~Emeric~

　　The commencement of the 2nd trial was given as I watched the doors in front of me open. All of my forty eight candidates moved forward, entering the limbo which was powered by magic. I looked to my right, beyond the assigned and moral adjudicator were three witches. They do an excellent job keeping their magic stable for hours.

　　As the competition proceeded, I turned to give my Beta a look. With a cunning, mischievous smile, he nodded his head.

　　"If you will excuse me, sir, I will have to go and check the surveillance cameras." The adjudicator was shocked by two things. One, that I addressed him as 'sir', and two, that he wasn't informed about these surveillance cameras. Of course he wouldn't be informed, because those surveillance cameras are mostly concentrated at one pathway. For one candidate.

　　Giving him a curt nod, I rose from my throne elegantly and followed Beta Roman.

　　"Nice swerve, Your Majesty." I gave the young man a look,

　　"Please don't start talking like my wolf. Even he is using this annoying tone to tease me about my mate."

　　"...But your Highness, I didn't even mention who I was teasing you with."

　　'BWAHAHAHA, HE GOT YOU GOOD, EMERIC!'

　　'Shut the hell up...'

　　We walked down the hallway, trying to find a way to enter the surveillance room in secrecy. No one was informed about this for a reason, and the person who is operating secret cameras is bound with a contract of confidentiality. Hence, everything was happening under my instructions and wishes.

　　"Good morning, your Highness." Immediately offering me a seat, the operator stood up as he stood to the corner of the cramped space.

　　"Please bring yourself two more seats," I turned to inform the operator and he nodded quickly. While he was gone, I felt a palm on my shoulder. I raised my eyebrow at Roman, looking at the older man over my shoulder.

　　"Getting too frisky, I see."

　　"I don't get frisky over women, Roman. You know that more than anyone else." Chuckling at my response, somehow finding me 'funny' Roman retreated his hands. I took over the control system, getting familiar. I knew the chairs were a long way from here. The operator can take his sweet time away.

　　Clicking on the mouse and some other...technical gadgets, I figured out how to zoom in onto a specific camera. Camera number 38. The video was enlarged, now being displayed on the relatively bigger screen.

　　"What is she doing...?" My hands were folded against my chest as I observed her, Aurora Fangborn. She was struggling with her first clue.

　　"Roman, tell a guard to keep the operator away for some business."

　　"What business, your Highness?" I could sense mischief in his voice. Turning my neck, I raised an eyebrow threateningly and said, "Be creative with it. You are the manager and minister of this Kingdom."

　　"Whoa, alright." Saying, the beta walks out briefly to do his task as well. A few minutes passed by, and I watched the young woman jump in her place upon cracking her first clue.

　　'How adorable she is! She unlocked the first one, Emeric! Aren't you happy!?' Marrok seemed to celebrate with her. Sensing my stoic expression, Marrok deduced that I wasn't happy.

　　'It is just the first stage, Marrok. She is dumber than you think. Let me watch further.'

　　'...You are the most unsupportive mate I've ever seen. I hope I am always taking you over and making a good impression of us, then you stay in your human form and discourage her even more. At this rate, she will be tempted to reject us!'

　　'Like I said, I don't care, Marrok. She will have a second chance. We will too.'

　　'Oh...my...Goddess. I can't believe I just heard that from you...'

　　'Let me concentrate,' sternly voicing at my wolf in my head, I turned back to facing the screens.

　　"What's going on now?" I heard Roman's voice behind my back,

　　"She passed the first stage. Nothing special."

　　"Yup. Nothing special."

　　Then, Roman and I watched the woman stand and stare at the tree for several minutes. She was in an illusion.

　　"Will she crack this one?" Roman turned to me and asked, "She should. It is a basic spell breaker that she should follow."

　　"Oh, THAT spell breaker?"

　　"Yes." Can people stop talking to me so that I can actually spectate the woman? I am growing curious and anxious as each second passes.

　　From my periphery, I gazed at Roman who seemed to have got some information delivered to him via mind link.

　　"Alpha, two contestants have passed already."

　　"It's been only one hour since the trial started. That's very quick." Roman added, and my response to him was a simple hum,

　　"You know what, Alpha. I'm going to step outside and make sure you have all the privacy you need. Alright?"

　　'See!? Even your beta is considerate of your relationship with our mate!'

　　"Sure, whatever you wish to do." I stayed so stoic and neutral that even my wolf had started nagging me. Silencing him in my head forcefully, I spectated the rest of her trial in silence. It took her several hours. But I was patient, and watched, observed every single move of hers.

　　When she tripped on a rock while running towards the final clue, I gasped and lunged forward on the table. As if it was an instinct to protect her from falling...

　　Emeric...it's alright. You don't have to feel so connected with her. A few scratches will be fine, she will look natural and give an impression that she had taken part in her trials, genuinely.

　　But I couldn't help but notice how the young woman is naturally clumsy. I've been observing her for so many days, and she trips herself out of nowhere at least thrice a day. She's like an excited child stuck in an adult's body.

　　Although...that trait makes her incredibly charming for me.

　　The trials have ended, 28 members have passed this trial before the time limit expired. The issue had erupted abruptly. There was an issue of a contender breaching his vault. I was very reluctant to pass him, but there are no rules that go against his actions...

　　Initially, I felt enraged at the white haired guy who looked innocent of his crimes. After analysis, it was proven that he was innocent anyway.

　　I guess I can see who is guilty, and who is not.

　　Since the technique to open a vault isn't specified, it was a genuine mistake on Odin Blackwood's part.

　　But the part where I was involved in designing few contestants' rewards, I deliberately placed the script in Aurora's final reward which shall lead her to think more about the clue.

　　I admit, I have been discreetly investigating about Aurora's parents' murder. One clue I have got in my pocket was because of this artifact's existence. They may have been killed because of the artifact that is still not known to the pack members themselves, much less to the world.

　　I know she will grow curious about it. I've given her a clue...

　　'Aren't you such a sweetheart to help our mate solve the mystery of her parents' demise by herself? The lengths you're going to—'

　　'Marrok, this is my duty as an alpha and as a Prince. Besides, I'm not involving myself directly, which I'd do if I regarded her as my paired.'

　　'Tch! Liar. We all know how much you care for her, love her. You're just hesitant to show your affection.'

　　Ugh, Marrok speaks and I always have to roll my eyes, because he speaks nothing other than our mate at this point!

　　Later, that night, I sensed her presence outside my room. Taking a deep sniff of her wonderful, fruity scent that walked inside the office before her, I got up to attend to the door myself. I could hear the guard instructing her to come later, by tomorrow.

　　Well, after inviting her inside, I didn't really feel like letting her go back to her room so soon. That's the reason why I took my sweet time settling down, and waited patiently for her to speak.

　　When she spoke...I didn't realize I was being this obvious with my involvement with her. But since she has already figured out half way that her parents' death was indeed a murder, and that the artifact MIGHT be the reason why, I left her to solve the remainder by herself. After all, she would have more ideas and insight than me, who is just an external helping hand, to solve the mystery.