Chapter 145

When they came to the end of a broad hallway with bright lighting, Xandar started with the first portrait

Unlike what Lucianne and everyone else learned in school, the Lycan in this first portrait was actually

more influential than the King at that time.

Xandar explained that the plump woman with auburn curls in the picture was the late King’s sister, who

has offered the King back then loads of ideas on how to detect if foreign species, such as vampires or

human hunters enter their territories. In school, credit for such revolutionary ideas were given to the King,

not his sister. She wasn’t even his second-in-command because of the sexist laws which forbade such

an appointment at that time.

The second one was a man with a thick moustache and beard, and his eyes, to Lucianne’s surprise,

were painted onyx. Xandar explained that this was a very powerful minister who always made himself

heard. His intelligence and no-nonsense attitude was the very reason why even the King of that time

chose to listen to him over the second-in-command. Sadly, he was assassinated when he was asleep,

and the murderer behind his death was never found. 1

When they reached the third, it was a woman with dark brown hair reaching her lower back. Her blue

eyes shone brightly against her pale, freckled, skin. Xandar then said, “This is the one I wanted to show

you. Her name was Rosalie Tatiana Caberel. She was an expert in medicine, and was both loved and

hated for her quick mind and sharp tongue. She went through two rejections in her lifetime before

meeting her third chance mate, the Crowned Prince.”

Lucianne’s surprised eyes locked with Xandar’s smiling ones. Lucianne herself went through rejections

before meeting Xandar, too. What a coincidence!

Xandar then continued, “Rosalie was conducting an operation on the King when she met the Prince,

Reagan. Some books suggest that she wanted to sever the bond as soon as they found each other.”

Lucianne blinked at the second coincidence. Xandar stood closer to his mate, and held her hand tighter.

She then asked in a small voice, “What happened then?”

Xandar gazed at his mate as he whispered, “He didn’t let her. Practically begged her for a chance

despite his engagement to a noblewoman. Rosalie managed to recite her part of the rejection in the end

but Reagan never accepted it.”

“Even so, the bond would sever by default upon the second full moon.” Lucianne pointed out in a

whisper.

Xandar’s features softened further as his thumb stroked her right cheek. “In that period of time, he did

everything he could to win her over. The first thing he did was to call off the engagement. Our textbooks

say that the reason behind the revocation of the engagement was because the Prince wasn’t in the right

frame of mind. But other books, those which are more difficult to access, say that it was because he

found her. He found Rosalie.”

“From the way this is going, I have a feeling they didn’t end up together.” Lucianne muttered ominously.

Xandar smiled sadly and kissed Lucianne on her forehead before he continued, “He was only a Prince.

The King and Queen, along with the long line of government ministers and commentators strongly

opposed their union. Prince Reagan then submitted his intention to renounce his title to be able to marry

the woman he loved. But his parents were…crafty.”

Lucianne had a bad feeling about how the story was going to develop. Her mate looked upset as well

when

he went on, “They allowed them to mate and mark each other because, as you know, being marked by a

bonded mate improves one’s strength and abilities more than if one is marked by a chosen mate.”

Xandar took a sharp breath. “A week after the marking, the King and Queen got a kitchen staff to poison

Rosalie’s morning tea with a lethal amount of Oleander. She died in less than a minute.”

Lucianne took a moment to digest that fact before she said, “But the sensations she and Prince Reagan

feel would have already been entwined with each other when they’ve marked each other. Didn’t the late

King and Queen know that their son would also feel the effects of the poison when Rosalie was given it?”

“They did, which is why she died a quick death. The King and Queen didn’t want their son to suffer any

more than they needed him to. You might know this next part, Reagan attacked his parents, and today,

he is known as…”

“The Unhinged Prince.” Lucianne recalled.

She matched her mate’s sad eyes. Xandar then said, “Almost no one knows why he killed his father and

almost killed his mother. They say that he was unstable, inclined to make poor decisions when in truth, h

e was denied his greatest happiness, the mate gifted to him by our Goddess.”

Something came to Lucianne’s mind so she uttered, “I remember learning an idiom in school: A love as

strong as…”

“As two Rs.” Xandar finished it for her. “Reagan and Rosalie.” 1

Lucianne took a moment to digest this before she admitted, “I always thought it was just two Rs drawn

back to back, reflecting each other to shape a heart supported and strengthened by three stilts.”

Xandar smiled sadly again as he said, “It’s deeper than that. Much deeper. Tragically deeper. Reagan

was locked in prison for the rest of his life, never allowed out because he threatened to kill everyone who

treated Rosalie badly when she was alive. He tried to take his own life but never managed to do so.

Rumour has it that he cried himself to sleep every single night, apologizing to Rosalie for failing to protect

her, for failing to save her. At around four in the morning everyday, he’d wake up calling out her name.”

“Why four in the morning?”

“That was when Rosalie took the poison. She was having breakfast before an early shift at the hospital.”

Lucianne was so engrossed in the tale that she stood impossibly closer to Xandar, wanting to feel his

warmth. His arms wrapped around her without hesitation, and he pecked a kiss in her hair before he

continued, “Rosalie was not without friends and family. After the truth of her death came to light, medical

professionals across the Kingdom went on strike, demanding that line of royals abdicate the throne.

Hospitals stopped taking in patients. Pharmacies refused to open. The royal family’s doctors left their

employers despite the significant length of their tenure.”

Lucianne asked in a small voice, “But wouldn’t that cost too many innocent lives?”

He pecked another kiss on her hair and responded, “Thankfully, it didn’t. The medical professionals still

offered treatment at their patients’ homes. They just didn’t turn up to work for the government. So, the

Kingdom’s medical revenue plummeted to zero for the first time in history, even suffering a deficit at one

point. The defining moment was when the Queen’s own mother was ill and needed medical attention.”

“Unfortunately for them, no one wanted to help, and the old woman died. It is said that she would have

easily survived the illness if she had seen a doctor. Any doctor. When the royal family finally decided that

a parley with medical professionals was necessary, the doctors, nurses and pharmacists only had one

request: unless it’s Reagan, no one in the King and Queen’s bloodline should ever sit on the throne ever

again.”

*Of course, they couldn t let Reagan out He’d just go on a killing spree, and many powerful people were

afraid of unleashing that beast So the title was passed on to the second-in-command the Claws who

have no blood-relation whatsoever with the then-royal family. They actually did a blood analysis and

publicized the results throughout the Kingdom”

Lucianne remembered that part of history where the title was passed to the Claws It was said that

because the Unhinged Prince was incapable of running the Kingdom and he had no siblings to take the

throne, the royal title had to be passed on to the second-in-command

What bothered many of her classmates back in school was the fact that it wasnt passed on to the late

Queen’s nephew or niece. She had a few. But when the question was raised in class her teacher said

that history didn’t answer that question

Lucianne then whispered, “If Rosalie was such a signincant part of history, why hadnt I heard of her? The

syllabus can hide it but why arent there any myths legends folk law or some kind of her story with

Reagan?”