Loving The Cursed Werewolf King-Chapter 233: Twenty Years Ago

<20 years ago>

Alexis was ten years old. He sat on the window frame while watching his younger siblings playing together. He glanced at Andrea, who was playing with Archie, building a small sandcastle. He slowly opened his book and began to read.

He was the eldest son of his father. He looked down on his younger siblings who would only be his followers when he became a king. Thinking about him being an adult made his smile bloom.

"When I become a king later, I will only have one child," he mumbled.

He looked at his eight siblings with pity. His sixth and seventh siblings were born at the same time to two different concubines. Besides that, he also had other siblings who were twins. They were really pitiful because his father paid no attention to them at all, other than their wealth.

Alexis looked out the window. "Hm... I wonder where is Father now?"

No one knew what happened, but in the last few months, his father traveled a lot for months. He didn’t know what conflict was out there and when Alexis asked, his father said he was still not mature enough to understand.

"Oh?"

Alexis immediately closed his book when he saw the king’s carriage arriving at the palace gates. He didn’t care if he crashed into the sandcastle that Andrea and Archie had built and fell. Andrea was crying loudly, and Archie immediately calmed his sister down. Alexis kept running.

"FATHER!! F-Father?"

Alexis stopped running and froze on the spot. A very beautiful woman got off his father’s carriage. Alexis couldn’t help but stare in silence as his father looked at the woman with a big smile.

It was the first time Alexis had seen his father put on a warm expression for someone. Even Alexis had never seen his father smile like that at his mother. The father he knew was cold and hard to reach. But who was that woman?

"This is my first son. His name is Alexis."

The woman put on a very beautiful smile, but Alexis could see the sadness there. It was his first acquaintance with the person who would change his life.

"Are you my father’s new wife?" asked Alexis as he sat on the swing accompanying the white-haired woman sitting in the garden.

"I think so," she answered simply. Alexis’ face was red because she was so beautiful when she smiled.

"What family are you from? I know quite a few of the nobles’ names throughout the Niverdell kingdom by heart."

The woman just smiled.

"Did your family contribute to resolving the conflict that has been keeping father busy lately?"

The woman pinched Alexis’ cheeks. "I... I’m just an ordinary country girl."

"HUUHHH!???" Alexis jumped off his swing and stood in front of the woman. "Just an ordinary country girl? But mother said that a king should only marry people from influential families. Mother said it’s better not to marry if I don’t marry a princess."

The woman chuckled and nodded. "You are so adorable with that ambition. Your mother said right. Maybe I just got lucky."

Alexis’ eyes dropped to the woman’s stomach. He immediately knew that the woman was pregnant with the king’s tenth child. Although her stomach was not big, Alexis recognized the gesture of a pregnant woman, namely rubbing her stomach several times. Alexis often saw his mother and some of his father’s concubines doing the same thing.

"Do you already have a name for your child?" asked Alexis.

"You know I am pregnant?"

Alexis shrugged his shoulders. "Mother and father’s other concubines used to rub their stomachs when they were pregnant, so I know quite well."

The woman shook her head slowly and looked down at her stomach sadly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Not yet. But I thought about the name Aaron if he was a boy."

"Not Aaron! That name is already used by my seventh brother."

"Ah... that’s how it is. Hmm...."

Alexis walked slowly towards his swing. "Hm... all of the king’s children start with the letter A. So I think the name Alexander is quite dashing for a boy’s name."

"Alexander? Sounds beautiful. Similar to Alexis too. I hope he can grow up to be smart like you later."

Alexis smiled briefly. "Well... you can hope so since I am the older brother."

"Are you suggesting the name Alexander because you want this child to be similar to you?"

"N-not really! That’s just a name that just happened to pop into my head!"

The woman laughed loudly at Alexis’ blushing face. "Very well, I understand, Your Highness. So what if it’s a girl?"

"Hm... I once read a book, and there was the name of a goddess named Arielle. Arielle Dellune."

"Arielle... I will remember it well, Your Highness."

