[BL] Alpha, You've Got the Wrong Mate!

Chapter 392: 392 — A Curse or A Blessing? (3)

Years passed, and eventually, Raniel learned to speak the common language. It hadn’t been easy at all. Not at first, at least.

When Ilyan first suggested teaching him, the High Priests strongly opposed the idea. They insisted that someone as powerful as Raniel should never be allowed to communicate freely with too many people. If he learned the common tongue, they argued, he could be manipulated, influenced... perhaps, even convinced to betray Hianshu itself.

"We cannot afford that," High Priestess II had stated, her tone as calm and emotionless as ever.

The other high priests simply nodded in agreement. At that point, Ilyan wondered if High Priest I was the one in power, or High Priestess II. She was the one who kept expressing herself while the others blindly trusted her words.

It infuriated the alpha, but he was helpless before them. And so, Ilyan taught his lover the common language in secret.

Not how to read—there was never enough time for that—but enough for Raniel to hold a conversation, understand the people around him, and slowly step into a world that had been deliberately kept hidden from him.

Still, there was one thing the alpha couldn’t change.

Raniel remained confined to his room whenever he wasn’t training or carrying out the High Priests’ orders, ambushing Revhara’s soldiers as he had done until now. Chains still restrained his wrists and ankles, reminding him every waking moment that, despite being called a High Priest, he was nothing more than a prisoner.

Even their meetings were barely tolerated, although they were supposedly fated mates. If they were caught together outside of a heat or rut, one of them—sometimes both—would be thrown into the dungeon and punished for disobeying the High Priests’ commands.

They were whipped, starved, and forced to see the person they loved most screaming in agony.

Yet neither of that seemed to be enough to scare them. No matter how severe the punishment was, they always found their way back to one another the very next day.

That was how their love blossomed within the Temple walls. Quietly, and stubbornly, like roses among thorns, against everyone’s wishes.

Raniel hadn’t realized how many years had slipped by until one morning, when several unfamiliar figures entered his room. They wore light-blue cloaks, clothes only physicians of the Temple were allowed to possess.

"What are you doing here?" the silver-haired man asked in Dragwari, making sure not to reveal that he understood the common language, or even spoke it.

He couldn’t allow Ilyan to get into even more trouble. The alpha had been caught leaving his room barely a week ago, and because of it, they hadn’t seen each other for a total of one hundred and seventy-one hours.

Raniel knew the exact number. His gaze rarely left the clock hanging on the wall, counting every passing hour until his mate returned to him. The ticking made him sick in the stomach, but he waited patiently. That was all he could do.

When none of the physicians answered, his brows slowly furrowed.

"What do you want?" he demanded, his voice rising ever so slightly.

Still, no one spoke. Instead, one of them pulled a key from his robes and knelt before Raniel, unlocking the heavy chains wrapped around his ankles.

"S-Stop..." Raniel stammered, panic instantly gripping his chest.

The only times those chains were ever removed were when he was being taken somewhere else.

Where were they taking him?

Fear flooded every corner of his mind, leaving no room for rational thought. More than anything, one question echoed relentlessly inside his head.

What about Ilyan? Where is he?...

The omega pondered. If he was moved somewhere in secret, how was his mate supposed to find him?

Before he could react any further, a broad-shouldered man lifted him effortlessly and threw him over his shoulder as though he weighed nothing more than a sack of grain.

"Stop!" Raniel shouted, pounding his fists against the man’s back with all the strength he could gather. It didn’t even slow him down, nor did the man flinch or halt his steps. He remained indifferent as if he felt none of the hits on his body.

"You should stop struggling, Raniel." High Priestess II’s voice clicked against his ears like ice.

Although he couldn’t see her through the blindfold, he recognized her immediately.

She was the woman who had always opposed his relationship with Ilyan. The same woman who constantly whispered that he wasn’t worthy of the alpha.

"Don’t listen to her," Ilyan would always tell him afterward, gently cupping his face before pressing a kiss against his forehead. "You deserve every good thing this world has to offer, Raniel... and I swear I’ll be the one to give it to you."

The memory made his chest ache, tears forming at the corner of his eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Raniel demanded, his voice trembling despite his efforts to remain calm. "Where are you taking me? What did I do?" His voice cracked before he could stop it. "Is it... because I kept meeting with Ilyan?" he asked, desperately trying to make sense of everything.

No one answered.

"Am I right?" The omega bit his lower lip so hard that he tasted blood. "I won’t anymore," he whispered hurriedly. "I won’t meet him again, so please..." His voice broke into a sob. "At least... let me see Ilyan one last time."

He already knew what was happening. Just like before, he was being torn away from the person he loved most.

It wasn’t the first time.

Long ago, there had been another person Raniel cherished with all his heart—the priest who had rescued him and brought him to the Temple. Yet that man had been taken from him as well. Later, when he had grown attached to one of the guard dogs that watched over his room during his childhood, even that small source of comfort had disappeared without warning.

It was as though he had been forbidden from loving anyone. Or perhaps, the Temple simply refused to let anyone remain beside him for long.

No matter how desperately he pleaded, not a single person acknowledged his words. The silence hurt far more than any punishment ever had. Then, without warning, something heavy struck the back of his head.

Pain exploded through his skull. His vision blurred before darkness swallowed it whole, and the last thing he heard was the steady rhythm of footsteps carrying him farther and farther away from the only place Ilyan would ever think to look for him.

Farther away from the room where they had whispered countless promises to one another. And farther away from the place that held every precious memory they had managed to create together despite the harsh security...

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