My Four Beast King Fathers Chose Her Over Me Chapter 06

My Four Beast King Fathers Chose Her Over Me Chapter 06

Years of pain came pouring out all at once.

Everyone in the room went still.

Isolde’s face crumpled.

A second later, she burst into tears.

“Sister, you’ve got it all wrong. I never wanted to take anything from you. I—I don’t need to be Sacred Female. You can have it back!”

Then she clutched First Dad’s sleeve and sobbed harder.

“First Dad, just send me back to the northern wastes. That’s where I belong.”

The instant she cried, all four fathers melted.

They hurried to comfort her, telling her she was their true princess, that I was only saying these things out of jealousy.

Once she was soothed, they turned on me.

First Dad’s face hardened.

“What do you mean, ‘take your things’? I am the Bear Emperor. I decide who becomes Sacred Female. Nyssa, you’re exactly like your dead mother—forever tormenting Isolde.”

I shot back. “And she’s exactly like her dead mother—using these pathetic tricks to frame me!”

“Enough!” Third Dad slapped me across the face. “Nyssa, you’re out of control. If your mother could see you now, she’d be ashamed.”

That slap cracked something open inside me.

Tears streamed down my face.

“What right do you have to speak of my mother? She risked her life to save all four of you. She spent everything she had helping you reclaim your territories. She gathered every witness, every shred of evidence to restore your bloodline’s honor. And how did you repay her?”

“You cast her aside for a female you barely knew! Varek—she wanted to be your bonded mate. Why didn’t you give her that? Thorne—when she begged you for help, why didn’t you lift a finger? Corvin, Caelum—you swore you’d protect her for life. You drove her to her death!”

No one in the four kingdoms would dare call them by their true names.

But the moment I spoke of Mother, every one of them went pale.

They hadn’t expected me to know this much.

I wasn’t supposed to.

After Mother died, First Dad had forbidden anyone to speak her name.

He destroyed every portrait of her, every keepsake.

Anyone who’d been close to her was sent away.

Everyone said the four fathers had done this because the memories were too painful.

Only I knew the truth. They were angry.

Angry that Mother’s death had driven Ravenna away.

Because whenever they mentioned Mother, their faces twisted with resentment.

As a cub, I’d truly believed Mother was evil.

Until I found Briar—Mother’s personal handmaid.

She lived in the abandoned wing where Mother had been kept.

I’d tumbled into that courtyard while climbing a tree.

The moment Briar saw me, she knew whose child I was.

She touched my face, her eyes soft with longing. “You have her eyes.”

It was Briar who told me the truth. Mother wasn’t the villain. She was the victim.

She’d freed First Dad from captivity. Healed Second Dad’s wounds. Served as Third Dad’s living remedy. Helped Fourth Dad rekindle his lost flame—his will to fight.

A female that good—how could anyone not love her?

So all four fathers fell for her. Every single one.

I asked Briar. “Then who did Mother love?”

Briar said that in the beginning, Mother loved First Dad.

They were the same age. They’d grown up side by side. The bond had been there from the start.

First Dad promised her that once they reclaimed their lands, she would be his bonded mate.

But on the eve of their bonding ceremony, Ravenna appeared.

First Dad fell for Ravenna. He broke the bond with Mother. Made her a laughingstock.

Later, Mother was with Fourth Dad for a while.

She was ready to leave with him—fly far from the courts, start over.

But before they could go, she overheard Fourth Dad confessing to Ravenna.

“You’re the one I truly want. But as long as she’s here, she’ll only cause trouble for you and First Brother. Let me take her away. Then you’ll be free.”

So Fourth Dad loved Ravenna too.

Everything he’d said about running away with Mother was nothing but a leash to keep her in tow.

After that, Mother was imprisoned by Second Dad and Third Dad for a time.

Then Ravenna framed her. The four fathers tormented her.

She couldn’t bear it any longer. She drowned herself in the river.

Briar said, “Everyone claims she jumped because she was heartbroken. But she was actually happy that day. She told me she was finally going home.”

I was confused. “Wasn’t this her home?”

Briar shook her head. “She said her home was in another world. And that you could go there too.”

Another world.

Back then, I didn’t understand.

But when the voice came, it all fell into place.

This wasn’t my home either.

Mother’s world was my home.

Perhaps because my words had stirred old memories, the four fathers softened.

When they spoke to me again, their voices were gentler.

Fourth Dad stepped forward and ruffled my hair the way he used to.

“Nyssa, if you’re unhappy here, come with me. We’ll leave court. Travel the free lands. Didn’t you always say you wanted to grow up to be like me?”

His sudden warmth caught the others off guard.

A flash of hatred crossed Isolde’s face.

But I saw straight through him.

“Caelum, are you taking me away because you pity how I’ve been treated? Or because you want me gone so I’ll stop bothering Isolde?”

Panic flickered in his eyes.

He hadn’t expected me to read him so easily.

“Nyssa, I’m doing this for your own good. As long as you stay here, you’ll keep believing Isolde wronged you. You won’t be able to stop yourself from hurting her. If I separate the two of you, that jealousy will fade. You’ll go back to normal.”

I laughed in disbelief.

So he thought I was broken.

Before I could answer, Third Dad stepped in.

“Caelum, don’t take her. She’s badly injured. She needs to heal. Give me some time—I’ll bring her to the sanctuary.”

Then Second Dad spoke up.

“None of you should take her. Let her come back to the Feral Dens. She’s been well-behaved there for three years. Never caused Isolde any trouble.”

The others liked that idea.

I laughed coldly. “Send me back to the dens? Thorne, haven’t your beasts destroyed me enough?”

The room went silent.

Second Dad stared at me in disbelief.

“Nyssa, what are you talking about? I sent you to the dens to do labor. Nothing more. What do you mean, ‘destroyed’?”