UNHAPPY ENDING 3

Rania opened her eyes to find the man who tried to kill her now looking at her with a worried face. There was no blood there, no red eyes that wanted to devour her immediately. But Rania could still feel the real fear, so it was just a dream.

"It was just a bad dream. Go back to sleep..." said King Alaric hugging Rania's warm body back into his arms. "It's okay, and I'm here. No one will dare touch you."

But Rania did not calm down, and she felt more and more as if a rope was wrapped around her neck, ready to hang her in seconds. She was threatening her life before she could avenge her parents.

Rania's fears, feelings, thoughts, and hearts are often tense and uncertain with time. There was a time when Rania would feel frightened by sudden things like king Alaric who often came to touch her or sleep hugging her until dawn.

Every time there was the sound of footsteps, she was frightened. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind wandered about a death better than this life. But Rania remembers her father's last message before being sentenced to death, and she must take revenge.

And Rania was easily surprised by the touch, but her mind was now exhausted. All that had happened during her stay in the dungeon. Her mind was unacceptable, and she often hallucinated about seeing her parents.

It was overthinking that made Rania back in the cradle of a dream, along with anger that suddenly appeared.

.....

"Mother, am I not your biological child?!" asked the little man, aged eight years, towards an old woman holding her teacup. Even though time had passed so fast without realizing it, the queen dowager's face still looked young and firm without any wrinkles.

She looks like a young woman in her 20s.

"What exactly are you talking about, kid? You are my son, no matter what." The queen dowager Cassia replied to her youngest son.

"I already know everything, mom!! Tell the truth, I am not your biological son, and I also have an older sister who has been called a big sinner!!" said his little son to the queen dowager.

Hearing Benedict's son's words, Cassia suddenly put her teacup firmly on the table. Those beautiful green eyes were similar to Benedict's, and the queen dowager sucked in a breath, trying not to get emotional.

After Hera, Benedict's wife, gave birth in the past. The queen dowager took her son for adoption with the permission of king Alaric with a newborn innocent of any kind. It was all to fulfill her obsession with owning half of Benedict.

She named Benedict's son the same name as his father with the prefix Ben, Benjamin the Gustaf. She will be the next king after Alaric, and she raises her son Benedict with all the love she has. Or maybe, her passion for Benedict that she never conveyed until now she gave to her son.

The queen dowager stood up and walked to her youngest son's side, saying, "Son, whatever other people say. That's not what you should hear because you are still my son, whom I love the most." She said, trying to calm Ben.

"Then may I see my older sister?" Benjamin asked, at last, making Cassia frown in disapproval.

But refusing Benjamin's request, Cassia could never keep her son waiting. But she also didn't like to see Rania, Benedict's eldest child inheriting the face of Hera, a woman the queen dowager hated to the bone. The woman who took Benedict's heart until her sad death.

"Yes, I will send a guard, and Emma will accompany you to your sister's place in prison. But remember one thing, you can't show your face to her. She is a sinner, and we can't do anything for her." Said the queen dowager, warning Benjamin.

And when his mother gave permission, Benjamin's face, which had been staring disapprovingly at the queen dowager, turned into a happy one.

"Good, you are more handsome when you smile. Don't look at mom again; I feel like I've done something bad to you, son." Said the queen dowager told a little of her heart.

"Um… thank you very much, mom. I am pleased. After all, my mother allowed me to meet my older sister because I felt jealous of my friends who have older sisters. They can be spoiled, get affection, and even be pampered, while His Majesty King Alaric looks cold and scary. He seems to hate me..." Benjamin said honestly.

"Yeah, sorry about your brother. He may be a cold man, but you must accept that because he is a king."

Benjamin nodded and then continued their tea.

.....

Rania awoke as her cold prison door opened, and she could barely even hear footsteps. The raging thoughts made Raia more alert than ever, considering that King Alaric often sneaked into her prison, which was now magically turned into a proper place to live.

No more than one candle is even replaced once a week, and there is no smell of broken mattresses or hunger because food can come once a day, or even the guards deliberately don't bring food.

Now there is only an ever-burning oil lamp illuminating her cold prison,

The prison now feels more comfortable, but Rania doesn't want it. The man took off his coat and heard heavy clothes falling. One by one, King Alaric took off his outer garments leaving his white shirt and trousers loose.

He had just finished a meeting with the royal ministers who were still discussing past sinners to be put to death immediately. At the same time, he balked at twisting the words of the ministers and royal fortune tellers in the past. Before starting the crazy thing where the sinner has atoned for her sins, he will be made a concubine by him.

King Alaric came to hug Rania's body, and he knew that this woman would wake up every time he visited his prison.

"Aren't you cold? It feels like ice on the outside, but you're only wearing this light white nightgown and this light blanket," said King Alaric.

"That's none of your business, Your Majesty," Rania replied, who had dared to respond to the king's words.

King Alaric chuckled happily, hearing Rania's sweet voice, "You always say that. Your comfort is my happiness too."

"It's funny how you talk about comfort when even I've lost my sense of comfort with everything here," Rania said flatly.