The Hybrid King’s Secret Mate Chapter 07

The Hybrid King’s Secret Mate Chapter 07

The usually quiet Riley suddenly stepped in front of me.

“Can’t you people understand plain words? Paisley doesn’t want to see you!”

Her eyes were red with anger.

“You think saying sorry fixes everything? Why should it?”

She didn’t know the full story, but she still instinctively protected me.

The faces of the three people across from us turned even paler.

I gently pulled Riley behind me.

“It’s okay.”

After all, I had already seen ten years ago just how cruel they could be.

Ryker looked at the way I shielded Riley and asked bitterly,

“Paisley… do you care more about some outsider now?”

My expression instantly cooled.

“Outsider?”

I looked straight at him.

“King Ryker, you’re wrong.”

“The only family I have now is Riley.”

“She’s the only person in this world I care about.”

If it hadn’t been for Riley back then, I would’ve become nothing more than a burned corpse in

the snow.

At the time, she was just a homeless little girl.

Yet she still dragged my half-dead body, beaten unconscious by the guards and left on the

roadside, back to the tiny space beneath her bridge.

When I woke up, I was completely numb inside.

I held a silver stake against my own heart.

And Riley had burst into tears as she threw herself at me to stop me.

“You’re this pretty, and you make cakes this good… why do you want to die?”

“If people treat you badly, then you should live even better!”

Her voice trembled as she cried.

“If… if nobody wants to be good to you anymore… then can I do it instead?”

The rabbit she handed me was still warm.

Freshly hunted.

I stared into her bright black eyes, and something inside my chest suddenly tightened

painfully.

Later, we hunted deer together in the forest just to survive.

We got chased by werewolves near the border.

And on the day we finally saved enough money to buy this little bakery, the two of us hugged

each other and cried the entire night.

It was Riley who slowly pieced me back together.

Little by little.

She turned the shattered version of me into the calm, gentle woman standing here now.

So anyone in this world could be an outsider.

Anyone except her.

The expressions on the three faces across from me looked like they’d just been slapped.

Macy’s voice shook,

“Then… what about us?”

I smiled faintly.

“I don’t hate you anymore.”

Hope flashed briefly across their eyes.

Then my next sentence froze them completely.

“But that isn’t forgiveness.”

I lowered my eyes.

“I just stopped caring.”

Silence swallowed the entire shop.

I looked down and continued organizing the counter, thinking things would finally end here.

But Camden suddenly spoke again, his voice rough with emotion.

“But we regret it now, Paisley.”

His eyes stayed locked on my face, desperately searching for even the slightest crack in my

composure.

There was none.

My gaze remained so calm that it made him panic.

No love.

No hatred.

Only faint confusion.

Regret?

Did they regret destroying me for Veda’s sake?

But after I disappeared, Camden got exactly what he wanted.

He married her.

Newspapers were filled with photos of them attending royal vampire balls together, standing

side by side like the perfect couple.

With Camden’s help, their rule became more stable year after year.

Everyone got what they wanted.

So why were they suddenly talking about regret now?

I shook my head softly.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Then I looked toward the door.

“The shop is closed.”

“Please leave.”