Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder -
Chapter 1109 - 20 : Blocked Memories
Chapter 1109: Chapter 20 : Blocked Memories
*Rion*
I was so stunned by what the princess had just told me that it took me a while to respond.
“You’ll go with us, willingly?” I asked, still unsure what to make of it.
I wondered if she was playing me for a sucker, or if she genuinely meant it. She could have been saying anything just to get my guard down. It was within the realm of possibility that all she wanted was for me to become complaisant.
My thoughts drifted to her motives, which she had plenty of.
But then I realized how much she had been through in the past few days. I looked at things from her point of view and knew she had been through quite a bit. She had been kidnapped, but she had also encountered dangers she had never been through before.
She had fallen ill. I had never intended for her to get hurt along the way, but getting stuck in the rain was not in the plan. Her getting sick changed things.
But I had saved her before things got too bad for her. She could have died out in the woods if I hadn’t come to find her and take her back to that cave.
Who knows what would have happened if I had left her there?
I remembered the conflict I felt in that moment, whether to drop the mission and leave her to die, or bring her with me and see if I could get her better. My younger sister, Eva, had been my guiding light the whole time, but now it seemed to change.
When I rescued her, she had changed. It was just a small outward difference, but it seemed to be significant enough for her behavior to follow suit. I had rescued her from getting sicker. Maybe she was being sincere and she really did have a change of heart.
Still, my feelings surrounding the whole ordeal remained conflicted. She was surrendering herself–we both knew that–and the fact that she had done a one-eighty on me complicated things.
I couldn’t justify dragging her through the woods like that, not when she was such a willing participant after all I had done for her. I wondered what had caused it. As someone who spent their childhood on the streets, I was naturally suspicious. Trickery, lies, and deceit were all too familiar to me.
But I would have never expected that from someone like her. Still, I couldn’t be too careful.
“Yes, I will go willingly,” she said as she dabbed a piece of bread in her soup.
Daphne seemed so casual about it, but I could tell she was covering up deeper feelings. She wanted to present it as no big deal, but I knew it was. Her point of view had changed, and I wasn’t sure why.
Whether it had been enough to completely change her view on the whole scenario was up for debate. I didn’t want to trust her.
Regardless, there was another side to the very complicated hand I had been dealt.
Hestia’s followers could not be messed with. If I didn’t fulfill this agreement, there would be hell to pay. With an exchange like the one in my lap, I was unsure of the consequences if I didn’t follow through.
I had a deal with Hestia’s followers to fulfill. I couldn’t back out now. I had dealt with them for much of my life. Hestia was my mother, after all.
I had no doubt that my sister’s life was on the line. I knew I couldn’t throw her away to whatever Hestia’s followers might do to her if I didn’t deliver the princess.
I knew that my sister wouldn’t last long if I didn’t live up to my end of the bargain. Without a doubt, I knew Hestia’s followers would do terrible things to her until I brought the princess squarely into their hands.
And then there was the princess, who made this whole mess of a situation worse. Ever since I had met her, there had been something stirring in me. I couldn’t explain it, as it had never happened to me before. But there was something about her that drew me—my wolf— to her.
I couldn’t help but feel like we had some important connection ever since the night at the temple when I’d saved her from those criminals and then slept next to her. But it seemed to intensify after we had that time together while she was sick.
She had been in such a fragile, vulnerable state. I didn’t want to leave her. I just wanted to protect her.
Spending the night in the caves and nursing her back to health as much as I could had changed everything somehow. It felt like we had grown closer. Maybe it was just the adrenaline that had coursed through our veins, or the high-risk situation as a whole.
Or maybe it was something else, something I couldn’t afford to entertain.
I didn’t want to think about it. It just muddied the waters. But I couldn’t help but dwell on it. Hestia’s followers and the princess tugged at my life in two different directions... two outcomes and lives that were so far removed from each other that it was impossible to form a middle road or compromise.
It made me squirm.
I slumped back in my chair, deep in thought as I mulled over my options. There were few that didn’t end up with someone getting seriously hurt. I feared for my sister’s fate, but I also cared about what would become of the princess if I delivered her to Hestia’s followers.
