Niven remembered the time when he asked Arien about soulmates. It wasn't just for the sake of satiating his curiosity, rather, he wanted to learn about how soulmates worked because of Theoden's immediate love for Roselia.
When they were children and before Niven had been engaged to the princess, Roselia had wandered off by herself with only a few maids into the streets of the empire since she grew frustrated at being locked up in the palace for too long. During her time playing outside, she eventually met the young Theoden who had been caught and detained as a slave.
He had no previous record of any family and was thought to have been an orphan so no one went looking for him.
Roselia rescued him of course and was kind enough to let him stay with her inside the palace, but the empress and the royal consorts were hesitant to allow a beastman near the crown princess. They first had another lion beastman come inside the palace, hoping he'd be able to properly train Theoden so the boy wouldn't rely on his animalistic instincts.
Around that time, Niven had come to visit Roselia. He was also nervous about hearing Roselia excitedly tell him of her adventures of sneaking outside of the palace and nearly passed out from fright when she introduced Niven to the lion beastman. The boy was quite different from him and hadn't really seen a beastman before.
As the three of them eventually grew closer, that was also the time Theoden bluntly revealed how he claimed Roselia to be his intended heart-mate. Lion beastmen were more or less able to figure out who their actual mates were with a special type of bond, not just because of their instincts. So Theoden took the thought of having Roselia as a mate very seriously even if he didn't fully understand the concept of soulmates.
As a beastman, soulmates were an important existence to have. He didn't doubt Roselia was his mate and it wasn't very long until the girl was also convinced. They were with each other every second of the day and she already formed a connection with him even if she didn't know what it was.
So Theoden didn't really get why Niven and Roselia grew pale from shock. Theoden figured they'd be happy and the crown princess would accept him, but he was utterly crushed when Niven revealed Roselia couldn't marry him.
Roselia was born of the highest pedigree in the imperial family. She was the first girl born in the last few hundred years and was gifted with innate talent and beauty. Her long lineage was traced back to the very first emperor and was even related to a powerful witch so she inherited a majority of the witch's powers. From a young age, she had been taught by the empress how to properly use her power as the crown princess and received lessons from well-respected magicians and other masters to ensure her own safety.
Someone like Roselia was out of Theoden's reach even if they were soulmates. Theoden had nothing and his status was just a slave.
Because of that fact, it didn't take very long for the three of them to understand how Roselia might be married off to another empire or someone of the same status to ensure the royal bloodline. Since she was the only female in the imperial family, there wasn't a doubt the emperor and empress would set up multiple candidates and pick a handful of consorts for Roselia to marry as soon as she grew up.
Roselia refused to marry anyone else and told Niven she'd rather marry Theoden alone. But there wasn't much she could do to prevent her family from marrying her off. Roselia was the only one capable of giving birth since none of her brothers were able to like Empress Lysander, and Alessio hadn't begun to look for a fiancé during that time so it was critical for the imperial family to look for someone to be engaged with Roselia.
So Niven suggested something. The boy merely went on a whim and offered to get engaged to Roselia himself while Theoden uses that time to hone his own abilities, but it turns out the children took Niven's words very seriously and thought to follow what he said.
Niven was reluctant to go through with it since he wasn't capable of his own abilities and figured he wasn't a good enough candidate for Roselia even if he was a Kingston.
But once Niven received news from his mother about Roselia getting engaged to several sons of another empire, a place Titurean had once considered as an enemy, Niven devised his own plan during that time and spent several sleepless nights, trying to figure out ways for the emperor and empress to accept Theoden. Roselia was already incredibly reluctant to the engagement and cried, telling Niven she didn't want to marry anyone else but Theoden.
That was the time Niven had requested his father to ask for Roselia's hand in marriage. Uriel Kingston raised an eyebrow, wondering his son would want to get engaged with someone he hasn't known for a full year until Niven kept on prodding, annoying the man every chance he could and even got the grand duchess to make the man agree. While his mother may not know the exact reason, she felt Roselia was a good match for Niven and naively believed her son actually wanted to marry her.
