”
My mother’s expression changed and her tone suddenly became hostile. “Whatever. You should leave. I need to rest.”
I was going to say something else, but she practically threw me out.
Bang! The door was shut in my face. I stared at it, lost in thought.
I could sense that something was wrong with my mother. She seemed to know this Alpha from the border pack very well. She might have some personal connection to that she-wolf, but she was keeping me in the dark.
But what on earth was she hiding from me?
I couldn’t figure it out, so I went back to work.
I didn’t put down the pen in my hand until it was late into the night. I leaned against my chair and massaged my temples, fatigue creeping over me.
At this moment, my subordinate entered bearing a stack of documents and placed them on the table beside me. In a careful tone, he said, “All these letters are from the elders, urging you to get married.”
I fell into silence for a while as I surveyed the stack of papers.
“My King, should I just take them away?” My assistant was trembling and beads of sweat popped up on his forehead. He seemed terrified that I would lose my temper.
“No, just leave them there,” I answered lightly.
Looking relieved, he asked, “Would you like some coffee, then?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even bother raising my head and continued working.
My assistant bowed his head in acknowledgment and left. I glanced at the pile of letters again.
I used to get very irritated every time I encountered such letters. I didn’t like it when others controlled my life and told me what to do.
Marriage held no significance for me. It was only necessary to produce an heir.
But recently, I’d noticed my mother’s hair turning gray and the envious expression she’d showed when she had mentioned her friend’s grandson today, and I couldn’t help but think that marriage might not be so bad after all.
I stood up and walked to the window. As I gazed at the bright lights in the distance, I was overcome by an inexplicable sense of loneliness.
I lit a cigarette and began thinking about finding myself a mate, but my mind went blank. I couldn’t figure out the kind of person I would like. It was as if I didn’t know love, and my heart was incapable of feeling that emotion.
There was another knock on the door and my assistant walked in with a cup of coffee.
I indicated for him to put it on the table and then sat down, returning to work.
“My King, I suggest you go to bed now. It’s quite late,” my assistant said softly.
I raised my head and scrutinized the young werewolf standing on the other side of the table. He was just in his early twenties and his features still looked childish, but he was certainly courageous. No one had given me a suggestion to go to bed early for a long time.
Thinking of this, I nodded and said, “Okay, I will.”
My assistant gave me an uneasy smile, as if he hadn’t expected me respond. He quickly dropped his eyes to the floor and said, “Then I’ll take my leave.”
“Go ahead.”
Crystal’s POV
I accidentally heard Rufus’ voice today, and it was more than enough to send my heart racing, so much so that I couldn’t calm down.
Laura didn’t call again, so I figured Rufus was still there with her. I held my phone and let myself crouch in the corridor, daze clear on my face.
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