The Last Lycan King Is My Slave novel Chapter 202

Illusion or Reality?

Illusion or Reality?

+SIDORA

I held my breath and covered every inch of my body with the thin layer of magic that kept others from seeing me.

I just didn’t know if that trick would be enough against a woman with that much power.

I even saw her take a step toward the bookcase, her eyes fixed on it as if she could see straight through the wood.

I didn’t dare make a sound. I could only wait and hope she wouldn’t find me.

I hoped the mysterious magic woven throughout the entire secret chamber would hide me from anyone outside as well “Matriarch, is something wrong?” the warrior asked.

The Matriarch frowned even harder.

“No. I thought I sensed something strange inside this bookcase, but I must’ve imagined it,” she finally said.

Then she slowly walked away, suspicion still in her eyes.

I listened to their footsteps fade, followed by the sound of a door closing.

Even then, I waited a little longer to make sure they weren’t setting a trap for me.

I couldn’t see much through the narrow crack.

I sent my aura outward and couldn’t sense the Matriarch nearby, although this whole situation felt far too strange. Still, I couldn’t spend the night inside a secret passage.

I found another marking carved into the wall and pressed Sonya’s pommel against it until I heard the mechanism click. Just as it had in the other study, the bookcase slid aside, opening into a small antechamber.

The furniture was more luxurious, though somewhat old.

A fire burned in the fireplace, and there were two doors. One led farther inside.

The other was the one the Matriarch had walked through.

That had to be my way out, but I stayed alert. Something in the air made me feel like I wasn’t alone.

The bookcase began sliding shut behind me with a soft whisper, leaving me no choice but to move forward.

I tightened my grip on my sword, the journal clutched in my other hand.

Narrowing my eyes, I moved toward the exit one step at a time, expecting that woman to come through the door at any moment and having no idea what excuse I could possibly give her.

I even pressed my ear against the wooden panel while my magic searched the space beyond it.

Nothing. I couldn’t hear a sound.

I was about to let out a relieved breath when a hand suddenly closed around my wrist.

I hadn’t even realized someone was behind me. I spun around and raised my sword, pointing the tip straight at their throat

‘My, what a rude little troublemaker you’ve become….”

froze when I realized the hand around my wrist belonged to a little old woman.

She was hunched over and thin, with milky white eyes as though she couldn’t see.

Her gray hair fell in messy waves around her face.

‘I… I’m sorry….”

I immediately tried to lower my sword, but she grabbed the blade by its edge with one wrinkled hand.

“Careful, Grandma…” I gasped.

I knew Sonya’s temper. She didn’t let anyone touch her. She always attacked immediately, but once again, my jaw nearly dropped

The old woman’s fingers stroked the cold blade almost affectionately without cutting themselves.

Worse, my sword was vibrating, and certainly not with hostility.

“Such a fine sword. It’s been so long since you brought her with you… Valezka.”

When she said that name, her clouded gaze rose to mine, and I had the unsettling feeling she could see straight into my soul.

Illusion or Reality?

Was she really blind?

niful I’m not Valezka, ma’am… and I really have to go….

“Don’t talk nonsense. You have Sonya, and you have that old book you were always writing in. How could you not be Valezka? I may have gotten old, but I’m not stupid. Come here….”

She pulled me by the arm and led me into the inner room she’d come from.

If I thought things were strange before, they only got worse.

I looked back at the exit.

Staying here meant an even greater risk of getting caught, but I swear I couldn’t break free from that old woman’s grip.

Had I stumbled across another woman pretending to be old?

“Did you bring me my tofu sweets?” she asked expectantly as she made me sit in an armchair in front of the enormous fireplace in her bedroom.

“I… no, I’m sorry….” I played along. What else could I do?

“You’re a bad girl. You never bring me anything anymore, and you spend all day running after that savage…. Pfft. You have terrible taste. Wait, I have something around here….”

She shuffled over to the enormous unmade bed and began rummaging through a nightstand.

Savage? Who was she talking about?

I thought… maybe she wasn’t quite right in the head. I kept glancing around the room, especially toward the main door.

“It has to be here somewhere. Helen keeps moving everything around. Nothing’s ever where I want it… ugh……”

I thought Helen was the Silvered Matriarch’s name.

