Return of the Ruined Mate

Chapter 3

Immediately, a sharp pain hit her brain. Larissa squeezed her head with her trembling hands and curled her body tightly. She was broken, so it seemed.

All those years of abuse came flooding into her mind as soon as she woke up in her eighteen-year-old body, she could feel her veins stinging from all the tears she shed, and her heart felt like someone was squeezing it tightly. The pain, the betrayal, the abuse, she could taste it in her mouth and it was utterly vile.

Outside the door of her bedroom, stands her worried parents. Lord Lenard and Lady Ida, with their ears pressed against the oak door to hear what their daughter was doing. Although humans, they still hold power in this wolf-dominated kingdom by being one of the founding families of the land.

“What do you think happened to her? Did she have an awful nightmare, perhaps?” Lady Ida had her hand covering her mouth out of shock, it was a rare sight to see Larissa shed a tear let alone bawl her eyes out as soon as she woke up from sleeping, and then she proceeded to drive her parents out of her room and lock the door shut.

“That’s impossible, dear.” Lord Lenard whispered, if anyone in this household knows Larissa the best, it would be him. The father whom agreed to his daughter’s engagement with the crown prince and subjected her to grueling training and strict education. “Larissa is to be this kingdom’s future Queen, she’s the light among the people, she wouldn’t cry because of some foolish nightmare.”

Despite Lenard’s confident reassurance, his wife Ida is still unsure. A mother’s instinct is not to be underestimated.

She stepped away from the door and breathed out. “I think we should give her some space, and cancel her studies for the entire day.” Lady Ida was adamant that Larissa could fully rest since this was the first time she had seen her daughter cry and become so delirious, even as a child, Larissa would never show weakness and kept a calm composure as expected for the future queen.

“All right, dear. I’ll let her tutors know that she is not feeling well at the moment.” Lenard also stepped away, and the two began warily walking away hand in hand, occasionally glancing back at the door until they left the corridor.

Despite their whispering conversation, Larissa could still hear them and she badly wished that everything was indeed just a foolish nightmare but it wasn’t. It was real, and she could still feel how the rope around her neck drained the life out of her while everyone in the crowd was cheering for her agonizing death.

Days passed and she remained unmoving from her bed, many attempts were made to make her eat or drink something but she refused. What’s the point of doing all that when she is not certain why she has regressed back in time? Who did this to her? And why? What is she supposed to do? Those are only a few of the questions pounding her mind at the moment.

“Ugh…” Larissa continued to cry, so much so that her hands were becoming numb already like a thousand needles were pricking her entire body. She needed something to take her mind away from what she was feeling and she needs it now.

Fortunately, like fate. Aside from the sound outside her door made by her servants who were obviously confused about the change in her behavior and were talking about her, she heard another rustling sound coming from her balcony door. Larissa was compelled to look at what was making the rustling sound, and she weakly stood up to walk towards the glass door. Although translucent, she can still see a silhouette of a person standing outside, a person acting suspiciously by the way they move.

Despite being brought back in time, she remembers not having experienced this situation, so she wondered if opening this door would have a butterfly effect.

Her head was still aching, and there was a ringing in her ear that kept telling her to accept her fate, to not try to run away from her destined doom, and to not stray away from her written path.

Larissa thought as she grabbed the doorknobs, that every different action she make now will surely change the future. But if it is one step away from becoming Tedros’ wife, then she will take it, ignoring the voice in her head. Immediately, without thinking about her safety, Larissa pulled the double doors open and made a gust of wind, pushing her dark hair behind her shoulders.

The fresh morning air felt nice on her skin which had been soaked from crying too much, immediately drying up the tears in her eyes. The sunlight from outside suddenly veiled her room with a bright light, taking away the darkness that hugged and crushed her body while she cried. But most of all, her eyes glazed as soon as they landed on a pair of dark brown eyes.

It was a man, tall and well over six feet. He was wearing commoner’s clothes, a brown shirt, dull pants, and plain boots. A look of shock was plastered on his face after seeing Larissa and he remained towering over her, frozen. He had climbed up to her balcony and was seemingly surprised to see her open the door. What was more surprising is that this person managed to climb up all the way to the third floor where her room is located without getting caught by the guards surrounding their mansion.

