Chapter 30: Chapter 30

TRISTAN:

I watched in spite as the duke’s hateful face twisted itself in recognition and went pale almost in a heartbeat. “You!...”

Yes me… I am the kid of the king you killed, and the son of that woman you kidnapped twenty long and f*cking years ago! I was that kid who brought you inside our castle out of pity, and the one whom you deceived so that you could kill the rest of my pack… Surprise! I’m alive, and I will make you and your precious baby’s life as fiery as hell!

Those words were what I wanted to say so badly in front of this thrash!… Sadly it wasn’t the right time yet…

“Who the hell are you?!”

“If you don’t know, I won’t tell you,” I proclaimed, as I came back to the couch I was originally sitting at. I sipped the rest of the scotch before I spoke again. “For now, I suggest you focus on producing that dowry… Perhaps Dahlia will be thrilled enough to meet you if you do, for once.”

“Can’t I meet her now? I now she’s here somewhere...”

“It’s not that you can’t, but that she won’t meet you… It seemed she truly detests you, duke… especially after that hard slap on our wedding day.”

“H-How did you know?...”

Of course I knew it… This duke could never dream of hurting his precious daughter, so I must be the one to compel him by casting a spell on him.

“Dahlia could never tell a soul that you hurt her, but I have my ways… So if you don’t do as I say, maybe Dahlia will suffer a bit too…”

With blood boiling in his body, the duke finally lost it. He threw the scotch glass behind me, missing my head by just a few inches. “Don’t you dare touch her! Don’t you dare do anything to Dahlia!”

“That’s up to you, father… That’s up to how you would behave for the entirety of our marriage…”

Duke Hurst’s body suddenly convulsed. He covered his face with his hands and started to cry. “Don’t do anything to Dahlia… I-I’ll do everything you wish, just don’t hurt her…”

I stood from the sofa and walked towards his back, and I patted his head like a lap dog.

“Don’t worry, father, as long as you fulfill my wishes and that girl doesn’t do anything irritating, I’ll keep my words…”

At that exact moment, I felt the hairs in my neck stood up. I turned my head by instinct at the door of my study.

Surprisingly, it was ajar, and I saw a wisp of wavy golden brown hair and dark green laces walk pass by it…

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

DAHLIA:

I stood by the door in surprise. My hand trembled a bit, and I was afraid that I would spill the contents of the tray, but thankfully I didn’t.

A few minutes ago, Lina brought in a pitcher of freshly made lemonade and two tall drinking glasses as I had requested. I wanted to enjoy the refreshments with Tristan, but he was called in by Gideon for a meeting concerning the shipments they seemed to be waiting for.

I didn’t know a lot about Tristan’s business. All I know was that he was not a native of this kingdom. In fact, he was from a humble merchant family back in Linderon, which was a small town beyond the northern borders of Talandor.

Come to think of it, in the two months that we’ve been together, he never really talked about his past or his family much... There was just this one time he let slip that he was adopted. At that time, I was trying to talk to him about having children.

“If we have a son or a daughter, what do you think will our child would look like,” I asked.

Tristan’s moods were usually mellow and warm, but on that particular instance, he suddenly turned serious. His face was placid and his eyes turned frosty.

“I have no clue,” he nonchalantly said.

I brought up the subject in jest because I wanted to know what he thought about having children, but I think I hit a more sensitive nerve somewhere…

“I hope they will look like us. Or maybe they’ll take after our parents,” I said, trying to divert the discussion away into Tristan’s childhood, which I was very curious about. Did he grow up in a house with loving parents? Did he enjoy his youth? What was the young Tristan Dmitri Abel like?

“I don’t think so. I was adopted when I was six,” he said abruptly.

After that conversation, whenever I try to bring up the subject about Tristan’s past, I felt stumped. He would suddenly turn into someone cold and uninterested. He would often distract me and bring some other subject into the table.

I had a vague feeling that Tristan didn’t want me to know something about his past, but why was that? Why should he hide things as important as this towards me? Wasn’t it just natural that he’d want to share things about his past with me too?…

I took a sip from the lemonade Lina made as I think of these things. It was really refreshing.

‘I wish Tristan could drink this… It’s really good during the sweltering heat of the summer time,’ I thought in my head.

‘Then why don’t we give it to him? I’m sure he’ll like it,’ Eva suggested excitedly.

Another good thing that marriage had done to me was that I was able to become more in touch with my wolf, Eva. In the two months that I had been wedded, I started to constantly communicate with her, and twice, when the moon is full, I even began to shift at will.

It was thanks to Tristan’s encouragement. The times we spend intimately together seemed to have awakened my werewolf’s instinct.

‘Do you think he’ll appreciate it if I brought him some lemonade,’ I asked my wolf yet again.

‘Of course, and let’s give him some of the cookies he loved too…’

“Lina, would you make me a fresh batch of juice,” I asked my attendant, who happily obliged.

Shortly after Lina came back, I held the tray of lemonade and cookies in my hands, ready to deliver it to Tristan’s study.

After asking Lina for directions given by the older maids on the premise, I was able to discover that Tristan’s study was located at the farthest room in the first floor of Seymour Villa’s western wing.

The western wing had a chilly look in it. The wallpapers are of a darker shade. Everywhere I looked, there was a frightening ornament or decoration. There were several animal heads perched on the wall. At one point, I saw a collection of whips and swords that did not quite match the decorations at the eastern wing of the house. Looking at them made me feel that I was seeing a side of Tristan I didn’t know of.

After wandering at the western wing for a long time, I had final reached the final room. I was about to knock when the door swung ajar, and I had heard part of a conversation that I wish I hadn’t.

I clearly saw my husband Tristan lean over someone on the sofa, and he whispered such cruel words I didn’t think he could even say.

“As long as you fulfill my wishes and that girl doesn’t do anything irritating, I’ll keep my words…”

My hand shook for a bit. That was clearly a threat to someone, but to whom? And what did the man before him do to deserve such words from Tristan?

Before I could even do anything, I saw Tristan’s eyes flash towards me through the slit in the door.

Goddess, he saw me! What should I do?...

‘Don’t worry… I’m sure he has an explanation for this,’ Eva said in a comforting tone.

After hearing Eva’s thoughts, I felt brave enough to face Tristan. I waited for him as he strode towards the door and moved closer to where I was.

He came into the door and towered over me. Despite Eva’s reassurance, a chill ran down my spine when I saw the look on Tristan’s face.

For the first time, it was like he was about to murder someone, and that someone was probably me.