Chapter 55HopeWhat a horrible dream I had. I dreamt that I had been partying with the soldiers and was making fun of Darius, then he appeared and looked like he was going to kill me. A horrible dream indeed. I opened my eyes and saw that I was back in my room. "Phew," I breathed out, taking a sitting position on my bed."You're awake," someone said."Argh!" My heart flew out of my chest in surprise. I turned to check who just spoke and saw Darius seated on a chair beside the bed with his legs and arms crossed. There was also an expression on his face that I couldn't decipher.Oh no. It wasn't a dream. Darius had really barged into me singing a song about him. And what happened after that? Did I faint? I think I did. So how did I get here? Did he carry me here? Oh my gods, no. This couldn't be happening to me."You've become more notorious in my absence, haven't you?" Darius began saying.I started recalling everything that had happened in his absence. I hadn't done that much. I was
Chapter 56Hope"... And so I told him that the only way I would ever sleep with him was if he was to coronate me and make me queen." "My lady, I don't think this is something you should be sharing with me," Kyle forced out from his mouth and attempted to stand up from the bed. I pressed one of my hands on his shoulders to stop him."If I don't tell you, who am I supposed to tell?" He didn't have any comebacks for that question so I went on."Of course he ignored me and acted like I had asked for the most ridiculous thing in existence. I knew that chances of him saying, 'sure, why not', to that demand were slim to none, so I dropped the matter and moved on.""Can I go now?" Kyle asked.I glowered at him while saying, "No, you can't. I'm not done yet." Kyle let out an exasperated breath though his nose after I said those words, but I ignored his frustration and continued talking to him."He left for the trip after that. Yesterday, he told me that he was going to get me coronated. And
Chapter 57HopeMy coronation was in four days. It was neither a trick being played on me by Darius nor was it a game. The entire castle was buzzing with news of my coronation. Earlier today, I was told to write an invitation letter to my parents so they would come for it. I wondered what the two of them thought of me now. Did they think that I had stolen what was never meant to mine? Were they proud of me for seizing this opportunity? I desperately wanted to know.Since I'd gotten married, I haven't communicated with either of them. I had no clue what was going on in the human lands. Whenever I started thinking about my parents, of course thoughts of Light swooped in.Was she communicating with our parents? Were they aware of her being the leader of rebels? Were they part of her plans? Was everything that was happening to me part of Light's plans? Did she run away fully knowing that I would take her place and get married to Darius? Did she want me to get coronated as the queen of Mo
Chapter 58Darius"I can't believe you. You're acting like you've been possessed!" Orion slammed his hands against my desk as he shouted. Talia's reaction was not too far from her husband's as she watched me with angry eyes."Get on with the report," I ground out, ignoring their unnecessary agitation. Whatever I was doing was not under the influence of anyone's charm or persuasion but of my own decision. I might have been steered to take this path but it was all my choice at the end of the day. "Really? You're interested in an unimportant daily report when we're stuck in such a serious crisis?!" Talia fumed.I puffed out a sharp breath. The two of them were just finding out about the coronation ceremony that was going to take place in two days time. This was because they had just returned to the castle today. I was supposed to be with them, arriving today as well, but I had cut the trip short for myself when something came up and had them look after the things I was supposed to.I ha
Chapter 59 Hope My coronation was going to take place at night when the full moon was out, so I would receive maximum blessings from the 'moon goddess'. It was almost sundown. The palace had been in disarray all day. I took advantage of everyone's overwhelmed state to visit Amara but she wasn't in the library's secret room when I got there. It was weird not finding her in her home, so I had to return to my room. Every now and then while my makeup and hair was getting done, I would get anxious and start to question myself whether I was doing the right thing or not. I would start to question my existence and location. Who am I? What right do I have to be here? How could I be a queen? Questions like that kept on spinning inside my head no matter how much I tried to rid myself of those thoughts. At first, all I wanted was peaceful life. But what was my goal now? Revenge? A powerful position? Happiness? I wasn't very sure. But I knew that I wanted a crown to sit on my head. That was
Chapter 60HopeThis was my coronation party but I wasn't feeling very elated. I was uneasy. Ever since the crown sat on my head, I've been having this feeling. Like I was being pulled to be somewhere. Like I wasn't supposed to be here, like my place was someplace else.I couldn't understand the feeling. And it was annoying. I wanted to chase it, let it lead me, but I couldn't do that right now. I had just become queen, the least that I could do was attend to my current responsibilities which was making small talk with the distinguished guests today.I wasn't a very good conversationalist but I've been researching on how to behave like a certified diplomat. On Amara's instructions, I've been reading more and more books in the library about politics and the history of Moratia, but I was wary about the informations that I've been acquiring from them. The things in the history books about India and the things I had known about her from her diary were drastically different. That led me i
