Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 207: Never the Same

The banquet ended with success.

And the next morning, the capital woke to gossip.

It spread like wildfire through the city. From noble salons to market stalls, from military barracks to temple cloisters. Servants whispered it to merchants, who sold it to customers, who carried it home to their families.

By midday, there was not a soul in the upper circles of Iondora who had not heard some version of the previous night’s events.

The Black Wolf King had a Luna.

That much was certain. Arkai Dawnoro, who had refused every match for years, who had been approached by every eligible house and turned them all away, had finally chosen a woman.

And not just any woman, but a mysterious, veiled stranger who had appeared from nowhere and captured him completely.

The guests who had attended the banquet could not stop talking about it.

"In love," they said, shaking their heads with wonder. "Absolutely in love. You should have seen the way he looked at her."

"He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Not once."

"And his tail—" Here, the storytellers would lower their voices, leaning in with the particular glee of those sharing juicy details. "Tucked between his legs like a scolded pup. And his ears, flat against his head. The Wolf King, reduced to a nervous cub by his woman."

Laughter followed. Not cruel laughter. Amused, surprised, the laughter of people who had never imagined the stern, composed, legendary Arkai Dawnoro could be so thoroughly tamed.

"He got himself a scary Luna," someone concluded, and the phrase caught on, spreading through the gossip networks like a banner.

Then came the stories about the Luna herself.

They grew with each retelling, embellished and exaggerated until the truth was barely visible beneath the layers of speculation. But certain facts remained constant, passed from mouth to mouth with the stubborn persistence of things that were actually true.

She was a four-time widow.

She had arrived at the banquet in a desert gown, scandalously revealing, with a black veil covering her face. The image captured imaginations. This mysterious, veiled woman, draped in gold and chains, her face hidden, her lips the color of blood.

Some whispered that she was a witch. The black veil, the desert attire, the tattoos covering her skin, these were not the trappings of a proper lady. They were the marks of something darker, something other.

And her story about three... four husbands? How it was delivered so casually, so chaotically... surely that was the rambling of a woman who had made pacts with forces no one should touch. To enchant men.

But other voices emerged. Quiet at first, then growing bolder.

People who had benefited from her miracle healing potion. People whose loved ones had been saved, whose fortunes had been restored, whose lives had been changed by a single dose of the mysterious elixir that could heal any ailment within days.

"The potency isn’t a lie," they said, their voices firm with conviction. "I saw my brother rise from his deathbed. My mother walked again after years of pain. Whatever she is... witch or saint or something else, her medicine works."

"Her medicine had started being sold here in Iondora too. I know where to buy them. No, I think I’d want to be a distributor too..."

"She’s a physician," others agreed. "A talented one. The Dragon’s Physician, they call her. That’s not just a title. It means something."

And then, the speculation that made everyone pause.

What if she was a dragon herself?

The tattoos on her skin. Ancient dragon markings, some whispered. Marks of power and lineage. And her title, Dragon’s Physician. Physician of dragons.

"She might be one of them," people murmured. "A dragon in human form. That’s why the Wolf King chose her. That’s why she can make miracles."

"She had been married four times. You know, she might be an eccentric dragon marrying mortals across her long life."

The theory spread rapidly, more exciting than witchcraft, more plausible than simple talent. A dragon among them. A living legend, walking the earth in veils and chains.

The capital was awash in stories. Some true, some twisted, all impossible to contain. The only certainty was this.

The Black Wolf King had found his Luna.

And the world would never be the same.

Especially now.

As Arkai, the man in the stories himself, the Wolf King who had conquered volcanoes and captured the continent’s attention, sat in front of his son and his Luna.

The day had come for him to explain.

The room was quiet, the morning light filtering through curtains, casting soft shadows across the three figures arranged in a tense triangle.

Rinne on a chair, his back straight, his hands clenched on his knees. Cecilia standing behind him, her face neutral. And Arkai, seated across from them, his expression carved from stone.

"You are not my blood, Rinne." Arkai’s voice was steady, measured. "I’ve told you that. It’s the truth."

Rinne looked at his father, trying his best to believe. His hands tightened on his knees, knuckles whitening.

"But... we look a lot alike."

The same dark hair. The same shape of eyes. The same presence that made people look twice.

"So?" Arkai’s eyebrow lifted. "Two unrelated people can’t look alike?"

Rinne’s eyes searched his father’s face, looking for something, anything, that would make the fear in his chest go away.

"Are you... are you certain...?"

Arkai’s composure cracked. Just slightly. Just enough.

He stood from his seat and crossed the small distance between them. Then, slowly, deliberately, he knelt in front of his son. Brought himself under his son’s eye level. Made himself vulnerable in a way kings rarely allowed.

"Rinne." His voice was softer now. "Listen to me."

He paused.

"I have never touched your mother."

His eyes met Rinne’s. Held them.

"Ever."

The word was absolute. Unwavering.

But there was something. Something behind it, a flicker in the depths of his gaze, too quick to name, too complex to parse. Something that made Rinne’s doubt linger, even as he wanted desperately to believe.

There was something else he hid.

Cecilia stood behind Rinne, watching. Her face was neutral, but her eyes were unreadable.

"But why..." Rinne’s voice wavered. "Why did that man say that you—"

Arkai’s eyes hardened.

He glared at the boy, a sharp, cutting look that stopped Rinne mid-sentence. His head shook, just slightly. A warning. A command.

Don’t. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Don’t doubt his dignity. Don’t give voice to the poison. Don’t even acknowledge that such a thing could ever—

"Arkai."

Cecilia’s hiss cut through the moment.

And Arkai’s eyes immediately faltered.