Help! Five Beast Alphas Want To Breed Me!!(BL)-Chapter 251: Two Tiny Strangers

Queen Cassia;

I sit motionless on the edge of my bed, staring at absolutely nothing.

I’ve been this way since last night. Just... staring into nothingness as I spent the whole night crying. Since I cried the whole night away, I now have no tears left to cry.

The room is silent, painfully silent, the kind of silence that presses against your chest until you can barely breathe.

My eyes remain fixed on the floor as I feel my cold fingers coil and uncoil around each other. I have been sitting like this for... I don’t know how long. Minutes. Hours...? It feels like a lifetime.

Everything inside me feels hollow... stripped away, carved out, eaten by a truth I never should have had to hear.

A truth that should have never been.

Wilhelm’s words still echo in my head like a curse.

A secret.

A betrayal... A wound he chose to give me with his own hands.

I close my eyes, but the darkness behind my eyelids offers no comfort.

If anything, it throbs with the ache of all I’ve lost... what had been taken from me. My beast... My soul’s other half. My birthright. My bond to the throne. My strength... and now... The trust I had in my husband.

A soft, trembling breath escapes my throat. I do not weep...not yet...but the heaviness behind my eyes warns me that tears are coming.

I drag my fingers through my hair as I try to focus on something that isn’t grief or anger or betrayal.

I’m drowning. Fast and hard. I hate it... But there seems to be no way out. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Just when I thought that maybe I could heal from the misery of losing my beast, Wilhelm came to land me this blow.

What does he mean there’s...

I pause when my ears pick up something.

Whispers.

Soft, tiny whispers just outside my door.

Two voices... two children.

I freeze, and tension knots in my shoulders as I stare at the door. Whose children are those and why... why are they here?

A girl’s voice comes first, a little old... confident, and bright. Then, a younger boy’s voice, high-pitched, hesitant and innocent follows. Like a child just learning to trust his words.

"Are you sure this is Queen Cassia’s room?" the little boy whispers, and my brows crease.

"Yes," the girl answers with absolute certainty.

"Her scent is warm... and really pretty. No one smells like Queen Cassia. I know for a fact this is her room because it smells just like her." She adds, and for the first time in a long time, my lips twitch.

Just barely...But they twitch nonetheless.

My scent... is pretty?

Light, these children and their way with words...

I hear the girl huff and groan, and then she speaks.

"I can’t reach the handle." She complains, and I turn fully to face the door now.

Suddenly very interested in the little intruders outside my door.

"Neither can I," the boy whines, and I tilt my head.

Why are they trying to get in? Do they want to see me? Why, though? What for?

"We have to get in," the girl insists, and I raise a brow.

"Mama said to share our pie with whoever we think needs it. And Queen Cassia needs it. She’s sick and has been in her room for a long time. You get very hungry when you stay in bed for a long time, you know?" She adds, and I feel my heart skip a beat.

"Do you... Really think she will eat with us?" The little boy questions, and the girl replies instantly without missing a beat.

"Of course," She says confidently.

"She’s Queen Cassia." She adds, and my throat closes.

They came to... feed me?

I slowly back away, staring at the door in horror. I shouldn’t be seen like this. Especially not by children...hollow-eyed, aching...cracked...

A queen should not look breakable. But before I can think of what to do, I hear shuffling.

Then their voices come again.

"Stop moving...wait...let me carry you!" The girl whispers, and I pause in confusion.

"You’re too small!" The boy whines back, and the girl huffs.

"No I’m not...come on...just climb..." She urges, and my jaw drops. They’re climbing on each other to get in??

There’s grunting.... Then rustling... then a small thud, and a giggle... and then, a huff.

I listen to the children’s mischievous giggles, and just then, the doorknob twists and the door clicks.

It swings open, and my heart leaps to my throat.

Two tiny figures burst inside the room, and I blink at the bright, beautiful children.

The girl... looks about nine years of age, with bright forest eyes and untamed curls.

The little boy beside her seems to be... roughly six. The cutie is round-faced, wide-eyed, and rosy-cheeked.

A chubby little bun.

Both children freeze the moment they see me... dishevelled, drained, sitting on my bed like a wilted flower. Instead of the Queen, they must be used to seeing.

Heat rushes to my cheeks, and shame prickles over my skin.

I turn my face away, expecting them to recoil... run... hide...

But they don’t.

Light footsteps pad across the room as they come closer, and when I peek, I see two small bodies standing before my bed.

