The King's Wife Is The Alpha's Mate
Chapter 97 It Is Her Whom He Loves

"What?!" Sophie's eyes widened and she looked at him in shock. "Sleep with you?"

"Yes." Leland nodded. "A marriage can be rendered null and void if the husband and wife do not perform their marital duties. That is why I will have to ask you to fulfill it with me only once and then I will not bother you any further."

The Alpha knew that he stormed out from the room earlier and couldn't take in the news properly.

However, now that he made a decision to never consider actually gaining love from Sophie… he was adamant about establishing the mate bond just so he could protect her.

It was necessary in his eyes because there were too many enemies surrounding them. A temporary mark was not enough because the Alpha realized that his own men sworn to protect Sophie couldn't even do their jobs properly.

What was the only way that Leland could truly protect Sophie from harm no matter where she was? It was only by becoming mates with her that he could protect Sophie absolutely.

This was the only way that he saw. She would be stronger and she could even use his strength when she was in danger.

"No," Sophie spoke up and looked at Duke Romanov in horror. This was what she had always been afraid of when she accepted his offer despite knowing his interest in her… that there were situations like this one.

A part of Sophie knew that it was a good offer and it would amount to a life of wealth for her child while she lived with Duke Romanov. However, a part of Sophie couldn't actually fathom the idea of sleeping with someone else.

She couldn't marry this man… let alone sleep with him. No.

Sophie loved Nick. He was her first, one and only love, and she did not wish to ruin the bond that she once had with him by sleeping with someone else.

Even with Nicholas gone, Sophie felt loyal to him and it hurt her so much to even consider moving on. It was still too early…

"What do you mean no?" Leland looked at her with a sense of dread. He could already feel the looming rejection that Sophie would give him and the Alpha turned out to be right. The words of the woman delivered a swift blow that struck him hard.

"I refuse to sleep with you, Duke Romanov," Sophie said and she shook her head. There was a painful smile on her face. "I cannot betray my husband… even if he is gone…"

Leland could understand the love that Sophie felt for her husband.

However, even when his father, the late Alpha Leon loved Anne Hansley so much, he still ended up sleeping with Leland's mother, Isolde. He even had a second child with her out of his own will.

"Your husband is already gone… Miss Hansley," the Alpha tried to say it gently. "If I were in his position and knew that I would soon be gone from this world and separated from the woman that I have loved, I would sincerely wish her joy and happiness."

"What would you even know about that?" Sophie's eyes glittered with tears and she struggled not to cry in front of the duke.

"If your husband truly loves you more than he cares about himself then even though it might hurt him to know that you married someone else, he would have a heartfelt sincere feeling of acceptance knowing that it is for the best."

Those were Leland's genuine feelings and he placed them out in the open. It had been so hard to accept that Sophie married someone else when he saw her for the first time.

She was actually the motivation that Leland had to become Alpha. He was who he was now, because of her.

Every little thing that Leland did, was all because he wanted to be see the Hansleys again and especially fulfill his promise to Anne to protect Sophie, which recently had turned into love on his part.

It was true that the lycans all hated the royal family and humans who brought war.

However, the Alpha was more concerned with avenging Sophie's family and so everything was more personal to him. Now that Sophie was having difficulty accepting Leland's marriage proposal, he tried to explain.

Perhaps this would be the only situation where he would try to put himself in Nicholas' shoes and he found himself making the same conclusion as he once did.

That even if Sophie's husband was dying, as long as their love was true, Nicholas would want her to be happy again and even remarry.

It failed to reach Sophie's heart though because the woman looked up to him and bit her lip. She was struggling with accepting his words and only asked. "Pardon me for questioning your credibility, Duke Romanov, but have you ever loved someone before?"

"Why do you want to know?" Leland growled softly. He didn't like her question.

Sophie looked at him bravely. "Those are nice words, but I wanted to know if you really understand the matters of the heart if you haven't loved anyone."

Leland struggled with his reply. He didn't want to admit it aloud that it was actually her whom he loved.

"Hypothetically, this is only my perception of what he may be feeling during his final moments," the Alpha said.

"Even if it is true that Nicholas would want me to be happy and move on," Sophie blinked back the tears and looked at the Duke Romanov with a smile. "I still cannot marry you."

"Why?" Leland knew that he needed to replace another way to convince her but it was difficult. She didn't seem to take any of his words with good intentions because Sophie believed that Duke Romanov wanted to marry her for convenience.

The beautiful woman placed a hand on her heart and said, "What Nicholas would simply mean is that I have to replace someone who I love and marry them. Duke Romanov, it is better to replace a person you love than marry someone for convenience."

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From Missrealitybites:

I am sorry, it looks like I'll have to publish the remaining chapters later after I wake up. I messed up some chapter sequences for "The Cursed Prince" during the mass release today. T_T

I don't want to mess it up for this book too, just because I'm exhausted.

Good night!