Theoden and Roselia had a vague idea as to what the blond was doing though they honestly didn't expect Niven to conjure up with a deal for Emperor Rosaine and Empress Lysander. He stated he'd give Theoden a set amount of time to conquer the empire of Caphate, the very one they had been enemies with, so the lion beastman would have a chance to prove his worth.
Not only that, but Niven decided to kill two birds with one stone.
Back then, the imperial faction and the royal family's influence had diminished against the aristocratic group. The only reason why they planned on sending Roselia to marry the sons of another empire was so they could regain their foot in power. Niven immediately put a stop to that by allowing Theoden to become the imperial faction's one last chance to rise in power. If he could prove himself to the whole empire then the nobles would have to back down since the citizens would favor him more.
The deal was too fragile though and was a long shot. Niven honestly didn't think the emperor and empress would accept, but they did so in secret.
The imperial family already knew Theoden claimed Roselia as his soulmate and they felt some pity for the boy since soulmates for beastmen were often hard to find and may end up never meeting them in their lifetime. Still, they couldn't just accept him as Roselia's only husband, she wasn't born for just one person and has duties as the crown princess to uphold. They hesitantly agreed to Niven's deal and didn't think Theoden would last a year on the battle grounds. If he died then they could only go with their last option, which meant Niven would have to marry Roselia for real to keep the imperial faction's power stable since he was a Kingston.
And before Theoden left, Roselia gifted each one of them a set of earrings. The crown princess had a feeling their friendship would face difficulties once the lion beastman was gone and so she urged the two to never take the earrings off, hoping it might remind Niven and Theoden about their relationship with one another. Niven kept his word and always wore it, and despite being questioned many times by his family about it, he only said it was a gift from Roselia and it made him seem devoted to the girl.
After Theoden was gone, the royal family were proven wrong after a year passed. Theoden had actually improved himself and survived and it made the nobles infuriated. Because of how he was originally a slave for so long, his abilities were suppressed and he could hardly control them in the beginning, but because of Niven setting him up with rare potions and magic artifacts to help the beast in secret, he was able to overcome a few of his struggles and made it through.
But then the dreaded time came when Niven sent the beastman on other missions. Theoden was still relatively weak and could hardly stand his ground so Niven regretfully ordered the lion beastman to go and conquer a few rebel troops whose own powers were mid-tier. Even handling a few was extremely difficult for Theoden until he adapted to his situation quickly. Beastmen were more innate to using strength so even if he wasn't talented with magic, Theoden managed to survive and crushed the troops before Niven rained down on him and ordered the male to conquer another set of enemies to prove himself further to the imperial family.
By the time they were fourteen, Roselia watched with pity as Niven forced himself to become the bad guy and deliberately separated Theoden away from his troops, leaving him to face the harshness of the world by himself for months. He only did so because of a noble planting spies in Theoden's group, hoping to get rid of the beastman.
That day, Niven struggled and guiltily forced Theoden to survive on his own before sending only a few men he trusted to accompany the soldier. From then on, Theoden rounded up his own group before expanding, calling it his own army.
And while Theoden knew the blond didn't want him to actually die, he had been ruined by the boy's acts and endured much more than he could handle.
Roselia always felt immense guilt when it came to Niven. She witnessed the male sacrifice a lot so he could make sure Theoden improved himself while he played the perfect role of a devoted fiancé. Niven struggled to keep the nobles and imperial ministers at bay when they all resented the idea of a lowly beastman being able to wed the crown princess. The royal faction often pushed for the two to get married since no one believed Theoden would survive.
So Roselia stood in the sidelines, watching with difficulty as the boy kept an iron grip on the situation by himself even though his illness had grown worse.
The situation had gotten out of hand once the noble faction realized how sick Niven was and urged Emperor Rosaine to replace the boy with suitable candidates from their side. The other party and the princes did their best to hide Niven's sickness to protect his spot as Roselia's fiancé, but the blond had collapsed one day and was sent back to the duchy immediately. Unfortunately, Roselia had to defend herself and her pretend engagement with Niven from young men who stood in the noble faction, hoping to steal Niven's spot.
