Stolen by the Beastly Lycan King-Chapter 19: I am Empty

Lorelai set her quill aside and let out a long sigh. At last, she was done with today's work and could get some much-needed rest.

The work she had to deal with as a royal princess was always exhausting.

Queen Althea had been ordering the House of Noble around ever since she arrived at the royal palace and had barely done any work herself over the years of her regency. She took it truly easy.

Right away, her strategy was simple––she wanted as many supporters as she could find and in order to do that, she threatened them with their own wrongdoings along with bribing them with a lot of money.

It was an unbreakable scheme.

While she had indeed succeeded in manipulating many nobles to do her work for her, there was still a large part of the crown's responsibilities which could only be overseen by the members of the royal family.

And Althea, strangely enough, did not care for that. And neither did her son, the Crown Prince.

That was why all the work had eventually fallen onto Lorelai's tender shoulders.

Unlike Kai, who was older than her, the princess had to study economy and politics in order to be able to work for the royal office as soon as possible, and once her father, King Yanis, fell ill, she had to assume her role at the age of fourteen, completely replacing the queen.

Lorelai could not remember taking a break ever since. Day after day, all she could see were piles of documents and the greedy and impatient faces of the noble officials.

Now, with her imminent marriage and departure to the North, the princess had to triple her work in order to finish everything she had planned to achieve before handing the matters to the prince's incapable hands.

'My head is spinning again...'

As soon as Lorelai rose from her chair, she struggled to stand, and she immediately felt lightheaded.

It was not surprising; she barely slept the previous night, had a lot of blood drained from her body first thing in the morning, and all she got to eat during the day was a small bowl of chopped vegetables and a cup of black tea.

Her body was in desperate need of substantial nourishment.

Lorelai moved her eyes to a clock on the opposite wall and let out a sigh. It was too late to join Althea and Kai for dinner.

"Marianna," she turned toward her aide and sighed again. "Could you please ask the kitchen maids to get me something for dinner? I will eat in my bedroom."

Marianna did not rush to comply.

She remained silent for quite a while, awkwardly shifting in her chair, but then finally sighed as well, offering the princess a somewhat guilty look.

"I apologize, Your Highness, but Her Majesty Queen Althea has forbidden every lady-in-waiting and maid to give you any food unless she personally approves it. She said that since you are about to be married, you need to watch your figure... "

Lorelai could not help but frown in distress. She could not tell why she was disappointed; she had expected it to be like this.

'Well, I heard the rumors that Duke Kalder likes petite and skinny girls who look like me... Or perhaps I was brought up to look like the girls he likes.'

Thinking about Duke Kalder touching her body with his fat, greasy hands made Lorelai shiver in disgust. 'There goes my appetite... I don't need to be on a diet, I just need to think about that awful man and my stomach will close up on its own.'

"I will just go and rest then," she finally answered Marianna. "You should go too. Good night."

As she stepped out of her study, the princess contemplated whether she really wanted to go back to her room or try and do something else instead.

'I haven't visited my father in a while... I wonder how he has been.'

An abrupt decision was made there and then. Turning on her heels, she strode toward the king's quarters, stepping lightly so as to not attract any unwanted attention to herself.

King Yanis had never been known as a man of fragile health. However, once he married Althea and brought her to the palace, just a few years later, he suddenly fell ill which made him bedridden and barely sound in mind. His condition had been deteriorating ever since. And no one seemed to know what had happened to him.

It almost looked like he was bewitched; hypnotized. Cursed.

The other nobles did not seem to pay too much attention to his illness; after all, people had been getting sick since the beginning of time, but Lorelai found it very suspicious.

No, she firmly believed that Althea had something to do with it.

Going inside her father's room had never been easy for her.

Just like the queen's chambers, it was cold and shrouded in darkness, and Lorelai thought of his room as his early tomb.

Just like always, the king was lying on his bed with half-transparent black curtains flowing menacingly around it. The princess could see the bony outline of his body along with the thin waterfall of his long gray hair scattered around his head.

Even in such a state, he was still wearing his crown.

Lorelai took a seat next to her father's bed and began. "Good evening, Father."

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She felt strange talking to someone who never responded, but she had been doing it for years now, and always felt a little better every time she had those little "talks" with the king.

Today, however, the princess did not seem to have the right words. She parted her lips and closed them many times, but every single word coming to her mind felt meaningless.

In the end, she said nothing.

With another heavy exhale leaving her body, Lorelai went back to the bedroom door, disappointed. As her thin fingers wrapped around the door handle, she suddenly turned around, fixed her bleak green eyes on the king's bed, and whispered.

"I am hungry... I am empty."