All Chapters of This Time, I Choose The Alpha King Male Lead: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

37 Chapters

TWENTY-ONE: The Rogue

MINTHEThe Rogue* * * “What did you just say to me?”Lyria’s voice drops into that fragile hurt. It is a soft tremor vibrating through the cold midnight air, a perfect instrument designed to make her look like a glass doll while she drives a rusted spike straight into my chest.She really is a bitch.Pierre’s face hardens instantly, the shadows stretching across his jawline like jagged teeth. The smoke from the torch blows into my face, carrying the bitter smell of burning pine and sulfur that makes my eyes sting. He steps in front of Lyria, his massive frame blocking her from me.And the thing is, I’m not even angry anymore.That’s what surprises me most. I expected anger—the hot, vindicated kind that comes from finally saying the thing you’ve been swallowing for days. “Is that what you sneaked off to the Imperial Pack for, Minthe?” Pierre asks, his voice flat, low, and vibrating with an Alpha’s territorial rage. “To steal from the King? To go behind my back and bring imp

TWENTY-TWO: Escape Plan

MINTHEEscape Plan* * * Pierre looks at the wolf, then at me, then at the wolf again. Something is working behind his eyes—the calculation of a man who wants to be angry but is trying to find the version of this that makes sense.“What were you doing at the border, Minthe,” he says again. “At midnight. With a bag packed, and Cobalt.”The room is listening. Every person in it is listening.I think, very clearly, about the honest answer. I was leaving. I’ve been waiting for the right window to leave for a week and I finally decided tonight was it, so I saddled a horse and packed one bag and rode for the service gate, and I would be halfway to the capital right now if I hadn’t stopped for a wolf that your System apparently decided was my responsibility.I think about saying that.I think about what happens after I say that—Pierre’s face, the conversation that follows, the particular look of a man who feels abandoned deciding to do something about it before I can finish leaving.I thin

TWENTY-THREE: The Rogue Wolf

MINTHEThe Rogue Wolf* * *Fate is a lazy writer, and I am the idiot who spent three years trying to proofread its worst draft.The rough, knotted linen of my bedsheets digs into the palms of my hands, the friction burning through my skin as I slide over the iron edge of the balcony.The wind coming off the northern peaks hits me, tearing through my thin cotton undergarments and chilling the sweat on my ribs.My heavy velvet skirt is gone, discarded on the floor of my locked bedroom. I am dangling from the side of the west wing, looking down into a darkness that smells of frozen dirt and dead pine needles.In every trashy manhwa I read back in my modern apartment, the transmigrated heroine makes a rope ladder out of her bedding and drops to the ground with the effortless grace of a trained gymnast.The narrative always makes it look simple. They slip into the night, find a rogue prince, and start their glorious revenge arc.They don’t tell you about the way the sheets stretch under y

TWENTY-FOUR: Death

MINTHEDeath* * *I stare at the glowing letters, then at the smug expression on the brat’s face. All this time . . . he wasn’t a separate person. He had simply shifted back into his human form the moment the doctor left him alone.“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whisper, my voice flat. “I risked a broken neck for a teenager with an attitude problem.”“Hey, I didn’t ask you to jump out of a window onto my spine,” he retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.Before I can hit him with a comeback, the heavy thud of boots echoes from the hallway outside the clinic doors. The sound is rhythmic, heavy, and closing in fast. The guards are returning.“Shit,” I hiss, grabbing the kid by the front of his oversized shirt and dragging him down into the shadows between the examination table and a tall metal supply cabinet. “Shut up and don’t breathe.”“What are you doing?” he mutters, his voice muffled against my shoulder as I press him against the wall. “You’re weirdly aggressive for a noble la

TWENTY-FIVE: The Alpha King's What?

MINTHEThe Alpha King’s What?* * *Pierre steps into the room first, his broad shoulders blocking the morning light. His blue eyes are hard, his jaw set in that cold line that used to make me feel secure and now just makes me feel sick. Right behind him, holding onto the sleeve of his heavy leather coat, is Lyria.She is wearing her soft white cloak, her eyes wide and glistening with a carefully cultivated, tragic innocence. But my gaze drops instantly to her throat.Resting against her collarbone is the silver necklace. My necklace. The one I snapped off my own neck and threw into her palm last night. She is wearing it like a trophy, a silent, mocking declaration of her victory.“Minthe,” Pierre says, his voice flat, leaving no room for negotiation. He looks around the cold room, his eyes lingering on the messy bed before fixing on me. “The rogue wolf escaped from the clinic last night. The pack is under full lockdown. I’m here to ask you one last time—did you have anything to do w