She was innocent as well. I considered her as a person. In all reality, she was not all bad. The only reason she had tried to escape was because she’d been captured by a total stranger.
I could understand that, after all.
She seemed like a decent person, though I wondered if she was just buttering me up so that she could get out of this easily.
It nagged at the back of my mind.
At the same time, I really began questioning whether or not I should trust Hestia’s followers to hand Eva over. She was all I cared about. I remembered Hestia and her followers from when I was very young, and my memories of Hestia’s followers before my mother died replayed in the back of my mind.
I remembered harsh training sessions.
I had tried to justify their actions as a means to motivate me, but then I thought better of it. The berating wasn’t all that necessary.
I remembered how we would go into the woods and they would try to trick me by hiding beneath the undergrowth and pop out of nowhere, frightening me. I tried to brush it off, but I still felt the startling pangs, even at that moment when I presumed I was in a safe space.
And then there was the “mother’s pet” treatment. Hestia always pushed me the hardest, much more than any of my peers. She told me that it was because she believed in me, but at that moment, I was not so sure.
I really wondered if it had all been worth it.
Eva was worth it, but did I make the right decision by kidnapping the princess?
“Tell me about Eva,” she said suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts.
It pained me to talk about my sister... not as much as before, but even with ten years put behind me, it was still difficult to discuss.
I tried to remember the good memories I had with her, times with just the two of us before our world came crashing down and we were torn from each other.
But then, the horrible memories flooded in.
Her screams echoed in my mind. Her tears stained and ruined all prior memories. The pain was open again.
“I don’t remember anything.” I grumbled.
Daphne seemed hurt, and he turned to her soup. I didn’t want to make it difficult for the two of us, but it was hard all the same for me.
“What do you remember about Hestia?”
My mind twisted in on itself trying to remember her. I shook my head, as nothing came in, shutting off all access to those memories and shutting me down.
“I don’t remember my mother at all.”
She sighed and set her empty bowl on the table. A bit of bread remained in the bowl, soaking up what little soup liquid remained on the bottom. I saw my reflection in it, and I looked tired and worn.
I had seen so much for so long that it seemed to finally catch up to me. I wondered for a moment what I would look like when I was older. Would I still carry a tired soul around in my body forever?
The princess spoke again, and when she did, she used a cryptic tone as though speaking to a child, but not in a mean way.
“No matter who our parents are, we have to decide for ourselves who we will be.”
My mind didn’t much care for what she just said, and it was really rich coming from someone of her background saying that to a person like me. But I refused to let my bitterness out.
I knew from the way she had spoken earlier that her intentions were good, even if the delivery did not sit well with me. But I didn’t want the conversation to continue.
I glanced outside and found that the gray skies of the earlier day had been colored a rosy shade. The sun was on its way to setting soon. We didn’t have much time left. We were already on a time crunch, and staying at the safe house, although it was a nice break, would not help me get to my destination in time.
I stood up. She looked at me, confused.
“You should get some rest. We have a long road ahead. Come with me.”
“Oh,” she said, and she rose to her feet.
I lead her down the hall to the bedrooms and found one that was empty. Diane normally lived alone, but sometimes her husband would visit her or she would house travelers. This time, my entire crew could sleep in the bedrooms, but some of us would have to share.
This room was no exception. There was only one bed.
The princess surprised me by saying, “We can share.”
I raised an eyebrow, taken aback by her suggestion. She must have noticed my hesitation, because she quickly added, “I mean, we’ve shared a bed before, when I was sick. It’s not like anything happened then, and I promise nothing will happen now.”
I didn’t know what to say, but my wolf growled low in my chest at the thought of me declining the offer. I had managed to control myself before when I had slept next to her while she was sick.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm the rising urge. “Fine,” I said. “But we keep our distance.”
It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. But she nodded in agreement, and we settled into the bed, putting some distance between us. I tried to relax, but it was impossible. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was her face. I could feel her warmth radiating next to me and smell her scent permeating the air.
Were we really going to get any sleep?
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