An A-Ranked Adventurer's 'Slow-living' - Chapter 68: A Creeping Shadow

*Who would have thought a precious legitimate princess was forced to secretly marry a predator in the middle of the night when the silver moon shone bright in the middle of the starry sky?__“Your wench mother seduced my father and made you!”Consumed by rage after her half-sister insulted her mother, Reneira Dorient unleashed her secret power. Magic was taboo in the seven kingdoms, and those born with it must be burned. But she was a precious princess to the Kingdom.The royal family kept this secret with them and locked away her power, however, the King had a far darker plan: he forced her into a marriage with the evil prince of Thegara, a ruthless barbarian who had bathed in the blood of countless victims, as rumors said. Their union was the King’s strategy, she was a tool to win yet another war.The night the prince arrived to claim her, Reneira braced herself for the inevitable circumstances. However, nothing could have prepared her for the truth that this wasn’t just a marriage.Her new husband was a sweet torment, an immortal, god-like bully disguised in an impossibly beautiful human form with no rival. His every gaze felt like a punishment, and his sinful aura tempted her in ways she never expected. This god of lust refused to touch her or accept her as his true wife.Believing that her dignity was lost forever, she resigned herself to her fate, hoping to make a home in the hell she’d been thrown into. But fate, as it often did play, had other plans. She came to encounter a gorgeous yet wicked ex-mistress who didn't want her as his wife too and constantly attempted to push her out of the way...__“Don’t even think about seducing me by licking your lips like that, doe-eyes!” He breathed in her ear as he joined her in bed, shirtless, his muscular abdomen rippling with each movement.“I… I’m not doing it on purpose!” she stammered, her breath catching in her chest when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body against him.His mouth hovered near her ear. “I’m going to make you forget what happened today. My body is yours as compensation.”Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Rolling her eyes away, she tried not to meet his dangerously alluring gaze. “You said we’re not a real couple, and I’m not your true mate. What’s changed your mind?”He grinned widely, grabbing her chin and leaning in so close that she could feel his warm breath against her skin. He used his tempting aura to compel her to meet his gaze. Her treacherous heart didn’t defy him again, he could hear it racing.“That term of the treaty no longer applies. From now on, you’re truly my wife, Doe-eyes. Only mine.” He paused, studying her body’s response.“Shall I stop here?” he whispered, his breath sending a shiver down her spine.Once again, she surprised him. The answer was the opposite of what the arousal scent of her body suggested.“Yes. You should stop.”“So you’re going to play a naughty game, wife?”...

The person who was locked away inside the thorn-covered tower was not a princess, but a witch who employed the powers of darkness.

A brave young hero came searching for the tower in order to kill the witch.

– Light would force the darkness to recede, and grant it eternal rest

The witch wished.

That things would end with, ‘and the hero lived happily ever after killing the witch,’ like in the fairy tales.

And so, she had devised everything to happen in accordance to her wishes.

But the boy, who had grown up in but no time at all, would make the unfamiliar face of man’s from time to time.

“You want me to kill you? ……Do you really think I’ll let you go?”

Reality was very different from the fairy tales.

“The people don’t know of the precious treasure locked away in the tower.

I won’t let anyone else have this god given treasure, this crown of god surrounded by thorns that no one else could recognize.”

The hero gave the witch a slow and deep kiss.

“I am the true victor, and no one else.”

“You hate me,” Lily mouthed through trembling lips.Zayn leaned closer, his voice low and bitter. “No. Hate is too cheap. I want you to feel what I did. Every scream. Every loss.”She didn’t flinch. She was tired of pleading. She just looked at him with eyes full of quiet pain.So why did it feel like his heart was shattering?Lily Brightpaw was born the daughter of an Alpha, but she never lived like one. Mute from childhood and unable to shift, she was treated as a curse by her family. Blamed for her mother’s death and beaten into silence, Lily grew up unloved and unwanted. She believed the Moon Goddess would send her a mate who would rescue her but she was wrong.The night her pack fell, Lily was dragged from a shack and thrown at the feet of her new Alpha, Zayn Knightmoon. He was the man her family enslaved. Now he is the alpha who rules over her and he wants revenge.Zayn lost everything. His father. His mate. His pack. All at the hands of Lily’s family. When he realized Lily is his second chance mate, he rejected her without hesitation and swore to make her suffer. But the more he punished her, the more he saw the truth: Lily was nothing like the monsters who raised her. She’s a victim too and broken… like him.Zayn found himself torn between vengeance and a bond he never asked for. Will Lily’s suffering be enough to quiet the ghosts of his past or will revenge destroy them both?