TWENTY-SIX: Pierre

MINTHEEscape* * *“Hades sent a teenager to do his dirty work? And you’re his nephew?”“Nephew, messenger, whatever helps you sleep at night, noble lady,” he says, leaning casually against the rough wood of my wardrobe. The playful, bratty demeanor vanishes in a split second, “Uncle Hades doesn’t care about labels. He cares about results. And right now, the result is that you don’t need to worry about escaping this trash pack anymore. The Alpha King is already at the border gates. He says he’s giving you a week to get out.”“A week,” I mutter.Seven days.Before I can even process the timeline, a bright, translucent blue light flashes a violent crimson directly across my field of vision. The system’s digital interface pops up with a low, metallic chime that makes my temples throb.[BOND INITIALIZED. SYNC AT 10%.][HOST AND TARGET ALLY CANNOT EXCEED A 30-METER RADIUS UNTIL SYNC REACHES 100%.][PENALTY FOR VIOLATION: IMMEDIATE INSTANCE TERMINATION.]I stare through the glowing red t

TWENTY-SEVEN: The System

MINTHEThe System* * *Pierre is standing right in front of me. His broad shoulders block the dim light from the window behind him, his jaw set in that hard, rigid line.His blue eyes are wide, dark with an intense, raw emotion that I haven’t seen in him for months. He is staring down at me, his breathing heavy and uneven, his chest rising and falling beneath my hands.He heard everything. Every single word I just muttered to myself in the dark hallway.“Minthe,” I pull my hands back from his chest immediately, stepping back a foot, my posture completely still, my expression dead and hollow. I don’t say anything. I just look at him, waiting for the lecture, waiting for him to accuse me of sneaking out or breaking the lockdown.But the look on his face isn’t angry. It’s completely broken. He looks at me with a profound, tragic misunderstanding as if my cold, practical summary of my miscalculations was actually a heartbroken confession of unrequited love.“I heard everything,

TWENTY-EIGHT: Crazy, Fool-Proof Idea

MINTHECrazy, Fool-proof Idea* * *Dying because of a literal, floating proximity boundary is a special, unadulterated kind of bullshit.The black void doesn’t welcome me with a peaceful transition or a gentle fading of the senses.It spits me right back into reality with the violent, agonizing sting of a oxygen-deprived chest and the unmistakable, stale taste of copper coating the back of my throat.My lungs expand with a sharp, ragged gasp, sucking in the freezing, dust-laden air of my ruined bedroom.My eyes snap open.Directly above me, an inch away from my nose, is a face.Shit.I freeze, my vision blurry and unfocused as my heart hammers against my ribs like a trapped bird.Two wide, dark eyes stare unblinkingly down into mine.Messy, ink-black hair falls forward, brushing against my forehead.The kid—Hades’ fifteen-year-old nephew—is hovering so close over my face that I can smell the faint, cold scent of winter frost and mint on his breath.It is completely absurd, deeply uns

TWENTY-NINE: Perfect Red Roses

MINTHEPerfect Red Roses* * *The stiff white lace apron is tied tightly around his waist, and the dark fabric of the long skirt clings awkwardly to his deceptively broad, athletic shoulders.The little white lace headpiece is sitting crookedly on his messy black hair.“Are you fucking kidding me with this?” he snaps, violently tugging at the high lace collar that is digging into his throat.“Do I really have to wear this piece of literal garbage? I look like a goddamn joke. If my uncle sees me like this, he’ll execute me himself just to spare the family honor.”“Hush! Don’t swear,” I snap back, adopting an immediate big-sister tone as I walk over and swat his hand away from the collar.“And stop pulling at the lace, you’re going to rip the seams. It’s the only one that fits your shoulders.”I look at the translucent blue screen hovering in my peripheral vision, and my smirk widens.If you want to fuck with my life, system, I’m going to absolutely ruin the aesthetic of this novel.Yo

THIRTY: The Plans to Leave

MINTHEThe Plans to Leave* * *“I understand, Pierre,” I whisper softly against his shoulder, keeping my voice entirely devoid of the screaming rage that a normal woman would let rip.I make my body look weak, letting my chin rest heavily on his leather collar for a brief second before pulling back.I’m giving him the perfect manifestation of the quiet, submissive patience he expects from me.I look down at the simple, low-effort bunch of red roses, treating them like a pathetic consolation prize given to a loyal dog who keeps the house running while the master dreams of a prize horse.The massive wave of relief that washes over his handsome features is almost sickening.Pierre doesn’t see the cold mockery behind my quiet acceptance.To him, I am just the safe, dependable girl who will sit quietly by the hearth and wait while he caters to another woman’s panic attacks.“Thank you, Minthe,” he breathes, as he presses a hurried kiss to my temple, his fingers trembling slightly as they

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