His strong defense for Gabriel made Aldrick baffled to a greater extent, leaving him speechless for a moment. It was the very first time, Zordan gallantly tried to defend a woman in his entire 27 years of life, which kind of startled him.
But at the same time, watching him raise disputes against his command somehow increased his anger. Making an offended grimace, he snarled at him, “Wait, are you trying to defend her in front of your father?”
“What if I am?”
“And how can you possibly accuse me that I don’t know her?” Aldrick’s grumble sounded much more intense as if he was quite irked by his strong defense. Barely controlling his temper, he continued, “I have known Gabriel since she was little. Besides, anything, she was engaged to Marcus for 10 years! But…she didn’t reconsider her decision just once before breaking up her engagement with him, even though Luther tried to pursue her till the end! Do you even know how much humiliation we had to face before the nobles?”
But like a giant pile of rock, Zordan faced him with resolute and boldly responded back, “Father, she broke her engagement with Marcus because he cheated on her. And I know you are aware of that too.”
“Huh?”
“Pardon me, but I can’t find her choice wrong in this context.” He kept his dark gaze focussed on him while conversing further. “Besides, I can’t sympathize with those who can break their loved one’s heart for any other woman’s sake. If we are taking up this topic, I guess I don’t need to mention any other example regarding this context, don’t you think so, father?”
Keeping his resolution firm, Zordan intentionally implied a taunt through his vague answer, since the anger of betrayal towards his father was still intact in his heart in all these years.
However, Aldrick was quite sharp to realize his choice of words as he grunted angrily at him, “So, are you disrespecting your father now for someone else? Just for a mere woman who ran away from our pack and who knows if she would have ever returned if Luther wasn’t ill? If she can be so reckless considering such an important relationship in the royal kingdom, how can I possibly entrust her with the future of this pack?” He clenched his fist, venting out his anger on Gabriel.
“Father,” But this time, Zordan narrowed a frigid intense glare into him and deepernd his low voice to make it sound hoarse, “If you still want to disregard Gabriel, whom I have chosen to be my spouse, then isn’t it suitable if I say that you had the audacity to bring a mere woman in the castle when my mother was on her death bed? Do you think it was a rational decision?”
“ZORDAN!!”
A rumbling domineering shriek reverberated from Aldrick in the walls of the spacious room as he glared viciously at him. Veins had started to pop on his arms which he was clenching out of anger, making a scary expression at him.
However, while facing such an outraged alpha alone, Zordan didn’t show any trace of discontent as he stared at him for a brief moment. As a few anticipated seconds passed by, he smirked, “Truth hurts bitterly…isn’t it, father?”
“How dare you disrespect me!? Not only as your father, but as the Monarch of this entire kingdom, how dare you ask me such a thing?” His anger was on the verge of surpassing every limit as he screamed at him.
While Zordan calmly stood facing him headon with a cryptic smirk on his face. “Father, are you possibly getting angry because even you know how terribly you hurt my mother all those years ago?” He showed no sign of back out and straightened his giant physique, asking him elegantly.
“You…?” Aldrick viciously gritted his teeth in anger and stomped his feet hard on the ground, marching a step closer to him. “Clara never objected to bringing Lorelia here in this castle! If she had accepted my decision then who are you to accuse me after all these years? Who gave you the right to do so?”
Monitoring his outraged expression, all of a sudden a pained smirk curved on his lips as Zordan exhaled a deep sigh. Slowly he lifted his head a bit down and asked in a timid voice, “Father…did you ever really love my mother?”
“W-What?” Aldrick was taken aback in surprise by his unexpected question as he gazed confusedly at him. “W-What do you mean?”
“My mother was known to be the generous Luna of our pack whom everyone cherished here. Even though I lost her a long time ago, the memories that I spent with her are still very vivid.” The pained smile on his face faded a little as Zordan stiffened his glare on Aldrick before he pursed his lips, “But out of all the people here in the castle, she loved you the most! You were the one for whom she devoted her everything…yet why… Why did you have to be the one who hurt her brutally the most!?
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