True Alpha’s Chosen Mate - Chapter 246

The Hendrik Empire used to be a peaceful land reigned by a wise and just vampire. It had been like that for years, in fear that they wouldn’t be able to stand under the sun once again. Although there were a few vestiges of the holy war, the vampires, at one point, somehow compromised and tried to live peacefully on their own.

No war, no werewolves, and just live silently in their territory.

This mentality of living peacefully didn’t go to waste since the Hendrik Empire had flourished. Their resources and patience magnetized the same kind of good people. Since the vampires weren’t just strong, but also merciful, many tribal chiefs, rulers of the neighboring lands, bowed down to the first emperor and demanded to be taken under their wing.

Hence, the small land of Hendrik slowly turned into a kingdom and then expanded into an empire through the years.

Everything under the reign of the first emperor.

However, since vampires were immortal and weren’t easily killed, the emperor decided to bear children who would continue his legacy. He could’ve continued it on his own, but for his selfless or selfish reason, he didn’t want to live that long.

When he had chosen his heir, the first emperor forced himself into an eternal slumber along with his trusted confidante when the due time came. Some of them were clan leaders of each noble vampire.

They continued this tradition for generations.

Once the emperor fulfilled their duty, they would force themselves into an eternal slumber, along with his trusted aides. Although choosing this was optional to everyone. They do it anyway since living a long-lasting life could be… quite lonely as the world kept revolving along with the life cycle.

All of this had changed when the previous emperor sat on the throne. Was it because he was greedy? Or was the late emperor a bad monarch?

It was neither.

The emperor, Niall’s father, was kind, generous, and merciful. He was just like the previous emperors with his beloved empress, whom he loved and cherished. Everything was perfect and their genuine love for each other eventually gave them a son.

His name was Niall.

However, although everything looked perfect, bad things still happened. The empress was murdered by her own brother whose greed reached a certain point he had committed an irreversible sin. Her death was the turning point and took the empire into a spiral.

Unable to recover from the death of his empress despite punishing her brother, the emperor sought ways to revive the empress. Using the countless lives of the witches and virgins, the emperor, in hopes of reuniting with his beloved, committed a forbidden spell that was nearly forgotten in history.

But instead of the revival of the empress, he had summoned the child of evil. The child of evil, who was buried deep in the ground, waiting for the bloodshed to reach him and give him life.

Desperate, the emperor, who was on the brink of insanity, begged the devil to bring back his wife. As an existence that was created from pure evil, the devil agreed on one condition; he needed a sacrifice. Someone who was just as elegant, kind, and valued by many so he could bring back the empress.

At first, the conditions sounded ridiculous, but then it all pointed in a certain direction. There was, at that time, someone who also had a heart of gold, elegant, and valued and adored by many.

The empress in Ronmin Empire.

To make the story short, the emperor ordered people to infiltrate the said empire and murdered the empress. However, evil as he was, the empress who returned to the emperor of Hendrik was nothing but an empty shell. She did return, breathing but barely existing.

So the emperor complained angrily, but the devil simply played with his words and twisted them in his heart’s content. The devil demanded more and more sacrifice, driving the emperor to the brink of insanity, without the latter noticing that the devil was slowly creeping his way into everyone’s heart.

In a state of haze, the emperor heard the devil say, “the lamb… give her to me and your beloved queen will return just as you wished.”

And so, the order to get the lamb was carried out, led by the crown prince, who was already brainwashed by the devil.

Everything happened according to the devil’s wishes and plans. He used the desperation of the emperor and the longing in the crown prince’s heart, giving them just enough dose to make them come back for more.

Everything… everyone… had followed their preordained fate written by the devil.

All for what?

Why would the devil go to such lengths as to make everyone believe he was the bastard son of the emperor? Why would the devil have to brainwash the kind crown prince and feed him lies about who and what Niall should be? Why did the devil take extra effort to deceive everyone, including himself?

There was a myriad of “whys?”, and I could only think of one answer.

To deceive me.

With the lamb knowing the knowledge of the world, the child of evil had to be patient and follow his meticulous plan. He needed to make me believe from the beginning, so I would ignore the secret smirk on his face when he told me about the mole.

He needed a villain to affiliate himself with the wolves.

Azazel… the real child of evil, like always, like an evil being, like a shadow. He got his way in without anyone noticing. He got past me because… I already had a clear picture of my enemy.

The rebellion in Everfell, Hugo hearing about Hendrik’s interest in the princess and thus he appeared that night… and everything that happened after that followed a course of action Azazel organized beforehand. His meeting with Hugo for the first time, my reunion with Hugo… and then the massacre in Althea.

We were all unaware because all those times, our focus wasn’t on him, but on Niall.

“Niall…” I called in between my ragged breathing, standing at the rooftop of the castle where I found him. He had his back facing me, staring into the deep darkness.

He turned around ever so slowly, the side of his lips curling up. “You’re too late, Lamb. You left Ronmin and now… no one will save them anymore. No one will stop him from going back to the place where he belongs.”

My heart sank as my breath hitched.

This couldn’t be happening.