Alpha's Rejected Mate Returns as Queen
Chapter 720: The Wanderer

Chapter 720: The Wanderer

Carolyn's POV:

I loved the palace; it felt like my second home.

When I was young, I was a shy and gentle girl. I wonder if it was due to my father's way of raising me. He loved me deeply but didn't know how to bring me up, always considering girls to be delicate and fragile glass dolls, thus overly protective. It was no wonder I had such a cotton-like personality as a child.

However, everything changed when I faced a great disaster in my life. A witch kidnaped me, my half-sister, who threw me into the mouth of a volcano, taking my place at Lycan Pack pretending to be me.

To be honest, I could hardly recall my feelings then, but surely they must have been a mix of fear and anxiety. However, what impressed me the most was not the scorching torment or the hidden monsters but the stiff and lifeless scarecrow that showed me immense care.

You might say it was the Stockholm syndrome or the bridge effect, but I never denied my positive feelings for that scarecrow. Even though it met its end by being engulfed in lava, I never forgot about it, and even now, I occasionally dream about it.

After the kidnapping incident, I gradually realized that everything should change. Classical virtues couldn't help me survive in this world, let alone as the heir of the Southern Pack. Softness and gentleness would be poison for me and my family.

My father remained silent about my transformation, perhaps realizing he could not protect me from everything, especially my half-sister. He dismissed the teachers who taught me etiquette, flower arranging, and social dances, replacing them with powerful warriors and wise advisers to teach me the skills needed to survive.

After spending my youth, I decided to study abroad. It wasn't a sudden impulse; if you looked around, you'd see how much the influence of humanization had eroded the werewolf race. The human-like clothing, food, shelter, technology, culture, and even traditional habits were all under threat.

The human's weakness had become a thing of the past, as their frail bodies now housed immense wisdom from ancient times to the present. This was awe-inspiring and worrying, so I had to go out and see what the outside world was like. In this surging new era, the werewolf pack could not become a shipwreck in the storm.

I spent many years abroad, and whenever I thought about the past, I felt extremely fortunate that I made the right decision back then.

I shared my experiences with my father, and one day he said, "When you return next time, visit Lycan Pack first. The Queen is interested in your travelogue."

So, after many years, I returned to Lycan Pack. The frivolous experiences of my youth had faded with time, and upon meeting the noblewoman again, I felt that she was no stranger to

me.

We had both changed a lot, and the awkwardness of our student days had been washed away over time. We understood each other's intentions with just a few words.

Since then, whenever I returned to my hometown, I would spend a few days at Lycan Pack. The Queen cared deeply about the changes in the outside world. She said that even when she was young, she had concerns. "Everything is happening too fast; if we hesitate any longer, the werewolf pack will be left behind by history."

During our conversations, I gradually learned that she was considering opening up trade. It was not that the werewolf pack was completely closed to the outside world, but she wanted this openness to be more genuine and integrated into the world's exchanges.

So, when I heard that the werewolf pack had officially established diplomatic relations with Jasper and opened the borders, I couldn't wait to return. It was a critical historical moment, and I didn't want to miss it.

Recently, there was a terrorist attack in Silvermoon Pack, allegedly planned by an extremist organization from Jasper. The relationship between the werewolf pack and Jasper was extremely tense. Fortunately, both sides handled the matter discreetly and continued doing business as if nothing had happened.

The Queen told me that the criminals were now being held in a secret prison and asked if I had heard of the organization 'the Lily of the Valley'.

"Of course, I have a vivid memory of that," I said. "On my way back, I suddenly heard news that the werewolf race arrested members related to the Lily of the Valley. The media emphasized 'illegal detention' and refused to disclose the cause of the conflict as if trying to paint the Lily of the Valley as heroes. This stirred up public sentiment in Jasper, and human supremacists gained the upper hand."

I showed her the news from human social media on my phone.

"I was quite puzzled; all the media in the world act the same way, always stirring up controversies to sensationalize events. But this time, they all had a unified voice, one-sidedly criticizing the werewolf pack. It seemed problematic."

Most of the reports at that time were critical of the werewolf pack.

"But later, when the Jasperian government admitted that the Lily of the Valley was behind the terrorist attack, the news suddenly died. Then, several Jasperian celebrities' scandals emerged, burying the news."

The whole incident was anticlimactic, and it was obvious that someone was manipulating the media from behind the scenes.