Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 49: The Price of His Freedom

[DRARUN]

"You can’t be serious with me right now. So you’re telling me you could have gotten out of this place already and you freaking stayed, because of that????" Rania asked angrily and disbelievingly.

Of all the things she had expected her once best friend to have remained in drarun for, THAT, was definitely not it.

Maybe there was something wrong with him. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Maybe he was having a chronic brain disease, because no one in their right minds would ever stay in this lonely land because of a secret that they didn’t even know its truth yet.

It was risky, not to mention insane and Kim Rania wasn’t sure if Jungwoo had lost his mind or he had been playing games. But if he was playing, what kind of game was this? Didn’t he know how much was at stake?

"I needed to know," Jungwoo insisted. He knew Rania understood him, but she was still in shock from it all.

Jeon Jungwoo had been in this damned dungeon for several years, but seeing his friend here with him, made him think that he was being selfish. But was he, when he wanted to find out the truth about all this?

"Goddess help me man. Was it so hard to go to the dumb queen and ask her yourself? Or what you are scared mommy dearest won’t tell you the truth? Goodness, you—" Rania said and Jihoon interrupted her.

"What are you both talking about now?" Jihoon asked. One moment ago, they were at odds and now it seemed like these two knew each other. Was there something he was missing? The werewolf prince was so close to falling unconscious that Jihoon noticed it.

Well, Rania may have noticed it too, if she wasn’t busy trying to make sense of what Jungwoo was doing here. He was strong, he had the power, he was able to outsmart even the king himself, especially with the skills that Jungoo had, and yet he had stayed here.

Like a loyal prisoner, he had stayed for so long, and now, there was just a day before he was executed. Would he be able, to tell the truth, or would he let himself suffer once again in the name of the dumbass queen?

Goodness, Rania despised queen Eunbi with every minute that passed, and seeing Jungwoo here, just intensified her hatred for the woman beside the Obren throne. By Rania’s standards, this woman had to be the most useless mother in the history of motherhood.

"Something that will cost you your head. It’s better if you don’t know, besides, if they behead me, you’ll be safe to return to Calindra and Incayon can be led by Dalrae. After all, she’s more loved than I am" Rania said sincerely, her voice making the boys around her flinch.

"You never changed Rani," Jungwoo said as he struggled to breathe. The silver poison was rushing through his system a little too fast than he had thought of. However, he would try and hold on. He would hold on a little longer, until everything got sorted.

Or maybe until his secrets killed him before the silver, but it seemed like the silver was taking an insane lead this time. Poor Jungwoo.

"Don’t call me that," Raia said, her voice going back to the emotionless and stiff one. She was going to pretend that she just hadn’t been glad to see her best friend. Like she wasn’t happy that Jungwoo was alive. Even if he was sick, he was alive and that is what mattered.

Rania never thought she would ever see Jungwoo again and this was a blessing to her. However, that didn’t mean she was going to show the world how happy she was. The universe had a way of snatching everything she loved and giving it to other people.

So she would stay cold.

"You are to be executed in a day’s time, what is your plan?" Jihoon asked the werewolf prince, bringing Jungwoo and Rania to the very harsh reality. The prince dying in Drarun would definitely cause an uproar and Obren would forever be at war with Drarun.

Was that something they wanted? Was the possible innocent lives that would be lost, something that a prince wanted for his people? Granted, the vampires were the undead but they were still innocent in this case too.

"I have no plan of escaping. Everyone that comes to try and rescue me, never gets to go back home. They are always killed. So I kinda stopped planning after the eleventh year," Jungwoo said, a fake smile creeping up his face.

He had given up.

"Have you ever gotten out of this place?" Rania asked curiously. Surely being stuffed in this dungeon all those years was insane, right? Who in the fuck even stayed locked up like a damn corpse? That shit must have been very hard for Jungwoo, damn.

"No, I haven’t really, but I know a few places," Jungwoo said, like it was supposed to reassure Rania and Jihoon. However, the Calindra and Incayon alphas knew that no matter what their relationship with Jungwoo was, he was still the reigning alpha of the wolves.

But did that matter to Rania right now?

Was this the time the chaotic Incayon alpha became a rational human or would she be her carefree self with a zero-fucks attitude?

"Then we’ll leave at first light and go back home," Rania said and Jungwoo let out a sigh. What part of he had stated here these years for his goal did she not get? Why didn’t she understand that he hadn’t gotten the fruits of his sacrifice over the years?

"No, I can’t. Not before I see his face. I have heard his voice over the years. I know what he sounds like and I can identify him with his voice. But I need to see him. Even once, and I won’t let you take that away from me Rani," Jungwoo said.

"Why? There are photos of him all over, you can use those," Rania said. She didn’t understand just how important it was to see the guy face to face.

"I need to see him. I need to know what he looks like Rani. I have to know. When I ran away from home to come to this side, I killed his vamps, and figured they would take me to him, but he never came to this place.

"He knows I’m the werewolf prince, but he’s never once seen me. What kind of a—" Jungwoo said but Rania wasn’t about to let him finish that sentence. It was one so dangerous that could rile up the supernatural world.

They had speculation and not proof and if Jungwoo said it out loud, he would be affirming the worst, and they didn’t know shit about Drarun, not yet. Not to mention they barely had a few hours to sort everything out.

"Don’t. Don’t say it because once you do, you can never go back in time and fix it. You can’t no matter how bad you want to. Don’t say it unless you are sure of it," Rania warned. But then again, what was it that was so dangerous that could disrupt the normal order?

"He won’t even know. Anyway, I’m tired of this, and if I have to go home with you, if I have to get off the pretentious phase of me being weak and fluffy shit, I need to be ready. I need to see him, Rani," Jungwoo said and Rania just looked at him.

Her best friend wasn’t serious with life, but then he had never been and that was something that Rania had known even when they were kids running around Obren, like life was not so hard beyond their bubble.

"You were pretending? Bro, what the hell?" Jihoon asked, the shock on his face making Rania facepalm. Well, the calindra alpha was a piece of work, because what the hell was even this? He looked really shocked that Jungwoo was pretending.

For fucks sake, the man was the werewolf prince, and he had royal abilities. He was unique and the next leader of the werewolf nation. It would be impossible to have him confirmed here if he didn’t want to.

"You really didn’t expect the next in line for the crown of Obren to be really dumb yeah?" Jungwoo asked with disbelief. The Calindra alpha Jihoon was surely full of surprises.

"You’ve always been dumb, you little shit" Rania retorted.

"And you are charming as always," Jungwoo said before he fell to the ground with a thud.