The Lycan King's Hideous Mage
*** This story has steamy scenes that are not suitable for minors.***
Serra Lore's life is supposed to be ideal and perfect. She graduated top of the class in the Mage Academy. She married the handsome Gideon Dunkerson, the young Lycan King. And now, she is his Luna.
However, on their first wedding anniversary, everything turned upside down. She discovered that her in-laws were just using her. Her husband is cheating on her with a beautiful woman. To make matters worse, she sacrificed her almost passable face and become hideous, in order to protect everyone in the Kingdom.
Now that her daydream has turned into a nightmare, how will she regain the confidence she once had? And to get much needed revenge against her husband?
Gideon Dunkerson thought that his life was perfect. He is the Lycan King-powerful, rich and handsome. The only flaw in his life is that, his Luna does not only look ordinary, but also comes from an ordinary family. Her only saving grace is her excellent magic skills that catapulted her to gain the prestige to become his Luna.
However, he did not expect that his respect for her magic, will turn into lust, and then becomes love. He tried to stop himself from completely falling in love with her, but all was in vain. All his plans to hurt her only cause him a series of pain. He is about to confess his love for her when tragedy struck. She chooses to protect everyone and vanishes from his life.
Her disappearance spirals him into depression and grief, and soon, he is traveling all around the world to search for his Lost Luna. However, when a new competition is held to find a new Luna, Serra reappears. And this time, he vows not to let go of her hand ever again, even if, every time she looks at him, it is with distaste and hatred.
Chapters
Share
Chapter 4
I stand in the center of the arena, surrounded by dozens of other competitors. I close my eyes and reminisce about the feeling of standing in this exact same spot four years ago. Back when I was gullible and oblivious to the world. However, now, I don't feel the same jitters and excitement. No more sense of anticipation and trepidation.
I open my eyes. On the banners, on the stage in front of us, are the written words 'Luna Festival Competition', the same contest that will decide who will be the next Luna for the Lycan King of Dunkerson.
Then the announcer's voice booms out from the loudspeakers, which echoes across the arena.
"Welcome, audience, judges, and competitors, to the Luna Festival! This year's competition will be even more spectacular than four years ago! You will be tested in every aspect of your knowledge and skills, from the warrior's arena to the alchemist's laboratory. But before we begin, let us remember why we are having this contest: to earn the right to be the next Luna who will stand alongside our very dashing Lycan King Gideon Dunkerson!"
I snort at that. I glance at the empty chair on the stage. No Lycan King is present. He doesn't care, just like four years ago. In fact, he hates this competition. It makes him seem lacking as the Lycan King.
"Now, without further ado, let the competition begin!"
As the announcer's words echo around the arena, a roar rises from the crowd. They are excited to replace their previous Luna, hoping they won't get the same plain-looking Luna. I smirk. They are in for a massive disappointment.
The sound of a gong reverberates, and I watch the other competitors form an orderly line in front of the stage where everyone will have the chance to be interviewed. I follow suit. When it's my turn together with the other nine participants, I step forward. I am determined to win, just like four years ago.
"Ah, Hera, the woman from the Liddicoat Kingdom," the announcer greets. "We heard you will take Dunkerson citizenship if ever you win?"
"Yes," I say. "I am hoping to win this competition."
"Like all the other competitors!" he exclaims. I nod, and the announcer continues, "You are pretty. Are you sure you are not running away from some ex-lover?"
"I am not escaping from anyone," I answer. I may have chosen a pretty face that is far from how I really look like. However, it makes me confident. I want to look pretty, even if it's fake and only for a short time.
And so, the announcer continues to talk to the other participants. Since there are hundreds of competitors, they want to take out ninety percent of the participants during the first challenge.
"Should we start the first challenge?" The announcer says, allowing the audience anticipation to build.
I glance at Lady Marinella Dunkerson, Gideon's mother, the closest I had to a friend inside the castle walls. However, blood still runs thicker for her, and she chose her son over defending me, even if she knew that her son was the one at fault.
"Oh, this is an interesting challenge."
I shift my attention to the audience. I can feel the tension in the air as the crowd holds their breath, wanting to hear what the first test will be.
Finally, the announcer continues, "The first challenge will be to construct any magical tool using only the materials provided."
A gate opens on the side of the arena, and a servant appears, pushing a cart of different items. It's Caius' doing. He ensured that there will be a task of tool invention. That way, people will feel like I am the same hopeful Serra. I fake a smile. Right now, there's no need to hope. I am certain I will win not just this part of the competition, but the entirety of it.
