The King's Fourth Mate

Episode 3

"This is so great" Chloe yelled. She tossed her head back on the seat, as she scoured her tummy. her eyes were shut like she's getting a charge out of scouring her stomach.

A bowl of chicken soup, japchae noodles, and steak were on the table.

She used a chopstick to pick up the last steak on the plate and put it in her mouth.

"Yummy." She moaned as she chewed the steak.

"moon goddess, pairing Raina with the king is a brilliant idea. There's nothing I wouldn't do to have this kind of dining experience again," she said, biting her lower lip to emphasize her words. She isn't even aware of Raina's presence.

Raina made a sound as if to speak, and Chloe jumped up and looked around wildly until her gaze fell on Raina.

"You terrified me," she said tenderly, tapping her chest."

"I see you've eaten everything," Raina said, motioning to the table.

Chloe looked at the table, which was being cleaned up by the servants now. She gave Raina a friendly smile.

"Certainly." Chloe rubbed her stomach and nodded.

Raina scoffed. "Moreover, you didn't even think about looking for me, imagine if I had gotten into trouble?"

Chloe moved closer to Raina, linking their arms and resting her head on her shoulder.

"I was going to come look for you after I finished, but look, I just finished eating, and you're right here."

Raina rolled her eyes and said, "Indeed, Missy, I won't let this go, but how about we save that for another time?"

She paused then continues.

"This is Daniel and he will show us around the royal castle." Raina told Chloe.

Chloe opened her mouth extremely wide, however Raina immediately covered it with her palm before she could utter any sound.

"Don't freak out, it's just a tour of the royal castle," Raina assured Chloe.

Raina's nodded and removed Raina's hand from her mouth.

"He's showing us around the castle?"

Chloe asked and Raina nodded.

"This is absolutely incredible. I'll be able to see the heartless king's castle." Chloe murmured.

"Shh" Raina quickly covers Chloe's mouth with her hand.

Chloe's eyes enlarged when she understood what she recently said, she looked at Daniel and chuckled clumsily.

Daniel essentially smile and shook his head.

"It's fine, we additionally call him heartless."

"What?" Chloe and Raina yelled in shock without pausing.

"Yeah, but don't let him hear you," Daniel advised.

They laughed and nodded.

"All right, let's get this tour started," Daniel said.

"Yahoo!" Chloe and Raina burst out laughing.

***

Out Side The Palace

Derek frowned as he peered inside the King's royal Castle for the umpteenth time.

"Father, what's keeping Chloe and Raina there?" he asked his displeasure dripping off his words.

"Calm down and wait; I'm sure they'll be out soon," his father, Mr Vincent replied.

Derek wheezed sharply and focused his gaze on the castle, his mouth wide open.

"Fathee do you think something happened to them? Do you think the king killed them as much as he did to his late mates?" With an alarmed expression, Derek asked.

Evan smacked Derek's head hearing what he said.

"Try not to make bad wishes for my two closest friends, they're going to come out alive," Evan said, as Derek sneered.

"Look around, different families have left with their daughters, but where are your closest friends?"

Derek walked over to a fallen fence and sat down and Evan also sat with him, not knowing how to respond.

"I have every right to be worried about my sister, and I can't help the unsettling situations that keep playing in the back of my mind, plus, I don't trust the King," Derek mumbled softly.

"I shouldn't have allowed them to go to this mating ball." Derek screamed angrily,

Evan wanted to say something, yet his ears livened up when he heard the castle gate opened.

They all snapped their head towards the gate and saw a man who was wearing armed force uniform,

Derek stood up, took the man's collar, and challenged him. Despite the fact that the man appeared to be stronger than him, he was unconcerned.

"Where is my sister? Why didn't she return with the other young ladies?" Derek looked the man in the eyes.

"She is ...."

" Answer me?" Derek cut him off and delivered a punch to the man's nose; the man lurched back but kept himself from falling to the ground.

Vincent grabbed his son hand and gave him a reprimanding look, which Derek ignored.

Derek pointed a finger at the man.

"Damn, that is my one and only sibling and sister in this world, and I don't mess with her, bring her back to me now or I swear I'll battle you to death!" Derek snarled.

The man raised his hands in surrender, he passed Vincent an arguing hope to calm his son down, but he scowled at him.

"Where is my daughter?!" He asked with a low snarl, his canines barely visible.

The man looked around, and Derek, Vincent, Evan, and Chloe's parents all stood tall, as if they were about to fight him.

He took a swallow.

"Both Miss Raina and Miss Chloe are fine," he said."

"Then, where are they?" Everyone asked at the same time.

The man muttered something. "I brought word from the castle that the king had found his mate... "

"What?" they generally shouted.

"Indeed, and Ms Raina is the king's mate, so she will not return today, and Ms Chloe is to remain behind to accompany her."

"What?!" they all exclaimed.

"My sister, Raina, is the king's mate? What the hell happened? She's a f*****g human, just like my late mother!" Derek yelled, thinking that his ears could have misheard something.

"Ms Raina is, indeed, the king's mate," the man replied.

Derek's clenched hand crawled forward and landed another punch on the man's nose, this time delivering a break and knocking him to the ground.

"You ridiculous liar, how could you have lied about my sister being the king's mate?" Derek snarled angrily at him.

"I'm not lying, it's... "

The man snorted and glared at Derek, but did not fight back.

