Irresistible Touch

Chapter 3

Lilian:

The current wolf king's upcoming engagement had become a hot topic everywhere in recent days.

I could hear people talking about it everywhere I went. Even at home, my parents would often bring the matter up.

I simply did not want anything to do with that man anymore. Even hearing his name made me irritable.

Still, I understood that as the current Wolf King and the strongest Alpha, many people paid attention to his each and every move.

Despite that, I could not help but feel uneasy around the mention of him, especially now.

My father poured himself a glass of wine, chugged it down, and immersed himself in gossip. "Say, how beautiful do you think the wolf king's Luna is going to be? She has to be beautiful, doesn't she? Otherwise, how could she match up to a man like him?"

Then, his gaze suddenly turned to me, a regretful look looming over his eyes. "What a pity that our dear Lilian came from such a poor family. Otherwise, I'm sure with your looks that the Wolf King would’ve been smitten by you."

My mother suddenly seemed excited and she concurred with ruddy cheeks, "You're so very right, my dear. Our Lilian's the fairest of them all!"

Oh goodness, my dear mother and father. I wished that they would stop talking about this already!

What was more, that ice cube of a man was not interested and that was a tried and true fact, I was sorry to say.

I rolled my eyes away from them and kept my mouth shut, keeping my head down and pretending to be focused on my meal.

There was no denying that Arthur truly was a real catch of a man.

He had the looks, the power, and the strength all in one neat package of the strongest Alpha among our kind. Countless women thought of him as their dream man.

For some reason, my mind subconsciously flashed back to the scene of him and I in bed.

Goodness, Lilian... What are you thinking about? Have you gone mad?

I shook my head hard, trying to shake these silly thoughts out of my mind.

"What's wrong, dear? Are you feeling sick?"

I looked up to see my mother's worried expression. I quickly shook my head. "I'm fine, Mother."

Father suddenly turned the focus to me. "Lilian, you're getting older now. It's about time you think about marriage."

For goodness' sake! Were they not just talking about the Wolf King and his fiancée? Why have I been dragged in out of nowhere?

I put my knife and fork down before answering in a joking manner, "Father, I've barely been home for a few days. Do you hate me now? Do you want me to go already?"

"How could that be?" My father made a disapproving expression, but his voice turned warm. "Of course, your mother and I wish that you could stay with us forever, but we all know that's impossible. You'll find a man you love eventually, and that's going to be the person you'll be with for the rest of your life."

"I don't need anything of that sort. I just want to stay with you forever," I answered with conviction.

Ever since I decided to sell my body for money, I no longer hoped to be able to find love. Arthur never marked me and steps were taken to ensure that I was never impregnated, but I had become somewhat repulsed by the idea of even being held by another man.

Therefore, I decided that I would never marry or lay with another man again.

My father laughed and shook his head, clearly not taking what I had said seriously. Mother stroked the top of my head and sighed. "Silly girl, both your father and I will age and we’ll be forced to leave you soon enough. What will you do once we're gone?"

"Continue my life alone, of course!"

"No, dear child... you'll feel so lonely!"

"I won't be lonely if I keep my hands occupied. I'm sure I'll be fine as long as I have something to do."

Mother looked pained by my stubbornness. I could even see the corners of her eyes gradually reddening. "My poor child... have you really been well those past three years? Have you perhaps encountered something upsetting? Otherwise, how could you become such a pessimist all of a sudden?"

My heart was beating fast, but I forced myself to rein in my emotions and squeezed out a smile as if I was fine. "Oh, Mother, what are you saying? I've been perfectly well for the past three years! Can't you see? I've even put some meat on these bones. Either way, I'm not being pessimistic. I'm just being realistic, that's all."

My mother squinted her eyes at me as if she wanted to see through my lies.

I carefully hid away any unnecessary emotions and tried to look innocent.

After a few short yet seemingly long seconds later, my mother finally withdrew her probing gaze. She finally seemed to believe what I had said and sighed helplessly. "Oh, forget it. You're still young, so you won't understand. You'll really know what loneliness is once the time comes."

My father nodded approvingly. "There's no hurry either way. Our dear Lilian is such a beautiful girl. We won't have to worry about our girl not being able to find a husband."

"That's right, our Lilian is the prettiest girl there is." My mother looked proudly at me.

To that, I could only smile awkwardly back at them.

My father had an ordinary-looking face and my mother was quite fair in terms of appearance, but that combination was somehow able to produce the flattering features on my face. My natural red hair and fair skin made me stand out even more. Pairing all of that with a well-developed body, I had no shortage of suitors from a young age.

A neighbor once jokingly asked my parents whether I was truly theirs since I looked so different from them, but my parents, who were always mild-mannered, chastised him severely for the mere thought of it.

Since then, nobody questioned whether I was truly their child ever again.

Perhaps people still questioned it, but with how strongly my parents felt about such questions, they only dared to discuss the topic behind their backs.

I never doubted that I was their flesh and blood, and that was because of how well they treated me. I did not believe that someone could wholeheartedly treat a child how they treated me if they were not even related.

That was why I had to be their daughter. Maybe God just liked me better, which was why he granted me such outstanding looks.

Having finally managed to slip away from the topic of marriage, I made up an excuse after dinner to take a walk and get some fresh air.

There was a little-used hill located not far from home. It was not very high, but it was relatively quiet since rarely anyone frequented it. It was a good place to go to if I wanted to be alone with my thoughts.

This was my secret hideout. As long as I needed to think about something, this was where I would always go to mull things over.

Sitting down on the soft grass, I untied my long hair and allowed it to flutter in the cool mountain breeze.

I took a deep breath of the fresh air that smelled of green grass. Looking up, I shut my eyes.

It was a really pleasant feeling as if I were being baptized by Mother Nature.

I cleared my mind and thought about nothing but the peaceful feeling that enveloped my being.

"Lilian, I knew you'd be here."

I opened my eyes and looked toward the source of the voice. There, William stood just a short distance away from me, smiling.

"Did you come here to look for me?" I patted the empty patch of grass next to me, inviting him to sit down.

It was tiring having to crane my neck up to look at someone, especially someone as tall as William, and I did not enjoy having a sore neck.

William seemed to hesitate for a moment, but he chose to sit down in the end, but he deliberately sat further away, seemingly unwilling to sit too close to me.

I was rather taken aback by that. "What's wrong? Do you not want to sit next to me because I'm a witch or something?"

I heard that witches were the natural enemies of us werewolves, but I had never seen one before. They were just fairytales I had heard about as a child.

It felt upsetting that the friend that I grew up with would not even sit next to me, and that was why I blurted such harsh words to him.

William did not seem to have expected such a strong reaction from me. He shook his head and looked apologetic. Flustered, he tried to explain, "N-no! That's not it. Truly, I don't mean anything by it. I just... just..."

"Just what?" I hated being left hanging, so my tone turned even harsher.

"It's just..." William had a conflicted expression on his face. He seemed to be struggling with some inner demon for a long time before finally jumping to his feet. He walked over to me and went down on one knee, looking at me with a burning gaze. "Lilian, I'm in love with you. Would you... be willing to marry me?"

My eyes widened in shock. I could not help but lean back at the sudden confession, nearly falling over.

My goodness! What had I just heard? This had to be a dream... right?