"This challenge falls under the previous Luna's set of skills," the announcer remarks as the items to create different magical tools are being organized. "To ensure that the one fated to win this competition will continue what the previous Luna has been doing before."
I stop myself from snorting. He meant when I was being taken advantage of?
And then, the announcer booms, "Good luck, and may the best competitor win!"
The crowd erupts in applause again. I rush to the center of the arena and grab various materials on the ground. Sitting on the side, I block out the noise and excitement of the crowd.
My mind runs through all the details of the design. This is already well-planned, and I will see it through. So, I work quickly and efficiently. A few months back, I already repeated this design over and over.
After half an hour, I had already created a small, intricate magical device that searches for people within a limited radius. To demonstrate, the announcer gives out a name that the tool should search. I push my magic into its small hole, and it hums.
"Oh wow! That is amazing!" The announcer praises. "Congratulations, Hera! You have successfully completed the first challenge in record time!"
I smile and make it seem as awkward as possible. Caius says I need to show vulnerability. These people don't want a steadfast, unfeeling, unsmiling, not-so-feminine Luna, just like I was back then.
And then my smile suddenly vanishes. On the stage, my husband, Gideon, is making his way toward his appointed seat. Lady Marinella points at me, and Gideon's eyes fall on me. However, instead of the flirty look that he reserves for all beautiful women, he glowers at me-even if I'm wearing the prettiest glamour that I could ever conjure.
My stomach twists, and I clutch it. As he continues to stare, I unconsciously touch my cheeks, as if checking if my glamour is still there. Realizing the action, I slide my hand to touch the side of my neck instead.
And when I stare back at him, I feel so small. Under his gaze, the feeling of insecurity still persists in my chest. I feel so lacking, trash, hideous. Someone who has nothing else, but her magic. Someone who cannot be loved, no matter how much effort I put in to compensate for my plainness.
And so, to hide the pain, I bow my head to him and hide my face. I turn around, hoping that when I meet him in close proximity, I will be able to calm myself and not attack him in anger.
You may also like
8.4
Seraphina died betrayed. She perished in flames-poisoned by Darius, the fated mate she'd foolishly loved. Her childhood sweetheart, who sacrificed her only to save his mistress.
Reborn five years earlier, Seraphina vows: Never again. No more submissions. No more suffering his cruelty. This time, she'll rewrite her destiny - then she meets Kairos.
The Untamed Alpha King who loathes the mate bond after his own betrayal. Her second-chance mate - a bond that will kill her if she rejects it.
Now, caught between Kairos' relentless pursuit and Darius' desperate attempts to reclaim her, Seraphina faces an impossible choice:
Drown the world in vengeance... or risk her shattered heart on the mate who could either heal her scars or destroy her completely?
8.0
Scarlett Hayes thought marrying James Whitmore would finally make her family see her as more than a burden.
Instead, it destroyed her life.
Framed for crimes she didn't commit, betrayed by the people she trusted most, and sentenced to prison while pregnant, Scarlett lost everything in a single night.
Then came the cruelest blow of all.
After giving birth in chains, she was told her baby had died.
The people responsible believed she would spend the rest of her life rotting behind bars.
They were wrong.
Five years later, Scarlett returns.
No longer the discarded daughter of the Hayes family. No longer the broken woman they left behind.
Now she is Commander Scarlett Hayes-a decorated war hero, the unseen force behind a global intelligence empire, and a woman powerful enough to make governments tremble.
She comes back for one reason only: revenge.
Her ex-husband, the stepsister who stole her life, and the family who buried her alive are about to learn exactly what happens when a woman with nothing left to lose takes back everything they stole.
But as Scarlett tears through the secrets of her past, one truth threatens to change everything-
the child she mourned for years may not be dead.
And the mysterious man connected to the night that changed her life has been watching from the shadows all along.
7.2
I woke up in a lavish bedroom, only to find a man built like a god of war chained to my wall, glaring at me with pure, unadulterated hatred.
A glowing apparition appeared and told me I had died in a car crash and transmigrated into the body of Elara, a tyrant Luna. Worse, the chained man was Ryker, one of my six fated mates whom the original Elara had brutally tortured.
Because of her sadistic crimes-starving them, exiling them, and sending two of them on a suicide mission-my affinity with them was at negative five hundred. The apparition delivered my terrifying death sentence.
"In three days, at the Marking Ceremony, you will be killed by your six mates."
No matter what I did-freeing Ryker, sharing my food, or lifting their brother's exile-they viewed every act of kindness as a sick, twisted trap. They were just waiting for the punchline to my cruel joke, ready to expose me and end my life.