"You don’t have to call me ’Your Highness’. If you are my father’s wife, then you are my Stepmother. You can call me without any honorifics."

The woman’s smile suddenly faded. She looked up at the sky, and Alexis continued to swing while looking at the beautiful woman. An assistant called him to return to study.

Alexis was asked to be allowed to leave the park, but the woman didn’t look at him. Alexis’ heart felt like it was being squeezed when he saw the tears falling from the beautiful woman’s face.

Since then, Alexis had rarely seen this woman. Only occasionally did they talk when they accidentally met in the palace garden. Even then, every time Alexis saw her, she just looked sadder. Little Alexis didn’t understand what was going on, and he didn’t have much courage to ask.

Until one night, at dinner together. Alexis saw it. Alexis understood now what made her sad. The woman was just his father’s concubine, and she was also the only concubine who didn’t come from a noble family.

However... she sat at his mother’s chair, Queen Rosalie. Alexis knew immediately when he saw his mother gripping the fork so tightly. His father had done favoritism. His father loved his new concubine more than any of his other wives.

Alexis, who was caught chatting with the woman several times, was scolded by his mother. She said the woman was only using her condition to win over his father’s heart and throw them away.

Queen Rosalie said the white-haired woman wanted to become a queen and make her child the next heir to the throne.

Alexis couldn’t believe it because he had already spoken to the woman several times. Alexis even believed that the woman wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly.

Day by day, the hatred of the other concubines was getting more intense and Alexis could only see her from a distance. The woman’s smile and expression were also fading away.

Alexis wanted to help her but couldn’t. Alexis wanted to talk to her again and said he trusted her, but his mother always forbade him from getting to the woman and talking with her.

Every day he was being told that the woman was a threat to his throne, and Alexis began to believe it. This was further strengthened when he accidentally saw the woman sitting alone on his father’s throne while rubbing her growing belly.

"What are you doing there?" asked Alexis sharply.

"Oh, Alexis. We haven’t spoken in a long time."

"You are sitting on the king’s throne. It is a forbidden act."

The woman’s movements stopped slowly.

"These are all just inanimate objects. Why is everyone so obsessed with having it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I just want to live peacefully where I was before. And they flocked to label me as a power-hungry person." The woman shook her head sadly. "I... I don’t want this at all. I wasn’t asked to be treated special either. I just miss my old home. But... the few months I lived here, I learned a lot more."

Alexis just stayed where he was, waiting for the woman to finish speaking. The sky outside was scorching hot, and the light streaming in through the glass window behind the throne made him feel like she was shining.

"I wanted to make their nightmares come true. What if the son of an ordinary servant becomes the ruler of this kingdom?"

"What are you saying?"

"Alexis, don’t you want to share this with your little brother? Maybe Alexander or Arielle will be better leaders in the future."

Alexis clenched his fists.

"What are you talking about? I don’t understand at all. Come down! And what should I share? I am the crown prince, so only I am worthy to be a king!"

"Alexis, if you are a good big brother. Can⁠—"

"Get out and leave this palace right now!" Alexis shouted, refusing to hear the woman’s words. That woman was a good person, that woman would not usurp his position to give it to her child. Alexis, who was worried, chased the woman away.

The woman stared at Alexis for a longer time without expression. "You don’t want to share, it seems. You’re just like them. A greedy person who doesn’t want his possessions to be taken away by others."

Alexis was silent in his place. The woman slowly descended from the throne and passed him. But before she left the hall, the woman whispered to Alexis.

"A greedy king? You, your father, your mother, and the rest of your family will one day get your karma."

The woman left Alexis alone. And the day after, the woman left the palace. His father sent many troops to look for the woman’s whereabouts. During her absence, Alexis had always locked himself in because he felt guilty.

Slowly Alexis began to become increasingly insecure about everything connected to the throne and the palace. He began to suspect his own family. He also tried his best to be a good older brother to get support from his family and younger siblings.

Until one day, his father arrived with a small baby named Arielle. And Alexis’s fear was getting worse.