Chapter 61Hope"Light... What are you...""Breathe, sister. I can't have you passing out from shock, can I? We've only just reunited." Light spoke with an easygoing tone. I marched right over to where she was standing to check if she was real or not. Once I got close enough, I touched her arm which was covered with a long sleeve. She was dressed in all-black, from her head down to her feet which were covered in big black boots."How are you.. what are you... you are... how..." I couldn't form proper words because of the shocked state I was in.Light smiled at my plight and threw her arms over my shoulders. I didn't react as she hugged me tightly. After a while when she was satisfied, she let go of me and took two steps backward to stare at me."Look at you. You're a queen now." She remarked. I couldn't decipher if she was speaking out of jealousy, surprise, or pride.My hand unconsciously travelled up to touch the crown that was still sitting prettily on top of my head. Light began
Chapter 62Hope"Are you mad? Eliminating the Lycans? That's absurd in every way!" I cried out loud. "Don't act like the thought has never slipped into your mind before today. You know that the world will only be peaceful after they are all wiped out. Just like it was before they arrived and the first Vitalis princess had to sacrifice herself."This was her mission. This was why she sought the then Lycan king. She made a bet with him that her bloodline would wipe the Lycan race and got married to him as the gambling chip." Light explained.My legs suddenly felt weak as I remembered the play Kyle and I watched the other day. It was said that no one really knew what Hope had said to the king to get him to marry her so easily.So this was it? She made a bet with him? And because of said bet, every hundred years, Vitalis princesses would be forced to marry a Lycan king because of a bet? All of this, everything that was happening in my life was because of such a bet?!I felt enraged the m
Chapter 78Hope Kyle was quick. It didn't take up to two days and he had already set up a meeting with the witch for me. According to him, she wanted to keep her name and location a secret.So, instead of leaving the castle to meet her, she would be the one to come over. I had no problems with this, as all I wanted to do was get this phase of my life over and done with.She arrived at midnight. Earlier today, I had told Darius not to come to my room since I wanted to rest well and him being around would only disturb and irritate me.Though he had been against it because of his recent overprotective behavior, I still managed to wear him down at the end of the day.By the time the witch arrived, I was seated by the window in my room. She and Kyle entered so quietly that I didn't even notice them until they had gotten close to the window.The moon was incredible bright this night and my room was brightened with lamps and lit candles. The witch was dressed as a castle worker to avoid sus
Chapter 77 Hope When I regained consciousness, I saw that Darius was sitting on the side of my bed with a worried look on his face. I let out a soft sigh, and he jerked into action, noticing that I was finally awake. "How are you? How do you feel? Hope, are you alright?" he questioned. I rolled my eyes and stretched to take a sitting position on the bed. "I'm fine, just a little tired and thirsty." Darius quickly took the cue to stand up from the bed and pour in a glass of water from a jug and gave it to me. I emptied the glass and handed it back to him. "Hope, I was so worried. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have kept you up working all night. I should've—" "It's not your fault, quit acting so pitiful," I chided him. "It was just a sunstroke. And I'm not the first person in the world to get dizzy under the sun. Stop worrying unnecessarily." "You say that so easily, but I wouldn't be able to bear it if something bad happened to you. You've been so moody these da
Chapter 76HopeA cold chill slapped my face after Darius said that word. It was foolish of me to have expected that something like war would be taken care of with no hitches along the way.And because of this reason, I softened up a little and used a small voice to say, "I want to see. Show me what you're doing." Darius stared at me for a little while before shaking his head negatively. "It's nothing. You don't need to bother yourself with things like this. Please, go and rest. I'll take care of everything."Darius must have thought that saying such things would put my mind at ease but all that it did was anger me as I raised the volume of my voice and said:"You'll take care of everything and I should go rest? Have you forgotten that I'm the queen of this kingdom? I should rest while you deal with the brunt of things and I remain a silly little oblivious queen. Is that what you want me to be? You want me to be stupid and ignorant for you?"Darius immediately stood up from his chair
