Spurned Luna’s Return: On Your Knees, Alpha Chase

Imperial garden.

It was evening.

King Vellio and his wife Valeria were seated opposite Peter and little Beatrix at a wooden table in the royal pavilion. The evening breeze delicately stroked them as it blew gently.

The monarch’s hair had been woven into seven braids and he was clad in a plain green t-shirt and black shorts. He looked just like a regular guy without the crown and usual royal garb.

His wife’s auburn hair was tied in a single ponytail, her face was devoid of any makeup and not a single piece of jewellery could be found on her. She was attired in just a blue sleeveless top and loose ankle-length grey pants. This simple look did not in any way diminish her beauty.

Peter sported curly auburn hair, black earrings, a silver nose ring chain across the nose, a yellow tank top and blue ripped jeans.

The little girl’s auburn hair was in three ponytails adorned with silver packers and was clad in a plain pink chiffon gown that stopped an inch above the knee.

A pleasant aroma permeated the air too, due to the mouth-watering fruits that were finely set on the table in an orderly fashion by the black-haired head palace maid who was dressed in a white, ankle-length silk gown that had fine red flower patterns.

“Please, enjoy Your Majesties, Your Highnesses,” the head maid and the other four maids who accompanied her to deliver the fruits said softly in sync, with their heads slightly bowed and their hands across their chests.

The wiz king gave a dismissive wave, a smile plastered on his lips, “You can all leave. Thank you for your hard work. Be sure to sleep early,” he advised and they nodded before thanking him again. Then they turned around to leave, one after the other in a straight line, making no sound as they walked away, carrying several empty trays.

“Alright!” he clapped once and rubbed his palms together, “Our table’s all set. Who’s hungry?”

Beatrix raised her hand and without waiting for any other utterance from her dad, she quickly picked up a rare fruit and bit off a part of it with her eyes closed.

A second later she opened them, “Mmn! Dad, it’s delicious,” she said with sparkling eyes.

“Baby girl, you’re supposed to wait for us to begin before you dig in,” her mom chided.

The little one furrowed her brows, “Dad said we can ignore many rules here, right? Mom, I’m so hungry after all the ‘training’ you made me do,”

“But it’s your punishment for performing poorly in the morning, darling,”

“I know. I only got distracted by two maids having a petty fight!” Beatrix defended.

She’d been asked to leapfrog around her manor for 3 hours but halfway she completely stopped and got engrossed in spectating a fight, even adding fuel to the fire.

So her mum told her she would starve in the afternoon and split some small logs of wood with a small axe as her punishment.

“I ordered them to do so, and you failed woefully,” her mother calmly spoke as she peeled off the skin of a purple round fruit.

“But I’ve been really patient enough to wait for them to deliver the fruits. I really wanted to go to the kitchen to eat, Mum,” Beatrix revealed as she ate more of her chosen rare fruit.

“Slow down, Riri,” admonished Peter.

“Do you know how hungry I am, big brother?”

“I don’t but you should know we aren’t going to steal what’s yours from you,”

She nodded and reduced her eating pace. “I can’t wait to see big sis again,” she whimpered.

“Me too! I want to see what my daughter-in-law looks like. Beatrix, you kept it hidden for so long,” said the queen with longing.

“I even offered you compensation for you to spit it out days ago,” her father added.

“It was just a piece of candy. Why should I sell high-class info for just a piece of candy? You think I’m easy to mislead?” Beatrix answered leisurely, not in the least remorseful about her action.

“And I asked you to pay a cheap amount to get information from me. But what did you do? You showed me a middle finger and proudly told me you could get it for cheaper. You’re the one whose stinginess didn’t fetch you what you wanted. Why complain?” said Peter with a cocked brow.

“You dare ask your dad to pay 2 million just for a piece of news?” questioned the king with a raised eyebrow.

Peter scoffed, “I actually gave you a discount of minus one dollar since we’re father and son. But you still didn’t take the offer. Stop playing the victim here,”

“How is that any different?” Beatrix asked.

