Chapter 5 5

Chapter 5

Layla

...

The entire room fell silent in an instant.

It was the kind of silence that pressed down on you, heavy and suffocating. I found myself holding my breath without realizing it, my eyes locked onto the Lycan King’s piercing blue gaze. Just looking at him made my chest tighten, as if my heart were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

He stared back at me with the same expression—cold, distant… and faintly disdainful.

No.

I couldn’t look weak. I couldn’t let him see even a trace of fear.

If I wanted to survive in this world, if I wanted to stand under his protection, then I had to prove that I was not someone who could be easily crushed.

I clenched my hands tightly, forcing myself to breathe slowly, steadying the tremor threatening to take over my body.

Alexander Hagard Raizel was standing right in front of me now.

Beside him, Alpha Hendry Gargan remained slightly bowed, though the confusion on his face was impossible to hide.

I let a soft smile form on my lips and lifted my gaze to meet the Lycan King’s eyes.

“Your Majesty… we meet again. Please forgive me for earlier. I was too surprised at the time to greet you properly.”

My voice came out gentle, controlled.

I was trying to make him understand—that when we met this morning, I truly hadn’t known who he was.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Hendry frown, lifting his head as if expecting an explanation from me.

I ignored him.

Right now, only one person mattered.

In a world filled with monsters and magic, the only one who could truly protect me… was the man standing in front of me.

“Hm.”

Alexander’s gaze lingered on my face, studying me in silence before slowly traveling downward, taking in my entire appearance as if he were assessing something of interest.

Then, without warning, he stepped closer.

The distance between us vanished completely.

Too close.

Close enough for me to feel the warmth of his breath against my skin.

A faint, sharp inhale caught in my throat, but I forced myself to stay still, refusing to step back.

Around us, whispers began to spread. The wolves and half-wolves gathered there stared openly, their eyes filled with curiosity and speculation as they watched how close we stood.

Without breaking eye contact, he spoke.

“Alpha Hendry Gargan.”

Hendry immediately straightened and stepped forward, lowering his head respectfully. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The girl standing before me,” Alexander continued calmly, “I hear she is your fiancée… and that she has just called off your engagement.” His tone was even, almost casual.

“Is that correct?” He was speaking to Hendry. But his eyes never left mine.

The pressure became unbearable.

Standing this close to him felt suffocating, as though his presence alone was draining the strength from my body. And those eyes—calm, sharp, unreadable—pinned me in place, making it impossible to look away.

“Y-yes… Your Majesty…” Hendry answered, his voice unsteady as he glanced in my direction.

But I didn’t return his look.

My attention remained fixed entirely on Alexander.

Of course he already knew.

A Lycan King stood above all werewolves—not only in strength, but in senses. His hearing alone would have been enough to catch everything that had happened here earlier.

“Hm…” His gaze shifted slightly, studying my face again… before slowly lowering to my lips, as if something there had caught his interest.

A faint smile curved his own.

“Then I’ll take her.”

The words were spoken lightly.

Effortlessly.

“This girl will be my slave.”

Silence.

The kind of silence that felt like it could crush bone.

My mind went blank.

A princess… Reduced to a slave?

How could that even be possible?

Yet I wasn’t the only one shaken.

Hendry’s eyes widened, his expression turning rigid with disbelief as he looked at Alexander.

“Your Majesty, even if she wishes to end the engagement, it has not been officially annulled. And she is the princess of the Erland Noir Kingdom, and—”

“I want her.” Alexander cut him off.

His voice remained calm, but there was something absolute in it—something that allowed no argument.

“Do you still dare to stand in my way?”

That calmness was far more terrifying than anger.

“And that disgusting human…” he continued, his tone dropping, turning colder with each word, “has allied himself with the Underworld. My subordinate died because of him… but his message still reached me.”

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

“He will pay for that.” His gaze sharpened slightly. "And his daughter…”

For a brief moment, his eyes darkened as they remained fixed on me. “…will kneel beneath my feet.”

“As a symbol—of what happens to humans who dare provoke me.”

The room erupted into murmurs.

The hostility was immediate.

Every gaze turned toward me, filled with disgust, as if I were something vile, , something unworthy of even standing among them.

Even though the one who had committed those sins… was Layla Swan’s father.