Emperor Rosaine and Empress Lysander nearly had to switch Niven with someone else until Roselia managed to turn the tides and gained support from several powerful women in high society who also had beastmen spouses, claiming they were actual soulmates and knew the struggles of what Roselia was going through.
But Roselia felt even more regretful toward her soulmate who was suffering by himself in an unknown territory, hoping he could prove his worth to the imperial family.
So when the news came of Theoden finally conquering the empire of Caphate, Roselia collapsed to her knees and actually sobbed, incredibly relieved that her soulmate survived and Niven would no longer have to put up the facade anymore.
"I'm still sorry for what I put you through," Niven tiredly said as he spoke to Theoden alone. "It was... the only way for you to get stronger. I couldn't hold off the imperial ministers for too long and the noble faction began to pressure His Imperial Majesty with setting Roselia up with several more consorts. That's why I allowed Alessio to publicly declare I would marry Roselia once we turn twenty. We... just didn't have time to wait for you anymore. I'm so sorry, I know I'm weak and I can't-"
"Thank you," Theoden interrupted. Niven looked up in surprise. He felt himself tear up at Theoden smiling. "I know it was hard for you to protect Roselia and I by yourself without any help. I'm grateful for your help and I just want you to know that I'm okay."
"You're not... okay. You spent so long out there by yourself without even seeing Roselia again. There was more I could've done if it weren't for how sick I was," Niven bitterly expressed.
"I'm just grateful you came through with our promise and kept my mate safe. You should focus on yourself now, you've done enough."
Niven still couldn't accept it. He did his best to make sure Theoden would come out safely and even acted as the male's enemy so the other nobles wouldn't rush in themselves to try and get rid of him since they thought Niven was actually against the lion beastman. But his efforts weren't exactly rewarded.
The boy left Roselia unprotected for some of time and regrettably let her face the aristocratic faction by herself. By the time he had gotten better, Roselia was standing her ground perfectly fine and he thought he wasn't needed anymore.
And then he was sent here to the academy, away from everyone in the empire.
"I think my father sent me here to recuperate now that I think about it," Niven softly muttered. "I always wondered why he sent me away so abruptly... now I understand why he hated being involved with the imperial family. I struggled but I haven't done enough, and I left you unprotected as well-"
"I'm not dead." Theoden raised his hand to pat Niven's shoulder. "I'm doing just fine. I also understand what you did. I was never angry at you with anything, things just had to be this way. Though I'm sorry you went through all of this. We were just kids and you were always sick. I... was afraid when I heard about you collapsing."
"I'm too much of a coward to accept your apology," Niven retorted. "I've always been weak so don't feel bad. I'm just... sad about all of this, I guess. You may be a hero of the empire now, but the imperialists will never fully accept you. Perhaps if I had stayed and did more for you then I could've persuaded them eventually."
Theoden couldn't say anything else. Even if he tried to comfort Niven, the beastman wasn't very good at it since he lacked the social skills to due to his time being away as a soldier. Not only that, Niven always blamed himself for the things he couldn't do correctly.
Niven wasn't like his father and never used any of his abilities since he was too sick to do so, but the boy familiarized himself with other matters in the empire to be helpful for once. Though it seems Niven was used to putting himself down and was too caught up in the terrible things he's done to Theoden.
Still, Theoden kept quiet and only sat beside Niven for a while, awkwardly patting his shoulder as a means of comfort. Niven gave him a frosty smile, not really sure how to respond to that but he did feel a little better since Theoden had never been truly angry with him. He still kept his other pair of earring on as proof.
When time Alessio came back, he quickly informed Niven his family was prepared to return to the empire. The empress had already approved of Theoden being with Roselia, but the emperor and the other were still uneasy. Though it wouldn't take long for them to be fully on board once Empress Lysander speaks up for the lion beastmen.
And now Niven stood in front of the entrance of the academy with his aunt. His father had already gone back home mostly to see his wife, but Dahlia held onto the boy with a small smile as they watched Emperor Rosaine carefully escort the empress inside the car.
But before Empress Lysander got in, he quietly spoke to Niven about one last reassurance about Theoden. Niven simply comforted the man and said it was better this way. Theoden was meant for Roselia and she had her own soulmate who'd take care of her.
