Beast King'S Crippled Mate novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: An Unjust King

"Rest with you?" Gale raised his brow. "Is that an invitation?"

"Ah—N-no, I-I just thought that you need rest. Since you... uhm... you just went to war... or something, I don’t know much..." Swan stammered as she lowered her head bashfully. She fiddled with her fingers, trying to tell Gale to rest. "Y-you might get sick if you are too tired."

"I’m not a weak human. I cannot get sick, nor can I physically tire myself," Gale said.

He wasn’t lying. Truthfully, he didn’t need sleep nor would he fall ill to any disease. It was just the psychological pressure and stress that made him long for a comfortable rest, just so he wouldn’t snap at anyone on sight. "But I’ll take your offer."

Gale sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around Swan’s waist to pull her deeper into his embrace.

Swan was so small compared to him, and it roused the protective feeling in his heart. He murmured, "I’m sorry, Swan."

"For what?" Swan asked in confusion. "You... you have been very good to me."

"I failed to protect you today, and I still don’t know what truly happened at the lake," Gale muttered. "I should’ve killed Rock for attacking you, but you are unharmed, so I don’t have the heart to kill him for a sin he had yet to commit."

"P-please don’t hurt him."

"Why not? He almost hurt you."

"But he doesn’t mean it," Swan replied. "I-I think he’s not being himself at the lake. He was so kind to me before."

Gale’s lips thinned. He wondered if Swan realized that Rock had been lusting over her the whole time, mostly because she wore a dress that exposed half of her breasts.

It might be the norm in Holy Achate, but for a young wolf like Rock, he might find her body very enticing.

Combined with how Jade poisoned his mind into thinking that he was in love with Swan, it was possible that Rock simply lost control over himself, though very unlikely, knowing that Swan was already marked.

"It doesn’t matter whether you think he was kind to you or not. I still have to keep him in prison for attempting to harm you," Gale stated calmly, but firmly.

"Will he ever be allowed to leave?" Swan asked. "Uhm... he is a young man. I don’t want his life to be ruined because of this..."

Gale had no intention of letting Rock out of that dungeon for now, so he replied, "He should stay imprisoned. We, wolf beastmen, have twice the lifespan of a human. You don’t need to worry about him."

Swan still felt it wasn’t fair for Rock. For once, she was also imprisoned inside her shabby room in the Holy Achate Palace since she was young, only allowed to leave to get something to eat in the kitchen.

It was a torture that she didn’t want anyone else to suffer, especially when that person didn’t hurt her at all.

"But, Rock—"

"Stop talking about him," Gale interrupted her as he started to get fed up. "I know you have a good opinion about him, but he deserves to rot in that dungeon, at least for now."

...

Facing the idea that someone would suffer the same fate as her—being unjustly imprisoned, Swan was unwilling to back down now, and Gale saw it through her eyes.

Even though she had only known Rock for a day, he treated her kindly and with respect. He also had an important position in this kingdom as Gale’s beta, or the equivalent of a knight commander.

She thought it was only fair for a kind person with an important position to trade places with her, a useless cripple.

Swan had a good intention, but Gale took it differently.

He gritted his teeth as he put her on the bed and got up.

"Are you naive or just dumb? Why would I let my mate be stuck in a prison?!" Gale yelled at her. He wasn’t angry, but he was frustrated and also a little jealous because Swan defended Rock a bit too much for his liking.

"I-I’m just doing what I think is right..." Swan murmured.

Yes, she was doing what she thought was right. She didn’t mind being sacrificed to cure Gale’s curse, and she also didn’t mind being imprisoned for Rock’s freedom.

She genuinely didn’t see any problem with it.

Unfortunately, the more she reasoned, the angrier he got. He gritted his teeth even more, to the point of almost releasing the aura that would suffocate Swan.

"You are my mate, Swan. Why do you keep taking his side?" Gale reminded.

"I-I’m not taking anyone’s side. I just don’t want you to be an unjust king..." Swan tried to reason with him. She remembered her king father who ignored her completely. Even when Aria pushed her from the second floor and caused her to be a cripple, he still didn’t bat an eye.