CHAPTER 172

CHAPTER 172


Ileus' POV

Once Reika stepped in, I grabbed her wrist and led her toward the couch in the room. We both lowered ourselves onto it.

Her eyes were slightly dimmed... not as vibrant as they used to be, and I wondered if she had been sad because of our argument two nights ago. Even at the garden earlier, she seemed completely withdrawn, but then... none of it would matter anymore once I told her about my plans to accept her wish.

“You said you have something to tell me,” I said, holding both of her hands gently. “Go on. I'm listening.”

“You said you have something to tell me too. You go first.”

“Nooo.” I let out a short laugh. “Ladies first. You tell me what you want to tell me first. I really want to know what has been bothering you since this morning in the garden.”

“Ohh... you noticed,” she murmured.

“Of course, I did.” I lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “I really do. I notice everything about you, and Goddess knows that I am only happy when you're happy.”

A moment of silence stretched between us. Her lips parted for a long time before she eventually closed them again.

“I do not know you to be afraid of speaking to me or anyone at all, Lilith.” My voice was thick with disappointment as I wondered what she had to say that felt so heavy on her tongue.

She sighed, looking exhausted and frustrated. “I'm not afraid to speak to you... it's just that what I have to say is kind of complicated, and I really don't know how to say it.”

“Say it however it comes to your mind, Lilith,” I said firmly, even though a pang of fear was already crawling down my spine as several scenarios formed in my head.

What if she wanted to end whatever was between us?

What if she wanted to leave the kingdom completely?

“Well... I want you to listen carefully to whatever I am about to tell you and handle everything calmly like the king that you are.”

“Okay...” Now I was even more scared.

She swallowed hard.

“Your daughter... Princess Reika.”

“Okay? What about her?”

There was a slight pause before she continued.

“I recently discovered that she is not biologically yours.”

At first, I did not understand.

No... I couldn't understand.

Then the real meaning of her words slowly but brutally sank in.

My brows furrowed in a mix of confusion and disbelief.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice still calm despite the chaos raging inside me. “If she is not my daughter, then whose daughter is she?”

“Addams',” she replied quietly. “Addams and Ariadne have been in a secret relationship all these years, and he is her biological father.”

I stared at her for a long moment, hoping and praying harder than I had ever prayed in my entire life that she would burst into laughter and tell me she was playing some cruel and expensive prank on me, but she did nothing of the sort.

Her expression remained steady, as though she meant every single word.

But still, I refused to believe it.

I sprang to my feet.

“What the hell are you saying, Lilith?” I thundered, my chest rising and falling as I paced around the room. “I understand that you desperately want to be my Luna, and Goddess knows that I can't wait for you to become that too... but what I won't take under any circumstances is you trying to label my innocent daughter as illegitimate just because you want me to dethrone her mother.”

The veins in my neck bulged as I shouted at her.

“No, I won't take that from you. Never! No one messes with my baby girl and gets away scot-free. Not even you, Lilith... the woman I love.”

She jumped to her feet, her expression twisting with outrage.

“Excuse me!”

“Oh... you are very much excused, Lilith!” I snapped back. “How could you stoop this low?”

“You can't be serious, Ileus!” Her voice was heavy with disappointment. “You think because I want to be Luna, I would go as far as saying something so cruel about a child if it wasn't true, especially when I know how much you love and adore her?”

I stared at her again...

And I was afraid to admit that Lilith wasn't that kind of person.

If someone else had told me this, I might have doubted them.

But not Lilith.

My chest twisted painfully at the realization that she might be right.

My legs weakened beneath me.

I gripped my chest tightly and stumbled, but thankfully Lilith reached me before I could hit the floor. She held my arms and guided me back to the sofa, which now felt like shards of broken glass pricking against my skin.

At first...

Silence.

Suffocating silence.

And then the memories of everything began unfolding from the very beginning.

Just one night.

One drunken encounter on the night I discovered that my ex-wife had been sleeping around the palace was all I had shared with Ariadne before she announced her pregnancy.

Yeah...

I had thought it was strange that she got pregnant when practically she had been the one doing everything, but I didn't think too deeply about it. I convinced myself it was the Goddess' way of consoling me for Reika's betrayal.

Because of that pregnancy, I had dethroned my ex-wife, married Ariadne, and Reika had even died.

Then came the memories of my little girl.

Reika...

How she had brought so much joy and fulfillment into my life since the day she was born.

How she smiled so brightly in my arms.

How, just this morning, she finally called me father after months of me saying it to her and wishing it would be the first word she ever spoke.

And she did...

I had practically made my little princess the center of my world.

She was the only reason the guilt of everything I did to Reika hadn't consumed me completely.

She was the one practically holding me together.

But...

She wasn't mine?

I slapped my palms over my throbbing head and let out a pain-filled guttural growl that rattled against the walls as the agony consumed me completely.