Chapter 3: Evelyn: Awakening the Forgotten Wolf

Evelyn~ Mate? I didn’t even have the slightest thought of getting one. Beside that, who the hell was this king? I hadn’t even seen him. Or ... had I? Was it the man I ran into earlier? The one with dark hair and those strange golden eyes? I wasn’t sure. Everything had happened so fast. As I was still wondering about it, I heard the maids laughing and mocking me, as if I couldn’t hear every single word they said. Unfortunately, I could. I just chose not to speak because what was the point? For half a century, I’ve tried to explain things I never did, begged people not to burn me, not to stab me, not to throw me into rivers like a cursed object. But they never listened. My voice always sounded like a meaningless wind in their ears. So now, I decided to stay silent as long as I need to. Instead of saying anything, I closed my eyes and focused on the scent of the soap. It smelled sweet, maybe like flowers? I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t used things like this in years after all. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I simply couldn’t afford them. I leaned forward a little, watching the bubbles float into the air each time the maids scrubbed my skin. I was curious, so I opened my mouth just a bit and stuck out my tongue to try one. I frowned right away. The bubbles tasted bitter, nothing like their sweet scent. What a scam. Smack! A slap suddenly landed on my hand. "Don’t eat that!" the maid snapped. "Are you trying to poison yourself?" I blinked at her slowly. Well, it wouldn’t be the worst way to die. Soap didn’t sound so bad compared to fire or drowning after all. But I didn’t say a word. I just leaned back again, letting them continue their work. Let them wash me, mock me, guess what I was, because if they knew the truth, If they knew I couldn’t die, they’d do more than just scrub me. "How ... how can she look like this now?" One of the maids whispered, staring at me in disbelief once they had scrubbed the last trace of dirt from my skin and rinsed the grime from my hair. They all froze, their hands suspended in mid-air, as if they were seeing a rare gem right in front of them. Once the dirt was gone, they could finally see my pale skin clearly. Because of my cursed healing ability, my skin had always been unnaturally smooth, almost like porcelain. It stood out in contrast to my hair, which hung in damp waves down my back, dark as midnight, like strands of polished ebony. "She ... she’s beautiful," one of them murmured, seemingly without realizing it. "I take back everything I said! Now I understand, His Majesty really does have good eyes!" another maid added quickly. I frowned slightly. They were looking at me like I was some object on display. Who cared if the king had "good eyes"? If he ever dared to look at me in the wrong way, I’d claw his eyes out before he even had the chance to blink. After they finished bathing me, the maids dressed me in a dark blue gown. It was soft and elegant, too delicate for someone like me. I’d spent most of my life wearing rough, scratchy fabrics that made my skin bleed. Not that it ever mattered. My skin always healed anyway, so the scratches had never left any scars. Once I was fully dressed, the maids looked me over, whispering behind their hands again. Then, one of them stepped forward and said, "His Majesty is waiting for you." I kept my face blank and didn’t respond to their words, like a mannequin displayed in a shop window. They led me through the palace halls, bringing me to a room that looked like a private room for the royal family. My eyes instantly found him, the man I had run into before I blacked out. He stood by the window, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked completely at ease, but the moment he saw me, he straightened up immediately. Those golden eyes. My heart started pounding again the second I saw them. What the hell was wrong with me? "He’s ours." I froze when I heard a strange voice in my head. What was that? It sounded like a woman, but soft and growly at the same time. The maids had already left the room, and there was no way the man in front of me had a voice like that. "The one with golden eyes. He’s our mate." Ugh. Forget him for a second, I just wanted to know who the hell was talking to me! "Stop pretending you don’t know me. I’ve been asleep for too long. You woke me up when you touched him." Sleeping? What was she even talking about? The more I thought about it, the more my head started to ache. ’What are you?’ I whispered in my mind, unsure if I was thinking or actually speaking. "I’m you," the voice replied. "The part you’ve been ignoring. Your wolf." My wolf? That had to be a joke. Last I checked, I was one of the failed ones. A broken version of what a werewolf was supposed to be. I didn’t have a wolf, let alone the ability to shift into one. But honestly, I never really cared. Being cursed with immortality was already more than enough. I didn’t need one more supernatural mess to add to my list of problems. "I’ve been locked deep inside you all this time," she continued. "Someone sealed me away. But the moment you touched him, the lock broke ... and I finally woke up." I wrinkled my nose. Great. Just what I needed, another problem. This wolf of mine was already giving me a headache, and she’d barely been awake for five minutes. Before I could say or think anything else, a voice snapped me out of it. "Why are you just standing there?" The man in front of me was watching, his golden eyes narrowing slightly. Apparently, I’d been ignoring him for too long. But I kept my mouth sealed, watching him as he walked toward me. He stopped just a few steps away, tilting his head slightly as he observed me from head to toe. "Are you mute?"