“A discount is a discount. Of course, there’s a great difference. One has six nines attached to the number one while the other has so many zeros attached to the number two. If you look at it, zero means super-high-class, expensive, or worthless in some cases,”

“Where did you learn such rubbish from?” his mom asked.

“It doesn’t matter. Now let me finish my explanation. So many nines close to that figure called one means that you have more worth for your money. It carries more weight and power that zeros lack and six of those nines are not that expensive either. Just fitting for the information that he sought from me,”

“Your explanation doesn’t make sense, big brother,” Beatrix pointed out after spitting out the seeds of the fruit in her right palm.

“Show some respect, little girl,” Peter chastised.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

The latter scoffed, “I respect those who respect themselves. You clearly have no shame,”

“So I’m shameless for offering a high price for high-class info? What about Dad who isn’t willing to spend a dime to get top information? He tried to compensate you with candy. How much is a candy worth?”

“If he’d given me a box of chocolates, 2 new dresses, 2 more tiaras and more bedtime stories, I would have considered selling the information to Daddy,” Beatrix defended.

“How is your condition any lesser than mine, if not more?” Peter questioned. Does this baby girl know the worth of one tiara?

“I didn’t shamelessly ask for money like you. I asked for what money could buy. I asked for things that would make me look cuter. Can money make you look any more handsome than you already are?”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?” Peter questioned with arms folded.

She shrugged, “Whatever you take it as,”

Peter just sighed and shook his head. If he took all of his little sis’ words to heart, he’d chase her with a cane. She’s just like Phoenix.

“If your brother’s men didn’t leak the news, we’d remain in the dark,” the queen said while feeding her husband a strawberry.,

“Peter knew too but he didn’t say,” Beatrix revealed, pointing at her older brother.

“Why drag me into this?” Peter asked with a pissed face. His few encounters with Phoenix’s mate weren’t that good except for the part when they all performed a special song together in the woods at that time.

“Haven’t you heard that it’s bad to perish alone?” his sister questioned him back with an impish look.

He shook his head with a sigh and focused on eating the watermelon in his hand. This little sis, he won’t allow her to ruin his good mood.

“Let’s just eat. Then we’ll go for that race later. I bet I’ll win,” the king said vainly.

His wife put down the berry that she was about to feed him, “Hmph! Big talk, Vee. I’ll be the winner,”

“Yeah. Mum and I will sit together on Alvana and win. Daddy, you have to prepare to dress like a cute princess, you and big brother,” the little one giggled. Alvana was the queen’s sceptre’s name.

Peter frowned, “I didn’t sign up. Why’re you adding me to this silly game?”

“Would you rather do a thousand pushups amidst hungry snakes?” the king asked with a cocked right eyebrow.

Hearing this, Peter nervously laughed, “Who said I’m not participating? I am!” he then proposed, “Dad, how about we ride my sceptre Frander this time?”

The monarch quickly turned him down, “No way! We’ll just lose,”

“Have a little more confidence in your son, Vellio,” his wife chided, poking at his head.

“Hey! That hurt,” he clamoured with a fake crying expression, leading her to roll her eyes.

“I’ll make it hurt less with a special kick like that of our wedding night,” she said using voice transmission technique.

At that, his face paled and he quickly picked up an apple and brought it close to her mouth.

“Please eat and show mercy, darling. I don’t want to die,” he implored, using the same technique.

“Peter’s sceptre will be used for the ride. You agree?”

He nodded, “Sure. I was just joking earlier,”

She bit on the apple and cut out a small part of it. Then she began to chew on it with delight.

“It tastes amazing just like you, Vee,” she said before biting off another part to chew until the apple had been reduced to half. Then Vellio finished the other half with relish.

The siblings pretended they didn’t see this couple trying to rub their love into their eyes and focused on eating instead. But when they were about to kiss, Peter had to clear his throat and speak up.

“Do you two mind that there is a handsome adult and a pitiful kid here trying to survive?”

Beatrix instantly gave him a stink eye, “Who are you calling pitiful? You’re the pathetic one!”

Their parents looked at Peter and then at their daughter, “What? We aren’t committing a crime, are we?” their Dad asked with a look of bewilderment.