Chapter 144: Chapter 144 Why Did He Agree?

In his silence, Lance questioned everything. Why hadn’t the Moon Goddess given him even a sliver of a chance? Why bless Addison with not one, but three fated mates and none of them was him? Bitterness twisted in his chest, mixing with pain and the hollow ache of rejection. For years, he had offered the same prayer: for Addison to be his. But his prayers had gone unanswered.

What he didn’t know, what he refused to accept in that moment, was that fate had long since written its story. Before Addison or any of her mates had taken their first breath, their souls were already bound by invisible threads. That was the essence of being fated mates; it can’t be decided by choice, not prayer, but destiny.

Right now, Lance was spiraling, he simply couldn’t accept the outcome. His glare swept over Zion and the others, seething with frustration, but deep down, he knew he was outmatched. He was up against two powerful Alphas with strong, untainted bloodlines, and a Beta with a rebellious streak so fierce he was willing to challenge his own Alpha just to be with his fated mate.

Lance, by comparison, lacked that kind of strength. Though he carried Alpha blood, it had long been diluted through generations of strategic marriages to lower-ranking werewolves, alliances formed for profit or political advantage, not power. That legacy weakened his standing.

It was one of the reasons he had left his family behind and sought a new purpose at the Royal Palace, serving as a guard to the princess. He had never intended to inherit his father’s position, a royal merchant appointed by the Alpha King himself.

When Lance refused to meet his eyes, the Alpha King’s irritation spiked. With a subtle yet crushing wave of his Alpha aura, he forced Lance into submission, an unspoken warning not to make a scene.

But Lance, blinded by emotion, had already stirred a hornet’s nest. His gaze toward Addison didn’t just offend the Alpha King; it provoked the ire of Zion and the other two as well.

Without hesitation, they released their own killing intent, murderous, suffocating, and absolute. Lance nearly collapsed under the oppressive weight of their combined aura. It felt like an insurmountable wall had risen between him and Addison, and yet, he never looked away from her.

Addison, watching Lance drop to his knees, frowned. She gently tapped her father’s hand. Understanding the silent plea, the Alpha King snorted and withdrew his aura, looking away in dismissal.

“Zion! That’s enough,” Addison said firmly.

Zion, who had looked moments away from tearing Lance apart, immediately perked up at her voice. His expression melted into one of doting devotion, as if her command alone lit up his entire world. Addison fought the urge to roll her eyes.

Then she turned to her supposed fiancé, the only one who hadn’t introduced himself yet. Though she didn’t know his name, her sharp gaze prompted a response.

Feeling her eyes on him, the man straightened like a pine tree, collected and composed.

“Maxwell Ackerman,” he said plainly.

“Huh?” Addison blinked in surprise.

“My name,” he clarified, voice even.

As far as Addison was concerned, she had never seen this Alpha before. Like Zion, he might be a young leader who had either recently succeeded his father or was preparing to take over the role of Alpha in his pack.

Still, there was something different about him; his aura was strong, and he carried with him a chill that clung to the air like frost. It was as if he were carved from ice, cold to the bone.

“Um, nice to meet you,” Addison said awkwardly.

Truthfully, she didn’t know what to think. She wasn’t some innocent girl anymore; she already had children. The situation made her feel like a pig trying to steal cabbage from someone else’s backyard.

Did Maxwell even know she had kids? Was he prepared to be a stepfather if he went along with her father’s matchmaking schemes? And more importantly, why did he even agree to this arrangement? From the look of him, Maxwell was just as powerful as Zion. It didn’t make sense.

She turned to her father for answers, but he looked evasive, choosing instead to face the crowd and resume the banquet as though nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Lance was being pulled away by his father, defeated.

Anna, who had only come as a part-time bodyguard, stood off to the side with her jaw slack, mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. Her thoughts were racing, trying to piece together the madness unfolding before her. Their ace warrior who vanished six years ago, the abducted princess, and the strange little boy they had assumed was human… All of them were Addison.

The revelation hit her like a slap, leaving her mind spinning. But she couldn’t squeal or react; she was still on duty. So she clamped down on her expression, forcing herself to remain as deadpan as possible despite the mental chaos.

“To think we’d witness a once-in-a-lifetime event alongside a historic revelation… this might end up written in the books, don’t you think?” one of the noblemen mused, thoughtfully scratching his chin.

“But now that the Royal Princess is back,” another said, lowering his voice, “what happens to Princess Mila? Will she be cast aside and sent back to her family?”

“That’s not the real question,” a sly, thin nobleman added, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “The real matter is the throne. Will there be a power struggle? A quiet war fought in the shadows? Or will they battle openly, forcing the court to choose sides?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” snapped a round-bellied man with a commanding voice. His presence immediately silenced the murmurs. “It’s indisputable. The Royal Princess has always been the rightful heir to the throne. Even in her youth, she proved herself strong and capable. What’s there to be dissatisfied with? Watch your words, or you’ll be branded a disturber of public peace and end up behind bars.”

This burly man was not to be taken lightly; he was the head of the Royal Engineering and Machinery Department, part dwarf and part human, and a trusted member of the royal court. Like Elric, he bore the Royal Badge, having sworn a blood pact with the Alpha King himself. His inventions had propelled the kingdom’s development in leaps and bounds.

The thin nobleman raised his hands defensively, his voice faltering. “Hey now, I’m not dissatisfied, and I’m certainly not trying to incite anything. It’s just… the Princess was gone for six years. I fear she might’ve grown rusty or—”

But he stopped midsentence when he saw the round man puff out his cheeks in warning, his thick fingers curling as if ready to toss the speaker across the banquet hall.

Though the thin nobleman was a werewolf, proud and powerful, he knew better than to provoke a dwarf.

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