Chapter 2: Life in the Shadows

At first, when Athena arrived at the palace, she thought that Raphael just gave empty words and that he did not mean any of it. But to her surprise, she was actually taken to prison for three days. She was not fed, nor was she given water. It felt like she would die. On the third day, the head maid approached her in the prison and asked her if she really wanted to continue being stubborn.

Athena could not pretend anymore. She could not act like she was not weak, that she was not tired, and that she did not need help. She had no choice but to plead with the head maid to please let her go, which was done. At first, she thought she would be given minimal jobs to do since there were already excessive maids in the palace. But instead, she was subjected to doing menial tasks like scrubbing the ground and cleaning in ways that even the lowest servants wouldn't do. It made her so pissed. But she did not have a choice. After all, her stepfather had already sold her to Raphael, and there was nothing she could do.

It was now one week after her arrival, and she was scrubbing the staircase to the throne room. Even though she pleaded with the head maid not to give her that position because she knew no matter how she tried to block it, she would still bump into Alpha Raphael, which happened within seconds. She had not even begun to scrub the ground when Alpha Raphael walked out of the throne room with his Beta by his right-hand side. He did not even realize that she was the one at first until he had almost passed her. But that scent she had, which attracted him to her, made him pause as he slowly stepped back and looked at her with a curious expression.

“Athena,” he muttered as she looked up with a fixed smile.

“Alpha Raphael,” she replied. At first, Raphael felt a bit at ease. At least keeping her in prison for three days and assigning her such tasks had made her ego a little lessened. But then he realized something when his Beta whispered into his ear.

“Can you imagine she did not even stand up to bow to you in respect?” his Beta said as he looked at Athena.

“Is that how to greet your Alpha, or did you just lose respect?” he yelled at her.

She quickly stood up immediately but still did not bow to him as she stared directly at him. If anyone in this world, even someone Raphael loved, stared directly into his eyes like that, he would have punished the person severely. But he did not understand why he could not do anything to Athena as she stared at him, staring straight into his eyes.

“What else do you expect me to do? I was scrubbing the floor just like you assigned. Should I still hang myself from the roof and show you respect?” she said to him as he laughed. He looked at his Beta and motioned for him to go ahead, as he had to face Athena privately. Because if his Beta were to say anything to anyone, then they would think maybe something was wrong with Raphael or that he had a connection with Athena, which was not the case.

He slowly walked towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder—not softly, but in such an aggressive way that Athena could feel her bone crushing, but she still held it in.

“Stop, you are hurting me,” she muttered, but Raphael did not let go.

“You are being too stubborn. You are just too stubborn for my liking. I don't know what else to do to you. Why is that? Just when I think you are being submissive, you begin to show me your stupid character. Do you know how much you make me so enraged whenever I try to make you better, but you keep getting worse? What else do you want me to do? How else do you want me to keep you in this palace if you don't listen and you don't obey me?”

“Well, I have nothing to say to you. You would have to face the maids and suffer from them,” he said to her as he let go of her. But this time around, she was unable to stand straight because her shoulder felt like it had been crushed. Meanwhile, Raphael had just started with her. He was still expecting her to apologize as he stood right in front of her, not moving an inch. But she did not even open her mouth to utter a word as she looked down.

“You won't apologize?” he yelled as she quickly looked up.

“I am sorry,” she stated. Raphael couldn't help but be even more enraged.

“Your punishment just started. You will know what it means to ever try to disobey me. You don't even listen. I don't know what else to do to you anymore,” he said to her as he stormed away. Just when he walked away, she knelt back, feeling all weak as she placed her hand on her shoulder. It felt like it was about to crush into pieces. She winced in pain as she slowly tried to press it. Maybe the pain would relieve her, but instead, it got worse and worse as she sat on the ground.

“I don't know what else to do anymore. It feels like he hates only me, and he's just fixed on making life difficult for me,” she thought to herself before standing up and continuing her chores.

It was now two weeks since her arrival, and yet she did not bump into Raphael once, which she was thankful for because she had already promised herself that she would stay low-key in the palace and just try to follow everything the head maid said to her. So whenever she would ever get the chance to escape or be free from the bondage of being in this palace.

That was when all the maids were summoned by Raphael's favorite concubine, who had a complaint to make. All of them slowly walked towards her chambers, but she could hear them whispering about how the concubines always had problems and none of them would ever accept that they did anything wrong to her. She had never met any of them, but she was ready to use her ego again because she didn't bow to anyone.

Only for her to enter the meeting room and see that it was not just Raphael's concubine that was calling for them, but Raphael was also there. He seemed very angry and had guards with him as they began to whip everyone one after the other without even saying what was wrong. That was when Athena realized that her ego would not amend the relationship between her and Raphael and that she had ruined it.

Now she knew that Raphael was not just cruel to her, but he was cruel to everyone. He was a wicked Alpha. And now she saw the fear in everyone's eyes as they begged for mercy from Raphael, but he did not listen to any of them. With his gaze fixed on Athena, he made sure to punish every one of them. As they all walked out of the room, Athena became more curious to know more about everything going on in the palace.

Just then, a new girl, Lily, staggered towards her, using her as a pillar to assist herself. As they walked away, she turned to the lady in curiosity and questioned, “Why does the Alpha only have concubines? Why does he not have a Luna or even a Consort?”

Lily giggled as she tried her best to act like she was not in pain. “Because there is a rumor going around. It is not just any rumor, but it is the truth that the Alpha has been unable to find his mate. He has been unable to find her for years,” Lily muttered.

And that was when Athena realized something. She could use Raphael's secrets against him.