167 An Unexpected Outcome
It was quickly apparent that Annalynne’s abilities were still beneath Lowell’s. The latter was able to parry all of Annalynne’s hits smoothly.
While Lucien expected the match to be over rather quickly, the crowd was stunned to watch the two alpha candidates in the arena exchanging blows without moving even an inch toward the match conclusion.
“Erm.”
Desmond leaned closer to Lucien.
“What the hell is happening?”
Lucien shrugged.
“I also want to know.”
“If I were Lowell, I would kick Annalynne off the arena in the first five minutes,” Desmond said with a shrug.
“No offense,” he quickly added when he saw the sour expression on Lucien’s face.
.....
Lucien disliked hearing Desmond’s bold statements, but he had to secretly agree. Just what was Lowell doing?
In the arena, Annalynne was slowly losing her cool. She glared at Lowell angrily, her composure unraveling into a series of uncoordinated attacks.
“Oh, oh...” Lucien mumbled.
“There we go,” Desmond said.
The two men half-expected Annalynne to fall off the edge of the arena on her own accord due to her carelessness, but Lowell actually prevented her from doing so.
“...”
“...”
Again, the crowd was speechless.
Lucien did not know what to make of it.
Desmond rubbed at the bottom half of his face, wondering just how long the circus was going to last.
Annalynne too was at the end of her wits. Lucien could almost hear her patience bar snap like a twig above her head.
“RAAAAAHHHHHHH...!!!” Annalynne lunged at Lowell with a battle cry.
Lowell looked a little shaken. He raised his bamboo cane to block Annalynne’s attack, but the latter sneakily dropped her weapon to stab at Lowell’s stomach instead.
Eyes wide open from the sudden change of Annalynne’s movement, Lowell reacted very quickly. He stepped aside, missing Annalynne’s attack by a mere millimeter, and then smacked the latter on her back and sent her flying to the edge of the arena.
Aided by both their combined forces, Annalynne ended up placing her weight on the wrong foot position.
She yelped before she fell off the edge and landed on the grass.
“ANNA!!!”
Lucien and Alice quickly rushed over to take a look at Annalynne. Before they got to her though, Lowell already jumped down to help Annalynne sit up.
“I am sorry,” he quickly apologized. “Are you okay?”
“Meh,” Annalynne said as she examined her foot. “I think I sprained my ankle.”
“Anna! Are you alright?”
Lucien pulled his sister away from Lowell and inspected her wounds. Other than the sprained ankle, she only had some scratch wounds.
“Lulu, I am fine. So sorry that I lost, though.”
Only then did Kendra realize that the competition had come to an end. Clearing her throat, she thus announced the winner.
“Right. Herewith we announce that the winner of the Alpha competition is...!!!”
“WAIT!!!”
All heads turned to Lowell in confusion. The handsome man was rather pale on the face.
“I surrender!”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Dude,” Desmond furrowed his brows and patted Lowell on his shoulder. “What’s wrong with you? Why would you surrender after a clear win?”
“No,” Lowell denied. “I planned to surrender before Miss Clearwater fell out of the arena anyway.”
The statement was not something that he should say out loud in front of so many people. Lowell quickly cursed under his breath when all pairs of eyes were staring at him in surprise.
“...”
“...”
“Umm...”
“I knew that you were just humoring me up there. What is this competition to you? A joke?” Annalynne snapped impatiently.
“No, that’s not it,” Lowell hastily retorted. “I just... I didn’t want to surrender before fighting for some time. Just to make it somewhat real. I...”
Lowell heaved a deep breath before he continued.
“I only joined this competition to win and then to swear my allegiance to Miss Clearwater.”
By saying that, what Lowell meant was that he planned to hand over the Alpha position to Annalynne as soon as he won it through the competition. It was another legal way to obtain an Alpha position, although it must be said that people rarely did that.
Everyone coveted the Alpha position for themselves and their descendants, right?
Annalynne and everyone else gaped at Lowell for some time until Lucien broke the silence with the one word that resounded in everyone’s mind.
“Why?”
Lowell was bright red when he stammered out, “B-because I believe that she would make a good Alpha.”
Kendra rubbed at her lips to suppress a smile.
“Are you sure that that’s all there is?”
“Y-yes.”
Desmond shrugged. “Okay, so I personally don’t mind. Either Lowell or Annalynne will emerge as the winner anyway. If Lowell doesn’t want the Alpha position and decides to hand it over to Annalynne, then, by all means, you know?”
Annalynne struggled to stand up, but her sprained ankle kept dragging her down.
“I don’t get it,” Annalynne said. “Unlike my brother, I have done nothing meritorious for this pack.”
“Anna, shut up,” Desmond said with a frown. “At the very least you have someone willing to be your champion. Just say thank you.”
Annalynne pursed her lips. She turned to Lowell and said, “Then, I shall pick you to be my Beta.”
“NO!” Lowell shouted in return.
He again amazed everyone with his sudden rejection.
“Why would you refuse to be my Beta if you truly support my claim to the Alpha throne?” Annalynne asked in confusion.
“B-because, because...”
The knot on Lowell’s throat moved up and down anxiously. He tried to speak up a few times but failed to formulate his sentences. In the end, he only managed to say, “Can we please talk alone? Just the two of us?”
“There is nothing secretive about this matter,” Annalynne said impatiently. “Whatever you want to say, please say it openly. Why do you not want to serve as the Beta?”
Lowell clenched his fingers into fists. He stared hard in Annalynne’s direction for a few seconds before he gave everyone another shocking statement.
“Because I have been in love with you for some time. I wish to one day marry you.”
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