True Alpha's Chosen Mate-Chapter 308: A tradition

"Come on... you don’t have to feel so dejected over something that didn’t happen!"

I ignored Sven, who was walking beside me down this pavement. I was holding the chicken skewer in my hand, keeping silent as I dwelled on the thought of the innocent boys. Sven was right. My body and mind and my heart still thought I was being watched and my initial reaction was for those boys not to be targeted in case the duke had sent people to follow my shadow.

"I nearly struck him..." came out a lament under my breath. "... that poor boy simply wants to uplift my mood but..."

My lips quivered, utterly disappointed at myself. This was one of the many reasons I didn’t want to go out. The duke doesn’t terrify me, but I was never free from him. All this time, I kept looking over my shoulders, wondering if he was watching me or anything of the sort.

"Good gracious... bless her heart." Sven’s comments weren’t also helping.

"I want to go back."

"Home?"

"No, back." I raised my head and looked at him through the black veil. "I want to go back."

Sven pressed his lips into a thin line as we slowly came to a halt. He planted his hands on his hips, sighing heavily as we stood face to face on the side of this busy street.

"If you don’t want to, then you just go on your own. Have fun." I grumbled, realizing I didn’t really need his approval if I wanted to go back to the castle. However, just as I turned around, he hooked a finger behind the neckline of my dress, causing me to look back at him in dismay.

"Wait," he said. "Are you going back because you feel like going back or because you feel you will just do what you nearly did?"

I pressed my lips into a thin line as I looked away, ignoring the finger hook inside my dress and against my skin.

"Goodness... if that is the problem, I can just stop you. I mean, I can’t blame you if you feel like you’re being watched. But you see, I have better senses than vampires. I’d know if someone is following us the second we hopped over the castle wall." He flashed an almost innocent look, blinking. "Just take it like this. If I’m bluffing, your father will summon you to teach you a lesson, but at least you had fun! Even if you return now and he’s waiting right outside the entrance of the castle, you’ll still get punished and you also didn’t have fun."

"What made you think going out is fun? For me?"

"How would I know if we barely did anything?"

"..."

"..."

Sven and I stared at each other for a very long time, as if we were both trying to make sense of this conversation. A shallow breath slipped past my lips as I shook my head, laughing the more I thought about how I had lost my mind.

"Come on, girl." He tapped my shoulders lightly. "Don’t be such a... you know. Just relax. We went out to breathe just a little bit, and you agreed that you will accompany me!"

"And when did this agreement happen?"

"In your balcony!"

"I didn’t agree, I said, I will —"

"Oh, look! There’s someone singing!" I rolled my eyes at how he changed the subject, following his figure with my gaze as he rushed to where the crowd was flocking at.

Another shallow breath slipped past my lips as I dragged my feet to follow him to the small plaza of this town. I didn’t know what the festival was about. I looked up and noticed some colorful banners, looking around and trod carefully. I could still see children around, and although the town was clearly not well supported by the person in charge, everyone seemed happy.

"Faster." I looked ahead only to see Sven motioning his hand for me to hurry. Obviously, I didn’t hasten and took my time before reaching him, who was standing behind the crowd. The second I came closer, I heard a person’s faint yet melodious voice from the front, but I wasn’t as unbelievably tall as Sven to see what was going on.

"They say it’s that time of the year where they celebrate something that I forgot," said Sven and shot me a side-eye. "You probably hadn’t heard of it because they said it was an old tradition even before this land is conquered by vampires." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Is that so?" my voice was low and uninterested, but my mind rummaged through my brain on what he could possibly say.

It was true that this place used to be reigned by humans before the Le Blac Clan called it their own. If the history was written with nothing but the truth, it was said this place — the entire country — had been plagued by vampires in the past too. However, for some reason, the humans "managed" to come out victorious.

The main reason the previous Le Blac clan leader chose this land after their dispute with the La Crox Clan from another kingdom. But well, since this country was now sheltering vampires, I guessed there was some exaggeration in the history. Still, I didn’t know some people still held onto their tradition, even though it had been centuries since this place was renamed.

"If I remember correctly, this tradition dates back to when this country is still called..." I glanced at Sven, seeing him rub his chin as he tried so hard to remember the previous name of the country before it was called the kingdom of Southcross.

I sighed, listening to the melodious voice coming from the front of the crowd. "Althea," I said, saving him the trouble of thinking so hard.

"Yes! That name!"

"It’s called Althea, in the past. It’s almost taboo to mention that word in this country. I wonder what gave these people the courage to celebrate something that is older than the new policies and traditions they must follow."

"Eeh..." Sven elbowed me lightly, grinning from ear to ear. "But that made it amazing, right? Tonight, we’re on Althea and not on Sonya."

"Southcross," I corrected, and he laughed.

"Doesn’t matter what it’s called." He shrugged, raising his brows before tipping his head to the crowd. "Want to see what I see from here? Or should I carry you on my back?"

"No, thanks." I raised a hand, and before he could say anything, I squeezed myself through the crowd. "I’m not a cripple."

With that being said, I squeezed through the crowd for the first time in my life just to see why everyone was surrounding this place. Little did I know, Sven remained on his spot and was just staring at me.

"Man... she’s so cute." He crossed his arms. "But well... she looks a little better now. I guess it’s worth it..."