The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter
Chapter 503: HOPE IS A CRUEL THING

Chapter 503: HOPE IS A CRUEL THING

Cane realized his lack of knowledge about his mate. He knew how she had helped them during their times of need and he was grateful for that, but then, it was only a fraction of her life and he wanted to know more about her, to the smallest possible details if possible.

How she was when she was a child, a simple story of how she grew up. He wanted to know everything about her, even the most trivial and mundane things.

Hanna grimaced at the poor dress that had been shredded into pieces by the Alpha, but she could see how much the Alpha cared about her missy.

When the Blue Moon pack fell, she was worried about Iris’ life, because these people would hate her without ever finding out the truth.

And when the Alpha took her as his luna because of the Blue Moon pack, she was worried that Iris wouldn’t be treated nicely and Alpha Cane would further torture her. He was obliged to take a few mistresses eventually.

But then, as time went by, she watched how well the Alpha treated her missy. It even exceeded all her expectations. One could see how genuinely worried he was about her in his eyes and one could say he had fallen for her.

The only thing that irked Hanna was the fact Sofia was carrying the Alpha’s first child. It would pose a threat to her missy’s position and she knew Iris well to say she disliked confrontations the most.

Hanna didn’t want Cane to favor another woman aside from her missy, especially since the pack members didn’t treat her right, even after they learned what Iris had done for them.

"She was an adorable child, Alpha. She loved to cuddle. I met her when she was only seven, on a rare day, when her father was in a good mood to let her out of the pack house..."

Hanna proceeded to tell Cane about Iris’ childhood, how adorable she was and how she was an easy child. She had never thrown a temper tantrum and would understand things rather quickly, despite her disability of not being able to hear.

"... she is adorable, beautiful, cute and has a deep sympathy for her surroundings. She is the kindest person I have ever met..." Hanna literally sold her missy so hard right now to impress Cane, while the Alpha listened to what she said, while changing Iris’ dress. He didn’t flinch when he saw her scarred back. Hanna was worried that he would feel disgusted or even frown. But the Alpha didn’t seem to be bothered by the sight at all, which made her sigh in relief.

"What about Kellan?" Cane asked in his deep voice, his eyes turned slightly darker at the mention of the Prince’s name. The Alpha didn’t use the Prince title to address him. The crippled prince didn’t deserve even an ounce of respect.

"Oh, Prince Kellan used to play with Missy when he was still the Crown Prince and came to the pack so often. Missy loved to play with him, since she didn’t have many friends. The only friend she had was the stable boy, but... her father killed the poor boy just because she played with him."

Iris had told him the story of the stable boy and he also remembered that her father forced her to watch when the boy was killed.

"But, a few months before the scandal that caused Prince Kellan to lose his title of the Crown Prince, Miss Iris didn’t look happy whenever he came over. She used to hide in the kitchen, or play in my room instead." Hanna tried to remember the cause of it, but she was completely clueless.

"Probably they fought... I am not sure what happened and Miss Iris had never said anything about it. She is very mature for her age and already knows what she should say and what she shouldn’t... so, when she refused to tell me, I didn’t have any clue what was going on."

But, Cane knew the reason. He knew what had happened. His claws emerged from the tips of his fingers and he needed to halt what he was doing, just in case he hurt her unintentionally.

Seeing how the Alpha stopped what he was doing, Hanna panicked, she thought she had said something wrong and misunderstood his reaction.

"But, Alpha, it had been so long since the last time they met with each other. I am sure, Miss Iris’ attachment to him is very innocent, even when they finally met again in the capital city, she had never shown any sign that she was fond of the memories..."

There was no way she would be fond of the memories.

Cane ignored that and continued to change Iris’ dress, so she wouldn’t get cold in her current condition after being exposed to the chilly air for too long.

Meanwhile, Hanna continued with her story about Iris’ childhood. She tactfully skipped all the things that required her to mention Prince Kellan, Mason or her father. She didn’t want to upset the Alpha by mentioning those three people. It was already great enough that the Alpha wanted to know more about her missy. She didn’t want to screw things up.

In the end, Hanna ended up telling Cane about a lot of stories of so many compassionate things that Iris did when she was little and how she used to give a big hug to people she was comfortable with.

"Do you know, Alpha, Miss Iris dislikes it whenever someone touches her ears." Hanna chuckled. "She will pout and move away, even when she was little."

Of course, Cane knew about that. He figured it out a long time ago, long before Hanna even mentioned it.

And with that, the night came to an end and the morning came. While Hanna told the stories, Cane cradled Iris in his arms, making sure she was warm enough and fed her the concoction every three hours. He rarely said anything and only asked a few simple questions, which Hanna gladly answered.

"You may leave," Cane said when he saw Hanna trying to hold back another yawn. She was still excited to tell the Alpha a lot of things about her missy, but her body couldn’t keep up. It was a tiring day, after all.

"Thank you, Alpha," Hanna said sheepishly, covering her mouth, so she wouldn’t yawn in front of Cane. But after just taking a few steps toward the door, she stopped in her tracks and fiddled with her dress before she gathered her courage to turn around and ask the Alpha. "Alpha, may I know what happened to Will?"

She knew it was overstepping her boundaries as a maid to question the Alpha, but she was helpless and hopeless about what she should do with Will. He didn’t want to say anything and even turned very distant and silent whenever Hanna forced him to tell her about what happened to him.

Cane looked Hanna right in her eyes, this was the first time, since he asked her to tell him about Iris’ childhood story that he finally shifted his attention from his mate.

"Is this the compensation for you telling me the stories about my mate?" Cane asked. His tone was light, but Hanna could tell it had a deeper meaning to it.

She bit her lip and tried to choose her words carefully. "Alpha, my apologies, but I don’t see this as a transaction. I told you the story about Miss Iris because I want you to know more about the person you care for and I had the same reason when I gathered my courage to ask you this question."

Hanna appeared humble as she emphasized the main reason for the question. Because no matter who you were, you would want to know a little bit more about the people you truly care about, just so you could understand them a bit better.

"Very well." Cane was pleased with her answer. He had known Hanna ever since their slavery days, but aside from expressing how much he and his people were grateful for what she had done for this pack, they had never had any conversation. "You may sit down."

Hanna’s heart skipped a bit, her sleepiness vanished immediately as she came over and sat down again on the same chair. She was on high alert to hear what the Alpha would tell her.

Once Hanna sat down and she looked ready to listen to the information she would get, Cane started to speak.

"Will was sexually assaulted by Princess Osana on the new year’s eve, when there was an attack in the palace..."

The sun started to shine in the sky and it was a bright day, but the more Hanna listened to what the Alpha said, the more the sky looked so bleak to her.

And half an hour later, Hanna found herself sitting down in the empty hallway, hyperventilating, as tears wouldn’t stop streaming down her face. She clutched at her chest tightly. She was not sure how she walked out of the Alpha’s bedroom and managed to find a quiet place for her to have a breakdown.

"Arrggh!!" Hanna screamed in pain, she was howling in this empty hallway, where the sound echoed throughout the walls. She cried so hard. She hadn’t cried this hard for so long, she felt her heart bleeding. It was unbearable.

The realization hit her so hard, as she learned how this set him back so far, after Will had survived a decade of slavery and won his freedom, it was because he thought, just like everyone else, something like that would never happen again to them.

Hope was truly a cruel thing.