“Do you know why my… why my mate keeps losing control?”

I didn’t know why, but the question slipped out of my mouth.

She stiffened and stopped rummaging for a moment, letting out a sigh.

Then she continued searching in silence, as if she didn’t want to answer.

Did she truly believe I was the former owner of my sword?

“I already told you I can’t help him, Valezka. No one can. You heed to stop obsessing over this,” she finally replied as she

came back over to me.

She sat in the armchair across from mine.

“You can’t defeat the Goddess, child. You’re only hurting yourself…. I told you I could help you sever the mate bond….”

“No, no….” I shook my head immediately.

I wasn’t even Valezka, but the desperation that tore through me at the mere thought was too much.

“He… he calms down when he’s with me,” I whispered, thinking of Blaze and my own problem.

“He does now, Valezka, but the time will come when he won’t recognize you either. I’ve seen it with rhy own eyes…. He’ll destroy you, and that will finally drive him insane.”

Her words were stern, and an uncomfortable silence settled between us.

I couldn’t tell whether it was the influence of the sword still in my hand, as though the emotions and memories trapped inside her spirit were flowing into me.

But I felt as if I’d slipped into Valezka’s skin. I was just as desperate as she had been.

“I just want to be with him forever,” I murmured, my eyes filling with tears as I poured my heart out to a strange woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

Her expression softened. She reached over and patted the hand resting on the journal in my lap.

“I know, and every day I pray for the Goddess to send me the answer. Here.”

She turned her palm up, revealing something red gleaming in her hand.

It was a tiny teardrop-shaped pendant, as red as a ruby and seemingly made of blood.

“Put it on the chain around your neck and keep it safe. Whenever you need to find me, all you have to do is break it. I know you’ll go off with him again….”

She sighed as she pressed the cold pendant into my hand.

Illusion or Reality?

“I won’t live forever, so don’t forget your old teacher. Take this too.”

She fummaged through the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a small, round metal packet.

“This can keep him under control for a little while if he loses his mind again and doesn’t recognize you. But Valezka….

I looked straight into her shadowed eyes.

“Don’t let them bring me your corpse. Don’t put me through that.”

I frowned and remained silent, unable to tell her…

Valezka was already dead.

Who knew how long it had been? A long time, I was sure.

That old woman was definitely hallucinating or wasn’t quite right in the head.

“I’ll be fine,” I said softly as I took the gifts she’d given me and tucked them away safely.

“Good. Help me to bed. It’s time for my meditation, and Helen will come bother me later,” she continued, rambling incoherently.

I settled her into bed, still wanting to ask her so many things, but she no longer seemed to hear me.

“Light the incense…” she murmured, closing her eyes.

I went over to the nightstand to rekindle the flame beneath the incense, and that was when I saw it…

Dream dust.

A generous amount of it was smoldering in an incense burner, giving off a strange haze that was starting to affect even me.

Maybe that was why I’d gotten pulled into the illusion that I was Valezka too. I’d almost fallen for it again.

I immediately covered my nose, but I couldn’t put out the flame. The room was already thick with smoke.

Alarmed, I looked toward the bed, but the old woman had already slipped into some kind of trance.

“Goddess… come to this humble doe. Show me how to heal my disciples’ hearts… have mercy on them… they’re good girls.

She kept mumbling more and more nonsense while I grew dizzy and strange shadows moved through every corner of the

room.

had to get out of there before I started hallucinating again,

I gave the old woman one last look before finally heading for the exit, searching for the corridor that would lead me back to my chambers.

Was she using dream dust to communicate with the Goddess? What kind of nonsense was that?

She was clearly trapped in a constant fantasy, no longer able to separate reality from lies.

Who was keeping her in that state?… Herself or the Matriarch?… But why? And who was that old woman really?

More questions with no answers. More paths leading nowhere.

Right then, all that mattered was getting out of the forbidden wing safely, and luckily, I made it.

(‘

didn’t cross paths with the Matriarch or any of her sentinels, but when I reached the garden outside my chambers, I found the worst sight of all.

Blaze was leaning against a column on the second floor, with Marion practically on top of him.

A Voyeur with Wicked Intcolions