Chapter 5: The man in the bloody cellar

Lily thought the prince must have had something sad before, related to humans. And they were worried she would be the second person to hurt him. 

Lily thought for a moment, then shook her head, telling herself: “I’m only here to take refuge for a short time so as not to affect them.”

She entered the room. It was actually more beautiful than her family’s slum house up there. Unfortunately, this place didn’t have phones, or the internet like where people live. 

After resting for a while, Amity sent someone to bring the food. Lying there alone, Lily couldn’t sleep. It seemed like every single thing was a dream. As long as she closed her eyes, then opened them, everything would disappear.

Lily did it immediately. She closed her eyes, then opened them, but everything remained the same. No one knew how long Lily stayed awake before she could sleep. It was not even morning yet, but she heard a loud voice outside the door.

“Lily, are you awake?”

Lily stretched lazily, then opened the door. The door hadn’t fully opened yet, a hand had reached inside and pulled her out. 

“What’s going on?”

Awakening, Lily stopped struggling when she realized that it was Elias. Elias happily explained: 

“Today is our love market. Men will be free to catch and bring the woman he loves home. But only for today. At the end of the day, they will have to release the women to their families. Even married men and women are allowed to attend.”

Lily was bewildered for a while before figuring out what Elias had just said. But she was not the one there to be greedy. 

“I think I’m not the one here, so…so can I just watch it outside?”

“You can’t just watch, it won’t be fun without you. Our ancestors made this rule to help people who had been in love or have feelings for each other to meet once a year.”

Instead of Elias’s eagerness to participate, Lily found it rather odd. What if they arrest and take advantage of the girls? No, she couldn’t play this game. If someone made an excuse to catch her, and then had a bloodlust wanting to eat her, then even God could not save her. 

“Go away, I want to sleep.”

Lily jerked her hand away from Elias's. He also stopped. He knew that Lily was scared, so he said:

“I teased you before. We werewolves only transform on full moon nights, on other days just like you - humans. We just move a little faster.”

Lily's face was full of suspicion: “Really?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, so I’m in.”

Here everyone was walking, no vehicles, no means other than walking. 

This castle had a pretty special point, that was. All the rooms were connected to the main hall of the castle to get outside of the city gate. 

As soon as we got to the main hall, I and Lily encountered the Highness. He was sitting calmly on the large chair near the Wolf King. His eyes were always watching Lily, that made Lily feel unsettled, unintelligible. 

The prince, who had just been to the Wolf King, immediately approached Lily. His eyes coldly looked at Lily's body. 

“Do you also want to go to such places?”

Lily raised her face up as if to test his bravery: “I want, what can you do to me?”

He smiled faintly, took Lily’s arm and took it to his nose, took a deep breath and said sarcastically: “I think, if you go, it will be hard to survive till tomorrow.”

“Don’t scare me. Elias said, ``You werewolves can only transform on the night of the full moon.”

Lily shoved his arm away from her, stepped back, and spoke very strongly. He was expressionless, his face was cold, and he turned away.

Seeing his appearance from behind, Lily felt very familiar, she tried to recall the hair bun she’d seen somewhere. 

“Lily, let’s go.”

Elias lightly tapped Lily on the shoulder and pulled her out of the castle. That man also followed right behind. 

“Douglas, do you also attend the Love market?” Right behind Lily and Elias, an undignified gently touched Douglas' chest and asked. 

He had never liked going to such places before. Somehow he wanted to go this time. Wasn't there a woman he wanted to catch?

The two men had a lively discussion about Douglas. It was true that he had a strong body, standing out from the crowd. Wherever he went, it seemed that there was a halo emitting that attracted everyone. 

Opposite to Dougas, Elias was an affable and friendly man. Just by seeing him, everyone felt the warm atmosphere, not as cold as Douglas. 

So on, he followed Lily and Elias, not too far but not too close. 

The closer to the Love market, the more Lily feels a somewhat more modern and joyful atmosphere than in the magnificent palace. Everyone also wore elegant clothes, there were also some girls who wore sexy dresses. They seemed very comfortable in the way they dressed, as well as in physical contact. 

Some men even deliberately touched the insides of the plump beasts of the women they encountered on the street. 

“Hey girl, come with me?”

A square-faced man, his body covered with patchy tattoos, was trying to woo Lily. The Wolf Prince next to Lily stopped him:

“She just comes here to watch, not participate.”

“Yes sir!”

He bowed politely and went to the place where the women behind him were laughing and joking. Lily and Elias continued their journey to the middle of the market. Lily curiously asked Elias:

“You want to find a girl here?”

Elias laughed: “Would you agree to be my partner tonight?”

Lily hit him hard on the shoulder: “Don't make fun of me. The girls here are really beautiful. Choose one. When you’re done, let me know.”

Both of them laugh together quite happily. Suddenly there was a big scuffle ahead.The two men lunged at each other like wolves stalking their prey. Elias immediately approached to dissuade them. 

“Hey hey, stop, both of you!”

Elias shouted loudly, drowning out the whispers and gossip around him. But they were in a range, they didn't hear any noise outside. Elias lunged forward, punching the two men hard in the face. They were in so much pain that they parted. As soon as they saw the prince, they immediately folded their arms in front of their chests and bowed to him. 

“Prince! Please help us to arbitrate.”

Lily didn't expect that Elias was normally so gentle, but now he was extremely heroic. Her eyes flashed with an unusual look. Perhaps she started to have some feelings for him.

Douglas stood beside her, not leaving Lily a single step. He noticed a change in her gaze at Elias, immediately approached, grabbed Lily's arm, yanked away from the love market party.

“Elias, help me!”

Lily shouted in despair, because no one had ever been able to escape the majesty of Douglas. Because of that majesty, the Wolf King has always trusted and entrusted him with many important national responsibilities. 

“Keep quiet or I'll strangle you.”

Lily bit down hard on his arm that was tightly covering her mouth. And she realized he was wearing a bracelet with a wolf symbol on it exactly like what she had seen on the man who had forced her to marry in that bloody cellar.