Stolen by the Beastly Lycan King-Chapter 127: Which Lorelai Do You Want To Be?

Lorelai had a very strange dream. A powerful sense of déjà vu gripped her heart, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had experienced this dream before.

Sadness, misery, nostalgia—and above all, the agonizing sensation of losing something more precious than life itself. She wondered if that was the kind of feeling she would have if her body were burning in hellfire.

If there had been a knife within reach, she would have driven it straight into her heart. The emotional pain was so unbearable that all she could do was cry and beg for death. She couldn’t stand it any longer.

Someone held her close, their voice constantly whispering her name in the sweetest, most soothing tone. That familiar male voice echoed in her mind, repeating kind words, trying to offer her comfort. Though she could not fully understand the language it spoke, the sound alone made her feel better, as though the very act of listening to it was healing her.

She clung to those words through the endless pain, and when the torment finally subsided, she drifted back into the darkness.

Time seemed to stretch on, though she couldn’t say for how long. She wandered through the darkness, lost for what felt like days, before finally regaining her senses. Lorelai woke with a slight headache, frowning as her blurry vision slowly cleared.

Dazed, she looked around, her surroundings unfamiliar. This was not the royal palace.

It seemed that she was underground, or perhaps inside a cave. The floor was covered with dark, patterned rugs, and the bed she was lying on was draped in a beautifully intricate cloth that reminded her of Rhaegar’s robes. She pushed aside the fabric used as a blanket and attempted to sit up.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the best decision.

"Ugh!" Lorelai groaned, wrapping her arms around her head. Pain surged through every part of her body, but it was her head that ached the most.

She managed to sit up in bed and glanced around once more. Still disoriented and unfocused, no matter how hard she tried to sharpen her vision, all she could make out were the dim light of a torch fixed to a stone wall and the distant, ominous howl of the wind.

A shiver ran through her body in an instant. Memories came crashing in, fragmented and disordered as if someone had torn them into pieces. Another sharp wave of pain throbbed through her head, and Lorelai clutched her skull with both hands, feeling as if her very bones might crack under the pressure.

’God...’

"Lorelai?"

A sudden warmth enveloped her like a protective shield. Lorelai clung to it, her breath coming in shallow gasps until the pain began to subside. After a long while, she turned her head, and before her eyes was the man she had always longed to see, even in her dreams. Her lips parted slightly, and her voice came out quiet and trembling.

"Rhaegar..?"

Startled by the sound of her own voice, Lorelai quickly shut her mouth. Rhaegar poured water from a pitcher next to them into a glass and brought it to her lips. She drank eagerly, emptying the glass in a few swallows. The refreshing sensation spread through her, and even the slight, lingering headache was now completely gone.

It was only then that she realized she was sitting between Rhaegar’s legs, her back pressed against his bare chest.

"My body is always hot," he explained, as if reading her thoughts. "You would have frozen to death otherwise."

Lorelai, still flustered, dismissed his explanation, her cheeks flushing deeply. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days."

Only two days? Somehow, that didn’t seem possible. The heaviness of her body and the overall lethargy made her feel as though she had been unconscious for at least a week.

Then, a wave of realization hit her, and the princess quickly turned her head. "Where are we?!"

Rhaegar’s voice was calm and steady as he replied, "We’re in the buffer zone between the borders of Erelith and the Beast Kingdom. We’re on our way home, princess. This cave is a secret passage known only to me and my most trusted warriors. Thanks to this, and several other precautions, we’ll get there much faster."

Lorelai stared at the king in shock, her mind racing, but she said nothing. She desperately wanted to know what kind of "manipulations" he was referring to, but in the end, she chose to let the question slip away.

With great effort, she turned her entire body around and placed both hands on Rhaegar’s chest, only to be startled once again. Her right hand was tied to his with a wide silk rope.

"...What is this?"

She was so bewildered by the sight of herself tied to him that she could barely find her voice.

"It’s for your own safety," Rhaegar explained, his expression darkening as he spoke. "My blood is working on you for now, but there’s no telling whether we’ll be lucky enough for it to last."

