The Royal Alpha's Destined Bride

Chapter 7

The banquet to welcome the esteemed and royal guests of the wedding would begin in less than thirty minutes and the dining hall was already loud and filled with chatter. Iris, who wanted nothing more than for Venkert to keep Fleur company because she was not a royal and was not familiar with any of the other guests who were present, took her place in the seat that was closest to that of the head of the table.

The guests had been welcomed and in order for them to feel comfortable and for the Von Lykaner Family to be friendly with them, they had to sit at the same table with them instead of on the royal thrones. Iris was already engrossed in the many conversations she had to keep up with, many of them being the guests talking about how excited they were for the new king to seize the throne. Ruslan had gone too long without a king and there was no better person to take the thrones than Venkert, even though he was the second born in the family.

Before, the civilians of the kingdom believed that Maribel would be the first to be married and to become queen. Even though the queen had no influence, she could have changed that rule of her own accord if she felt like it. After all, there would be no one to oppose her and only those of the royal family blood could inherit the authority regardless of gender. That was why Iris failed to become the head of the kingdom when the king died those many years ago.

As for Maribel, she was trying desperately to find a loving husband, but her personality would not permit anyone to want to be her husband or even a king. Besides, with that vile personality of hers, who knew what sort of queen she would become. The kingdom rejoiced greatly when they discovered that Ven would be the one to rule the kingdom instead of her.

Speaking of Ven, he had been waiting in the hallway outside of the dining hall until it would be time for the banquet to start. Not that he had any reason to delay his entrance other than the fact that Fleur was clinging to his arm and pressing her chest against his upper arm. He couldn't shake her off or abandon her because his mother asked politely for him to keep her company. But he couldn't enter the dining hall with her in that state in case the guests start any rumors that might make their way to my ears.

He knew I was upset over something and he couldn't risk breaking my heart over something as trivial as an ex-girlfriend he had no feelings for.

"I do have to ask... after all this time, why did you decide to get married now?" Fleur asked, looking up at him while instinctively avoiding rubbing her cheek against his clothed shoulder to avoid ruining her makeup. She didn't have on too much of it but she would rather avoid losing any charm over Ven.

"Because I'm in love and there's no reason to wait for too long," he said, sighing inwardly.

"That's interesting. I thought you were in a rush because Maribel is actually taking her life seriously for once," Fleur commented with a chuckle. That was true to an extent. For most of her life until recently, Mari wanted to retain the title of 'princess' because she thought 'Queen Maribel' would make her seem to be old. Not to mention all of the privilege that came with the title, the light responsibilities she had to face that compare to that of being a queen, and the many suitors who would pursue her but lose interest after they discovered her true self.

"I happened to notice that the future queen isn't in the banquet hall. Neither is the princess. Are they planning on making a grand entrance?" Fleur asked next, a question that held true for Maribel but not for me.

"Odette isn't the type for such trivial matters. She's ill and won't be attending tonight's dinner," he said, taking note of how Fleur slyly brought up her index finger to caress the breast area of his suit top. Her nails were painted a bright red to match her hair and lipstick, a shade that men were always susceptible to. Ven was ashamed to admit that that was one of the things he found attractive about Fleur before, however, that was no longer the case and he felt disgusted.

"That's a shame. And we all came here to see the future queen. It's only fair that she entertains her guests..." She said, noticing that Ven was not at all interested in speaking to her. His tone was dull and he couldn't be bothered to feign even the slightest bit of interest. She smirked, thinking that if she were to get him to go with her to a private area, his interest in her would return in mere seconds.

So, she stopped caressing his suit with her finger and brought it out to her side, out of his field of vision. She rested the tip of her finger an inch away from the fabric of her dress at the hip, and the short, red fingernail quickly erupted in length, tearing away at the fabric. Her natural fingernail was not as attractive as the ones she had in human form. It took on a darker color, was sharp to the touch and was thick so as to tear away at flesh. It created a cut that was only a few inches in length, revealing her hip bone and the fabric of her underwear.

"Oh, no!" She called out next, moving away from Ven in shock. He was caught by surprise, afraid that something terrible had happened, and turned to look at her out of concern.

"My dress has been torn! When did this happen?" She asked herself, her long nail having already returned to its original size. She reached her hands out and seized Ven's in them. He immediately became uncomfortable and took a second to frantically look about the hallway to make sure that no one was in sight.

"I can't go in like this, Ven. I have to change into something different or else it'll ruin my image-"

"I understand. Let's go somewhere else first," Ven said, pulling on her hand to led her to his quarters. He didn't intentionally mean to take her there. At the time, his first thought was to take Fleur out of sight. If anyone saw him, the future king, standing in the hallway with another woman whose underwear was revealing through her dress, it would tarnish his reputation and he would end up embarrassing not only his family, but the future queen as well.