"Your Majesty..." the girl whispers, her voice soft and delicate.

She stretches out a small plate holding two delicious-looking slices of pie.

"We... um... we brought you this." She says, and I blink at her, confused, unable to understand.

Why didn’t they run? Why of everyone they could take their pie to... they chose me.

"For... me?" I question, and they both nod, beaming with pride.

"Yes," she says, with a massive grin.

"Our mama baked pie and told us to share it with whoever needs warm food. And we thought you needed it. So... you can eat with us." She adds, and my eyes sting. Hard.

I reach out slowly, my hand trembling, as I take the plate from her.

The little girl’s smile widens as she takes out three spoons from her pocket...three... and hands one to me, one to her brother, and keeps one for herself.

"We can eat together," she says excitedly as they both keep their eyes trained on the plate of pie in my hands, and I smile.

I don’t trust myself to speak. So I just nod.

We sit there...three spoons tapping gently against the soft crust, three mouths chewing, three breaths shared in silence.

And in this easy, simple moment, warmth seeps into my heart, unexpected, gentle... and healing.

The girl begins to chatter, her voice sweet and innocent.

"Queen Cassia, you look really sick." She notes, and I smile bitterly.

"I am," I admit softly.

"I am... unwell. I lost something very important." I add, and her eyes widen, glistening with sympathy.

"Important like your first canine?" She questions, and I chuckle softly.

"No, honey... it’s something... way more important." I reply, adding the last part in a whisper.

She smiles at me and then looks at the plate as she keeps eating.

"My mama said," she begins,

"That Gravemaw is like a body. And you’re the soul. Because you’re sick right now, Gravemoaw feels like a ghost. So everyone is working hard to make Gravemaw better. For you." She goes on, and my breath catches.

A ghost.

No... Gravemaw isn’t the ghost here. I’m the one who feels like a ghost.

I swallow. I know I shouldn’t. I should never burden a child with such a question. But the words slip out of me anyway, fragile, trembling... shameful.

"Do you think... the people of Gravemaw would still love me," I whisper, "if I... lost something important? If I no longer have my beast?" I ask foolishly, and she stops.

She blinks up at me, but her little brother is so invested in the pie, He’s now dragged the plate to his side and is very slowly eating like he doesn’t want the pie to finish.

’The girl suddenly smiles at me brightly, innocently, beautifully.

"I don’t have my beast," she says rather proudly, and I raise a brow.

"I’m a late bloomer." She adds, and her little brother nods eagerly beside her.

"But I still protect my family," she continues. "Mama says that makes me stronger than people who have beasts. Because fighting without a beast means you’re brave. Really brave." She adds, and I stare at her.

Fighting without a beast means you are brave. Very brave...

I try to fight it, but at her words, my lips wobble, and the dam inside me breaks.

Tears spill down my cheeks...hot, silent, unstoppable, and I try my miserable best to hide my tears from them, but it’s too late.

The little boy gasps, crawls forward, and uses his small hands to gently wipe my tears.

"It’s okay," he says with a lisp.

"Don’t cwy, Queen Cassia." He adds, and his gentle, pure innocence causes a broken laugh to slip through my tears.

The girl scoots closer, and I turn my attention to her as I scoop her brother in my arms.

"Everyone is working hard," she says,

"So you can come back. Mama said we’re not just rebuilding Gravemaw... we are rebuilding it for our queen. The queen who fought for us. The queen who stayed. The queen who didn’t run when trouble came." She adds, and another wave of tears burns down my face.

I choke on my breath, and the children pause again.

I’ve felt many things in my life...rage, pride, sorrow...but this? This small, pure, undeserved love from two tiny strangers?

It overwhelms me.

"I would like to go outside," I whisper, "to see all of you. To see what my people have done. To see... how they’ve been faring... But... I cannot go out like this." I croak, and the girl immediately reaches into her little pocket again.

"I can help!" she announces as she pulls out a fistful of tiny wildflowers... crushed, imperfect, but beautiful.

"I can put flowers in your hair. Then you’ll look pretty, and everyone will be happy to see you." She says as she holds the flowers out to me, and I stare at the precious little child before me.

A laugh. A real, trembling laugh slips out of me as I nod.

"I would like that," I whisper, and the girl grins.

While the boy in my lap claps.

And for the first time since losing my beast...

For the first time since the night of that attack, I feel the smallest spark of warmth inside my chest.

I am broken. But maybe broken things can work again.

And maybe... just maybe...

Gravemaw still has a queen who isn’t completely useless to them.