"Long enough? Long enough for what?" Lorelai’s confusion deepened, and she couldn’t make sense of what he was trying to say.

The king let out a soft chuckle, though it held no warmth. "Long enough for you to become my wife, Lorelai."

"...What?" The princess’s wide green eyes rounded in disbelief, her heartbeat quickening as his words sank in. "How can I... become your wife? This is insane!"

Rhaegar’s brow furrowed, and his handsome features tightened with anger. "Why? Was it better to be that old pervert’s wife instead? Or maybe it would have been preferable to commit incest and marry your stepbrother?"

His cold words pierced her like a thousand needles. For reasons she couldn’t quite explain, Lorelai felt an overwhelming urge to scream at him, to pound her tiny fists against his chest, simply because it felt as though he didn’t understand her at all.

"You asked me yourself," the king murmured, leaning in closer, his bright amber eyes glowing like burning coals in the darkness. "You asked me to take you with me. That’s exactly what I’m doing, princess. I’m doing what you wanted me to do."

Lorelai couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Perhaps it was delirium from the lingering effects of Althea’s spells or the overwhelming weight of her own desperation, but it felt wrong. She shouldn’t have said that. She shouldn’t have begged him to save her.

She didn’t deserve it.

The princess covered her face with trembling hands, drawing in a shaky breath. Tears threatened to spill, and she felt a deep, aching sorrow in her chest. It was a relief that Rhaegar had listened to her plea and hadn’t left her behind when she asked to be taken away. But now, looking at the situation, she realized it had been a foolish mistake.

She was a fool, and now both of them were in danger because of her.

"Send me back..." Her whisper was barely audible in the stillness of the cave, a fragile plea that seemed to hang in the air, unspoken but desperate.

"Why do you want to go back?" Rhaegar’s voice, too, was uncharacteristically soft. Lorelai lowered her hands from her face, her shoulders trembling with suppressed emotion.

His eyes, however, were colder than ever, sharp with frustration, as he struggled to keep his anger in check.

"Tell me why you want to go back, Lorelai," he asked again, his tone now laced with impatience. His next words came out with an edge, a question she wasn’t sure how to answer. "Can’t you see the difference between what you truly desire and the desires the queen has planted in your mind?"

Lorelai stiffened, a wave of conflicting emotions rising inside her once more. For a moment, she almost forgot to breathe. At last, she managed to respond, her voice faint.

"I... I don’t know..."

"Really?" Rhaegar’s voice was sharper than she expected, and his eyes narrowed even further. "So, which Lorelai asked me to take her away then? The queen’s Lorelai, or the one sitting right next to me now?"

Slowly, he moved his face closer to hers, his breath warm against her skin. His voice dropped to a near-whisper, laced with warning. "Which Lorelai do you want to be, princess?"

"..."

Lorelai couldn’t bring herself to say anything. All the secrets she had desperately tried to hide were now laid bare before him, and his barely contained anger was a sharp reminder of that. She thought back to their conversation the night before in the palace. Even then, Rhaegar had seemed angry, and she realized, with a sinking heart, that she was the one who had caused it.

Emotion surged within her, overwhelming her senses before her mind could even make sense of it.

Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling over onto her cheeks. She let out a quiet sob, the salty wetness staining her pale skin.

"No, I’m not angry with you..." The king’s voice softened, but his words came out stiff, as though he, too, was struggling with something he couldn’t quite express.

But despite his attempt to comfort her, the tears didn’t stop. Instead of speaking further, he simply held her carefully, as if unsure of what to do. Lorelai, unable to hold back any longer, let the tears fall freely.

She sobbed loudly, her body trembling with the weight of her despair. What had she ever done to deserve all of this? She had been quiet and obedient, just as the queen had wanted her to be. So why? Why did she have to meet him and fall in love? For the first time since she had learned the truth, a painful longing rose within her, and she actually wished—no, prayed—that Althea could erase everything, wipe her memories clean.

"The queen..." Her lips moved involuntarily, the words slipping out before she could stop them.

No, she didn’t want that. But it was already happening.