The Cunning Alpha Queen

CHAPTER 1

Flying arrows showers the kingdom of Samaria. Everyone is running for their lives. Every person in the village was easily slaughtered. Their houses were burned down by the group of soldiers from Artesia kingdom.

"Father! Mother?"

Shout by a young princess that just got out of her chamber. She doesn't know what is going on, but the cries of their people is what she heard.

"Princess! You need to escape from here!"

"Why? What is going on? Where are my parents?"

The princess asks her butler but is not able to response as the two arrows pierce through his neck, which makes her shout in tears.

She tries to run with a heavy heart about what just happened but someone grabs her hair, pulls her out of the hallway, and brings her to the throne of her parents where the head general of Artesia kingdom is sitting.

"You have nowhere to run, princess, your parents are all dead and the evilness of your clan will end here unless you show us your true form!"

"I don't understand! I don't know what you are talking about!"

The princess shouted at the general, which made him more curious as he found her hiding something and so he quickly grabbed his whip and threw a look at his men, then started stripping her down and made her press herself on the floor.

As the whip starts to land on her skin on her back, only her loud whining is what everyone can hear around the castle until her eyes suddenly turn to gold in color and her body starts to shake in a very hideous way.

Her upper trunk begins to change as well as the hair of her skin becomes longer and, at the end of the day, everyone cannot be able to move in their position as the great white and large wolf is what they are all facing now.

"Good lord, this is seriously a work of evil! Kill that beast!!!"

The general shouted and all his soldiers started to shoot an arrow at the wolf, but it did not even pierce its coarse hair that protects its inner skin.

The wolf starts to move and gives a death glare at the general, who starts to run towards him and bite his head off, which shocks everyone, and on that day, every Artesian person inside the Samaria castle has been devoured by the princess who became a wolf.

Four years have passed and the kingdom of Artesia has recovered from the frightful event that happened to the general of Artesia and his men in the fallen kingdom of Samaria.

The king of Artesia, who has been a widower for one year, is now searching for his new queen to save his clan from the council, who wants their title to be taken and replaced.

Every woman in the kingdom is invited to the said event and is prepared for the night ball where the king will pick his first interest.

As the night comes and all the beautiful women of Artesia start to enter the castle, the king is now ready to choose whom his eyes will fall on, until a beautiful woman wearing a hood that just drops on the floor and shows a long red gown that has caught the king's attention.

For some reason, the king cannot remove his eyes from the woman, so he started to walk towards her and kiss her hand.

"Such a beautiful woman at my event, are you lost, dear?"

"I am lost if you reject me as I am part of the event as your soon-to-be queen."

The king laughs at her confidence. He admits that he is done and sick of all the women who have been head over heels for him. He wanted to have someone more confident and strong.

After a few talks and dances, the king right away chooses the woman in red as his new wife to marry the soon-to-be enthroned queen.

Their wedding is set on the third day of the next full moon and will be seven days' sleep, so everyone is now busy preparing.

As part of the tradition, the king should let his soon-to-be enthroned queen stay in the queen's chamber until the wedding and that is what they did.

Facing the mirror, the lady in red who will be the next queen is now showing her glowing golden eyes.

"This is just the beginning...I will get what you all took from me."

The lady said in her most emotional state, looking at her reflection, when her female servant knocked on her door.

"We are here to help you get dressed for dinner, miss."

"Call me Astrid and I don't need help. I can dress myself. Now please leave, I need my privacy."

The servant got the message and paid respect, then left.

As the days went by, the same routine for the soon-to-be queen, she never let anyone get in or stay at her chamber until the wedding day.

The third day of the next full moon comes and part of the event is the accepting of the gift from the villagers in the morning. The king and Lady Astrid are joyfully facing the entire villagers who give their greetings.

In the middle of the event, Celia, the firstborn of the king who is the current general, arrives along with her men.

"Your highness, my apologies for the interruption, but I have found out in the city that there is a woman who is, speculated, a Samarian, living here in our land."

"We have the right time to discuss that, Celia!"

"No! If that is true, then we are all in danger as she has beast blood!"

"Fine then! Where is this woman?"

The king asks and Celia commands her soldiers to bring in the woman, who already has bruises and wounds.

"I have no beast blood, please your highness!"

Plead by the woman.

"Hear her; she said she has no beast blood, so enough of this Celia!"

"But Father—"

"—no! Get out and bring this woman back to her place!"

