Forbidden Rejection

“Dad, please don’t do this to me! I am your daughter! How could you just give me to someone like that?!” I couldn’t help but complain to him a bit about the fate that was waiting for me. “It was the king’s order. We couldn’t defy a king’s decree, you know that!” he pointed out. My heart was shattering into million pieces and even if I cried the whole day and night, what my father said was true. No one could ever say no to the king. That’s why he’s a king. He could do whatever he wanted! “But, why me? There are plenty of other ladies in the kingdom, so why me?” I brokenheartedly asked. My father looked at me with so much sadness in his eyes. I know he was against the idea, too, but the decision wasn’t ours to make. “We were all ordered to write the names of our eldest unmarried daughter on a piece of paper handed to us by the head minister. Then, from that, they drew ten names until it reached only five which your name was still part of. The king asked for the details of the five ladies and then after that, he just chose you!” he narrated, sadly. I tightly closed my eyes to prevent myself from cursing fate. Is this bad luck or something? “What about my mate? Or that of our Alpha’s mate? Why could they just wait for his mate to appear instead of marrying him off to someone else?” I questioned, trying to figure out how ridiculous what my father just told us. “The king said that his eldest son was not interested in finding his mate and just wanted to marry someone stranger. I don’t know what made the king think that you’re a fit for the next Luna of this pack. All I know is that, when he read the details about you, he immediately disregarded the others and made a decree,” my father continued saying. I was already on the verge of getting hysterical. This is insanely outrageous! Our king might have lost all his sanity, trying to find a good match for his ugly son. “But the rumors said that our never-seen alpha is the ugliest in their clan, that’s why he was kept hidden from the world! Am I going to be a wife to that hideous man all my life? What did I do to deserve all this?!” I couldn’t stop myself from being emotionally angry. This is just utterly disgusting! “I’m so sorry, Amara. I am very sorry that I am not powerful enough to protect you from something like this.” My heart hurt even more because of the response of my father. Logically speaking, he is blameless for all this. “Dad, what if he’s really cruel like the rumors said? What if he would only want me as his toy, or someone he could take when he’s horny? I don’t like a life like that, dad. I deserve better than that!” I continued to retaliate as much as I can, although I know it’s futile. My dad only sighed and looked at me in frustration. The day came when I had to go to the palace to meet the royal family. I wanted so badly to just kill myself to stop everything from happening. But I know, I will only put my family in a greater danger. I am the eldest and I still have a younger brother and a sister. I couldn’t risk their lives just to escape this tragic fate waiting for me! “Welcome, Amara, dear! We are so, so glad to finally meet you in the flesh. The rumor of you being the number one beauty in this whole kingdom is never a rumor at all. It’s a fact!” the queen greeted me with so much enthusiasm that I felt like she was overdoing it. But I know I couldn’t be less respectful to her or to any member of the royal family if I really wanted to survive. “It’s an honor for me to be here, my queen,” I greeted her back with a curtsy. I practiced this damn curtsy all night and I still couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t do it properly. My nanny was always saying that I was no lady at all. “Good morning, too, your grace! Forgive my insolence for not greeting you immediately the moment I stepped foot of this hall,” I turned my attention to the king. He gave me a warm smile and a nod. “I’m very pleased to meet you, too, young lady,” he replied, maintaining a small smile on his face. “Amara, this is Beta Raden, my second son, and this is Princess Ravina my youngest. You are very welcome to our family, Amara,” the queen told me as she introduced her other children to me. Great! I had already met the whole family except my groom! It took me enough strength not to roll my eyes. “With all due respect, Your Grace, My Queen, when will I meet my groom? And what are the things I should prepare for the wedding? As your loyal subjects, my family is very willing to abide by any of your demands,” I respectfully asked. The king and queen looked at each other and smiled wider. “You don’t need to prepare anything aside from yourself, dear child. And as for meeting my son, you will see him on the day of the wedding,” the king answered. I stared at him for a moment before I nodded. I wanted to ask why I couldn’t possibly meet him earlier, but I stopped myself. I just hated the idea of being married to an unknown man, even if he was our Alpha. How could he lead properly if he was always in hiding? Was he that ugly that he was ashamed to show himself to the world? He’s very powerful. He could just cut off the head of anyone who would speak ill of his appearance. The king and queen are both good-looking. Raden and Ravina as well. So, how come Alpha Reygon is ugly? The rumor said he was not just ugly, they said his face was full of unidentified specks and his eyes were red as blood. Even his skin has scales like that of a fish, that’s why even the servants were afraid to look at him. His nanny and his right-hand man were the only ones allowed into his chamber, aside from his family. One of the servants, whom I learned that the name was Hannah, escorted me to the chamber that I would be occupying. According to the palace’s tradition, from now on, I will be staying here to prepare for the wedding. There are rituals and ceremonies to be done before the actual wedding day. By merely thinking of them I was already tired. I was still hoping that my mate would show up soon so that I could escape this horrible fate of mine. “Princess, this will be your room. If you’re not satisfied with how it was arranged, the queen orders that you can rearrange it according to your liking. Just tell us what you want, and we will do it,” she informed me. I sighed and smiled at her. “Just call me Amara, Hannah. And this room is quite amazing, so I’ll just leave it as it is,” I told her. She hesitantly smiled at me as she said, “His Majesty also ordered that starting today, we should call you princess. And when you’re already married to our Alpha, we will be calling you Luna.” Another wave of frustration washed over my patience, but I still was able to maintain my composure. I don’t know, but another minute in this palace and I will soon be crazy! “Is there a place in this palace where I could get some fresh air? I think I need a moment for myself now, and a closed space was the least I wanted,” I asked her. She suddenly looked confused, but that was just for a moment. “You can visit the garden, Your Highness. It’s one of the best places in the palace. Just make sure you don’t enter the restricted area,” she happily informed me. I got curious about what she said. “Restricted area?” I couldn’t help asking. She nodded and her face became serious. “There is a restricted area in the garden because that part is exclusive to our Alpha. Anyone who enter that will be punished,” she said. Fear was evident in her eyes, so I became more intrigued. “What is the punishment?” her face turned white with my question. It’s as if asking that question was a crime. “Death, Your Highness!” I blinked a few times at her answer, but I decided not to speak anymore. My mind was still filled with how my conversation with Hannah turned out earlier. She just left after bringing me here to the garden. I closed my eyes and inhaled the fresh air. This garden is like paradise. I love how the plants are trimmed and placed in strategic arrangements. They also have plants that are cropped and arranged to form different shapes like that of an animal or a flower. I went to pick a beautiful red rose. It was truly beautiful. I just hope the queen will not be mad at me for taking this flower with me. There was no one around but I saw some palace guards outside the gate of this garden earlier. Even if I tried harder not to think of the restricted area that Hannah mentioned a while back, I just couldn’t help thinking about it. What’s with that place that no one is allowed to enter? I will be his wife soon. Will I not be allowed there, too? Fuck! I couldn’t stand getting curious, so I found myself walking in the direction of that corner. I was stunned when I saw a wooden gate filled with crawling plants. I expected it to be locked or something, but when I tried to open it, it wasn’t bolted at all. My heart started to beat faster due to excitement and nervousness. I hesitated for a moment, but my curiosity was more powerful than my reasonable way of thinking. When my mother said my curiosity would kill me one day, it could be that day. But who cares? Marrying the beastly Alpha was no different from dying at all. “Who the hell are you?!” I almost lost my footing when a thunderous voice suddenly filled the air. His voice echoed everywhere that even birds flew away and small animals scattered away and hid themselves.