Lalchan POV
"I heard you married the most beautiful woman of all kingdoms." I heard a voice behind me, and I turned around to see my brother grinning. The three of them are always walking together in groups, as is customary.
As the last son of my father, I stand out as the outlier in the family.
My father? I hate to call him my father. To me, my father is dead, and so is my mother. In fact, I regard myself as an orphan, living alone. No parents and no siblings.
"Is that so?" I pose the question, placing my hands behind my back and standing tall. They are dressed in royal robes, with swords attached to their right side, and they are glaring at me with a stench of jealousy emanating from them.
"I wonder why Father gave you that luxury—to marry a woman that beautiful. We all know you don't deserve her." The elder prince, Kane, walks closer, moving around me in circles like a threat. The last statement cuts through my chest, but unlike them, I usually stay quiet and control my anger.
They're expecting my response tonight, but I'm not in the right frame of mind. I just returned from an unexpected marriage, and right now I'm in a state of confusion about my take on it.
I never expected this. She is my mate. She is beautiful, innocent, and everything I never thought I'd deserve. But the fear... it gnaws at me. Can I really protect her?
With this curse hanging over me, can I even claim her as mine? The thought of it makes my chest tighten, but the reality is worse. I don't know what's worse—being forced to marry her or the fact that she might be safer without me.
"Perhaps it's because he's the least productive among us." Prince Rolf, who has dark brown eyes and short black hair, stands in front of me with an audacious look. He places one hand on the edge of his sword, ready to pull it out at any slight danger that may come his way.
"Right, I guess father thought the only way he could be useful was to marry him off and gain something in return. He is just useful for exchange, like a trade." Prince Vernon, the one with the eyes and aura like that of a devil, with the same long hair as me but black and curly.
A low grunt escapes my chest, raising my eyebrow at them. None of their words gets to me, at least not anymore.
A part of me wanted to lash out at them. But what would it do? All it would accomplish is proving their cruel accusations true. I had long since learned to bury the hurt, even if it never fully went away. But that didn't stop the ache each time I saw their faces—the faces of a family that never wanted me. I was born a normal werewolf but was unable to walk through sunlight.
If I do, I will burn. I will burn beyond recognition, and according to King Klaus, I'd look like a typical monster with burnt dead skin and an ugly face. Most people thought it was an attribute of a vampire, but it's way different and more complicated than that.
He said I was no longer the Lalchan with the chiseled face, icy blue eyes, and silver hair, but a monster he didn't believe he gave birth to. A monster with burnt skin, dark hair, and dead, dark eyes. The way he had described my state was traumatizing.
It happened on the first day. I was seven, and he asked me to grab a sword so he would teach me how to use it. He said that despite the fact we were werewolves, we were also born royals, and royals make use of swords. However, we had to learn how to fight with a sword.
I grabbed the sword he threw at me unsteadily with my young hand, and the moment I stepped into the sunlight, I felt my skin burn. And Father immediately stepped away from me with the biggest shock on his face. I would never forget the irritation in his eyes.
"Father, please make it stop! I'm in pain." I cried at him, hoping he would save me and pull me into a cover away from the sun. But instead, I watched him walk away from me.
I watched him stare at me with disgust. He said he couldn't have a monster as a son. I watched my father walk away, and I continued to burn under the sun.
As soon as the sun went down, I regained myself after long hours, but I had already felt the greatest pain of my life.
"Perhaps you are forgetting what the time is?" I smirk, dropping my hands off my back. I remain unbothered by their hateful words, but they are forgetting it's totally dark now, and the last thing they want to do is step on my toes.
I become extremely powerful at night due to the curse and less powerful during the day. I'm not to be stepped on once it's nighttime.
Prince Kane narrows his gaze at me, halting his menacing movement around me. "Oh yeah! The cursed wolf who is only active at night, yeah?"
My night has become my day. I am the exact opposite of every prince, hiding throughout the broad daylight and energetic at night.
Now King Klaus made me marry a girl who I'm not ready to protect. This is why I can't claim her. I can't fulfill my obligations as a mate with this curse on me.