Larissa thought that he wasn’t human, but in fact, a wolf. Only those with such strength can manage to climb up three floors without breaking a sweat and this man looks perfectly fine, handsome even. With this close proximity, Larissa can clearly see that he must have had beautiful parents to be this beautiful. His handsome face outshone the fact that he was wearing the most god awful ugly clothes. Straight brows, tall nose, and full lips. He has the kind of face that would stop any lady in their tracks.

There was a moment of silence, as if all things stood still, even the air that was heavy with tension between the two remained stagnant, the silence was only broken when Larissa decided to speak. “A thief?” she claimed, staring down at the man who was now crouching down as if hiding from someone below.

“I assure you, lady. I am a respectable man of this society, I’m merely hiding from my impending demise if they see me.” He said, his gaze locked on the street beyond the Loveryk estate’s fence. Larissa looked down as well and saw a dozen men scrambling at the street, their body language showed that they were looking for someone, and they all looked incredibly dangerous as if they had been through hundreds of battles in their lifetime.

Seeing how his story matched with the situation she was seeing, she lowered her guard. Then she looked back at this mysterious man, she kept staring at his broad back since he refused to face her. She was wondering where she had heard his voice before.

“Have I met you before?” Larissa asked, trying to refrain her hands from reaching him. She felt a strong connection with this man and she couldn’t understand why. After experiencing so much hardship before, she is certain she won’t feel any ounce of attraction towards anyone, but she thinks wrong as this man arrives on her balcony out of nowhere.

He was wiping his face then turned around after a while, showing his perfect side profile and looking at her from the corner of his eyes. “My, I didn’t think of you as someone who would flirt with a random man on your balcony.” He smiled, smirked rather, showing his dimples underneath the corner of his lips. Then he immediately looked back at the street to see whether the men looking for him had gone.

Larissa was not in the mood to joke around and immediately repelled his attempts to change the subject. “I am serious, you feel… familiar,” Larissa, once again, held her stance firm since her body was instinctively trying to make her wrap her arms around him. Odd.

He then stood up and revealed once again that he was many inches taller than her. He faced her and approached Larissa until there was only a small space between him and her. “Then you must have seen my face before, it’s something you can’t forget once you see it after all.” He was incredibly charismatic, lowering his head to match Larissa’s height, and making his messy brown hair fall on the sides of his face.

Larissa looked away hurriedly and cleared her throat, recomposing herself. Then she showed an indifferent expression, her eyes now dull and bored with this interaction since this man was obviously the ‘flirty’ type, probably using his charms to fool people and take their money. Nevertheless, she was thankful, because she somehow forgot that she was suffering just a minute ago thanks to this man’s statements.

“What’s your name? I tend to remember people just by their names, after all,” Larissa was calm and began exuding a royal aura, her voice now in an authoritative manner which made the man stand straight and take a step back, nodding his head as if realizing something.

“I see, you’re a noble lady.” He nods proudly as if he was happy by the way he deduced that already obvious fact.

“You didn’t see the size of this mansion you just trespassed to?” Larissa quipped.

He laughs, seemingly approving of Larissa and then he holds out his hand for her to reach. “The name is Alastor, a pleasure to meet you, lady…?”

Larissa was frozen after hearing his laughter, it felt like spring after years of depressing winters. She looked down at his hand for a moment, ‘is this how commoners greet each other?’ she wondered since as a lady and future queen of the kingdom, she was always thought to curtsy in front of the person they were meeting and never to touch them. But after her memories from the previous timeline flashed into her mind at this moment, of how she had always been told what to do and what not to do, she only realized it now that it was suffocating. Her life did not belong to her at all. So maybe, just maybe, the reason why some powerful and omnipotent entity meddled with her life and brought her back to five years before her death, was to change her fate.

To forge her own path, devoid of hardship and pain.

Slowly, she could feel the misery she was feeling a while ago vanishes along with the spring air this man brought along with him, gradually it was replaced by a feeling of hope, that she could do this. This was her chance to truly live.

“Are you going to keep my hand hanging here?” Alastor teased, still waiting for Larissa to shake his hand after introducing himself.

She slowly looked up at him, staring at his wonderful face. She was thinking, although a commoner, he still has his charms and he can be silenced with money in case things go awry.

Alastor…

This man who fatefully arrived on her balcony like a stray cat, and found her in her most vulnerable state, is the perfect escape plan from her engagement with the crown prince, Tedros Fernore.

Larissa smiles and grabs Alastor’s hand.

“I am Larissa of the Loveryk Family… and I would like you to be my fiancé,”