That was more than enough to quell the empress' worries and he finally got inside the car with a small comment on how he hopes to see Niven at the wedding.
"I didn't think you were the one who made Theoden this way," Dahlia suddenly said as Niven returned. "I always wondered why you helped him out even though you claimed to be at odds with one another. I'm very proud of you, but I'm more scared than impressed by how you managed to think of such a plan. It's been going on for nearly a decade!"
"I'm glad everything finally ended," Niven responded.
"You handled it really well. You're truly a full blooded Kingston," Dahlia quipped happily. "It makes me a little sad though to see Roselia go, but Theoden makes her happy so I suppose it's for the best. Are you sure you don't have any feelings for Roselia though? That might be a little hard for me to swallow if you did end up liking her..."
"I'd hope not," Alessio abruptly interrupted. The male walked over with his sister, smiling at the woman. "Otherwise, this'll turn out real messy."
"It's like I said, Aunt. I love Roselia and would do anything for her, but not in a romantic sense. My beloved already has Theoden in her heart, right?" Niven nudged the girl.
Roselia scoffed, "You should really change that nickname for me. It may have fooled everyone for the past decade, but Theoden gets really upset."
"There's also one more thing we'd like to discuss with Niven, if that's alright with you, Lady Dahlia?"
The woman waved the crown prince off and went over to speak with the emperor and Theoden, leaving the three of them by themselves.
"This matter won't be settled so quietly. One day, we may have to call you to stand with us in case the noble faction decides to try anything," Alessio said with some guilt in his eyes. "I know you've already struggled with them for ten years, but you already understand how much of a problem this'll be since Theoden's the only one Roselia will marry and polygamy is a big deal with how our world works as of now."
"It's okay, I had a feeling this would've be solved so quickly," Niven gave them a tired smile, making the siblings even more unhappy with their situation.
"Maybe you could send Levi in your place instead," Roselia tried.
Niven sighed, "Not a single one of my family knows what I've done. I haven't said anything to the twins either so I'm not so sure they'll support me. They never cared about choosing a side since it'll just be a hindrance to them. Even if I did tell them what I planned from the beginning, they wouldn't have helped and probably would've stopped me from helping Theoden."
"I'm sure they'll stand with us if you just explain everything to them," Roselia replied. "But it's also not good to force them into anything so if they choose to stay away from politics then they can."
"It'll be alright. Since I stand behind Theoden, it won't be long until the rest of my family fully supports him as well."
"What if your father doesn't approve?"
"I'll just tell my mother and my aunt can beat him up or something as compensation for sending me away without a word. It'll be fine, it's going to be just fine," Niven said without a hint of hesitation. "Now, it's about time for Your Highnesses to leave. It'll be a long trip back to the empire so I won't keep you."
"Actually, before we leave, there's one more thing we'd like to do," Roselia nervously spoke up.
Niven watched Alessio and her exchange glances to each other before he heard several footsteps coming from behind him. He perked over his shoulder to see his pack mates heading over to the small group. He was a little shocked, not expecting them to look annoyed.
Agustine timidly followed behind Silas, having to hang his head low so Niven wouldn't be able to see his jackal mask half broken. It was pieced back together, but he was missing one of the jackal's ears and didn't want the boy to question it.
Before Niven could ask what they were doing here, Roselia tugged on her arm and lead the boy over to a more private spot before Alessio began to speak to the men.
Arien had already been in a bad mood and shut himself away in his office for a whole night and didn't bother to return to his dorm room. Mirren had kept himself busy with Crescent, but the sylph was more annoyed as to why the brunet had suddenly grown sticky and wouldn't stop clinging onto her. She nearly slapped the male away before she realized how depressed the beastman seemed. It reminded her of the time when Niven wasn't free to hang out so the jaguar could only laze around in a daze, just sulking.
Silas was more normal than the others and did his own thing despite how uncomfortable he still was with Roselia appearing, but when he heard about Agustine's incident with Roselia, he rushed to find his brother despite how unlucky the male was and just needed to check up on him.
