"That time, I had been treating injured soldiers all day and night. Because of that, I barely got any sleep. And I was tired all the time. One night, when I was washing myself in my tent, I heard something. It turned out that a man was hiding there. He was injured. But not enough to forget to hold a dagger under my throat," she said.
"It was..."
"Yes, it was Ajax. I did not know back then. I was kind of good at fighting, but I was no match for someone like him. So, I had to stand still. He threatened me that if I screamed, he would slit my throat. No one wants to die, right? But he was injured as well. Werewolves have a strong sense of smell, hearing. I could smell blood from him and it was pretty strong. I just had to track the smell to locate where the wound was and then I hit him there. He lost his composure and his hood fell. That's when I saw his face. And truth be told, I was mesmerized by his beauty. I would rather call him beautiful than handsome. Of course, he was handsome, but his face was truly beautiful," she said with a smile. "His wound was pretty big and right on his stomach. I don't know why I could not just ignore it. So even though he told me not to, I started to apply medicine on his wound. You know, when werewolves get hurt, if the wound is too deep, self-healing does not help entirely. That's why medicines need to be applied. He could not even do anything but listen to me since because of my hit, his wound was opened more. Thankfully, the wound wasn't made with the silver weapon."
Dem had told me before that silver was deadly for werewolves. If a werewolf's heart was pierced with silver, they would die right there.
"Werewolves fight with silver weapons along with the normal ones and if the silver ones pierce a werewolf's heart, death is bound to come. My son has surely told you this, hasn't he?"
"Ah, yes. He did," I replied.
"He doesn't seem to keep anything to himself when he is with you. So devoted to his wife... I am really proud of him," she chuckled. "Anyway, I treated his wounds. He was quite surprised. But as a doctor, I just couldn't leave him like that. That night, I fell asleep after treating him. I thought he was sleeping, so I closed my eyes for two minutes or something. But I fell asleep as I was too tired at that time. Later he told me that he was actually pretending to be asleep. The next morning, he was nowhere to be found. He had left that night. But I found myself on the bed and the blanket was properly wrapped around me. Well, it was strange. Like why the hell would he do something like that? And there was a ring on my ring finger. That was weird. I tried to take it off, but it was too tight. There was no time to worry about a mere ring when there was practically a war going on. The war lasted three more months. Querencia won the war and Mazazine was placed under Querencia when it came to power. Right after the war ended, I was taking a good break from everything. Honestly, the war had made me thinner and I was exhausted as if I was going to die. But peace did not last long. A week after the war ended, I heard that a man came to meet me and said that he knows me. And I came out of my room only to find out it was him. He smiled brightly at me and before I knew anything, he asked for my hand in marriage."
"Really? Father-in-law was really straightforward, it seems," I said. Demetrius was like that as well, but he was more cunning than that. He was not so patient, but he still waited for me so I would come of age. But as Mother was twenty at that time, there was no problem.
"He was. My uncle and aunt were dumbfounded and were asking me what the hell was going on. I mean, how was I supposed to know? You know what happened next?"
'Well, I didn't expect that. But I can't say I expected a slap and a free-kick.'
"When I woke up, he was still there. He somehow convinced my aunt and uncle, though my cousin was not so convinced. He said he came in secret. I had already reached an age to marry, but as I was mateless, there was no point in that. I did not want to marry someone I just met and moreover, he was someone of another kingdom. But I didn't want to burden my uncle's family anymore. They had done more than enough for me. I could simply accept his offer, but there was one more thing. What if he finds his mate? What will happen then? I told him that. That's when he revealed that he was the king of Querencia and also told me that the ring he gave me was the ring that the king of Querencia wears. And kings can choose their own mates. He took me with him and I really was shocked to see how huge the castle was. The servants, knights- everyone accepted me. Of course, there were some who did not. But that did not matter so much. After the wedding, I never thought that I would be so lucky to have him. Honestly, I thought he would have a harem and I accepted it since there was nothing I could do about it. I even asked him about it. He confessed to me that he was not that good for a man. He had slept with countless women and had a harem as well. But after he met me, he did not touch another woman and as soon as the war ended, he broke his harem, so I could be his only one. Well, he proved his loyalty to me and never touched another woman again. He supported me all the time. I don't know what made him fall for me, but I'm grateful that he did. Or how would I have such a wonderful husband, a great son, and a beautiful daughter? Then we had Demetrius and after him, Evelyn. I don't know why, but Demetrius was always distant. He never opened up to any of us and always stayed away from everyone. We were worried for him, but he never came to us. For some reason, he always kept everything to himself. Then he met Luc and opened up a bit to him. I was a bit relieved, but he actually never let anyone in. I think it's because of the cursed blood."
"Cursed blood?" I asked in shock.
"Yes," she nodded. "Black eyes are not normal. They are called cursed eyes. I was often ill-treated because of my eyes' color. It is said that those who are born with black eyes don't have the blessing of the moon goddess. And the blood of those who have black eyes is demonic in nature. You see, there is a difference between my eyes and his eyes."
"My eyes are less dark than his ones. I won't lie- but this is true. Black-eyed werewolves truly possess demonic power. They are part of the devil himself. Women with black eyes rarely possess any demonic power, but men do. It's really, really rare to have black eyes. But the werewolves with black eyes are not really appreciated. Demetrius was called the devil by kids of his age. Perhaps that's why he shut himself down. I wish I could help him at that time. But I never could. He never came to me and when I tried to get close to him, he just never opened up."
"He even told me that he hated his blood. I don't know what his demonic nature is, but there is," she said.
"I see," I muttered.
He said that he did not like his blood and because of that, he did not want children, and even if there was a child, he wanted them not to be like him or have any of his features. But he never told me that it was because of the cursed eyes.
"He never told you about this?"
I shook my head. He must have heard a lot of hurtful words from others because of his eyes. It was not his fault. Now I could understand why he behaved like that with others. For a kid, mental abuse was more dangerous than physical abuse. After all, words were sharper than knives that could leave wounds more than skin-deep.
"As a mother, I wish I could help him. But he never comes to me. He never even talked to any of us properly. That's why when he talked to me freely, after all this time one day, I was really surprised. You know when it was?" she said. "The day he brought you here, he talked to me. It was about you, but I was glad that he talked to me. I never thought of having a human as my daughter-in-law, but I'm grateful. Though he doesn't talk to me much, it still improved. So thank you."
"What are you saying, Mother? You don't need to thank me.. I don't know if it's because of me or not, but I will always be happy if you two are on good terms."