Chapter 0238

LILLIE

I died. Not once, not twice. Over and over again. Whenever I blinked and found myself still looking into those soulless eyes, my spirit fled my body only to return with a force that had me visibly shaken.

Did he know? If he knew, was he going to reject me there and then? If he didn’t know, would it be wise of me to bring it to his notice and reject him there and then? Would he punish me for it?

“Stop overthinking. There are eyes on you.” I heard Enid’s soft whisper. I swallowed hard, allowing my dread settle in the pit of my stomach. Who cared it there were eyes on me?

“You do, Lillie. You know you do, especially the blue ones you can’t seem to look away from.”

No! What was happening to me? I had already settled with the fact that I wasn’t ever going to have a mate. I was content with taking care of my mother and brother till my last day on earth.

I had accepted my lack of a mate as a punishment for being the offspring of my father. Having the alpha king as a mate was a worse punishment than having none at all.

The man hated me for being born. He hated the man who gave birth to me!

“You.” He called out, his right index finger pointing at me. My knees buckled just a little bit, unable to hold the weight of his gaze on me.

“Step forward.”

I didn’t think it would be possible to do so, but my legs moved. Slowly, but steadily, until I was at a reasonable distance from his throne.

“What is your name?” He asked. Just like his eyes, his voice was devoid of emotion. No interest, no curiosity, no irritation, no hate. He wasn’t giving me anything to work with.

“Lillie Rome, your majesty.” I replied with a bow. I had intended to answer that question as dryly and nonchalant as possible, but he made it impossible to do.

Nothing about the excruciatingly handsome features of his face could he ignored.

“She is the daughter of Hilda Rome. One of the few banished that returned to Darkmoon.” One of the elders spoke from his stand.

“She has also worked tirelessly as a waitress, bartender, and cleaner in three local bars in town. She works hard to take care of her aging mother and her sick brother, Logan Rome, her twin who is bedridden in the hospital as we speak.” It was the announcer who chipped my biography in.

The middle aged man looked straight at me as he spoke. Why was I surprised? They were definitely going to do a background check before letting anyone into their palace.

Alpha David’s eyes narrowed on me. At that very moment, my heart pounded voraciously against the muscular walls of my chest.

What did he think of me? Did the compere’s introduction make me any more likeable? And why the hell did I care?! This was supposed to be about the money! He had probably only called me forward to dismiss me first.

Yes. That was definitely what this was.

“Mother, my brothers, my sisters, elders of the royal court, and distinguished ladies and gentlemen seated her today…”

Dismiss me. Dismiss me.

My heart beat grew faster and the sound became more deafening as I squeezed the sides of my dress. I had never been more anxious in my entire life.

I wasn’t supposed to care this much. I wasn’t supposed to give a fuck.

“Lillie Rome. You have found favour in my sight, and in my heart.”

My jaw dropped. My heart jumped out of my chest through my mouth, while my eyes widened as though I intended to see the entire room at once.

What the fuck did he just say?!

I could have heard wrong. I had definitely heard wrong!

However, the murmurs in the room, and the two maids walking towards me with broad smiles on their faces told me I was right.

I turned to look at the girls beside me. The disappointment and envy on their faces would have amused me if this wasn’t a nightmare to me.

“Congratulations, Lillie Rome. Welcome to the royal family.” Queen Sophia announced as she rose up from her throne which sat beside her son’s. Everyone in the room rose to their feet as well, including the other three princes, and the two princesses.

I couldn’t breathe.

“Smile, dear.” One of the maids whispered into my right ear. I forced one out almost immediately, a really broad one that caused the sides of my head to ache.

I watched as words were spoken, even though I couldn’t hear a word of what was being said while I fought with the voices in my head. The crowd dispersed slowly, and I was led out of the throne room by six maids. Three walked ahead of me, and the other three walked behind me.