50. Flashback.

"You can't be here, Luca," a young woman in her early thirties said to the man before her. "You need to leave here before anyone finds you. You have to go." She added, speaking to him with great worry in her eyes.

"But I can't leave you behind, Laura. If I have to leave, I have to leave with you." The man replied her, holding her hands.

Laura looked around as if to make sure nobody was watching them, or that no one saw them. "Look here, Luca. You have to leave now. I promise to come with you next time. It isn't planned now and I can't leave the palace just like that. It's not safe. Besides, Alexander mustn't see us together. If he does, it won't end well for both of us." She replied with him quickly with fear in her eyes.

Laura had met Luca in the woods years back, when she was doing some sort of training. Luca joined her and they did it together and there and then, they became friends. She would tell everyone at home that she was going for training, whereas, she was going to the woods to see Luca. She did this everyday just so she could see him. Within a few weeks, they fell in love with each other.

But something was wrong about the whole affair. Luca was a human, and she was a werewolf. There was no how she could tell it to anyone that she was in love with a human. Therefore, she kept it a secret from everyone, including her parents. Her parents however, married her off to the the new lycan king who happened to be king Alexander. She did everything in her power to not make the marriage hold. She even feigned sickness for weeks, but her plans failed in the end.

However, after she got married to Alexander and gave birth to her first child, who is Arthur, she still kept seeing this human lover of hers. Luca on the other hand also waited for her. According to him, he couldn't live without her and he knows she would one day return to him, so he would wait till she was ready.

Luca would come to the palace, disguising as one of the men that brought their goods to the palace to sell. When he gets to the palace, he would excuse himself and go to a particular place behind the palace where he and his lover, Arthur's mother used to meet. They did this for months, until one day, Laura started feeling like Alexander had either caught them, or had started suspecting them.

It was the last time Luca came, so she told him not to come back, because if truly Alexander knew about their affair and all his visits, he wouldn't live to see the next day. Luca didn't want to leave Laura behind either. He was going to do everything in his power to fight Alexander. Despite knowing that he couldn't win against a werewolf, he still said he'd wait for her nonetheless. This was why Laura brought up the idea of them eloping together, but she said Luca had to go first and she'd join him the next day. Luca disagreed, saying it would be better if they left together that same day. While this argument was going on between them in their secret meeting corner behind the palace, they heard a voice. The voice of the person they had been running from. Alexander's voice.

"And who do we have here?" He said as he walked up to them majestically.

Luca and Laura shook with fear as they sighted him, but they tried to act calm, as if nothing was going on between them. But little did they know that Alexander had made enquiries about Luca, and he already recognized him the moment he set his eyes on him.

"Aren't you the human that was chasing my queen before I married her?" He asked him with an evil smirk on his face.

Laura became even more scared, because she didn't know that Alexander could still recall Luca's face. Both of them had met once, and that was before she got married to Alexander. Luca had introduced himself to Alexander as Laura's lover, not knowing that he was the same person Laura's parents were going to make her get married to.

"My lord, I am not here to—"

"He came here to sell some goods to me. He is a marketer. This has nothing to do with the past between us." She said quickly.

"Really?" Alexander replied and chuckled, a wicked smile on his face. "Is that true?" He asked Luca as he turned to face him.

Luca was shaking with fear already as he stared at the lycan king. He knew that if he said any wrong thing, he could get killed. So, he had to watch his words so it won't affect him or his lover or that day would be their last. "Yes, my king. Yes. I came to sell… uhm… some of my good to her."

"And where are those goods, if I may ask?" Alexander asked again, his arms folded as he stared at them.

"They are at the—" Laura was answering when Alexander cut in, glaring at her.

"I wasn't talking to you, woman!" He snapped at Laura. "Let the man speak for himself!"

"My lord," Luca started. "My goods are at the garage where the other sellers are. I only came here to respond to my lady because she said she didn't like getting goods in the public."

"Hmm," Alexander muttered and turned to face Laura. "Is that true?"

"Yes, my king."

"Okay then " Alexander replied, then he called one of his armed men. "Take this man to the garage and ask if he sells anything. If he does, he goes scot-free. If he doesn't, he's as good as dead."

Without letting Luca speak, the man dragged him with him to the garage, while Alexander and Laura waited. Laura was very scared by now. She knew their secret was already in the open, but she still hoped a miracle would happen. Not up to a minute later, the man came back dragging Luca by his cloth. He then pushed Luca and he fell on his knees.

"So?" Alexander asked the man he ordered to follow Luca.

"He lied. The sellers said he begged to follow them to palace because he came to see someone here."

"Who did you come to see, young man?" Alexander turned to Luca, who was still on his knees. Fear had gripped him by now, so he was too terrified to speak. "Can't you speak?!" Alexander shouted as he hit Luca's stomach with his leg and fell to the ground.

"Luca!" Laura exclaimed as she ran to meet him on the floor. "Luca," she called him sitting beside him on the floor. "You can't leave me like this, Luca."

Alexander laughed loudly as he stared at them. "That was what I needed to know. You're still seeing him, right?"

"You wicked soul!" Laura stood up and nudged him hardly in the chest.

"You cheat!" He exclaimed back at her and pushed her to the wall. Then, he faced the man from before. "Take this fool with you and do the needful."

"Yes, my lord." That said, the man dragged Luca and took him to the dungeon where people are killed, leaving Alexander with Laura.

"You think I didn't hear how you two planned to elope?" He said to her angrily as he pushed her to the wall, pinning her neck to it. He was too angry to notice what he was doing.

"Then you should have let me marry the person I wanted to right from time." She said to him in between coughs.

"That should be said to your parents and not to me!" He shouted at her angrily and tightened her neck even more.

"You're hurting me," coughs. "You're hurting me." She said, but he didn't listen anymore. His eyes were red by now as he kept on strangling her, and before he knew it, her body dropped dead to the ground. It was only after he did this that he realized what he had done. Immediately, he looked around to make sure nobody saw him. Then, he carried her and went straight to their chambers. That evening, he announced that the queen collapsed and died, in which the whole kingdom believed.

PRESENT.

"How dare you!" Arthur shouted as he watched his father with anger and hate. "You killed my mother and lied to me!"

"I'm sorry." He muttered, almost losing his breath already. "I'm sorry, Arthur. I deserve to die."

"Of course you do, you deserve to die!" He said and left him in the floor as he stood up and turned his back to his father. He was so enraged that he couldn't look at his father at the moment.

"Arthur," Alexander managed to say. "Look at me. I don't have much time left, so…" he coughed again.

Arthur was a bit calm by now, so he turned to face him. "Father," he called as he bent down beside his father again.

Alexander brought out the mantle of leadership and handed it over to him. "Here. This is the mantle. The mantle of power."

"But father—"

"No buts. I hope you'll also forgive me for your mother's sake." Immediately he said that, his eyes closed slowly.

"Father!" He shouted as his father had his last breath on his arms. "Father!"