It seemed that Warren didn’t want to continue the conversation. After saying “see you later”, he turned around and left. I noticed him being pulled aside by the Alpha of another pack for a chat, and desperately wanted to follow him to ask if Flora had accompanied him here. However, my intuition warned me that I shouldn’t ask him this, no matter what excuses I could give him later.
Moreover, if Flora discovered where I was, she would definitely want to establish close contact with me in the future. If I wasn’t careful, I could get into trouble.
Despite painful, I had to let go of the idea.
If there were no familiar friends around, any banquet was undoubtedly boring.
I didn’t know why Rufus didn’t attend it. Only Laura had come. I tried my best to keep a low profile.
Laura didn’t seem to spot me.
Since I didn’t get to see the person I wanted to, I didn’t want to stay here any longer, so I discreetly left.
I couldn’t really relax until I arrived at the garden. Then, I took a leisurely stroll around the imperial palace.
The palace was still the same as before. But it somehow felt like it had been ages since I was here last.
Not realizing where my feet were taking me, I arrived at the palace where Rufus used to reside. It was empty and only some guards milled around. I assumed that Rufus had shifted to the lycan king’s palace.
When I walked by the back entrance of the palace, I gazed at the small garden from the distance.
The swing beside the lake was still there, but the grape vines had withered. I guessed that no one had tended to them in a long time.
My eyes went up to the room I used to live in. It was dark. There was no warm light within, and no familiar person stood on the balcony waiting for me to return.
All of a sudden, my eyes welled up with tears, and I felt an overwhelming sadness.
Everything had changed.
Perhaps I had been standing here for too long, because a guard of the palace sensed that something was amiss and rushed over to check.
He didn’t let me leave until I showed him my identity and told him that I had taken the wrong path.
I was not in the mood to continue my wanderings. After going back to my room, I dismissed the servants. I couldn’t wait to rip my mask off and take out my mobile phone, wanting to video chat with my kids.
But to my surprise, my phone was switched off.
Had the battery died?
This was strange. I hadn’t used my cell phone much. It should have still had power.
I took out the charger to charge it.
Just as I was about to turn the phone on, there was a sudden commotion outside the door.
“Alpha! King Rufus is here!”
The loud voice of the guard filtered through the door, frightening me. The phone slipped from my hand and crashed to the ground.
Crystal’s POV
Panic seized me. My first instinct was to hide, but that was dumb. He was here to see me. What was the use of hiding?
Before I could calm down, there was a knock on the door.
I nearly jumped and rushed over to lock the door, but as soon as I turned around, I realized that it was already ajar. Soon, the door was pushed open from the outside.
It was Rufus.
I had to act quickly. I grabbed the mask from the floor and put it on. Although Rufus had lost his memory and couldn’t recognize me, I had spread the news that my face had been disfigured and so I couldn’t let him see that it wasn’t.
As soon as I put on the mask, Rufus pushed the door open and looked at me.
“Sorry. The door was already open, so I thought you weren’t here.”
This was the first sentence Rufus had said to me in five years. Hearing his familiar, pleasant voice, tears started to roll down my cheeks uncontrollably. I quickly lowered my head so that Rufus wouldn’t notice that I was crying.
“There’s no need to be ashamed about your appearance. Strength is a priority in the world of werewolves, not beauty.” Perhaps Rufus thought that I lowered my head because I was supposedly disfigured and didn’t dare to look at him.
Hearing his words somehow put me in a better mood. I raised my head to look at him and smiled. “Your Majesty, you probably don’t know she-wolves that well. All she-wolves care a lot about their appearance.”
Rufus didn’t react. His handsome, expressionless face was as cold as ever.
“In my eyes, there’s no difference between ugly and beautiful faces. Ability and strength mean everything to me.”
Well, it turned out he was still as indifferent as before.
I nodded humbly. “Your Majesty, what brings you here?”
“Why didn’t you go to the party? All the Alphas were there.” Rufus questioned me coldly, his eyes narrowing slightly.
I pursed my lips and came up with a lame excuse, saying that I wasn’t feeling well and so left early.
Hearing this, Rufus changed the topic. “You’ve been in office for a long time, but I’ve never seen you before. When did you get disfigured?”
His sharp eyes seemed to bore a hole in my head. I couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. Gulping nervously, I thought for a while before finally answering, “Five years ago, when I just started to work at the border. The vampires were still very rampant. One time when I let my soldiers to fight them back, I was hurt by their special power.”
After saying that, fearing that he’d then ask me to take off the mask and show my face to him, I added, “The vampire’s power corroded my face, completely disfiguring it. I even wear the mask when I’m in the shower. I hate seeing myself.”
I spoke in a melancholic tone to make it sound more convincing.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about it until recently?” Rufus asked.
I hesitated for a while, my mind racing to come up with an excuse. “My pack never spread the news of my disfigurement for fear that I’d feel bad. Moreover, the border is so far away from the imperial capital; it takes a while for news to get there.”
A sneer tugged at the corners of Rufus’s lips. “True. You’ve been in office for five years and yet you’ve never been to the imperial capital before. You didn’t even attend my coronation last year. I guess you must care about your disfigurement very much. Otherwise, how could you not to attend any of the royal activities?”
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