"Good, you haven't forgotten about that. Now, would you leave? I'm kind of in a bad mood, and you do not wish to cause a brawl tonight."
They fall out of the way as I proceed down the hall. I'm on my way to carry out a task. I know the king is up to something, and I can't let him go ahead with his evil plan.
I head straight to the barracks in the castle, and I watch as the army from Halsey's kingdom marches in. This was why he forced me to get married; he wanted in return more armies from the Verdant Vale Kingdom.
He doesn't just need them for war, but for something worse that he is not telling anyone. Getting to the barracks, I order them to go back or run for their lives. Nothing good is going to come out of this but evil.
They seem fearful, and they would rather go rogue than return to the Verdant Vale kingdom because their lives will be at stake. The king and mine will hunt them down.
As soon as I'm done with my task, I head back to my room before the sunrise. It's almost time, so I head straight to my room and shut the door.
The moment I step into my room, the darkness swallows me whole, wrapping around me like a suffocating blanket. It's more than just a lack of light—it's a constant reminder of my curse, of the life I've been sentenced to.
A place where the outside world doesn't exist, where I am invisible, forgotten. And yet, I can never escape it. I can't step out anymore until night, and no one bothers to come check on me except the maids and the guards.
Grabbing my pen to write in my diary as I've always done since I discovered the curse, suddenly someone burst into my room, and maybe it's the exact person I'm expecting.
"What the fuck did you do last night?" His hard gaze meets mine as he breathes in fury. I act as though he is not in the room, proceeding with my diary.
"What do you mean, King Klaus?" I say, not bothering to stare at him, but I can feel his angry gaze burning into my skin.
"What did you do with the soldiers? Where the heck are they?" He yells, almost on the verge of using his claws on me.
"Exactly where they should be. Was that the reason you formed an alliance with King Ganesh and got me married to the princess? Because of your bloody selfish plan?" I drop the pen, standing on my feet with anger fuming in my eyes.
His eyes grow more hateful toward me, and I'm no longer bothered about the way my father now looks at me.
"How dare you speak to your king in that tone?" His face hardens, and he comes closer.
I smile fiercely because his mindset disgusts me. "Because of your selfless greed, you pulled an innocent girl into your plan?" The part where he got me forcefully married to Halsey disgusted me the most.
"This is your last warning, Lalchan," Klaus growls, his voice low and filled with venom. "You think you can stop me? You'll regret it. You'd beg for the cage if you knew the hell I could put you through. The sun isn't the worst thing that can happen to you, boy." He threatens, stepping closer, as hate swirls in his eyes.
"Just the way I can make you suffer right now!" He reaches out to the grommet curtain and immediately pulls them all down. The sunlight, bursting into the room, like acid.
The heat hits me like a slap in the face. The sunlight isn't just a burn; it feels like it's trying to tear me apart from the inside out. My skin sizzles, peeling off in chunks, and the stench of burnt flesh fills my nostrils.
The pain rips through me like a thousand needles, each one digging deeper, and my breath comes in ragged gasps. I try to shield myself, but it's no use. Every second feels like an eternity.
"Stop! Arghhhhhhhh!" My muscles scream. I grit my teeth, trying to push myself up, but my legs are giving out. I reach for the curtain, but my hands won't obey. Every movement is agony. My strength is slipping away, and all I can do is watch the light consume me.
In my misery, I watch as he stares at me with pleasure; he loves seeing me suffer. He let me burn until my skin was completely dark and sore.
And right now, I look like the exact monster he's described me as. He walks across me, pulling the curtain closed.
Klaus's smirk deepens, his eyes cold and unblinking as he leans in.
"Now, imagine how it feels to burn, trapped under the unforgiving sun, your skin searing away to nothing. You won't get a chance to stop it this time. Don't even think about trying to ruin my plan again. I won't hesitate. I'll end you before you know it."
His words hang in the air, tightening with each breath I take. The threat feels different this time—he's not just toying with me, but there is more to his agenda.