Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 305: The beast goddess

On the other hand, Luciana was startled by Leo’s sudden movement. She instinctively hugged the Cardan from behind.

Cardan felt like he could die right there. He looked at Leo with loving eyes. Such a nice beast. His brother certainly had good taste.

As Cardan supported Duke Maverick by clutching his shoulder, Luciana regained her composure and released her grip on him, gradually getting accustomed to Leo’s pace. She cleared her throat, ’’Tell me more about Leo’s past,’’ she said after giving it a thought.

Although she knew the matters on the surface, she understood that there was more to it. Rather than panicking about Esme’s impending wedding, Luciana found it easier to know more about Leo to keep herself distracted.

If they did not make it before Esme got married...

Luciana’s eyes darkened slightly as she could already imagine Esme’s and Aleister’s fierce gaze in her mind.

If they did not make it in time... She could pin the blame on Cardan for talking too much and delaying their journey.

As she thought about it, Luciana could not help but feel a little guilty toward Cardan. She stroked his hair twice before putting her hand down.

Naturally, Cardan had no idea about her little ill intentions. He felt like he was favored by the goddess of joy who could not stop showering prosperity on him. Good luck and bliss came too suddenly.

His Lucy hugged him and now, she even stroked his hair. Life was too good for him.

Now that she wanted to know more about Leo, he felt prouder. All these years, he had not been idle in heaven. Even though his motives were not pure, he knew and understood most of the history of heaven like the back of his hand. Especially what transpired in Dark Castle.

And it just happened to be that the beast clan was involved with the Dark Castle. So was Leo’s past.

"One of my uncles wanted the beast god to be his mount so he invaded their residing place but he did not expect that the beast god was so powerful. My uncle was killed. My grandmother was heartbroken yet she did not make a move because the beast clan was still flourishing back then.

When they started declining over the years, my grandmother cast a spell on the beast god who did not realize that he was dying. He thought he was sick but he gradually started losing his powers and he became weaker over the months. The beast god was not a true god, he was not born from the powers of heaven and earth so he was stripped of his immortality by my grandmother’s spell.

After the beast god’s death, the beast goddess sought revenge on the witch clan but she was captured by my mother who tortured her in the dungeon of the dark castle to avenge her brother’s death. Later she wanted to kill the beast goddess, but she changed her mind. Since the beast goddess was powerful, mother wanted to keep her to be my mount but the beast goddess never relented,’’ His mother was powerful and she had her own forces in the night court but after she fell from grace and was imprisoned by his father, her loyal supporters came to Cardan’s side.

Cardan more or less knew about most of the events that had transpired in the Dark Castle over the years before he was born through them.

Luciana remained quiet, ’’Then... Leo...’’ The beast god was dead and the beast goddess was captured, ’’He..’’

’’Yes, the beast goddess was pregnant when she was captured. Since the beasts are different from us, mother never realized it...’’ Cardan sighed, ’’But someone else did.’’

Luciana glanced at him curiously.

Even Leo was listening to him as his wings fluttered like sabers, parting the clouds. There was rage simmering in the golden hues of his eyes yet he was calm as he listened to the old tale like it had nothing to do with him. He retained the old memories of his mother ever since he was young and he understood that his mother never wanted him to grow up with revenge or grudges in his heart so he had never failed to respect her wish. Her dying wish.

’’Adeline Daven. Aleister’s mother. After my father found that his beloved has reincarnated, he brought her to the Dark Castle and pampered her to no extent despite the protest of the night court..."

Even though she hated him for restraining her there, Atlas never lost his temper with her. Adeline was allowed to enter every forbidden ground in the Dark Castle.

One of those days, she ended up in the dungeon where she saw the beast goddess who was chained inside that shabby place. Adeline Daven was fond of animals and she was heartbroken by the sight of the beast goddess whose body was burned and tortured to the extent that her snow-white appearance had turned crimson. Adeline visited the treasury and got precious heavenly herbs to treat the external wounds on the beast goddess.

The guards knew that she was special to Atlas so they could not go against her orders when she asked them to open the dungeon and they could only go back to report to Marilyn. Adeline was intimidated by the beast goddess’ aura but she did not retreat when she saw the wounds on her. She was the kind of person who believed in her instincts. She could see the pain in the beast goddess’ eyes. The beast goddess, at that moment, was too vulnerable to hurt her.