Chapter 75HopeI turned around to look at who just spoke. To my surprise, it was Thomas—the grumpy son of the commander. There was a clear frown on his face as he came forward. But before he could step in front of me, Kyle stood between us."Her majesty was not speaking to you, back away." Kyle said with a firm tone.Thomas glared at him and said, "So what if she wasn't talking to me? Is it a bad thing for me to offer myself to my queen?"His last two words were coated with deep sarcasm that I couldn't even ignore. I patted Kyle on his shoulder, gesturing for him to step aside. He did so, but begrudgingly.I faced Thomas and asked, "You want to fight me?" He didn't even bother to hide the defiance in his tone as he said, "Yes, and so what?" I smiled, surprising the kid who was one or two years younger than me. "Okay then, let's spar." Kyle stepped forward, probably about to stop me but I held my hand up and gave him a look, causing him to step back. I spoke to him with my eyes, an
Chapter 74Hope Darius marched over to Kyle and I with a sudden possessive aura clouding his being."Her majesty was attacked by a spy posing as a human maid," Kyle explained solemnly.Upon hearing Kyle's explanation, Darius didn't ease up one bit as he told Kyle to get a physician and leave the two of us. Darius then replaced Kyle and led me to sit on the bed, his face painted with worry."I'm sorry," he said. "I should've gotten here faster. You wouldn't have gotten injured and I would've been able to catch the bastard who did this to you." Hearing him say such words, I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. It was stupid because I believed him. He had done it once before, back then when there was nothing but hatred between the two of us.It got me thinking that maybe the assassin who snuck into my room that night could've been another of Light's underlings who was sent to kidnap me and bring me to her.I sighed mentally at the thought."I have something to tell you," I whispered
Chapter 73Hope I've put up with this long enough now. It was early morning, a week after 'forgiving' Darius. I was preparing to have breakfast with him when Gwendolyn began speaking."His Majesty has been treating you very preciously these days." It was only ten words but they stirred me up so bad that I stood up from my dressing chair and faced her. "Gwendolyn, you can stop putting on an act now." My voice was firm and my frown was even firmer.It took only a few seconds for her innocent expression to change. Her usual doe eyes narrowed to an almond shape and a wry smile made its way on her lips.She backed up a few steps and placed her hands on her waist. "How long have you known now?" she asked.I glared at her. "You know, I wasn't sure of anything until you just asked that question."Shock flashed her features, but it was too fast for me to decipher her level of surprise.I had always found Gwendolyn annoying and suspicious. But after the entire thing she told me about the st
Chapter 72 Hope "What are you trying to say? Are you trying to mock me or make me feel pity for you?" I questioned. "No, that's not what I'm trying to do. I can assure you," Darius said. I didn't believe. In fact, I didn't even want to believe him. I didn't want to sit here and listen to him wail about his childhood, trying to concoct an excuse for why he acted like a big bully. I liked myself and hated him too much to give him a chance to thaw my heart with his story. "Anyway, I had a very normal childhood fitting for someone that was to be king in the future," Darius heaved a sigh as he spoke. I unconsciously raised a questioning brow. If you had such a normal childhood, why did you then kill your family and make yourself such an unapproachable tyrant? As though he heard my thoughts, Darius said, "But growing up in such a way only made me weak, thought my parents. I wouldn't blame them, I was far too kind in the past." I almost snorted. "There was a time when I
Chapter 71Hope"Someone's looking pretty," Darius said with a smile the second he saw me.It was midnight and I had already dressed up, anticipating his arrival. I wasn't wearing anything especially pretty. Just a dark blue tunic with a pair of black trousers. My hair was parted at the middle and I donning a few jewelries around my neck, wrists, and fingers."Hm," I said in response to Darius."Don't you have anything to say about me?" he teased.He was also dressed as casually as I was. What was there to compliment him about? I turned away from him and said, "Stop fishing for compliments."He made a psh sound before putting out a hand for me. Begrudgingly, I placed my hand in his and unexpectedly, Darius leaned down and placed a kiss on my hand.I flinched and almost retracted my hand, but his hold was firm. He quickly roped an arm around me and began leading me out from my room.To be honest, I was curious about this 'date' of ours. What was Darius hoping to achieve? Why was he so
Chapter 70HopeAnd to think for a second I believed that Darius had summoned me for something important. The moment I stepped into his office, he had engulfed me and in a tight embrace and quickly assaulted my lips with his own.It took me a second to push him away and catch my breath. With a frown, I said, "Stop doing that. I hate it." "What do you hate exactly? Kissing? Or kissing me?" Darius questioned languidly."Both!" I bit out.He chuckled at this, then wrapped his arms around me once again. "What can I do to make you like them both?" "Nothing. And stop holding me!" I tried pushing him away but he held onto me tightly, refusing to let go."To think by now you'd know that physical contact is my love language," Darius said carelessly.The side of my lips tugged up in irritation. He could take his love language and shove it up his ass. I didn't want it. But Darius had other thoughts as his hands begin creeping to my erogenous zones.I bit my bottom lip to mask the shameless sou