Beauty in the beast world
Chapter 75: Past

Chapter 75: Past

In the forbidden cave of Wayland where no beastmen steeped foot fearing the immortal beastman residing inside, Gregory entered the cave casually and spoke "I’m here Prescott"

Hearing the voice calling his name, the immortal beastman who was lying on the floor opened his green pupils, lifting his huge tiger body, Prescott shifted into his beastman form "Did you get any information?"

Gregory nodded his head "Theodore is not in his cave anymore"

Prescott clenched his fists "Does he already know about Iria?"

"Maybe" Gregory answered vaguely "But he can’t reach us so easily, don’t worry"

"When will the blood eclipse arrive?" Prescott questioned changing the topic.

"Soon" Gregory replied as he sat on the stone boulder.

Prescott narrowed "It has been almost eighteen years, and you still don’t know the exact time?"

Gregory glanced at him and snickered "It is not something that I can decide, you know that" then without talking anymore he got up from his seat and entered the inner side of the cave.

After walking for some period, he reached his destination. His cold gaze scanned the surroundings which were covered with ice crystals, then he strode towards the stone bed in the middle of that place and stared at a petite figure laying on it.

His heart skipped a beat looking at her gorgeous face, ’My Iria’ his mind repeated those words almost every second of his life. His beloved was lying lifelessly in front of him and he was not able to do anything other than wait for the blood eclipse. He kneeled beside her and caressed her face, "Why did you not choose me?" words came out as he remembered their past.

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EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO

"I love you Iria!" Gregory blurted out nervously. He felt his heartbeat increase as more time passed.

Opposite of him, Iria stood shell shocked because of the sudden confession from Gregory. Her friend Olivia chuckled seeing her expression "Answer him" said Olivia bring Iria out of her daze.

Iria blinked her eyes in confusion and opened her mouth "I appreciate your feelings for me Greg, but I’m sorry, I can’t reciprocate it"

Gregory opened his eyes and bit his lips "Why? Don’t you like me?"

"I-i" Iria hesitated to answer because of Gregory’s scorching gaze. She darted her eyes towards Olivia and the latter just shrugged her shoulders in return.

And when she finally made up her mind to talk, a male’s voice interrupted her "Because she is my female" three of them turned their eyes towards the noise and saw Theodore leaning against a tree, he looked at all of them and continued "Iria is mine, she loves me. So forget about your feelings before I do something to you"

Gregory understood that his words were referring to him, and frowned "She is not your mate yet, you cannot claim her just because you like her"

Theodore chuckled "How dumb can you be? Do you think I don’t have assurance for my words?" then he gazed at Iria "Say it to him yourself love"

Gregory turned to face Iria "What is he talking about Iria?"

Iria bent her head "It is true, I love him, and I wish to have him as my mate"

Gregory’s heart shattered listening to her words, his eyes filled with tears as he spoke with difficulty "He captured you not long ago Iria, how can you....?"

Iria looked into his eyes and replied "He released me as soon as I opposed him, and respected my opinion"

"Respect my foot!" Olivia exclaimed earning everyone’s attention "He left you because Greg, threatened him by attacking the eagle tribe" then she glared at Theodore "Don’t be so timid Iria, that hooligan will take advantage of your innocence the more you give in"

"What did you say!" Theodore growled "Do you think I would let my beloved go just because of my tribe? I let her go because of her request. So stop manipulating her"

Olivia raised her brows "It is you who he is manipulating her, can’t you see that she is accepting you because of fear?"

Theodore frowned and strode towards Iria. He held her shoulders making her flinch "Do you not love me!"

Iria’s eyes pooled with tears seeing his anger, she snuggled into his chest "Please don’t be angry, I don’t like to see you like this"

Theodore’s face softened hearing her trembling voice, he embraced her and kissed the top of her head "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted at you" he continued as he caressed her back "Are you accepting me because you fear me?"

Iria shook her head in his arms "I do fear you, but I sincerely love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you"

Theodore grinned, his cheeks heated up hearing her confession ’His little rabbit’ he thought inwardly, then he swept his eyes on Olivia and Gregory "You heard it right? Now get lost"

Olivia darted her eyes between Iria and Gregory "Iria...." she started to talk just to be stopped by Gregory. He held her hand and shook his head sadly "Let’s go"

After leaving that place, Olivia glared at Gregory "Why are you not saying anything!? You were the one who saved her from Theodore when she was kidnapped"

Gregory clenched his fits "What should I say? She said that she loves him, just leave it"

Olivia held her forehead "That girl why is she like this? She is terrified to go against Theodore. I don’t know how did her dislike even turned into love, Not a few days ago did she tell me that she was scared of him, and now this, also that bastard is taking advantage of that"

Then she sadly stared at Gregory "Are you truly okay Greg?"

"I want to be alone," Gregory mumbled and left the place.

He needed to cool himself down, or he didn’t know, what he would do in anger. His head throbbed making it difficult for him to focus. He was not able to understand the reason for the sudden change in Iria’s attitude towards Theodore. ’Was she sacred of getting abducted again?’ or ’Was she doing this to keep the mermaid tribe safe?’ he halted his steps as he thought of the possibility of her doing this because of the mermaid tribe.

When she came to this world, it was the mermaid tribe that took her in. Then he remembered something that Olivia said in the past, ’She said that she doesn’t have anyone in her world, she was an orphan back there’ this was what she informed him about Iria. He was very sorry when he learned about this and decided to take care of her even more. Then he remembered Iria’s own words ’I finally got a family for myself, I’m glad’, these were the passing words she said to him, but he kept all her words in his mind no matter how insignificant they were.

"My foolish girl" he muttered to himself. Now he understood her reason, Theodore was a maniac who wouldn’t care and destroy an entire tribe, if it were for Iria. And unfortunately, the mermaid tribe was not strong enough to defeat the eagle tribe, much less face Theodore who is an immortal beastman.