He was stunned to see Agustine in a mess, just cradling his face to hide himself as he laid on the ground with a broken mask several feet away from him. While he knew he shouldn't go near him, Silas cautiously stepped near his brother and began to ask what happened. He didn't respond as usual, but Agustine shakily pointed at his mask. He regretted throwing it.
Silas had to fix it himself and while it wasn't the best, Agustine was more than touched to see his brother personally fix up his mask.
The three of them now stood in horrible moods just as Agustine cowered behind his little brother.
Mirren was just about to ask why the hell they were all here when Alessio bent down and exclaimed, "I'm so sorry!"
The Wolves just stared at the crown prince without a word, not understanding what was happening. Agustine peeked over Silas' shoulder for a second, wondering why Alessio was acting so apologetic like he didn't just storm inside his dorm room and mocked him a while ago.
"What the hell are you doing?" Mirren snorted.
Alessio quickly said, "I highly apologize for offending all of you these past few days, and I want you to know my sister and I really didn't mean what we said."
Arien's tagged slowly swished in the air in annoyance. "You mean... you don't want us to take offense from when you poked fun at us and our feelings?"
The Wolves felt their moods plummet a little more when they remembered Alessio and Roselia mocking them.
The crown prince immediately noticed the atmosphere dampening and hurriedly explained, "You see, my sister isn't really engaged with Niven. That was nothing but an act to fool the noble faction who're against the imperialists. My sister is actually in love with another man, but he comes from lowly originals and is just a beastman. Your omega was only in an engagement to protect Roselia from accepting any other proposals."
Their anger stopped showing as Alessio continued to explain what Niven had done a decade ago and how he managed to convince nearly everyone how genuine his relationship with Roselia was. Arien and Mirren already had a vague idea as to how much the beastman went through, but Silas and Agustine were more concerned with the fact Niven had actually plotted all of this since he was a child.
In fact, the Wolves were completely at a loss for words. They didn't think Niven had an inch of violence for anything, yet the student was heavily forced by the noble party to do inhuman deeds just to make sure Roselia and Theoden had protection.
Alessio felt a little more guilty when he confessed, "Niven has done a lot for my sister and spent a decade stabilizing the imperial family's power. As a result, he often neglected himself and his illness grew worse every time they oppressed him. Most of the aristocrats wouldn't even think of fighting Niven, but because he always had a weak body, they saw this as an opportunity to push him back while demanding my parents for another candidate as Roselia's fiancé."
"And you're sure everything is fine?" Silas asked.
Alessio helplessly shrugged. "It's only a matter of time before something else happens. But we should be stable for a while now. Theoden gained the support of my family and the citizens so the nobles can't do anything to him."
"But what was the reason for you acting shitty toward us?" Mirren said, ignoring Silas and Arien sending him warning looks. "That doesn't explain anything."
Alessio was quiet for a while and merely stared at the group before his eyes landed on Arien's impatient face.
"I wasn't completely... lying about everything, Arien. I've heard about you all before I came here to visit Niven and I just wanted to know your actual intentions with him. All of you looked so close to him and we thought it was a chance for us to come confirm it ourselves. We just wanted to know if you truly cared. Niven's been so caught up with Roselia that he never had any time to himself and with Theoden finally here, my sister just wanted Niven to be able to find someone else who could make him happy as well."
"Wait, you tricked us?" Mirren was baffled. "You acted shitty to us because you wanted to know if we liked him or not? Well, fuck you! Your sister screwed with me! I don't even care if you're a prince, you're a goddamn-"
"I like him," Arien cut in without a hinder. All eyes turned to the wolf beastman and it effectively shut Mirren up instantly. Arien continued, "You already know how much I like him. I tend to court him as my soulmate."
"It's good you care," Alessio revealed a small smile. "I've always worried about Niven and I wish for his happiness. Since the four of you are here, it makes me relieved to know I'm leaving him in good hands. Lord Uriel has already approved of you being a potential candidate, and I wasn't surprised to know he also took a liking to Silas. Though I'm still not too sure about you, Silas."
Alessio knew just enough about each member of the student council to know how highly they valued Niven.
Arien's instincts might have already claimed Niven as his most suitable mate despite the short time they had together, and he was pleasantly surprised to know how gentle Arien was when he took care of Niven.
