The Lycan King's Muse

Ep 57: A Lycan Ritual

In my old pack–I think I have said these words so much, but in my old pack, weddings are fast, neat, and unimportant. The ceremony is just a formality for the woman to change her last name legally.

Or, as Jen said to me once, a wedding is just a formality to transfer a woman's ownership from one man to another.

"We don't really have lives in these packs," Jen told me once, "We are not acknowledged, not as living beings who can think and decide things for ourselves. We are just properties."

I thought I should not complain because I had it a lot easier than the other girls in our pack. Ed treated me as human and not as his property. But I remember thinking how unfair it was to be born a female. I questioned whether being a girl is a sin. And I never got the answer until now.

Until I am basked in a beautiful white dress, full of pearls and diamonds, and I look at my reflection in the mirror.

My gender was never a sin.

The dress Nari has prepared for me is beyond beautiful. I know she was saving it for Adina–Athena was the one who told me, and it was quite obvious by the tantrum she had for days before the wedding day. It is a sleeveless ball gown with a Watteau draping on the back. The skirt is made of a thousand tulles and the top is decorated with laces and diamonds. The veil is another wonder. It's a long mantilla veil that has the same lace pattern as the top drizzled with tiny diamonds.

When I look at the pattern for the first time, I somewhat feel fake, like I am just a substitute.

The pattern that is used on the dress is of roses. The symbol of the Stronghold family.

Just a few days before the wedding, I asked–No, I ordered Nari to change the roses into sunflowers instead. She refused at first, saying it was impossible. But with the djinns she has, I was not stupid enough to believe her just like that. Lyall helped me to make Nari change the pattern and Athena made sure that Nari wouldn't do anything to damage the dress that would make me look bad on my wedding day.

"You're ruining the whole design," Nari grumbled. She made sure every maid in the kingdom knows how I am making her life hell the past two weeks before the wedding. "You are not worthy of this dress."

I don't even bother to reply to her. Honestly, I don't care if she thinks I am worthy or not. Because I know, I am.

My existence was never a mistake. And I was born to be worthy of a lot of things I couldn't have in my old pack. So now, no one will take those things away from me.

The wedding preparation was taken over by the royal head maid, who has organized royal weddings for three generations. She took care of the venue, the ceremony, the food, and educated me on the lycan customs during weddings. I was told that lycans have a wedding night ritual where the groom has to chase the bride under the full moon and then become one with her on the spot he catches her.

That's something new.

"What happens if the groom never catches the bride?" I asked the head maid out of curiosity.

"The purpose of the ritual is to confirm each other's intentions. If the bride really wants to be with the groom, she will let the groom catch her. And if the groom really wants the bride, he will try with all his might to get her."

I quite like that the brides have a choice to run in this kingdom.

"However," the head maid named Priscilla continues, "if the groom catches another woman... it will be a bad omen for the entire kingdom."

I gulp the big lump in my throat as I remember the next words she said to me. "The ritual will be our chance to lure Adina out."

She didn't need to say it. I already know. "You are the bait."