Chapter 5: Feisty Princess

(Vera POV)

He quickly dodged my attack, but I didn’t stop. I quickly punched him, and he blocked my punch skillfully. My rage blinded me, so I kept throwing punches at him again and again until all my rage subsided, and I fell to my knees. I was panting from exerting all my energy when someone showed up in front of me. I looked at his face, and he gave me his signature dimpled smile.

“You were fierce… Lord knows what you wanted to do with this charming boy! My gosh! I didn’t expect you to show off your strength like that.” I accepted his hand, and he pulled me up. I laughed after hearing his dramatic response.

“You blocked my attacks successfully, Prince Rafael. And judging by your quick response, I can easily tell that you are a well-trained prince, so stop feigning timidity,” I shot back.

“Oh my! That’s so harsh, my lady. I was just defending myself. I didn’t know that you would take that ‘Hecate’ compliment this seriously. Pardon my ignorance,” He stepped back and bowed in front of me in 80s style, and I burst into laughter.

“You are really something else, Prince Rafael!” I said while taking a seat on the nearby wooden bench, and looked at the visible grass stains on my dress. F*ck! I really liked that dress.

“Don’t worry! I will gift you a new one if you agree to a sparring session with me,” Rafael asked in a serious tone, and I turned my face towards him. He was all serious; all the humor and non-serious jokes were nowhere to be seen now.

“Really?” I asked, and he nodded in answer.

“But why me? You are a trained prince. You can spar with whoever you want,” my curiosity piqued all of a sudden.

“Because I feel something special with you… which I didn’t feel before tonight,” He answered truthfully, and I rolled my eyes after hearing his answer.

“Rafael…” I was about to stop him from spouting any nonsense, but his next words completely caught me off guard.

“Raw and untamed potential. You don’t know what you are capable of, My lady,” I searched his face for any hint of humor, but there was none.

“Many candidates here are full of potential, Prince. You just don’t know yet,” He let out a dry laugh.

“What? I am not joking,” and I meant that. I was all serious, and his laugh… it rubbed me the wrong way from head to toe.

“You are not used to seeing your positive traits, right?” His words made me gulp hard, but I didn’t answer.

“Right, right! Because from what I can see, you have never considered anything special about you because of your weight, right?” I gritted my teeth to control my anger.

“Change the topic!” I answered.

“Why? Because you are vulnerable about it, hmm?” I jumped to my feet and was ready to call it a night when he stopped me.

“I haven’t finished yet. You don’t think you are capable and talented because you are not the fit and fantastic type. But let me tell you, Luna Vera! You are wrong about all this… You are wrong about your weight, curves, and body. You are more than talented, capable, and powerful, but you will not be able to perform with these abilities because you will be busy hiding your gorgeous body from the people and their pathetic opinions.” Before I could think about anything, I punched him hard in the face. He stumbled but didn’t say anything in response.

“You don’t know sh*t about me and my body. I f*cking tried… I tried everything and starved myself for years to get an ideal weight, but guess what? I failed again and again and again. So, don’t you dare start lecturing me about all this when you don’t know sh*t. And from now on… Keep your f*cking distance from me, or I swear to god, I will punch you to the pulp next time,” I answered and wiped the tears with the back of my hand.

“I know sh*t about all this, Luna Vera… I know!!! Because I have already lost a precious member for this reason, and I know… I will never be able to tell her how amazing she was, and I am not willing to lose a good friend for the same reason.” I furrowed my brows when he showed me his phone. It was a picture of an old photo album where a female was sitting on the ground with a beautiful baby boy in her lap. Her figure was almost identical to mine, and she was looking happy and radiant. I looked at Rafael’s face, and a lone tear rolled down his cheek, which he quickly wiped.

“She is my mother, Daniella King. She was capable, smart, strategic, and fierce. She used to dominate the classes and battlefield, and she wanted to be the next alpha, but guess what… All the elders voted against her because she didn’t have an ideal Luna figure. She tried everything and failed… again and again and again. They asked her to find a good husband and get married, and then they will consider her proposal. But it was a trap,” I gasped loudly after hearing his words.

“Then?”

“She did everything but failed and started doubting her self-worth. The elders knew her potential, so they put a huge target in front of her, but she was strategic. She decided to dominate the business side and trade to convince them. She became so busy with all this that her husband started having an affair with her best friend while she was pushing herself too hard for this pack. When she found out about this affair, it crushed her. King Edward Leopold Dawson blamed it on her incompetence in fulfilling his needs. She was torn between court, council, and family.” He gulped hard like he needed a moment to digest years of anger and hate.

She didn’t want to fail in her marriage, so she began dedicating more time to her family, but the deadline had already been set. She achieved that year’s target, but before she could claim her position, a maid appeared in the council with King Edward’s son,” I gritted my teeth in anger.

“Sh*t! This is so bad.”

“It was… It gave the council another reason to prove her unfit to be the Luna of this pack. Everything was a sh*t show after that, but even after she gave birth to me, the council wasn’t ready to accept her in a power position, so they played several games against her and pretty much succeeded in them. All the stress and pressure took a toll on her, and she lost her life. He inhaled a sharp breath, and I put a hand on his shoulder.

“I am so sorry to hear that.” And to be honest, I really felt her pain and Rafael’s pain after this story.

“I am okay,” He assured me and forced a smile on his face.

“But why are you telling me all this? What if I turned against you and spilled the beans to someone else?” I arched my brow, and he chuckled after hearing my words.

“I know you wouldn’t, and besides, I want you to give a sneak peek at this palace’s politics. It’s a sh*tty show, but I want you to help… because I couldn’t help my mother,” He answered, and it was astounding for me.

“How?”

“By training you,” His answer was really, really shocking.

“Excuse me!”

“I am serious, Luna Vera! You need training, and a serious one, or these Lunas will swallow you whole without any hesitation.” I nodded my head in agreement, but before I could ask something else from him, we heard the sound of footsteps behind us. He put his finger to his lips and pointed towards a secret way.

“It will lead you to your room,” He whispered and nudged me. I reluctantly started walking towards the way. It was looking suspicious, but I didn’t have any other option at that moment.