He Married Her, I Wed the Alpha King

Chapter 2

'He seriously expects me to restore our mate bond? My son can already call me Mom.'

Before I could answer, Soren continued.

"But you disappeared for 5 years. I'm not going to forgive you that easily. Start by serving Ella. Cook for her, do her laundry, and take care of whatever she needs. If you do a good job and prove you genuinely regret what you did, then I'll restore our mate bond. Consider it your punishment."

He spoke as if the arrangement were perfectly natural.

I felt sick.

'We have been apart for 5 years, and he still believes I couldn't live without him?'

I was too angry to speak, and he mistook my silence for hesitation.

He sneered. "You're still unbelievably petty. It was such a small thing, yet you threw a fit and disappeared for 5 years."

He called that a small thing?

He replaced me with another bride in the middle of our wedding and left me to endure everyone's ridicule and humiliation.

To him, that was a small thing?

As for his claim that I had disappeared out of spite, I would almost have forgotten Soren existed if I hadn't run into him tonight.

At this point, I had no interest in arguing over who had been right or wrong 5 years ago.

I walked around him and headed toward the auction seating.

Soren blinked, then called after me, "You're giving up that fast? If you miss this chance, don't expect me to forgive you so easily next time."

I ignored him.

I had just taken my place in the Crown Princess's reserved seat when Ella hurried over.

"Violet, that's the Crown Princess's seat. How dare you sit there?"

One of Soren's friends sneered. "Trying to get Soren's attention isn't worth getting yourself killed."

Soren's expression darkened too.

He grabbed my wrist and tried to drag me out of the chair.

"Do you really need to go this far just to make me angry? If you offend the Crown Prince, you won't be able to handle the consequences."

I met his eyes with a cold smile.

"This is my seat. Why shouldn't I sit here?"

Ella looked as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Your seat? Violet, are you trying to tell us you're the Crown Princess?"

"Of course I am," I replied. "Does Leo have a second mate I don't know about?"

Soren ground his teeth.

"5 years apart, and somehow you've become even more shameless, Violet. You dragged a useless man away from our wedding, and now you're pretending to be the Crown Princess? Have you lost your mind? Do you have to humiliate yourself this badly? If you're the Crown Princess, where's your Crown Prince? Why isn't he here to defend you?"

I glanced at my phone.

"He'll be here any minute."

Soren's face went cold.

"You're still pretending. Get up. That's the Crown Princess's seat. Moonskar Pack isn't going to offend the royal family because of you."

Ella grabbed my arm and tried to pull me from the chair. Her nails dug painfully into my skin.

I shook her off.

"Don't touch me."

When she couldn't move me, Ella shoved me hard.

"You think you belong in the Crown Princess's seat?"

My ankle twisted, and I hit the floor hard.

I had arrived at the gala in full evening dress. Now I was sprawled on the floor in front of everyone.

Soren's hand moved as if he might help me, then stopped in midair before withdrawing.

His tone remained arrogant.

"Get up and apologize to everyone. There might still be a way to fix this."

I looked up at him and almost laughed.

'How could anyone be this full of himself?'

Even now, he still believed I was throwing a tantrum over him.

Several members of security and the event manager rushed over.

Ella immediately pointed at me.

"This woman is impersonating the Crown Princess and sitting in her seat. Throw her out."

The manager took my invitation and checked it.

"Ms. Reed's invitation is valid."

Soren froze.

"Valid?"

He looked at me and quickly found an explanation that suited him.

"I didn't think you'd go this far for my attention. You even stole the Crown Princess's invitation."

I was too tired of him to explain.

The charity auction began, finally interrupting the farce.

Because it was a charity gala, all proceeds from the auction would go to a children's home.

The first lot came up.

Without hesitation, I raised my paddle.

"1 million."

Soren's eyes widened.

"Violet, are you insane? 1 million? You couldn't raise that much even if you sold yourself."