Submitting to My Lycan Prince Mate

59 Punishment

Claire's POVAs Hawk finished speaking, he rose to his feet alone and vanished before my eyes as if performing a magic trick. It was only then that I belatedly realized that this long day had finally come to an end. I slapped my head in frustration. "Claire, oh Claire, you're still not strong enough to handle these things."Although Hawk had once again resumed his usual invisible state, I felt much safer on the way back to the castle...."Claire, you're finally back. I was just about to send someone out to look for you!" Louis, who had returned to the castle ahead of me, rushed towards me with a look of surprise in his eyes."How was your day? I've informed Alfred that you..."Louis grabbed my hands, but inadvertently pressed on the area where I was injured, causing me to instinctively cry out in pain."What's wrong? Claire?" Louis pulled my hand, pulling up my sleeve in the process.The red marks left on my wrist from the blow of the wooden stick looked particularly alarming."Who did this? Tell me!" Louis's azure eyes filled with a storm of anger. "I'll kill them!""No!" Not wanting to cause any trouble for Hawk, I pleaded with Louis. "It was me. I accidentally fell just now and hurt myself. Please don't be angry, Louis.""Don't lie to me, Claire." Louis saw through my feeble excuse, his face growing even darker. "Tell me, who hurt you? I must make them pay!""No, Louis, it really was me. I just... accidentally..."At this moment, Louis stopped looking at me and turned to call out into the air, "Hawk!"Louis's call startled me. "Louis? What are you doing?!"But before Louis could answer, Hawk appeared before us like a ghostly apparition."I'm here, Your Highness.""Tell me, Hawk, who hurt my mate?" Louis's angry aura made Hawk tremble.The next moment, Hawk was kneeling in front of Louis, his head bowed deeply, revealing the bandaged neck where he had been injured."It was me, Your Highness."Louis widened his eyes. "You?!""Yes, Your Highness."With that, Hawk closed his mouth, unwilling to offer any further explanation.Seeing Hawk's reluctance to defend himself, I hurriedly stood in front of Louis, blocking his gaze of anger and suspicion directed at Hawk."As I told you before, Louis, I've been learning self-defense with Hawk recently. And these injuries were accidentally caused by Hawk during his teaching. He didn't mean to hurt me, Louis."My pleading gaze caused Louis to hesitate for a moment. He gently held my hand, looking down at the bruises on my wrist with a hint of sadness in his eyes."But you're injured, Claire, and it's not a light injury."I squeezed Louis's hand back, looked up at him, and smiled sweetly. "But this is the price of growth, isn't it? I want to become stronger so that I can accompany you and face all threats and difficulties by your side.""You don't need to go through so much trouble, my dear Claire." Louis embraced me affectionately, "As I've always said, I'll protect you.""But I also hope that one day, I can protect you too, my mate."As I uttered the word "mate," Louis's azure eyes swept away the gloom, shining like gemstones.With a smile, I silently whispered to the restless wolf in my heart:You're right, Helen. It's time to bravely embrace love once again."Alright."My sweet words seemed to dissipate much of Louis's anger. He let go of me and turned to Hawk, who was still kneeling on the ground with his head bowed."Now that Claire says it's okay, let's go easy on this matter."What?I looked at Louis in surprise. Was he still going to punish Hawk?!"Louis?!" Louis didn't look at me. He walked up to Hawk, emanating a strong aura of dominance that even the usually stubborn Hawk couldn't help but bow his head lower."I sent you to Claire's side to protect her safety. Although you were teaching her self-defense, you still ended up injuring her. For this, I sentence you to run one hundred laps around the castle. You'll only eat after you finish running. Do you understand, Hawk?!""Yes, Your Highness."Without blinking an eye, Hawk rose decisively after receiving Louis's command and walked out of the castle gates.As Hawk's figure disappeared from our sight, Louis turned his head back to me with a smile that seemed both amused and mysterious."Now, it's your turn, my mate.""What... Ah!"Before I could react, Louis bent down and effortlessly carried me into his arms.In my scream, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck. "What are you doing?! Put me down, there are still people here!""Don't worry, Claire, they'll get used to it."Louis chuckled, ignoring my protests, and carried me up the stairs, heading straight for the bedroom."And you, my Claire, it's your turn to face my punishment."