Chapter <b>153 </b>
<b>Chapter </b><b>153 </b>
Darius pov
Tails. I won.
“<b>I </b>will personally interrogate the girl tonight. I don’t want to hear about this matter from you or anyone else again,” I said, <b>my </b>voice low and devoid of emotion as I walked toward the door. I paused briefly, ncing over my shoulder to find Ethan and his men staring <b>at </b>the ground, their expressions heavy with sorrow.
“Do you understand?” I asked tly.
Silence hung in the air until Ethan finally drew in a deep breath and replied,
“Understood, my king.”
Without another word, I turned back to the door and left the study, heading toward my room with my hands tucked into my pockets. Just as <b>i </b>expected, Ss’s voice broke the quiet.
“Darius, you-”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I cut him off before he could finish, my voice colder and sharper than I intended.
“If it were anyone else, I’d do the same without hesitation and you wouldn’t care. So why does she get special treatment?” I asked as I reached for the door, pushing it open and stepping inside. The moment I entered, I shut it behind me.
Standing in the quiet space, my eyes traced the entire room and for a moment, I couldn’t move, my legs felt glued to the ground and all could hear was the rapid thump of my heartbeat as I took in the room where I had kept all her belongings.
All her memories.
Her paintings, her jewelry, her clothes, her shoes, everything that once belonged to her, everything that could remind me of her.
“Do you know what’s more upsetting about this, Ss?” I whispered under my breath, walking to a painting covered with a white cloth. As <b>I </b>pulled it away, the image of my Liana smiling brightly in a white dress met my eyes.
“That you seem to have forgotten about her… that you’ve let go of the past. Let go of her.”
I reached out to the painting and, almost in a daze, my fingers brushed against her cheek. For a brief moment, my vision blurred, and a heavy wave of sorrow crashed over me.
“Even though her memories will be forever imprinted in our minds for as long as we live… don’t you feel even a shred of guilt, knowing everything that happened was our fault? If we had paid more attention to her and those gossips… if we hadn’t felt so guilty about taking the throne from Dalton and looking away as hemitted those little crimes, if we had just gotten there sooner, saved her then she would have lived. Our child would have lived.”
My fingers trembled against the painting, and for the first time in years, I felt the very emotions I had locked away, the ones I had sworn I didn’t deserve to feel, the ones I promised myself I’d never let surface again.
Yet every day, I relive it–again and again. The goddess had been so cruel, ensuring I could never forget the pain I felt <b>or </b><b>the </b><b>blood </b>I had <b>shed </b>that day.
“Darius…”
Ss called my name, then paused. His voice was low, and I could hear the faint tremor behind it.
<b>1/3 </b>
JU:40 <b>Tue</b><b>, </b>12 <b>Aug </b>
“I <b>haven’t </b><b>forgotten </b>what happened that day to our mate, Liana. I haven’t forgotten her… her memories still burn in <b>my </b><b>mind</b>, <b>and </b>over a find <b>myself </b>thinking about what we lost. That day, we lost everything our mate, our child… and the people we used to <b>be </b>
My fingers brushed lightly over the painting, as if I could truly feel her through the canvas.
“But we can’t live like this forever, you know. I’m not certain but I think the Goddess is giving us a second chance, to finally be <b>happy</b><b>. </b><b><i>And </i></b>that happiness… is Nyssa<b>, </b>our second–chance mate. Can’t we be selfish, just this once? Can’t we choose happiness<b>? </b>Why are you <b>pushing </b>Nyssa away? Don’t we deserve it?”
My fingers froze over the painting, and for a brief moment I said nothing. My eyes were vacant, my expression empty and hollow as I stared <b>at </b>Liana. Then, the next second, I frowned, reached forward to cover the cloth over the painting, and stood straight, tucking my hands into <b>my </b>
pockets.
Under my breath, I muttered,
“No, we don’t deserve happiness. Our happiness died that very day. So I don’t want to hear another word about that girl from you. Don’t <b>test </b>me, Ss. Sure, I can’t end her life, but that doesn’t mean she can’t suffer by my hands.”
Ss didn’t respond, maybe because he knew I was serious. He simply huffed and cut off contact with me. In an instant, my eyes turned cold<b>, </b>all emotion and vulnerability vanishing. At that exact moment, there was a knock on the door.
I shifted my gaze toward it, my frown deepening since no one was allowed near this room, not even Cassain. Still, <b>I </b>walked over and opened it to find Sandra standing before me, her blind white eyes narrowed on me and a smile etched across her face. She lowered her head respectfully and spoke.
“Greetings to the king. Thedy has been given food and has settled down.”
I raised a brow, mild confusion flickering across my features before speaking.
“And why are you telling me this?” I asked, not caring what the she–wolf did. I didn’t remember asking her.
Sandra’s smile seemed to widen at my question, but she simply exined.
“My apologies, my king. I just thought you would like to know.”
Her eyes glistened with a certain glint as she looked straight at me, and for some reason, I didn’t like it. It reminded me of someone, a glint i had seen before but couldn’t quite ce.
That reminded me.
Sandra. Who exactly was this woman? She was the head attendant, right? That was what ude had told me. He had said she had been working in the pack for a long time but…
I narrowed my eyes at her, studying her carefully.
I didn’t seem to recall her or rather, my memory of her felt hazy.
However, before I could dwell on it, something/suddenly mmed into me, making me frown. A sharp, splitting pain shot through <b>my </b><b>skull</b>, and I instinctively reached up, clutching my head with a grimace.
But just as quickly as it came, it was gone, leaving me blinking in confusion<b>, </b>only for Sandra’s voice to snap me out of <b>my </b><b>d </b>
“I apologize for bothering you, my king. I will be taking my leave now,” she said with a respectful bow.
As <i>she </i>turned to leave, I caught the famt, amused smirk curling her lips, before she closed the door behind her.
<b>I </b>stood there for a moment, drawing in a slow, steady breath, before running a hand through <b>my </b><b>hair </b>and turning <b>back </b>toward the paintings little bewildered that I hadpletely forgotten what I’d been thinking just moments ago.
AD