A beautiful woman.
It was said that Kieran’s mother was even more beautiful than the current Queen. And while the current Queen was already more than a hundred years old, Kieran’s mother Eleonor Vass was still in her thirties when she gave birth to Kieran. Because of this, the King spent a lot of time with Eleonor thinking that she would give birth to another child.
Though Queen Luna has been ’rumored’ as the King’s mate, the King would still spend nights away from her, which was something that any mate cannot just accomplish.
Of course, this didn’t bother a lot of people as it was only rumored that the reason why Queen Luna gave birth first was that she was his mate.
Anyway, the Queen had been silently attacking Eleonor over the years and even sent her to a palace far away from the King’s palace. It was petty but it was perfectly reasonable. After all, Lycans have their wolves, and wolves are considered possessive and monogamous creatures. Except of course for some alpha wolves who had the tendency to stray.
Because of this, Eleonor slowly drifted apart and focused all her time raising her son, Kieran Graydon.
Everything was normal until the King made it clear to everyone that Matthew had the strongest bloodline. While the announcement sounded cordial, many people were aware that this was the King’s way to tell all of his children that they now have permission to attempt to kill each other. The strongest of the pack will become the next leader.
Because of this, Eleonor started looking for ways to save her son. And that included research about the practice of killing their siblings to find out which one is actually the strongest.
Eleonor started her research and soon she discovered a few facts.
One part of history actually stated that the Alpha is supposed to protect everyone in the pact and not... murder everyone that would stand in their way. They love authority but they aren’t homicidal assholes who would kill their siblings for the damn position. The strongest is the strongest. That’s it.
The bloodline test should be enough to test this.
So... why would the previous Kings ask their kids to kill each other despite already knowing who among them had the strongest bloodline? Moreover, their kind is literately becoming extinct! Not many of them could have children! For instance, the King had many young wives but he could only have eight children.
We can only blame this on the DNA and the ever-evolving factors from the environment. His mother gathered evidence to prove her claim and soon, she started working with other noble families who were originally against the practice.
Then out of nowhere... his mother died.
A perfectly healthy sixty-year-old Lycan died in her sleep!
Does that even make any sense?
Kieran’s mother was in her prime! She might not be the strongest wife of the King but she’s a tough Lycan!
How could someone like that just... die?
Then Kieran found out that his mother was actually investigating an old family that had long vanished because of treachery. It was the Sangray Family.
Ava almost couldn’t believe it!
Her first instinct about that old man’s words was actually right! It was Eleonor!
"Why would she investigate the Sangray Family?" Ava asked.
"I know you aren’t that familiar with the history of the Lycans so... I will answer that for you," Erenes said. "The Sangray Family used to keep the records of the Lycan court. They are known as record keepers not just because they were close to the King. It was because of their especially sharp memory. Their sharp minds and good hearts were pretty well known in the Kingdom. But this all changed about two hundred years ago. At that time, war is pretty rampant. The King found evidence that they were working with witches."
Erenes continued. "They were charged with treason and the King instructed his people to execute every one of them. From the head of the family to their relatives and even their dogs and chickens were slaughtered simply because the King said it might have been cursed by witches."
"So... why would your mother investigate their deaths?"
"I don’t know," Kieran said. "I found this..." Kieran got up and got something from his pillow. "It was a map... see that? That’s the crest of the Sangray Family. I believe this was their estate that had been burned down to the group at the King’s orders."
"Record keepers..." Ava decided to pretend that she knew nothing. "Why would she do some research about the record keepers? Maybe she found some sort of document that could directly change the customs of killing each other’s brother?" Ava mumbled.
Of course, she already knew that Eleonor indeed found them and started working with them. And that must be the reason why she suddenly died.
"So... are you going to tell him how to leave this place?" Erenes said. "You must understand that we cannot delay this any longer. The news that he met you already reached the Queen’s ears. She would want to kill Kieran as soon as possible."
Ava nodded. "I will take care of that. First, the formulas. Where is it?"
"Ah..." Kieran got up and opened a secret compartment on his bed. "Here." He gave it to Ava without any hesitation. "I have more but I can only give it to you once I successfully leave this place. Please understand— "
"It’s alright," Ava uttered. She accepted the parchments and in return threw a vial towards Kieran.
"What is this?"
"It’s not poison," Ava said. "Leaving this place isn’t enough," Ava uttered. "You have to completely disappear and change your identity. This is the only way for you to survive outside of this place."
"And?" Erenes asked.
"And the only way to do that is for him to die." Ava smiled. "I created the potion myself. Though... it doesn’t taste and smell good. I can assure you that it is safe." Of course, she didn’t tell them that she haven’t tested it on anyone else before giving it to Kieran.
But hey! She followed all the steps of this forbidden potion! It should work... right?
Right?
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