I was just a librarian who organized book clubs and paid my taxes. Why did the Goddess throw me into this doomed vessel to pay for a psychopath's blood debts? How was I supposed to survive when the men destined to love me were actively plotting to rip my throat out?
Cornered by their righteous fury, I realized playing defense wouldn't work. I grabbed a dagger, sliced my own palm over the ceremonial stone, and swore a blood oath to bring their missing brothers home-or initiate a soul-shattering Rejection Ceremony myself.
7.9
Estrella Ward gave five years of her life to her husband, draining her trust fund to save him from bankruptcy and raising his son as her own.
But one night, she woke up in a freezing hotel room, drugged, with a stranger's bite marks on her skin.
Her husband burst through the door with cameras, his vicious family, and her ten-year-old stepson, publicly framing her as a cheating whore.
The horrifying truth soon surfaced: her husband had drugged her himself, selling her body to his Wall Street boss to secure a senior partnership.
Estrella fought back with hidden security footage, blackmailing him into submission after discovering she was pregnant with his boss's child.
But fate dealt a cruel blow. She was diagnosed with aggressive, terminal breast cancer.
She refused to abort the baby to keep her leverage, but the cancer spread too fast.
She died alone in a cold hospital room, her vengeance unfinished, while her husband and his cruel family celebrated.
They thought they had successfully buried her and her secrets forever, escaping unpunished for destroying her life.
But when she gasped for air and opened her eyes again, she wasn't in a cold grave.
She was in a sterile hospital bed, looking at the perfectly manicured hands of Brooklyn Thompson—the notorious, empty-headed socialite everyone despised.
Estrella's soul had survived the abyss.
"You're going to pay for every drop of blood."
She clenched her new fists, the fire of her vengeance burning brighter than ever.
7.4
Bridget, a ruthless twenty-first-century Wall Street analyst, woke up violently coughing up murky lake water in a decaying 1978 slum.
She quickly realized she was trapped in the body of a naive, marginalized teenager who had just committed suicide over a boy's cruel rejection.
The original girl had been mercilessly bullied by a fake rich kid named Kurtis and his cruel followers. They had publicly read her desperate love letters out loud, mocking her as a toad trying to eat swan meat, and simply watched as she threw herself into the freezing water. Now, her impoverished mother was left weeping by the bed, facing catastrophic debt and total social ruin in their small town. Everyone expected the surviving girl to wake up begging and crying for the boy who humiliated her.
Instead, a cold, calculating fury took over Bridget's analytical mind.
"I already died in that lake. That stupid girl is never coming back."
How could anyone throw their life away for a pathetic, vain clown wearing a mass-produced fifty-dollar watch? To Bridget, those uncollected love letters weren't symbols of teenage heartbreak. They were toxic assets. They were reputation landmines left out in the open that threatened her new family's survival.
Locking away the dead girl's weak emotions, Bridget forced her freezing, exhausted body out of the clinic bed. She set a hard three-month deadline to drag this family out of tier-one poverty. But first, she was marching straight to the volunteer camp to liquidate those liabilities and completely destroy the people who drove this body to death.
9.7
Gemma expected the tearing agony of the bullet wound that had just ended her life.
Instead, her trembling fingers met the cool, smooth friction of heavy silk.
She stared into the mirror. Her face was flawless, completely devoid of the jagged scar that had marred her cheek for the last five years.
It was exactly ten years ago. The day of her engagement party to the ruthless billionaire, Brion Hubbard.
In her past life, her "best friend" Katelyn convinced her to run away with a scheming scumbag.
Katelyn claimed Brion was a heartless tyrant who would ruin her. Gemma had foolishly believed those fake tears.
That choice led to her family's bankruptcy, her brutal disfigurement, and ultimately, a fatal bomb explosion.
The only person who tried to save her was Brion, his blood-soaked body shielding hers from the blast.
She even realized too late that the strawberry cream cakes she always made for him were full of dairy.
He wasn't leaving to cheat on her. He was locking himself in a medical bay, fighting fatal allergic shock, just to accept a tiny scrap of her affection.
Gemma had been so incredibly blind. Why did she trust the venomous snakes who destroyed her, while hating the man who died for her?
Hearing Katelyn frantically knocking on the dressing room door, urging her to run away again, a towering hatred surged through Gemma's veins.
This time, she wasn't going to run.
She was going to expose the traitors, take back her family's wealth, and claim the tyrant for herself.