The Abandoned Luna's Journey to Power (by Emily Reed) novel Chapter 187

Chapter 187 The Source of Fear

Cindy’s POV:

Night fell, and we stopped at an inn in a small town.

Astra finally fell asleep in my arms.

Even in his dreams, his brow remained tightly knit.

I rose up as quietly as I could and picked the pen and paper up from the table.

During the day, I had asked him why he was so afraid of Prince Adam.

At the time, he hadn’t written anything. He had only shrunk back and shaken his head.

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But just before bed, while I was turned away making up the bed, he had secretly written a line on the paper and slipped it under the pillow.

I drew out the note and unfolded it in the moonlight.

There was only a single sentence, the handwriting trembling, steeped in terror

“Tall men … are very bad. They whipped me, kicked my stomach, and shoved my head into a water vat… I couldn’t breathe.”

A drop fell onto the paper.

Tears.

It felt as if my heart were being sawn back and forth with a dull blade.

A water vat. Suffocation. What kind of despair was that?

For a child, tall, strong male werewolves over the past three years hadn’t represented protection, but violence, abuse, and death.

Prince Adam was tall and powerfully built. A top-tier Alpha, carrying the lethal aura of the battlefield.

In Astra’s eyes, he was no different from the traffickers and thugs who had tormented him.

To him, Prince Adam was a demon who might turn violent at any moment.

I took the note and stepped out of the room.

The man was standing by the window at the end of the corridor, smoking. When he saw me, he immediately stubbed out the cigarette.

“What is it?” He walked toward me quickly.

I didn’t speak. I simply handed him the note.

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Chapter 187 The Source of Fear

Prince Adam took it and glanced at it under the corridor light.

Silence.

A dead, crushing silence.

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I saw his fingers squeeze in tightly, crumpling the paper. His jaw clenched, and a flash of fury crossed his eyes, directed at the abusers. But that anger quickly dissolved into a deep helplessness and self-doubt.

“So that’s it…” Prince Adam gave a bitter laugh, his voice low and hoarse. “I kept wondering whether I’d done something wrong. Turns out … my very presence is a threat to him.”

He looked down at his broad hands, then touched his sharply defined face. “Do I really … look that much like a bad man?”

“No, Prince Adam.” I held his hand. “You’re a hero. It’s just that … he’s been hurt too deeply.”

Prince Adam closed his hand around mine and sighed. “We’ll take it slowly. I’ll try to rein myself in, and … try to smile at him more. I’m not very good with children, but I’ll learn.”

Watching a man who struck terror into enemies on the battlefield now tread so carefully for the sake of a child’s trauma left me overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Prince Adam.” I took a deep breath and looked at him seriously. “There’s something I must make clear to you now.”

“Go on.”

“Gp

“You’ve seen Astra’s condition. For at least the next two or three years, he can’t be separated from me. If we get married under these circumstances…” I paused, my tone firm beyond doubt. “I can’t leave him alone at Silverpeak Ducal Estate, and I can’t hand him over to someone else to raise. I will bring him with me. If we are to marry, then our home must also be his home.”

It was an almost harsh condition. Marrying into the royal family with an orphan from a former house—a child who might even be considered disabled-was unheard of among the nobility.

Yet Prince Adam didn’t hesitate for even a second.

“That’s only natural.”

He answered as if I were stating an obvious truth.

“Cindy, remember this. You’re marrying me, not royal protocol.” Prince Adam’s gaze burned with certainty. “Astra is your nephew, which makes him my nephew. From now on, I’ll treat him as my own. We’ll find the best physicians to detoxify him and heal his leg. If he wants to study, I’ll hire the finest tutors. If he wants to train in combat, I’ll teach him myself. And if all he wants is to live a carefree life, then I’ll support him for the rest of his days.

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