“I knew it. Humans are greedy.”

“They betray their own promises without hesitation.”

“Disgusting creatures…”

Their whispers spread like poison, cutting into me from every direction.

But none of that mattered.

Not their hatred, not their judgment.

The only thing that mattered now… was what would happen to me after this.

I froze, panic written all over my face.

Layla Swan’s father had killed the wolf representative sent to the human kingdom of Erland Noir.

That wasn’t supposed to happen—at least, not yet.

In the original story, the conflict between humans and werewolves spiraled out of control after Layla Swan’s death.

But I was still alive.

I was Layla Swan in this world.

So what went wrong?

Why had the story changed this far… this fast?

My chest rose and fell unevenly, my face turning pale as dread crept in—but before I could even process it, the royal guards had already grabbed me.

Rough hands seized my arms.

Cold metal snapped around my wrists.

Chains.

I couldn’t hear anything properly anymore.

The world blurred.

Voices overlapped, distant and distorted, as several wolves—high-ranking ones—began throwing whatever they could grab at me.

“Kill that human now!”

“Bastard!”

“Humans are trash! They can’t be trusted!”

Their voices rang in my ears, muffled, echoing strangely as my breathing grew tighter and tighter.

My vision swayed.

My hands—chained.

The noise, the insults, the things thrown at me...

They felt… familiar.

Too familiar.

As if...

As if this had happened before.

What… is this?

My breath came out ragged, my chest burning as though my lungs were on fire.

My heart ached.

No! throbbed.

It hurt so much I could barely breathe.

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I stared at my bound hands, everything around me still flickering, unstable.

“Aa…”

A weak sound escaped me as I shook my head, trying to clear it. My eyes burned, red from the tears that wouldn’t stop falling.

Their voices—those curses—kept echoing.

Why?

Why does this feel familiar?

What is this…?

Why does my heart hurt this much?

I…

Why does it feel like I’m suffering?

What is this feeling?

Is this… even mine?

A sharp ringing filled my ears, growing louder and louder as my heart began to pound uncontrollably.

Everything overlapped—voices, memories, pain...

And then...

Silence.

Darkness swallowed me whole.

My body gave out, collapsing to the ground, chains clinking faintly against the floor.

The last thing I saw, was Rina rushing toward me, trying to shield me from the barrage… and those blue eyes.

The Lycan King.

Cold. Arrogant. Watching.

...

“Save him…”

“If you fail this time, then—”

Riiiing!

A sharp ringing pierced through my ears, dragging me out of the darkness.

My eyes snapped open.

My breath came out heavy, uneven, as though I had just lost something—something I should have never lost in the first place.

“Ah…!”

I bit down on my lower lip, unable to understand why my chest hurt so much.

Why tears were still falling—even after I’d already woken up.

Everything felt wrong.

Too strange and too painful.

I wasn’t weak.

I had never been weak. But this... This made me feel completely helpless.

“Hm… so you’re awake, my slave?”

The voice was familiar.

My vision, still blurred by tears, slowly cleared, and reality came crashing back.

My hands were still chained.

My dress was the same… but now dirty, disheveled.

I looked down at myself.

I looked pathetic.

But that wasn’t what shocked me the most.

I wasn’t anywhere I recognized.

And the Lycan King—the man I thought might protect me was sitting before me, on a grand chair, watching me like I was nothing more than something he owned.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

That feeling again.

The overwhelming pressure of his presence made my heart pound violently as I slowly lifted my head to look at him.

Behind him, through the tall windows, the sky had already darkened.

The night only made his blue eyes sharper, glowing like a predator in the dark. “Come here,” he said calmly, resting his chin against his hand as he looked down at me.

“Crawl to my feet.”

My breath caught.

“I need to trample your pride… humiliate you properly—before I send your corpse back to your father.”

His tone remained steady.

Unhurried.

As if what he said was nothing more than a simple decision.

I went still.

He wasn’t joking.

I knew that.

In my world, I had read enough history to know what happened during war,

Captured women weren’t spared.

They were used and raped.

Broken... Discarded... And then killed.

And I was certain, this was exactly what awaited me.

This was why Alexander had chained me.

Why he brought me here.

My throat tightened as I swallowed hard.

