Chapter 162: Chapter 162

TRISTAN:

I cupped my head on my palms. When I first heard the king’s confessions, I couldn’t swallow his words too. I couldn’t believe that I once wanted to hurt my own brother so badly as well as the woman I loved so much in the world.

“Tristan, are you alright?...”

It was Samalah. I half-thought she had already followed Kaist to comfort him, but she was still here, her eyes full of unspoken pity.

“Go ahead and come after him… Your mate needs you the most right now,” I said.

Samalah did well by letting me tell Kaist the whole story behind our revenge from beginning to end. She must have really fallen for him considering that she never made any hateful remarks against his father and Talandor, like she used to.

“You’re right… My mate needs me.” Just then, Samalah moved beside me on the long couch. “Why did you tell Kaist the truth? I can see you have been hurt as much as Kaist to reveal it, so why?...”

“I… I don’t want to continue our plans anymore,” I said, tears dripping down my eyes. “I don’t want to hate the people I shouldn’t hate just because I was robbed of a family, Samalah… All I ever wanted was to lead a peaceful life, and yet, look at what we have done?... If we didn’t come to ruin their lives, my brother and Dahlia, they would have led a quiet life together. They would have been happy…”

That’s right. I was too engrossed in my own sadness that I failed to see I had become the source of sorrow for those whom I loved. How am I different from Duke Hurst, Count Jeteris, or King Maurus in terms of greed and being evil then?

“Don’t say that,” Samalah exclaimed, “You weren’t the cause of anyone’s sorrow…”

“N-No… Dahlia’s in this condition b-because I brought her here… And Livia a-and Kaist… They suffered because I led D-Duke Hurst inside the castle… I revealed the secret passage to him… I let him… I let him kill my father and t-take away my mother -”

I couldn’t finish my sentences anymore. Samalah hugged me while we both cried in bitter tears of remembrances.

These were the emotions I had carried with me since I survived that day… If only I didn’t lead Duke Hurst into the secret passage and into the castle that day… If only I didn’t plot against Dahlia and Kaist… If only I had been there when Livia was growing up and needed me the most…

There were so many if-onlys and at the heart of it all was I…

“That’s not true, hmm… You were just a child. The adults were the ones who caused all of these things… You were only a young child. It wasn’t your fault…”

I raised my head from Samalah’s neck. She was crying just like me… Crying for the things I have lost and ruined.

Just then, I wasn’t able to stop it. Her lips touched my lips, and we found ourselves entangled into a kiss.

The smell of cherries and milk filled me and my heavy heart. I drank it in like a madman, hungry for Dahlia’s love and affection.

That’s right – it was Dahlia’s love I was missing for, and this person before me was certainly not Dahlia… Moreover, she was now Kaist’s mate, my brother’s...

“What have we done,” I said as I held her wrist and pushed her lips away.

She must have lost her sense of reason too, for Samalah’s face looked quite shocked as soon as she realized what had happened.

“I-I’m sorry,” she blurted out, standing abruptly up from the couch.

“Samalah, don’t ever come to me like this again,” I warned. “I don’t know what you are up to, but I am done with this game of retribution that you are playing… If you have chosen my brother, stay with him. Don’t break his heart twice today.”

At this, Samalah hurriedly left, slamming the door as she exited.

Despite her absence, her scent still lingered into the air, making me feel dizzy and leaving me in the want of her.

Sh*t. What was I thinking of doing with my brother’s mate just now?

******************************

DAHLIA:

What was I thinking? Why did I kiss Tristan?...

I had only meant to console him. I had heard the story before of how his father died in front of him, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that it was part of his reality…

To top it all of, my own father was the one who had tricked Tristan and participated in the murder of his pack.

I was guilty. I didn’t know that my father’s sins against him were to that extent, and now, those sins also affected Kaist whose whole existence were built on lies.

So, why then did I let myself become vulnerable enough to kiss Tristan?

I had sworn to myself never to become close to him again. He didn’t believe me when I told him I was Dahlia, and he said our fated mark was only a part of a trick… How can I come to him again after all of that?

Even if I did love him, and he did love me, we couldn’t be together anymore… The lies and sins that surround us were far too many to even allow us to truly love each other.

Tristan was right… In the midst of my trouble, it was Kaist who had truly never left my side. If Samalah never wakes up, and I became perpetually trapped with her face and body, then I’d have to live as Kaist’s mate… I must take care never break his heart especially after this…

I immediately sought Kaist and found him in the garden.

“Dahlia,” he said, hugging me by the waist. I let him cry as much as he wanted while I patted his head like a child.

“Everything will be alright, your majesty,” I said as I comb softly into his pale blond hair.

“N-No… Everything was a lie… I was never a White Fang wolf… I-I was a Shadow wolf all along… A-And father…”

As a prince of Talandor, I knew how much hate Kaist has been ingrained with when it came to the Shadow Rune wolves. It must have also pained him to know the truth about the father he looked up to all his life…

“I’ve only got you now, Dahlia… You’re the only one that remains real!”

I couldn’t speak back. Even though I knew that Kaist said was a lie, I couldn’t tell him the truth. I couldn’t break his heart further.

My lips that instinctively sought Tristan never lied… I still love Tristan… He was still the only person in my heart, and no one else…

Kaist and I continued to weep some more in each other’s arms before Thesla came to the garden.

“The vampire that Tristan brought has regained consciousness, your highness. I think you should hear what he has to say…”

True enough, Sir Casior’s words became an important turning point in our lives that evening…