(From Blue''s Perspective)


    The feast was grand. Everyone was talking and smiling as they were enjoying the feast. Evelyn exined the names of the items to me and I noticed that they were different from what I used to call them in my world. It was going to be even harder for me to tell them what I wanted to eat.


    I had mashed potatoes and French onion soup along with French bread. They called it something else here which was much harder to keep in mind.


    "Wine?" Demetrius asked.


    "No. I don''t drink," I said, smiling. Precisely saying, I had never drunk before. We were not wealthy enough to afford wine and besides, even if we went somewhere, Draven would not let me eat anything good, so wine was out of the list.


    "Don''t think about those times. Remember it''s a new life and you will not remember anything of the time with those people," he said.


    I nodded, feeling too grateful to say anything. If it was his true self, then I was not going to have any regrets marrying him, no matter if he was a stranger.


    He could read my mind and told me that only I knew about it. I wondered if it was true. Even his mother and sister did not know about it?


    "No, they don''t know about it," he said, reading my mind.


    "Why didn''t you tell them?"


    "I just don''t like to tell my secrets to everyone."


    "Yet you told me," I mumbled.


    "You''re not everyone. You''re my bride and will be my wife tomorrow. You''re the one I''m going to spend the rest of my life with. If you don''t know about my secrets, then who will?"


    He was trusting me a lot. No one had ever been like this to me. I could not help but feel a bit emotional at this. But did he not fear at all that I might betray him?


    "I know you won''t," he said. "I know you, my bride. I know you will never betray me. You will be the best queen there ever was and the best wife. And you will always stay by my side."


    "I''m not the Queen type of person," I said.


    "Why do you say that?"


    "A queen needs to maintain a lot of formalities- sit still, look pretty and perfect, talk with courtesy, show respect and sit idly..."


    "A queen has other responsibilities too," he said. "She is the king''s other half. A kingdom can''t be fulfilled without her."


    "But most kings marry so they can have heirs," I said calmly. "The kings just use them for reproduction and then they ignore them, go with their mistresses."


    "Do you think I will do that?"


    "No, I mean..."


    "Blue, I don''t like anyone suspecting me," he said calmly, but the dangerous tone made me shiver. "You''re new here and you''re my bride, that''s why I''m trying to make you understand that I won''t hurt you. But you have to trust me fully. I''m a man of my words. Do you get it?"


    "Y-Yes," I mumbled, my heart filled with fear.


    "You''re not sure," he said.


    "Sorry, I just..."


    "Don''t worry. You will trust me fully soon."


    I gulped and ate the rest of my food. Demetrius was talking to his mother and Evelyn was talking to her husband with a smile on her face that did not leave at all. I saw Ava, sitting beside her father. She smiled and waved at me and I waved back.


    A man came from behind Ava and kissed her hair, but he was_ looking directly at me. It was the same man who was sitting beside Demetrius''s aunt. I always felt uneasy at the way he would look at me. I averted my gaze from them and looked beside, only to find Demetrius looking at me.


    "He is my cousin, the one I told you about," he said. "And you don''t like him."


    "I don''t mean any..."


    "I don''t like him either," he said and I could not help butugh.


    "Sorry, it''s not even funny...," I mumbled, trying to control myughter. It would be a horrible thing if I startedughing hard in front of everyone.


    "Justugh if you want to. You look even more beautiful when youugh."


    I blushed at his words. He was so free with me... How could someone say that he was cruel and cold?


    "And the thing you told me about being a queen... You can be any kind of queen that you want to."


    "But people won''t like me if I behave as I want to."


    "If you can be the real you, everyone will admire you. We live in a world where we don''t just care for love. Admiration and respect is the main thing here. You might not be loved, but you will be admired as a powerful queen- It''s not a bad thing. Do you think people like me? Do they love me?


    Most of them don''t, truly saying, almost none of them don''t. But they respect me, fear me, and admire me and it''s enough to make me one of the most powerful kings. Just like that, you can be yourself too and let the world see what you can do just by being you, but not the person others want you to be. And I''ll be with you on the way," he said.


    I did not say anything. His words echoed in my head. He was right. I should be myself and let the world see what I truly was. I should not care if they loved me or not. No one can please everyone at the same time.


    "And you don''t have to be the all-perfect queen," he said and brought his lips close to my ear. "You can be my warrior queen."


    I was not even sure if I could be that, but something about the ''warrior queen'' sounded perfect, just right. I thought if I truly could be that type of queen. It surely was going to be difficult, but I needed to work hard to make a ce in this world. I was weak in their eyes as I was the only human here where they were all werewolves.


    But I needed to let them know that I could be more than a human as well.


    "You can do that," he said from beside, reading every single word of my thought.


    I was not used to it and it felt kind of weird as well. What if I had some kind of embarrassing thoughts? Oh no...


    "Don''t worry. As long as the thoughts are about me, I don''t mind," he said.


    It was getting too much. But there was nothing I could do. I wondered if he could read everyone''s mind.


    "I can," he replied quickly. "Just think about what you have to ask. We must not talk about this here."


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    "I could do this for as long as I can remember, but I never told this to anyone."


    "Why not?" I asked.


    "Someone told me not to."


    "Who?"


    "That''s something for you to know another day," he said. "Anyway, there is going to be a drinking session now."


    "You mean, everyone will drink as much as they want?"


    "Yes."


    "I thought werewolves can''t get drunk."


    "That''s nonsense. We all can get drunk."


    "So you''re going to drink now?"


    "No. I have promised someone else something that I will do tonight."


    I wondered what he had promised to another person that he would not even drink. It kind of made me sad for some reason. But I tried not to think about it. He could read minds after all. It would be very embarrassing if he knew that I was sad just for this.


    I looked beside me and found him smiling at me. His smile was not wide or warm, but just enough to melt my heart. The way he looked at me and smiled at me always gave me a sense of protection and care.


    But why was he smiling at me? Did I make a fool of myself by thinking about something weird? The worst thing was- I could not even remember what I was thinking about.


    "Don''t overthink everything, my bride."


    "Why do you call me my bride all the time?" I asked, mustering all my courage. No matter what he said, talking to him always gave me chills.


    "Don''t you like it?" he asked.


    "No. I just... It''s too intimate."


    "I have all the rights to be intimate with you," he said, smirking. "And now, I need to leave to fulfill my promise."


    "Ok," I mumbled, half-heartedly.


    "It seems like you''ve forgotten."


    "What?"


    "I promised you that I will take you to the roof tonight."