"Y-you... you said you woke up as a lycan?" The queen asked with a hoarse voice. She needed to make sure that she heard him correctly, that this was not her imagination or nightmare.
"Yes." Nicholas began to recount his story of how he woke up in the meadow in the form of a gray wolf. At that time, he was utterly confused and decided to go to the royal villa in Livstad. "I am not sure why, but I immediately went to the royal villa after I transformed."
He didn't share with his mother that he might be pulled by his attraction toward Sophia Romanov. Queen Marianne looked like she already had enough on her plate. Nicholas didn't have the heart to burden her with her son's fascination with another man's wife.
"Noel told me the same thing, that he met you in our villa," the queen muttered. "So, it's true."
"Yeah."
Nicholas confirmed that when Noel came to see him and asked him to return to the palace, he had just changed from his lycan form to human form. When he saw the queen's face turn pale, Nicholas immediately told her that Noel didn't notice anything suspicious.
"It's fine, mother. I don't think he suspected anything," he said, holding his mother's arm. "Don't worry."
"Really? Are you sure?"
Nicholas was not one hundred percent sure, but he chose to lie about it. His poor mother had suffered so much already. "Yeah."
"Oh, that's a relief..." the queen nodded. She wiped the cold sweat off her forehead. "You have no idea, how stressful it was for me to keep hiding your condition from everyone, especially your late father."
"..."
Nicholas' ears perked up. He finally heard what he want to know from his mother. So, she did know about his condition and even hid the fact from his father.
So... what did actually happen that the king was kept in the dark about such an important issue like this?
He asked his mother with a hoarse voice. "So, you knew??"
Queen Marianne gasped. She had slipped and now Nicholas knew that she knew he was a lycan. Gosh... Now, he would hate her and think she hid so many things from him. "It was for your own good."
Her voice was hoarse and she looked like she was about to cry when she spoke. "You know how much your father hated werewolves, those monsters... If he found out that his own son was a lycan... I believe he would kill you."
Nicholas was silent when he heard his mother's explanation. He lowered his head and clenched his fists. If only she was wrong... he would gladly refute her statement.
However, the fact was, King William Hannenbergh's hatred toward the werewolves was so deep-rooted. He lost his beloved older brother, whom he adored and looked up to because a lycan killed him.
King William Hannenbergh was someone that people would call the spare. He was not supposed to be king. He liked books and traveling. He was happy that his older brother would take the throne after their father stepped down from his role as the king.
Prince Gabriel Hannenbergh was Riga's beloved crown prince. He was set to become the next king until suddenly he was killed by a lycan in a horrific battle during a hunting trip. His death turned William's life upside down.
Suddenly, he had to step up and take the role of the crown prince. Something he hated. However, that was not the main reason for his hatred. Lycans also took the woman he loved. She died of grief after Gabriel passed away.
That was right. William was in love with a princess who was supposed to marry Gabriel, his older brother. Since he loved them both, William decided to step back and travel, leaving Riga behind with all the memories.
However, Gabriel's death which was soon followed by his fiancee's changed William's life forever. He had to take over power and marry a woman chosen for him, who was deemed fit to be the next queen of Riga.
He had to bury his dreams and took on the leadership role, while still mourning the deaths of the people he loved. He didn't love his wife, but he treated her well. However, there was always that wall between them that they could never cross.
This was perhaps the reason why Queen Marianne was so horrified when her son was turned into a lycan. She knew her husband would never accept Nicholas being a monster, not only because he hated lycans in general... but because he didn't have that much love for his wife and son in the first place.
So, she did whatever it took to hide Nicholas' condition. It was the most stressful period of her life. She had to keep looking for excuses to travel and take Nicholas with her to keep him away from the king's eyes.
Queen Marianne knew that having Nicholas away from the capital often would further damage their relationship with the king because they lost a lot of precious time for bonding as a family.
However, she couldn't take the risk.
She couldn't let her son be killed for being a monster, something that he had no control over. It was not his fault that he was kidnapped and turned into a lycan by the heinous lycan tribe.
"Oh, Nicholas, my poor child," Queen Marianne cupped her face with both hands and started sobbing despondently. "I had to do that because I love you. I don't want to see you being hunted and killed for something that is not your fault."
.
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From Missrealitybites:
So, there was a history behind the late king's deep-rooted hatred toward lycans and the reason why Nicholas and his mother didn't have such a great relationship with his father.
Btw, I am commissioning pictures for Jan and Luciel. They are not done yet, but I already got some sneak peek at the results. See them in the comments. XD
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