While Adeline was treating the beast goddess’ wounds, she noticed her double pulse and realized that the beast goddess was pregnant. Due to the enormous size of the beast goddess, it was faintly noticeable but when Adeline grew suspicious, she noticed things she had not noticed the things that had gone unnoticed by her.

Adeline was new to the castle yet she had heard about the enmity between the witch clan and the beast clan. She understood that the witch clan was grieving the death of their son but the beast clan was innocent too.

The Dark Castle never meddled in such affairs so Atlas never paid attention to it.

Initially, when Adeline saw the beast goddess, she followed her heart and wanted to heal her but she had never intended to meddle in their affairs as well. She was not the lady of Dark Castle nor did she want to be entangled with anyone in the heaven.

But she was the Princess of Visteria. The future queen of Visteria. She had the kindness of a ruler ingrained in her bones. She was a stubborn person and she refused to go against her conscience.

When Marilyn reached the dungeon, Atlas also reached there at the same time.

Adeline calmly stated that she wanted the beast goddess to be exempted. Before Marilyn could protest, Atlas said that he could conquer the whole beast clan for her if she wanted.

Adeline mocked him that a man like him was only capable of conquering. While she was not fond of such forceful things. But she was grateful for his favor.

Before the beast goddess could be freed from the prison, she made a blood contract with Adeline, shocking everyone because the beast goddess was a proud being so for her to be contracted to a mortal, it was unacceptable for the court officials who had always opposed Adeline’s existence.

The reason the beast goddess made the contract was that beasts could not speak. When they were contracted, their masters would be able to understand their language. She said something to Adeline which made the woman break into tears in the dungeon.

Months later, the beast goddess passed away during childbirth. Even though her external wounds were healed by Adeline, the internal wounds inflicted on her were too severe to be treated. Her immortality had long been stripped when she was being tortured. The only reason she had been persistently breathing was probably because of the child in her womb.

It was believed that the beast goddess had imparted her memories to her child before her death.

Adeline, who was pregnant with Aleister at that time, took care of Leo with all her heart. And Leo was fond of her and her child since his birth.

As Luciana listened to it, she could not help but stroke Leo’s fur gently, feeling heartbroken. Did the beast clan deserve any of it? Wasn’t it the witch clan who wanted to have the beast god as his mount because of his greed but ended up causing his own downfall? Just how vicious was the witch clan to torment the beast clan to this extent?

While Luciana was thinking about the beast clan, Cardan was thinking about Aleister’s mother. Had she known that the day she released the beast goddess was the day she marked herself with eternal suffering, would she regret it? If she was given another chance, would she do it all over again?

His mother had always hated Adeline and she had killed Adeline in her previous life. But at that time, Adeline was living in the dark castle, close to Atlas so Marilyn did not attempt to harm Adeline greatly in fear that Atlas would discover something.

But the string of her patience snapped when Adeline released the beast goddess. To a prideful person like Marilyn, it was a slap on her face.

She approached Adeline to befriend her and gradually tortured Adeline. Just the way Esme felt like losing her sanity when she was in the Daven Castle, Adeline also started believing that she had lost her mind. She screamed, cried, and sobbed crazily every night when the nightmares haunted her. She started believing that she was no longer herself.

Atlas was distressed by her situation but there was nothing he could do because Marilyn retracted her spells whenever he was around. Adeline treated Marilyn as her new friend and Atlas had known Marilyn for so long that he inevitably trusted her.

But little did they know...

Cardan sighed.

Ever since he reached the age where he started understanding things, he saw his mother locked in a dungeon, looking miserable and pathetic whenever she talked about being robbed of the things that were hers. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

She was the wife of Atlas yet she was never treated like one. Cardan had always felt like his mother was wronged.

But now... he could not help but think... didn’t she wrong others as well? The people who treated her with sincerity... didn’t she wrong them in the end?

His father never once expressed any affection for his mother. So, on what basis did she think that she would get his love if she killed his lover? Just how in the world did she claim that Adeline stole Atlas from her when Atlas never belonged to her in the first place?

’’What happened after that?" Luciana’s voice made Cardan snap out of his daze.