"What I mean by coincidence? Don't you know yet? Can't you think of any coincidence that doubts every single thing in your life?" Luc asked darkly.
"Coincidence?" I mumbled. "A coincidence..."
"Get it?"
"No..."
"Think," he said. "You know it too."
I kind of abhorred my mind for not getting it. Luc did not seem like he was going to give me an answer.
"Think about it after you go back," he said. "It all depends on how you will take it. And by the way, if anyone's behavior seems aberrant to you, don't forget to inform Demetrius. Not everyone wants well for you."
"I see..."
Luc escorted me back as well due to security reasons. I could not get what he told me off my mind. He was sure that I had black mana inside me. But more than that fact, I was more surprised and intrigued when he said that there was a huge coincidence.
"Your Highness, you got a bunch of letters again," Ruby said as soon as I went inside the room. Luc had already left. He said that he had things to do.
"Again?"
"They are more than twice of the last time," she said.
Since I was the queen, I was considered a very powerful person. A lot of noble families kept sending me letters, inviting me to tea parties, and so on. I could not just go there all of a sudden and besides, Dem said that it was better to reject them all. We did not need any connection with any noble families that much since Dem had already made enough connections with other power sources. So, it was alright for me not to go there.
"Ruby, untie my h-hair. It's giving me a... headache," I said as I sat down on the stool in front of the mirror.
"Was it too tight? I will remember to make it lose next time."
As she untied my hair and brushed it gently, I sighed. I tried to think about what Luc meant by that. It was hard to guess something that I did not have any idea of, at least, I thought so.
"Your Highness is famous among the knights as well," she said.
"Is that... so?"
"They were praising Your Highness a lot," she said. "And they were saying a lot of things..."
"... I see...," I muttered. "Anyway, there is something... I wanted to ask you."
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"By any chance... do you hate Luc?" I asked.
Since I told him that I would talk to Ruby about it, I could not just go back on my words. Besides, Ruby was not supposed to treat Luc like that for no reason at all.
"No... It's not like that..."
"You were rude to him... and I heard that you were even... glaring a-at him," I said. "Why?"
"I don't know. I just get really hyped up when he is near. And I don't know how to behave," she said awkwardly. "That's why... I am sorry, Your Highness. I won't do it anymore."
'Am I sensing a girl with her first-ever crush?'
"I see... But remember not to... be like t-that again. Luc is the m-master of... the magic tower. He deserves to be respected," I said.
I decided not to tell her anything since it was her job to recognize her feelings if she truly felt something romantic towards Luc. And Luc did not seem to understand as well. But it was amusing. I never thought that it was so much fun to see someone in love with a clueless person. I had no idea what it would feel like to be in love with someone like that. Perhaps it was amusing to watch, but kinda painful for the person in love since the other person could not recognize their feelings and always acted clueless. I would never know this as well since the person I was in love with fell in love with me first.
I had read in books that there were also people who acted kinda ignorant and rude with their partners. I always wondered why. Why would someone be like that with the ones they loved? If the person I loved were like that with me, perhaps I would break off my relationship. It never felt good to be ignored or being rude with.
"Ow, it hurts..."
"Oh, did I hurt Your Highness?" Ruby asked quickly. "I was just trying to remove the paint from Your Highness's fingers..."
"I got a paper cut...," I said.
"I will be careful then, Your Highness," she said.
Ruby prepared a hot bath for me tonight. I was surprised that I managed to go to the magic tower and return as well without falling down and now, I was even taking a bath. Even this simple thing felt like a dream. My throat hurt a lot less and my words almost did not stutter. I knew it was short-lived, yet I wanted to crave this normal life as much as possible.
"You can g-go now," I said. "I want to stay... in the bath for a while..."
"Will you be alright, Your Highness?"
"Yes, you can go."
I leaned behind and tried to relax, letting the hot water refresh my mind and body. "A coincidence..."
"What? A coincidence?" I suddenly jumped up as realization hit me. I knew now what Luc meant by that. I indeed knew what the coincidence was.
There were a lot of humans in my world. But everything happened to me. First of all, Evelyn, Demetrius's sister, ended up going right into the city where I was. In the whole world, why did she end up there? She could go anywhere. It was as if it was planned. Then Demetrius went there as well and he met me there. King Ford also went there to kill me after he found out that Demetrius took an interest in me. But he could not since Dem stopped him. I found Dem and treated his wounds. He fell for me that time and decided to make me his bride.
When I turned eighteen, as he wanted, he brought me here, in his world, and married me, making me his mate and the queen of Querencia. Then when he left for interrogation of the borders, I started having strange dreams. First of all, I found someone talking to me in my dream. But the other one was more different and kind of scary. It was Demetrius saying me scary stuff. I knew he was kind of obsessed with me and would do anything to keep me by his side. I also knew that he did not want me to know about these kinds of thoughts. But in that dream, he was saying those to me. I always felt like someone was trying to control my mind. That was why I asked Ezekiel whether it was possible for someone to control another person's mind. That was when I found out about dark mages.
Dark mages were different from normal mages since they had black mana inside them. They were born with it and they were the descendants of the black lord. With each passing generation, the amount of black mana decreased and thus, their power also decreased. But they were still more powerful than normal mages and Alphas.
Mages could detect manas and very powerful mages could detect black mana as well. So, I went to tell Luc that he should be with me for a few days so he could find out if there was a dark mage around me who might be truly controlling my thoughts. He said that there was surely a dark mage around since he detected black mana a few times before as well. And when he collected my blood, he noticed that I had black mana inside me as well.
That night, I fell sick. And I found out that I was pregnant. Since it was a werewolf's child, precisely saying, an Alpha's child, my life was in danger. There was a possibility that I could even die. I decided to keep it nonetheless. Dem found a doctor who could get me better, at least temporarily. And Luc said that if my power was awakened then, I would get better as well. And now, we were sure that I had black mana inside me.
And the most important fact was- having a dark mage by someone's side was one of the most powerful things to have. Could it all be a coincidence? Or had someone planned it all from before?
Why did it have to be me? If I was just a normal human with no power whatsoever, I would not doubt anything. But right now, I could help but think about Luc's words. Dem... I trusted him. But something was wrong, definitely wrong.
[What do you think? Is Demetrius lying? Well, he deceives people, but let's see if he is deceiving his wife as well....]