Claimed By My Husband's Enemy novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Chapter 57

(El)

Katrice’s jaw slacked. When the Alpha King’s wolf made a sound that almost made me jump from fear and shock at the same time, the rest followed. Including the butler behind him and the servants. Their wolves were all bellowing at grandma who looked at me like I was an intruder.

Her hands clenched into fists before she slowly lowered her head for me. Her shaky voice reeked of insincerity as she whispered, “I, Katrice from the House of Willers, greet you and officially welcome you to the realm, princess Elianna.”

“Are you disrespecting the princess? No one here heard you properly. Say it again, Katrice. Louder,” the Alpha King commanded as if he had a secret vendetta to the woman he almost paired up with my mate. I frowned at him. He frowned back.

Katrice froze when the bellowing around us became thunderous. She took another deep breath before repeating her greeting in a louder voice. Only then did the bellowing stop. The Alpha King threw a look at me as Katrice’s head remained lowered. She was sweating despite the cold weather.

“At times like this, you can respond to your subordinate’s greeting, princess, and tell her to be at ease. Although if you wish to punish her by laying her hand on a royalty and speaking to you discourteously, you can let her bow for the rest of the day… which I believe she rightfully deserved.”

Katrice sobbed as if His Majesty had stabbed her.

Then again, he had a point. Katrice’s sense of entitlement kept reaching new levels each time we saw each other. People like her were only nice and courteous to the ones above her and terrible to those below her. If I didn’t happen to become the King’s niece, even if I was Creed’s mate, she would try doing everything in her power to humiliate me.

Still, I found myself saying, “At ease.”

When I saw her nearly stagger, I was convinced I made the right choice.

“You should thank the princess for her generosity. If it was me, I would let you kneel under the blazing sun for hours. I may be your godfather, but I would not tolerate such acts against my own blood. Remember that, Katrice.”

“Y-yes, your majesty. I apologize. And… t-thank you, your highness.”

“You may go,” the King answered before focusing his attention on me. “What made you forgive her so soon?”

“With her age, she’s technically my grandma. What if her back hurts if I let her stay in that position longer?”

I was sure she heard me. I saw her knuckles turning white before she ran away.

“A grandma?” the King repeated incredulously. “If you call her that, then what about Creed? And what about me?”

“Creed’s a grandpa.” A smile finally curved my lips after the serious conversation I just had with him about my biological father. It was an impossible task not to smile at the thought of him and his reactions each time I’d call him ‘ancient’ and then he would proceed on showing me how wrong I was on the bed. “And you, your majesty, are a great, great grandpa.”

The man behind the King restrained his laughter by clearing his throat, earning him a glare from the very man he served.

“You must be feeling better now judging by how you are offending people left and right,” he answered, although there was a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Back in the old days, Riodes also used our age gap to tease me. You are a female version of him although after meeting you twice, his unruly personality turned out to be mellow compared to yous, seeing as how you brazenly called me a grandpa.”

“A great grandpa,” I corrected, his eyes narrowing instantly. “And I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” I added in a hurry.

15:50 Fri, Jan 9

Chapter 37

He sighed and glanced at the butler. “Remind me to thank Creed later for saving my niece each time her mouth would land her in trouble. It looks like I owe him a lot for her life”

“You certainly do, your majesty,” the butler replied with a smile.

“Practice calling me an uncle from now on, Elianna. With or without an audience, you are allowed to call me that Everyone around here is too formal with me. Even my own child calls me ‘His Majesty. It’s the same with my granddaughter With your personality, I expect you to bend the rules.”

“With pleasure, uncle.”

The King’s lips parted. And so did the others. And then he laughed, which seemed to surprise the servants like this was a very rare sight.

“Creed is right. Your level of adaptability is very commendable.”

“Thank you for the compliment, uncle.”

He looked quite pleased until his gaze landed onto the paintings on the wall, from his brother’s portrait to his wife, and his daughter who all passed away. His sadness returned in full force, mirroring mine.

His voice lacked life when he spoke again. “I told the butler to bring you some of your father’s most treasured possessions.” Said butler motioned to the treasure box he was holding. “He will take it to your car outside. I will see you very soon. Elianna. Thank you for coming and have a nice day.”

He signaled the servants to leave after bowing to us. The butler had gone outside and so were the servants who returned to their respective posts while he started walking away, each step was sad and heavy.

“Your majesty, I mean, uncle, please wait.”

He paused but did not look back. “What is it?”

I cleared my throat. “Would you… like a hug?”

“No. I am alright,” he answered in a clipped voice. “A king does not need sympathy.”

“Maybe the king doesn’t. I was just thinking that maybe my uncle needs it.”

“No.”

I didn’t push anymore after being rejected twice. I was supposed to be walking in the opposite direction, but I remained looking at the back of a relative I just found today. Maybe I was the one who needed that hug the most.

After a few minutes, all of a sudden, he stopped walking. And then slowly, he turned to me. I saw the look in his eyes that I knew was the same as mine. His eyes were red from the tears he was holding back.

“Does the offer still stand?”

I nodded, smiling. “Anytime, uncle.”

The King spread his arms, and I ran to him, to the closest version of an embrace I could get from my father.

He tenderly patted my back. “My brother would have loved to get to know you. He would have loved you.”

I almost broke down, but I held it in. Like he did. “Thank you for saying that, uncle.”

When I left the castle, I found Creed waiting beside our car outside. The knot forming in the pit of my stomach instantly loosened at the sight of him. This time, I didn’t restrain the tears. He met me halfway and opened his arms.

15:51 Fri, Jan 9