No.

I couldn’t let that happen, I had to do something.

Anything.

I had to negotiate before it was too late.

But just as I was about to speak...

“Sshh…” He rose to his feet, silencing me with a single sound.

“Don’t speak to me,” he said calmly as he stepped closer, stopping right in front of me. “You’re a slave. You don’t have the right to speak.”

His tone was steady—almost gentle—but the authority behind it was absolute.

Then his hand tightened around the chain.

Before I could react, he yanked it.

My body lurched forward as I was dragged along, stumbling helplessly after him.

“ugh…!” Pain shot through me instantly.

My wrists burned where the metal cut into my skin, already raw—already bleeding. My legs trembled as I struggled to keep up, barely able to stay on my feet as he pulled me without mercy.

But I didn’t scream.

I didn’t dare.

Because somewhere deep inside, I knew, if I did, he might kill me right then and there.

Still, he didn’t slow down.

He dragged me all the way to the balcony.

The moment my body hit the cold stone floor, a sharp gust of wind greeted me, biting against my skin. The railing there was wide and hollow, the gaps large enough that a single push, would be enough to send me falling.

My breath caught.

Once again, I stood at the edge of death.

My eyes drifted downward.

Below us stretched a vast, dense forest, cloaked in darkness. This place was high—far too high—and perched right at the edge of a steep cliff. The forest beneath looked endless, black and suffocating, sending a chill straight through my veins.

“I can feel them,” he said lightly.

His voice was almost casual, as though he were discussing something trivial.

“There are several Titans hiding in that forest below. I can smell their blood from here.”

“Do you know what makes it interesting?”

He was toying with me.

Like my life meant nothing.

I said nothing.

The fear in my chest spread slowly, swallowing me whole. Every plan I had—every thought of negotiating, of escaping—crumbled as if they had never existed.

Because now it felt like something far worse was at play.

Something I couldn’t escape... A fate I was meant to suffer.

The strange dreams, the overwhelming sense of déjà vu, the feeling that all of this had already happened... It froze me in place.

Suddenly, the chain tightened again.

I gasped as the pull forced me to lift my head.

Pain flared sharply in my wrists as the wounds tore open further. My appearance must have been miserable—pathetic—as I looked up at him again.

Those blue eyes.

Sharp. Unforgiving.

“Even now, you dare not answer me?” he said coldly. “How bold… for something so worthless.”

His grip on the chain tightened slightly.

“Then I’ll tell you something.” His lips curved faintly. "I don’t know why… but those Titans can’t ignore your blood.”

My breath hitched.

“They’re competing to hunt you.”

A chill ran through me.

“Even with me standing here, they could barely restrain themselves from tearing you apart—right inside my palace.”

My heart slammed violently against my chest.

“Should I throw you down there?” he continued, his voice still calm. “Let them devour you piece by piece… and send a strand of your hair to your father as proof?”

His smile was faint, but his eyes were filled with something far darker.

Rage.

And I couldn’t do anything.

My body still ached, weak and hollow, unable to respond the way I wanted.

And yet… This feeling again.

That strange, suffocating familiarity.

What is happening?

Why can’t I change anything?

Why does this all feel like it’s happened before?

My chest tightened painfully.

“Tell me, Your Majesty… what is happening to me?” My voice trembled as the words spilled out. “Why am I suffering like this? Why does my heart hurt so much—more than when I died…?” My breathing grew uneven. “Have I… gone mad?”

I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

The pain—this unbearable, hollow ache in my chest—was too much.

For a brief moment, I saw it...

confusion.

A flicker of something unfamiliar crossing his expression. His jaw tightened, irritation quickly replacing it, as if my words had crossed a line.

“A shameless slave,” he muttered coldly. “Pretending to be insane just to escape me…”

The chain jerked again.

My body was forced upright, even though I had no strength left to stand.

He dragged me away from the balcony without mercy and threw me onto the bed.

The impact knocked the air from my lungs.

And then...

rip.

The sound of fabric tearing echoed sharply in the room.

My eyes widened.

“Let’s see if you’ll still pretend to be mad…” he murmured, his voice low, dangerous, right against my ear. “…when I take you like a whore, slave.”

His words sent a chill down my spine.

And then...