The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas-Chapter 226: The throne will be mine

Selena watched silently from the corner, and it was only then that she realized who he was...the second prince, the illegitimate son of the king, born from an omega she-wolf many years ago.

the child the queen hated and ignored at every chance, and even though his crying looked dramatic and desperate, Selena could clearly see the sly glimmer hiding behind his teary eyes, like he was performing for an audience.

Vaelen crossed his arms and looked down at him with the same disgust his mother had, his voice tight with irritation as he muttered under his breath about "timing" and "fake tears," and Selena could tell neither of them believed a single sound leaving the second prince’s mouth.

But the young man stayed kneeling beside the king, his shoulders shaking as he continued to cry louder and louder, and even though his expression was twisted in grief.

Selena could not ignore how carefully he kept glancing around the room, observing everyone through his lowered lashes like he was measuring reactions and storing them for later.

The queen’s lip curled even further as the second prince kept trembling pitifully on the floor, and she stepped closer, her heels tapping sharply against the marble as if each step was meant to crush his dignity even more.

"Look at you," she said with a cold laugh that held no humor, "wailing and clinging to the sheets like a dog begging for scraps. Do you think this performance will make anyone pity you? You disgrace even the word ’prince.’"

The young man’s shoulders jerked as though her words pierced his heart, and he sniffed loudly, wiping his tears with the back of his hand like a desperate child.

But when he lowered his gaze for a moment, Selena caught a flicker...one brief, icy flash in his eyes that didn’t belong to a pitiful son at all, but to a man imagining blood.

He swallowed, forced a broken sob, and whispered shakily, "Y-your Majesty... I am only worried for my father... Is that such a sin...? Even if you hate me... even if you think I don’t belong here... he is still my father... I cannot just stand by and watch..."

The queen scoffed as if he were the dirt under her shoes. "Your father?" she repeated mockingly, tilting her head. "Don’t make me laugh. The king may have given you blood, but don’t pretend you have any right to call yourself his son. You are nothing but the stain of his past mistake."

For a heartbeat, the second prince’s face twisted...just a twitch, so small that anyone not paying close attention might have missed it.

But Selena saw it. A cold, simmering hatred. A murderous one. The kind that could wait years if it had to... the kind that burned quietly behind a fragile mask.

Then the mask slipped back into place, and he clung to the sheets dramatically, letting out another pitiful cry. "Why... why do you always speak to me like this...?" he whimpered loudly enough for the guards to hear, though his voice cracked in a way that felt too perfect, too intentional.

"I never wanted to replace Vaelen... or trouble you... I only wanted to see my father..."

"You dare compare yourself to Vaelen?" The queen snapped immediately, her eyes flaring with disgust. "You? A bastard omega-born accident? Don’t insult my son by speaking his name with your dirty mouth!"

The second prince stiffened again, but this time he kept his head low, hiding the way his jaw clenched so tightly a vein popped at his temple.

Selena could almost feel the suffocating pressure of his fury, like a man choking on his own pride because he lacked the power to strike back. Not yet.

Vaelen finally stepped forward, his expression dark with impatience, and he pointed sharply to the door. "Enough," he said coldly, "cry somewhere else. We don’t need your useless noise here."

The second prince looked up slowly at his older brother by only a single year, Selena now realized, though Vaelen’s hard, honed features made him appear far more dominant.

The younger prince’s tear-stained face softened with hurt, but beneath it... there was something else. A quiet whisper in his gaze that said only one year... only one step... And soon, I’ll take everything you think is yours.

But he sniffed and played the fragile prince once more. "B-big brother... I only..."

"You are not my brother," Vaelen cut in immediately, his voice like a blade dipped in frost. "Stop pretending we share anything. We do not."

Selena could see it even clearer now, the way the younger prince’s fingers dug into the sheets until his knuckles turned white, the way the hatred trembled beneath his skin like a trapped animal trying to claw out. If he had claws sharp enough, she thought in a sudden chilling realization, he would have torn them both apart already.

But he swallowed that fury again and forced out another sob so theatrical that even the guards shifted awkwardly, unsure whether to feel pity or irritation.

The queen leaned down slightly, lowering her voice so only those closest could hear, but dripping it with venom. "When the king dies," she whispered, "you will be thrown out of this palace so quickly that the dogs at the gate won’t even recognize you."

That did it.

For a second...his crying stopped completely.

He lifted his head, and for the first time, Selena saw his true eyes... sharp, cold, and glinting with a hatred so deep it could drown kingdoms.

The look was gone in a blink, replaced immediately by trembling lips and wet lashes...but it had been real. A glimpse of the vengeful creature beneath the pathetic mask.

The queen didn’t notice. Vaelen didn’t notice.

But Selena did.

As he turned back to the king’s unmoving body, his expression shifted again...not with grief, but with quiet expectation, almost hunger. Soon, his eyes whispered silently, the throne will be empty... and I will take what is rightfully mine.

He covered his mouth and let out another sob, but there was no sorrow in it.

Only anticipation. He was waiting for the king to die; then no one could stop him from crowning himself, and then he would make sure this mother and son would never see the daylight.