The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Demetrius's Perspective)

"Choose one," I said. "Or more. Whatever you want…"

"Can I choose more than one?" Athena asked.

"Go ahead," I replied.

She took an apple pudding while I had some strawberry cake. I liked the strawberry flavor the most.

"Do you want to say something?" I asked when I felt like she wanted to tell me something, but could not.

Was she scared of me? Well, kids usually got scared of me. When I asked Luc, he said I had the type of face that made others scared of me. But my wife had a different opinion. According to her, I always maintained a cold look on my face. If I did not do so in front of kids, they would not be scared of me anymore.

It was not because I had a scary face, but rather because I maintained that kind of look.

"Um… Her Majesty told me a lot about Your Majesty and said that Your Majesty loves Her Majesty a lot. Is it true?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, I love her a lot."

"Really?"

"Is it that hard to believe?"

"It's not that… Your Majesty just does not… No, I think I am the one in wrong here. Your Majesty does look at Her Majesty as if she is very special and the most important thing in your life," she said. "So, I believe that Your Majesty loves Her Majesty a lot. Her Majesty also seems to love Your Majesty a lot."

"She does. She is my wife and my mate. It is very normal that we would love each other."

"But…"

I had already known what she wanted to say, reading her mind. If she wanted to talk, I would listen because I did not have too many things to do. My wife seemed to be having a very deep conversation with the boy, Abel. I had a feeling that I should not disturb. So, I could only enjoy some sweets and listen to this little girl.

"… Will Your Majesty promise me something?" she asked after a while of trying to say something and failing every single time.

"Yes?"

"The things I am going to say now, can you please not tell them to anyone else including Her Majesty?"

"No, I am going to tell her that. But I can promise you not to tell anyone else."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"… It's not like I don't want Her Majesty to know. It's just… Her Majesty is the duchess's friend. So, I am not sure if she will…"

"The Queen is not someone to tell the other person everything if you tell her something about them. Anyway, it's not my place to explain it to you. As I said, I will tell her this because we promised to tell each other everything."

'Well, I did not tell her about the truth regarding the death of the King of Lacuna, but anyway…'

"I don't think it is a problem…," she mumbled. "Actually, I am worried about the duke and the duchess. I heard they were best friends and then, they got married. It is a very well-known story. The duke had a wife who was… not the best person and then, they got divorced."

"That's right."

"But the duke and the duchess do not seem to be a couple. I… I don't know what a good couple looks like. All I know is that a good couple has to be like Your and Her Majesty, or like Lord Luc and Lady Ruby. But they are not like that. I only see them being best friends and nothing more than that."

"That is their personal matter. I can do nothing about them," I said. "It's not like just because I am the King, I cannot order them to act like a couple."

"I am not asking Your Majesty to do that."

'I wouldn't do it even if you asked me though?'

"I just want to know how can I help them," she said. "It seems after I and Abel have become their kids, the situation only got worse. The duke loves us a lot and it seems more than he loves the duchess. The duchess also loves us, but it is obvious that she wants the duke's attention too. I talked to Abel and he said he doesn't care what kind of marital life they are living and told me not to care too.

But I feel bad."

"Abel is right. It is two grown adults' problem. It's alright not to care and probably the right thing to do," I said. "But it is okay to care too when the two people are your parents."

I was aware of the marital problems between the duke and the duchess. My wife told me a few times and I also read their minds. The problems were not less in any way.

First of all, the duke and the duchess were not mates. Because of it, there was no mental connection between them like mates do and their sex life did not work out at all. They took a potion, but it mostly worked for Alphas. Even if it worked for normal werewolves, it would be one or two times. The duchess did not have a mate and she fell for the duke.

But the duke had a mate who was the previous duchess and so, he could not understand what he truly wanted as he was destined to be with someone else from the very beginning.

That was the reason, he could not see the duchess as someone more than his best friend. He recognized her as a wife, but that was overshadowed by his viewing her as a friend. He also emerged himself into work only as he did not have anything else to take care of.

He thought giving the duchess the title and money was enough and it was how he was supposed to treat her since he could not give her his love as a husband.

But he was wrong. The duchess would have been satisfied or at least, a bit happier if he spent some time with her. There were a lot of issues including the lack of communication. Overall, it was practically impossible to fix their relationship without their own efforts. And even if they put efforts, the matter of not being mates remained as a wall between them.

"Act how you are supposed to as a girl who is not even ten. Don't act more than someone of your age would even if you understand more than them. It's not your place to fix their relationship since it is impossible if the adults don't take steps. So, try to act blind about some matters. Even if everything is happening right in front of our eyes, we don't necessarily need to see everything.

Just because they are your family, not everything is your responsibility and you have to believe that you cannot fix everything."

She thought for a while and then gave a nod. "… Perhaps there is nothing I can do…"

'Why are you thinking so much when you are a child? If I could meet my childhood self, I would tell him not to think about family and live however I wanted.'

I returned to my wife after Athena ate pudding and cake. She also seemed to be done talking with the boy. The duke and the duchess had also come back.

Abel did not love the duke and the duchess and did not truly think of them as his parents. He was grateful for what they did for him and so, he was trying to repay the favor by doing whatever they wanted. My wife seemed to have told him something and he was now thinking very deeply about them.

"You two are here! Have you enjoyed everything you wanted, Athena?" Blue asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The pudding was amazing! I liked it the best!"

"That's amazing! Abel and I were talking about this and that here," she said.

"Hope any of them were not rude," the duke said.

"Not at all. Both of them are very well-mannered," she said.

The tension between the duke and the duchess was very obvious to everyone except the duke himself. He just did not care which seemed to piss the duchess off.

It was none of my business. But I just hoped that their relationship would not affect the kids.

Luc and Ruby danced too and since Luc was drunk from the very start, we could not talk. I was not eager to talk to them, but my wife was. When we went to them, Luc was mumbling shit and his wife was trying to handle him.

"I don't know why he started to drink right after the banquet started. Is he crazy or something?" Ruby complained.

"He is," I nodded.

"Was the wine that strong?" Blue wondered.

"No, Your Highness. He just drank two glasses. Your Highness knows how bad he can handle alcohol…"