"My sister can never be matched with the king, after all, a human cannot be Queen." Raina will never serve as the king's fourth mate!" Derek yelled.

Vincent attempted to fall, but Evan caught him before he could. He was just staring at the man quietly, his mouth open as he panted for air.

"Father, don't listen to him, he's a liar," Derek reassured him. Don't listen to him; he's lying."

The man stood up, dusting off his jeans and making a sound as if to speak.

"His Majesty and Raina will come after the rituals; I must depart now." The man didn't wait another second and dashed into the royal residence, as if there was fire on his jeans - or perhaps he's afraid Derek will pound him again.

"Raina!!" Vincent murmured, a single tear rolled down his cheek, and soon, tears streamed down his cheek. This was what him and his late wife had hoped to avoid.

Since the the king was able to sensed Raina as his mate, it means that Raina's wolf has already awakened, and so is the rest of her powers, which will only expose her to greater danger.

****

"My goodness, the castle is f*****g enormous." Raina applauded. Her gaze moved around in adoration; she had imagined what the lord's castle would look like, but she had never imagined it to be as lovely as this.

"Very enormous, Evan will like it here." Chloe breath out and Raina rolled her eyes.

Daniel laughed at their reaction.

"we've only just begun; there are still a lot of places we haven't looked at," he explained.

Chloe came to a halt, gave Daniel a stunned look, and shook her head.

"Please, we've seen enough for now; I'm already exhausted." Chloe grumbled.

However, daniel and Raina chuckled at her, however she's right. They've been strolling for right around an hour, even Raina's legs are beginning to feel numb.

"Could we stop here today?" Raina asked him.

Daniel inhaled deeply and exhaled leisurely, as if he was extremely pleased with Raina's invitation.

"Obviously," he said. "Moreover, this is our last stop, the military institute," Daniel said, pointing to a large building. Raina and Chloe both gasped.

The institute was magnificent. Students dressed in gonryongpo attire were outside. They were going through group training.

"This is fascinating." Chloe murmured.

Meanwhile, Raina's eyes were scanning the area for no apparent reason until they came across a natural figure, she squinted her eyes and realized it was the king, he was in a corner with a young girl of around 15 or 17 years old and he was teaching her how to control water with her powers.

"What is on your mind, my queen?" Daniel snapped Raina out from her thoughts.

She pointed towards the king.

"Wait, isn't that the king?" Or, on the other hand, are my eyes misguiding me?" She asked

Daniel laughed gently. "Your eyes ain't misguiding you, that is King." he replied.

"Ha? Does the heartless king have time to teach someone how to use their abilities?!" For fear of being overheard, Chloe whispered.

Raina turned to face the King, hoping he hadn't heard Chloe. Fortunately, he hadn't. Perhaps he heard her but chose to ignore it because, as a king, his hearing is many times better than the rest of them.

"Usually, His Highness comes to her to teach her how to use her power. She's the only student who is close to the king." Daniel stated.

"Hm," Raina said, nodding.

"He appears to be giving her special attention; who is she?" Raina wondered as she felt a small ache in her heart.

Raina frowned. "What was that ache for?" She thought to herself.

*Sham, the mate bond is now working* Leia said.

*What mate bond? She may be related to him* Raina lashed out at her and shut her out

"who's she?" Raina asked again.

"Macey is from the streets and has no place to live. She doesn't seem to fit in very well here. His highness has tried everything to make her fit in with the others, but it doesn't work, so he just volunteered to spend time with her ordinary and teach her how to use her powers." Daniel came to a halt and gave them a brief look.

"Well… I truly believe the king and Macey share one thing practically speaking," he came to a halt again.

Chloe and Raina both looked at him, wanting to know why he was so tense. He took a deep breath before proceeding.

"The two of them think they don't fit in or belong here." Daniel said.

Seeing how gentle the King is with Macey, Raina began to question those stories told by the general public.

Is it possible that he is not the cause of his mates deaths?

If he isn't the culprit, who is?

"His highness is a decent man; you'll understand him better as you get to know him better, my Queen," Daniel said, and Raina moaned.

"Um... Daniel!" Raina called

"Yes, My queen." he said.

" Can you please stop calling me Queen."

"Huh?"

" I'm not used to it, I mean, I've never agreed to be the king's fourth mate," she murmured.

"I get it" Daniel said.

"You can simply call out to me by my name. we can be classified as friends right?"

Daniel chuckled.

"Goodness, that would be awesome, if anyone told me, I'll be friends with the king’s mate, i wouldn't believe."

Raina punched his shoulder delicately, yet immediately pulled out her hand when she heard a low snarl from the corner.

They generally raised their head and saw the king glaring knifes at Daniel.

Daniel made a sound as if to speak and created some distance from Raina.

"I think I'm in a lot of trouble," Daniel murmured.

The king looked at him for a while, then deflected his gaze to Raina, but he quickly turned away and turned around to whatever he and Macey were doing.

"I believe this concludes today's tour; we should return," Daniel said.

Chloe grabbed Raina's arm and gave her a grimace.

"Aren't we supposed to be returning home today?" she wondered.

"Probably not," Daniel said before Raina could respond.

"Why? Did you tell the King we are staying?" Chloe turned to Raina.

"No! He left before i could even talk about going home." Raina said.

"What?" Chloe, exhale. "Then...then... our parents are still waiting for us outside the castle; won't they be worried if we don't return home today?"