Agustine was more... obsessed than the crown prince originally thought, but the demon meant no obvious harm and was more selfish in wanting Niven's affections. He was possibly more jealous than anyone else though he did have the boy's best interests in mind.
On the other hand, Alessio was a little worried about Mirren. He even had Roselia talk to him and the prince was relieved to know he was actually taking the idea of being Niven's mate seriously. At first, he didn't really believe Mirren would change his ways since he was notoriously known as a flirt in the academy and slept with nearly everyone he could charm. But it was different with Niven and Alessio could only hope Mirren would keep the blond's well-being in mind.
But Silas was a different matter altogether. While his pack mates already fell for Niven, he wasn't quite sure if Silas felt the same or if the angel was mostly indebted to Niven for what the boy has done to nullify his death touch. Silas treated him well, but Alessio didn't think he had enough information to know whether or not the angel actually liked Niven. But he supposed it'll be revealed sometime later, it really wasn't any of his business to prod and can only let things flow naturally between Niven and Silas.
And while Alessio liked to officially wrap everything up, he also didn't forget the other guy who he watched out for.
Grimmwolf.
The others may not have noticed, but Alessio certainly did. He was told that Grim often wandered through the academy by himself and hardly appeared to anyone, but who would've thought the beastman was actually hiding out and overlooking everything? Most of all, he was only watching over Niven and no one else.
Alessio may have to keep an eye on that guy.
"Are you ready to go, Brother?" Roselia asked as she returned with Niven. The boy was oddly silent and refused to meet eye contact with anyone. Alessio had a gut feeling he knew what those two had talked about.
"I think it's time we leave. Once again, I am sorry with how we've acted and I hope you don't take any offense," the crown prince said.
Roselia hurriedly stepped forward and bowed her head in front of Arien. "I-I'm also very sorry I hit you. I didn't really mean to take things too far... but you know, you gotta go big or go home. It's only my fourth time out of the palace and I had to play the part of a bitch very convincingly! And since we're all done, you can hit me in the face if you want! I'm also really sorry for shouting at you, Agustine, so I don't mind if you also slap me in the face."
The demon and alpha were at a loss for words. Being slapped never truly bothered Arien and he considered it a thing of the past already whereas Agustine awkwardly nodded his head at the girl.
Roselia felt even more horrible and said, "I really didn't mean anything by what I said before! I'm seriously really happy you're all here for Niven. But I swear I'm not usually like this and it was actually my first time hitting someone! It hurt my hand as well! I understand if you can't forgive me for what I did, that only goes to show I played the part of a bitch well. Like wow, even I'm amazed by my acting skills-"
"Roselia," a voice cut in.
Arien and Mirren instinctively tensed up and looked up at the male coming over. Their eyes shifted at the smell of an unknown predator and they threateningly snarled at the lion beastman before witnessing Roselia hugging the man.
"Please don't mind my mate," Theoden said in a low tone and hugged the girl tighter in a protective state. "She's... energetic."
Mirren looked away, already disinterested with the male. Arien kept his gaze steady though and felt his pupils dilate, feeling a bit more threatened. The lion beastman also did the same.
Arien fucking hated cats. It seems like Theoden disliked his kind as well.
Before things could escalate further, Alessio had to practically rip Theoden away from the group and hurriedly bid his goodbyes. Before Roselia left, she quickly patted Arien on the shoulder and quietly said, "Thanks for watching over Niven. I really hope you end up together... you and the others make him happy."
After that, the imperial family left. Roselia was finally able to be with her mate and everything ended on a happy note. But Niven stood alone with his pack mates, still silent about everything and didn't spare them a glance.
Mirren noticed after several minutes of the male not speaking so he began to question if everything was alright. The blond only brushed it off, saying how he was only tired. He didn't sound very convincing to the jaguar.
The brunet was mostly confused as to why Niven's cheeks flushed red. He would've kept on asking if it weren't for Niven hurriedly calling for his aunt and used Dahlia as an excuse to leave.
Mirren and the others were dumbfounded, watching Niven grab his aunt and leave without a word.
What exactly did Roselia say to him?