Mated to A Rival Alpha-Chapter 368: The Cruel Moments of Truth

[CEZAEVI]

"Of course, you’d praise her," Luna Park said and Jihoon shook his head as he looked at his mother.

What Yanna had said was nothing but the truth.

The hostility and the cruelty were triggered because of what they had collectively done to the woman. It was the result of a sister who was fighting back, a sister who was tired of staying on the sidelines while her dear sister was being forced to a fate so cruel.

It was the result of a heartbroken Dalrae, the result of what happened when someone dared to hurt someone that Dalrae loved the most, and in this case, Kim Rania had been that every person.

"Dalrae led the attack, not Rania, mother. She stood up because we broke her sister. She did something that we all have done before. She defended her family. While we are here suffering a fate worse than death, let’s not pretend to be saints when we wronged her.

"That woman who happens to be the first Lycan female, is the result of all our sins. If we hadn’t hurt her, if we hadn’t indirectly and directly contributed to her pain, then maybe, just maybe, her sister wouldn’t have come to Calindra and wiped an entire pack.

"She wouldn’t have gone to the palace and burnt it down. She wouldn’t have had to choose between saving a best friend that had betrayed her, and defending a very innocent Moonbin.

"If all she wanted was destruction, then Rani could have dragged the Lycan prince’s mate with hell to us. But she is different. Call it what you may, but we were the very makers of her.

"And we can either back down and accept our defeat, or keep on fighting a battle that we will never win. Think of why Daehyun isn’t here. It’s not because Rania is some animal that wants blood.

"She knows for a fact that Lee Daehyun was innocent in all this. Otherwise, she would have dealt with him mercilessly. Instead, she left him behind, in the dungeons, where he was safest. She saved him from us.

"Perhaps because she figured that someone had to be there to explain to Children and Obren what had happened. If she was that cruel, she wouldn’t have given us a chance," Jihoon said and Yanna just nodded in silence.

She knew what they had done was pure evil and they could sit there pretending that they hadn’t been the reasons for all this.

If Rania had a heart even at her worst state, then she was way better than them all. She was courageous and that was something they couldn’t think of. They couldn’t come together and act like it was all sunshine and rainbows when their lives had taken a turn for the worse.

"So, what if we made her into whatever the fuck she is right now? She didn’t have to kill entire battalions sent to her," Luna Park argued and Jungwoo let out a sad laugh.

He knew the truth and if this was going to be their chance at redemption, much less salvation, then they had to all come clean. This wasn’t group therapy, but they had to admit that nothing they did would ever be the same anymore.

They couldn’t win the war regardless.

"Father was so offended by the girl who had bested him. She went to Drarun and brought me back without even spilling blood, despite being known as the psycho, you all keep forgetting that," Jungwoo said as he looked accusingly at his father.

He had been so obsessed with power, so obsessed with having the final word on everything that he had lost the meaning of what they had been fighting for. He had turned to fight the very woman who had done nothing other than be protective of Incayon.

Kim Rania had never had a battle with the king, until he came to strike first.

He was mad at her first and right now, perhaps he would admit his wrong, but would that change anything or was this just them giving each other closure before the ice outside found its way through their door and they had to give it all up?

"She let Paloma and the rogues torture her because she was defending me. She let herself get beaten and even when Paloma told her to come clean and be safe, she hid the fact that we were mates, because she didn’t want me having second thoughts about her.

"She preferred to be hated than to be the one everyone smiled at. We were all so obsessed with her being the psycho, even though she saved me thrice on the deadly mission, and she gave up everything to make sure the mission was complete.

"She was the one who got the hits from the warriors of Drarun, she knew we weren’t worth it, but she still did it anyway. She was there when we all needed her and she prevented wars that we never even saw coming.

"If I were to choose a king, I would choose Kim Rania over the lot of you," Jihoon said calmly and casually, like he didn’t just call the leaders of Obren and Drain unfit for power, But wasn’t that the truth? 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Wasn’t that who they had become when they should have been making their homes better? They had been so fucked up that they forgot to be leaders and instead went to battle with a little girl.

"She could she killed me in the battle with her pack. The first time she made everyone believe she had killed me, she could have truly done it. She had every right to, especially since I stole her mate with magic.

"But instead, she took me to Han Seong who broke the magic between me and Jihoon. She nursed me to life, making sure to feed me even though I was the one who wronged her. If I were her, I would have killed me. And yet she let me live.

"She gave me my life back. She took me to the place closest to Drarun, because she somehow knew that was my home. She didn’t look me up. She didn’t threaten me again. Hell, she didn’t do anything that would harm me.

"Instead, she protected me, her worst enemy. She made sure that I was okay, and frankly, that was the first time I truthfully cared for her. She had the ability to kill me, and yet she brought time back to life like I was just some stray she had asked for.

"She showed me kindness even when I stabbed her in the back countless times. Someone like that is hard to come by. Someone like that makes you question what you’re fighting for. Someone like that makes you wonder if all the hatred against her was worth it.

"Rania let me go, and didn’t block my way back home. And yet even then, she agreed to a lunar trial, the worst of the trials by the moon goddess. She let herself get the highest form of punishment, instead of saying me and proving her innocence.

"She knew so well what could have been done to me for the crimes I committed. She knew that my life would have had no meaning. She knew I would have been an outcast, that Obren would have hated me.

"Kim Rania knew that the realm would have truly cast me aside this time. And yet even with that power, she let me be. She protected me, who had hurt her the most. She saved me, despite all the cruel things I had done to her.

"When she came to Calindra for the battle, I knew she would kill me, and yet somehow she let me go, in the pretense of Kaia sending me away. That was never Kaia. That was all Rania.

"So yeah, while we hate her for being whatever we choose to see, I hope you all remember that my fear of her wasn’t because she was the cruelest person last week, fighting and saving her people from us, no.

"I feared her, I still fear her because she has a good heart, one that is too good even for people like us. She is what anyone would want in a mate and maybe I am being insensitive for saying this.

"But she deserves someone who would protect her from everything, someone who would always show up for her, and Kaia really is that person. He would kill before he let anyone harm her. He would protect her from herself.

"He is the best choice for her, the girl betrayed by everyone" Yanna said, her words instantly shutting up this bunch of prisoners.

Yanna knew they had been expecting a horror story about how the Incayon psycho-alpha had tortured her. But if unconditional love was the torture then the unconditional love Rania had sown her despise all the things they had done to her, was the greatest torture.

"Oh dear. That girl is the most misunderstood person in the world it seems," the werewolf queen said and Yanna looked at her with soft eyes. She knew something and since they were trapped in their prison, she could as well come clean to the queen again, right?

"You all have been thinking that the prince’s twin died. She didn’t die, and the king didn’t give her away like you all were thinking. Junghwa is alive, and she has always been so close to you, always. You have all met her when interacting with Rania.

"Though I doubt Rania even knows that the person she would protect with her life without even thinking twice, is the twin of the prince, or even the daughter of the very people who hurt her the most," Yanna said and they all looked at each other.

"No way."

"Lim Dalrae is Jeon Junghwa."