“Got it.”
As Adela left, Firman walked out of his room. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he greeted me. Then he obediently took a seat next to me and cast a curious glance in the direction Adela had just left. He asked, “Who is that? She seems to have come here several times.”
With a sneer, I replied, “Just an idiot who can be used by others. You should study hard, or you will end up like her.”
Firman only half-understood my advice. Spotting the remaining scented tea on the table, he stretched his arm out, wanting to drink it. However, I aggressively swatted his little hand away and harshly scolded him, “Don’t drink this!”
Crystal’s POV
I trudged back to my palace in low spirits, slumping on the bench in the garden. I could feel my heart slowly dying inside.
Rufus had been so cold to me, as if I were an outsider. It had only been last night when we made love so passionately, yet he had treated me like I was some garbage to be disposed of.
A sob broke out of me. It wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t been completely sober last night, and probably hadn’t recognized me.
I should be relieved that Rufus did not discover my identity, but that was the last thing on my mind. I was barely holding myself back from storming into his room and screaming at him that it had been me last night.
I pulled at my hair in frustration. Things could not be any worse than they were now.
Goddess, what should I do?
“Rufus is about to have a new mate and move on. Isn’t that what you have long foreseen?” Yana’s voice came to me. “You’ve been expecting this, so what are you being so miserable for?”
I sobbed again as I thought back to the scene of Rufus and Adela flirting with each other. At the time, it felt as though my heart was drowning inside my chest. “I can’t accept it, Yana. Rufus is mine. I can’t stand by and watch him fall in love with another she-wolf.”
“It’s too late to think that way. Rufus himself declared his intentions to marry Adela. She will be the new queen of the empire. You have no choice but to accept it. No matter how painful it is, you need to face the cold, hard truth. ” Despite her words, Yana sounded just as upset as I was.
I closed my eyes in an attempt to block out some of the pain.
Tears were streaming freely down my cheeks. “I know, I know it better than anyone. I thought I was prepared for this day to come, but I. . . I just didn’t expect to see it unfold before my very eyes. I wish it all happened without my knowledge.”
“Stop deceiving yourself. Even if you weren’t there, you would still find out sooner or later. It’s just a matter of time. You must accept that fate has decided. ” Yana was ruthless, but I had to admit that she made a lot of sense. She was right. All this time, I had been deceiving myself. I was crazy enough to think that the cold and menacing Rufus would not find a new love so easily. I had been lying to myself up until today, when I couldn’t lie anymore. Reality had slapped me in the face.
I cried out with the pain of that realization. “I will accept it, Yana, I know I will in time. But I still feel miserable. I love him so much. I just don’t want to. . .”
I paused as something occurred to me, and I took a steadying breath. “Or we can just escape back to the border now. I don’t want to stay here any longer. I want to leave this place and go as far as I can get!”
“Enough!” Yana interrupted harshly.
“You haven’t changed at all, have you? You’re still the same coward that you used to be! Every time something happens, the first thing you do is run away. If you don’t want to see Rufus wed another she-wolf, then the solution is very simple. Go and stop them! Tell Rufus that you are his mate and that you’ve given birth to his children. How much worse can things get? You have nothing to be afraid of. So what if fate appears to have decreed it? We will never know for sure unless we challenge it.”
I sniffled and stared blankly at my feet. “It’s too late, Yana,” I murmured. “I can’t do that. I can’t be so selfish. . .”
Before I could finish speaking, a familiar voice rang out loud and clear behind me.
“Crystal! Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Startled, I whirled around to see Laura through my tears. “What are you doing here?”
Crystal’s POV
“If I hadn’t come, you’d probably run out of tears.” Laura poked my forehead with her finger in rebuke. I knew she expected me to handle matters better than this.
I hurriedly wiped my tears away and ducked my head in embarrassment.
“Aren’t you usually tough and unfazed by anything?” Laura asked, though I could hear a hint of sympathy in her tone. “Why did you turn into a coward and ran away after some scolding from Rufus? You are on the right side. If anyone had to run away, it most definitely isn’t you.”
Laura scoffed before plopping down beside me. She glanced sideways at me, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Just look at your face. Your eyes are all swollen. Tell me, are you feeling aggrieved?”
“It’s not that. I just find it hard to accept,” I muttered under my breath. Somehow, Laura’s presence eased my sorrow.
“I understand,” she said, patting my hand in earnest. “Don’t worry. That Adela girl won’t be staying for long. I saw through her tricks right away.”
I perked up in surprise. “You think Adela is scheming something?”
“Of course! I married a king, and I surely have been more bitches than you can ever imagine during those years.” Laura proudly raised her chin.
I found her show of bravado cute. “It’s true that Adela suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s all that sudden,” Laura said with a sarcastic smirk. “It was an orchestrated move.” Then she turned to look at me, and her face grew serious. “Since it was you who saved Rufus, then that means that Adela is lying. Although, we have no way of knowing her reasons at the moment. We need to at least find a way to make her slip up and expose herself.”
I was moved by Laura’s unconditional trust in me. My thoughts wandered back to Rufus. He used to believe in me without reservation, too, no matter what happened.
I leaned over and gave Laura a tight hug. “Thank you, Laura.”
She seemed taken aback by this, but I soon felt her stroking my back. “Don’t think too much about Rufus for now. That silly idiot must be wallowing in confusion as we speak. After all, it’s no small matter to find one’s mate, supposedly under the Moon Goddess’ guidance.”
“I know. Our priority right now is to find out Adela’s motive for doing this.”
After listening to Laura’s logical analysis of the situation, my head finally started to clear. I ticked off the details that didn’t add up. Firstly, I was the one who had saved Rufus, so Adela was clearly lying.
More than that, there was no doubt in my mind that their so-called mate bond was fabricated in one way or another. Perhaps f0rced, even. I was still here, and I was still Rufus’ mate. There was no way that Moon Goddess would have guided him to a second mate while I was still around.
As if reading my thoughts, Laura voiced them out with a frown. “The one thing I don’t understand is why Rufus is so convinced that Adela is his mate. Shouldn’t he have known by her scent that she isn’t who she claims to be?”
I mulled this over in my head until I recalled reading about a very little-known potion in a book of witchcraft that my mother had passed down to me. The potion was said to make someone mistake a different person as their mate. However, the potion’s effects only lasted for a month.
Did Adela have something to do with the black witches?
I relayed my suspicions to Laura, who pondered it as well. “I am in charge of the wedding arrangements. If I stall it for over a month, Adela is bound to expose herself, right?”
“That’s a good idea,” I said after some consideration. “The potion only works on its victim once, after which they develop an immunity to the substance. It won’t work on the same victim for a second time.”
“Now then, the only thing I’m worried about is if Rufus somehow falls in love with Adela during that time,” Laura pointed out.
I immediately dismissed the possibility. I wasn’t entirely sure, but I simply refused to believe that Rufus would fall in love with another she-wolf.
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