Alpha's Rejected Mate Returns as Queen

Selma Payne’s POV:

“In fact, I have thought of buying it.” I didn’t deny it. This was exactly what I needed. “The market price of artworks is always fluctuating. I’ll get someone to appraise them and quote you a reasonable price.”

Emma waved her hand nonchalantly. “Don’t say that. I don’t paint for money. It’s just a hobby to pass the time. Urgh, that sounds like a real joke.”

She shuddered and continued, “Anyway, I said I’ll give it to you. Just treat it as me bribing our new queen in advance. When I hold another art exhibition in the future, I’ll announce to the audience that even the Queen’s collection room has my paintings. Wouldn’t followers surge over like floodwater then? So just accept it as a gift.”

Emma winked playfully, waved at her friend who was calling her from afar and left.

“So, the problem is solved now,” Aldrich said. “The painting will be sent to your bedroom tonight. We have a lot of time to study it. Now, be happy. Let’s play with the children. I just saw Dorothy telling them the legends of each painting.”

Night came.

Emma had someone send the painting to the palace during the day. The servants thought I ordered it, so they temporarily hung it in the living room.

No one slept tonight. We had searched through almost all the myths and legends related to the Moon Goddess in the royal library, but we couldn’t find even the slightest bit of legend related to ‘a Heartless Death’.

In all the legends, Moon Goddess was undoubtedly a virgin goddess. It was not that she or her incarnations did not have love legends, but none of them mentioned that the goddess had personally given birth to a child.

That was strange. If there were no records in the legends, how did the elder Emma speak to know about it?

The eastern sky was already bright. Looking at the room full of books, I felt tired from staying up late. My body, which hadn’t had a wink of sleep for a night, finally issued a protest signal, strongly demanding that I quickly remove the fatigue that had accumulated over the past few months. Otherwise, it would go on strike.

The oil painting on the wall was facing me. I looked at it and then at the book in my hand. I felt more and more sleepy.

Unknowingly, the book in my hand seemed to close, but I didn’t know if it was real or an illusion. My vision became increasingly blurry, and the figure in the oil painting gradually turned into a block of color. The morning light shone on it, distorting it into a strange and dazzling color.

I felt my head drop, and I was about to fall asleep.

Aldrich was flipping through a book, and Dorothy whispered something to the werewolf grandmasters over the phone. Gradually, all of this left me. I was too tired. I had to sleep.

So sleepy…

***

“… Wake up, child.”

Someone whispered something in my ear, but I didn’t hear it. I just grumbled impatiently and then continued to sleep.

“Wake up, child…

“He’s here. You have to wake up…

“Wake up, Selma…

“Madeline…

“-wake up!”

A serious female voice softly shouted in my ear. I quivered and suddenly woke up.

Looking around, I felt as if everything just happened was an illusion. I was lying on the soft bed in the bedroom. The sky outside the window was dimly lit, but no one was in the room. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps. The bedroom door opened, and Aldrich walked in.

He seemed visibly relieved to see me awake.

“You’re finally awake, baby. You frightened me.” He placed the tray on the bedside table and handed me a cup of hot cocoa. “Have some to warm yourself up. You haven’t eaten for a whole day.”

When I saw the hot cocoa, my hazy brain suddenly jolted awake. I asked, “Have you and Dorothy found any clues about the painting?”

Unexpectedly, Aldrich asked in surprise, “The painting? What painting? Have you bought any artwork? I don’t remember you asking me to find any clues about the painting before you fell asleep. As for Dorothy, I don’t know. Do you want me to ask?”

“All of you… You don’t know?” Aldrich wouldn’t joke about such things, which astonished me even more.

How was that possible? We went to the art exhibition together, heard Emma say she would give me that painting as a gift, and read the legends together for an entire night!

Out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly saw a few cards on the dressing table.

An ominous premonition gradually enveloped me. I immediately asked, “When did I fall asleep? How did Emma’s art exhibition go?”

Aldrich replied with lingering fear, “You scared me to death. Yesterday morning, we were about to set off when you suddenly fainted. My dear, I understand you’ve been under pressure recently, but your health is also very important. If you delay your meal because of work again, I’ll have to protest to His Majesty.”

“As for the art exhibition, I didn’t go yesterday, so I don’t know how it went. But I think it should have gone very smoothly. After all, Emma’s family and friends came on the first day.”

I felt like I’d fallen into an ice cave.

“Did you just say we didn’t attend the art exhibition yesterday?”

I jumped out of bed and ran to the living room without putting on my shoes. However, the scene that greeted my eyes made my hair stand on end.

There was nothing.

Nothing on the wall was supposed to be ‘a Heartless Death’..