The king said and Celia turned around while throwing a death glare at her father that shook him for an instant, which was noticed by Lady Astrid.

Celia then lets the woman get out of the palace, but before it reaches the door, in front of the people, Celia quickly beheads her, which shocks everyone inside.

"What have you done!?"

The king sternly asks, but Celia just smirks at him and then speaks.

"We cannot be mistaken. Whether she is a beast or not, still, we cannot compromise my dear father. Now may you excuse me and, by the way, congratulations on your wedding!"

Celia said, looking at Lady Astrid, who was just sitting firmly with no reaction.

Due to what happened, the accepting of gifts ends early and then proceeds to the wedding ceremony in the afternoon.

The wedding has been successful, and the night will be the first time that the king and Lady Astrid will share the same bed.

After their first steamy mating, Lady Astrid offers the king a night massage on his back while asking him a few things.

"You seemed shaken by Celia's gesture earlier. What seems to bother you, your highness?"

"Celia is my daughter to my first wife Hellia, even though she doesn't mention it. I did my research and found out that she came from a line of witches. Her mother is practicing sorcery, a very dark kind of magic. I just can't help myself but believe that Celia can be like them"

"And are you scared by that?"

"Maybe for my safety, I would rather sacrifice others than leave this kingdom without a king."

The king said but Lady Astrid did not reply. Instead, she leaned down the king's ear and whispered.

"You should not worry, your highness; the absence of a king is a queen to the throne."

"What...uughh—"

The king was not able to continue his words as Lady Astrid had already struck him with a spear she had been hiding all through the night under the pillow and when she confirmed his death, she made a wolf cry to send a message to her kind that would be louder for wolf's ear but silent for other ordinary humans.

Later that night, before sunrise, the group of Samarian soldiers attack the palace in their wolf form while general Celia is away from the palace dealing with what the king commands her in defeating the east kingdom.

The war begins inside the castle and in the middle of the chaos, Lady Astrid manages to walk freely to the throne while holding the king's crown and putting it on her head. That is the start where she is recognized by everyone as the new ruler, the new queen of Artesia kingdom.

All her Samarian people live inside the palace to serve her and become her alliance, but the remaining Artesian servant inside is forced to do what the queen wants and will be punished by death by those who oppose her.

As the new queen ruled the Artesia kingdom, the first week of Queen Astrid on her throne is not as easy as it is. Many of the villagers oppose her and don't like her to be their new ruler.

Due to the uprising rebels tried to fight the soldiers of the palace to dethrone the queen while Celia already know what happened to her father and now keeps on finding the truth about his death and plotting an attack on the kingdom.

They plan to round up the whole castle at sunset and wait for the dark to cover the place.

As the night comes, Celia and her troops silently enter the palace and head to the queen's chamber; she strictly commands that no one will face the queen but her.

They successfully get into the queen's room and leave Celia standing at the side of the bed where the queen is silently sleeping; she raises her sword and is ready to stab the queen whom she believes is sleeping under the thick bedding when someone speaks behind her.

"I thought you were smart but so stupid to enter here without anyone with you."

"I alone can kill you!"

Celia said, but the queen just smiled at her.

"You have no idea what you just got into..."

The queen's response then starts to show her true form, which made Celia shake in fear; she is now facing a large white wolf that quickly bites her left arm and bleeds.

The queen, who manages to return to her human form, drags Celia's unconscious body and brings her to the center throne along with her lifeless men.

They poured a cold pile of water on Celia, awakening her.

She starts to show fear of seeing a lot of Samarians around her. She cannot believe that her greatest soldiers were easily beaten up by the queen's kind.

"Kill me now if that is what you want!"

Celia shouted at the queen.

"Death is not a punishment for you but redemption; I would rather let you flee with nothing left while bringing my offer in exchange for your miserable life."

"What offer?"

"They said you hold a witch's blood in you but are not awakened...yet... so here is my offer. I will allow you to leave this place alive and can still come back here provided that you finally awaken your power and serve your queen. I will return you to your position and be my right hand, conquering other kingdoms and being the powerful kingdom of all!"

The queen said, then laughed hideously in front of Celia, who had no choice but to agree with the said offer. She humbly bows down to the queen and manages to get out of the palace alive.

After the villagers of Artesia learn what happened to their only princess who they believe is their last hope but still lost to the queen, they start agreeing to what the queen wants and abide by her rules and regulations, rather than killing every one of them.