“Cordelia…I did what I had to do for the sake of the kingdom. My loyalty still lies to this kingdom and to Byron and now to you. My method of getting you into this position was one full of hardship and danger but I—” Gideon started but before he could finish his sentence, I stopped him by raising my hand up.

　　“We can talk about this another time. Right now, we have other things to do.” I said sternly before turning to Rodrick. “See it that Isaiah gets some time to speak with his attendant. The boy knows something, make sure he talks.”

　　“Very well, Your Highness.” Rodrick bowed his head and left the room.

　　I turned back to the others who were all watching me and waiting for my orders. There was no time for me to dwell on the lies that surrounded me and my family. Now that we knew that Lady Marie was guilty of plotting against the throne, it was safe to say that she was doing it with me as well by targeting my husbands and by the looks of it, her children were a part of her scheme.

　　“Cassian, I need you to figure out everything you can about Declan Wright. I can give you his astonishing list of illegal activity under his name, but we need to find out if the Wright family and Lady Marie conspired to get rid of him in such an unruly manner because of that. I know that Andrew has failed to control his son and if we can prove that then we’ll have our motive.” I told him.

　　“You can count on me, princess. I’ll be right back so do not miss me too much.” He said suavely followed by a wink as he walked past me and left the room.

　　“Augustus, Aiden, I need your help to go through these documents and letters and collect every piece of evidence we have about the unnatural deaths of both Rosaline and father. It’s time Lady Marie pays for her crimes.”

　　“Understood, sister.” Aiden said, giving me a determined nod. Augustus followed suit, already pulling out a pile of the documents that he wanted to go through. Knowing how fast the both of them could read, I had no doubt they were capable of doing this task easily.

　　“Thank you, both.” I smiled before turning to the door.

　　“Wait, where are you going?” Augustus called out.

　　“I would like to go check on things with Isaiah. But don’t worry about me, I’ll be right back.” I said without looking back at them.

　　“Cordelia…” Gideon called out, but I ignored him as I let the door shut behind me.

　　My mind was swirling to the point where agonising pressure could be felt at the back of my head. The knowledge of my father’s first love, the woman he wated to marry was an omega but he could not be with her due to her status and second gender. Lady Marie then entered his life, but she was overly ambitious and would do anything to make my father look at her, even if that meant killing Rosaline.

　　The thought that Lady Marie could have killed my mother the same way was truly frightening, but I can only assume that she thought her children would take priority to the throne due to their ages and them being my father’s first children. But when she found out about his will, about how he wanted me to ascend to the throne, she did everything she could to stop that. Even if it meant killing my father.

　　Lady Marie did not think I would fight for my right to the throne and hence her scheming led to her attempting to get me assassinated, to start scandals surrounding Cassian and her own daughter and now to she was even framing Isaiah for murder.

　　It was clear from the events that have been occurring that she was getting desperate. As the days go by, I am one step closer to my coronation and she has not enough influence among the people to force me to step down. The only way she was going to get to the throne was to kill me. I know that. I know that game that she is playing and yet I am walking right into her trap.

　　As I made my way down the corridor, wanting to head back to the dungeons to see if there was any progress with the attendant, I noticed a presence approaching me.

　　“Oh my, Cordelia. What a surprise. I was not aware that you had returned after disappearing all of a sudden.” Her voice was truly irritable. Smug and proud, as though she had me wrapped around her fingers. Her tone then shifted immediately. “I was awfully worried as to what had happened to you. If Gideon had not told me that you left for the Northern Kingdom, I would have thought you had gotten kidnapped.”

　　I looked up at her, looking directly into those eyes that were devoid of any guilt or empathy. She was someone who would do anything to reach her goals, anything. She was used to playing this game ever since she was young and there was no doubt that she had taught her children these tactics as well.

　　“Lady Marie.” I smiled. “I apologise for worrying you but as you must know by now of the state of Emperor Leonidas. I had to visit him with Augustus as we are family now. But unfortunately, I had to rush back when I heard that a horrible thing happened.” I feigned ignorance, playing her game by pretending. My eyes then flickered at the two maids who were standing behind Lady Marie. They kept their heads low as though they were trying to hide from me.

　　“Oh yes, such a pity what happened to Leonidas. He was such a great man, strong and benevolent.” She said with a sad sigh.

　　“You speak as if he has passed away, Lady Marie. That is rather cruel of you.”

　　“He is in such a cruel state. I think it would be merciful if he would rest.” She said, letting out a soft sigh.

　　“Just like how Declan is ‘resting’?”

　　Her eyes snapped up at me, shocked that I would say such a thing. She was quick to fix her “Now, now, Cordelia, you must not speak ill of the dead, especially since your husband was responsible for it.”

　　“Isaiah may be reckless, but he is not dim enough to commit murder in a foreign kingdom.” I defended him.

　　“And yet, he did. You were not there when the incident occurred, and it seems to me that you are bias because he is your husband. I understand the need to save face over these matters, after all, once Lord Isaiah is trialled and sentenced for his crimes, people would think of you as the wife of a murderer. How pitiful.” She scorned. “But no matter, you still have two more husbands after all.”

　　I let out a soft giggle. “You are quick to point fingers and blame Isaiah when you yourself were not present during the incident. Unless you are telling me you watched Isaiah commit the crime with your very own eyes?”

　　“He was the only one there with Declan’s body! Who else could it have been?” she fumed at my refusal to agree with her.

　　“I heard that there were many guests at the palace on that day. What was happening so early in the morning and I wonder why Declan was away from the gathering at that time?” I questioned.

　　“I was not aware that an early gathering was so suspicious to you, Cordelia.”

　　“It is when it only occurred on the day I had left the Southern Kingdom. Is it because any large gathering is supposed to go through me but since I was not around, you had a leeway?”

　　“You are making plenty of assumptions.”

　　“And yet you do not deny any.”

　　Lady Marie let out a soft laugh as she took a few steps towards me. Her maids lingered at the back, heads still staring low. “Do you really think the court would favour the words of a foreign man over the words of multiple eyewitnesses? Do not get too cocky, Cordelia. You are nothing but an omega vermin.”

　　I clenched my hands tightly against the skirt of my dress at how close she was. I could smell her sickeningly strong perfume that made my stomach twist. I looked down at her, meeting her eyes and did what she least expected me to do. I smiled. She was finally showing her true colours to me, and I could not hide the joy I felt, to watch her fa?ade crumble right before my very eyes.

　　“Was this how you threatened Rosaline before you murdered her?” I asked and the joy I felt at watching her smug expression flatter into one of shock and confusion was extremely exhilarating.