Chapter 129: Might Be Innocent
Chapter 129: Might Be Innocent
Kaden’s POV
I shoved Stephanie onto the floor, throwing her away from me. She collapsed in a heap, coughing violently and clutching her neck as she gasped for air. I stood over them, my chest heaving up and down as I panted heavily.
I stared down at the two culprits lying on the ground before me.
My heart squeezed tight inside my chest, and a sudden, sharp pain went through me. I was in so much pain, but beneath the hot anger, I was also terrified. The doctor’s words kept repeating in my head, louder and louder. The medicine has tampered with her womb.
What if the treatment doesn’t work? What if the cure fails and she turns completely barren? That would mean we could never bear children together.
A wave of bitter guilt washed over me because, for stupid reasons, I had actually imagined what our pups would look like. One day, while staring at her when she thought I wasn’t looking, I had secretly wished that our future daughter would take after her features. I wanted a little girl with Rebecca’s stunning look and those striking blue eyes.
The thought that she had completely ruined that future—or almost ruined it for us—made the fire in my blood burn hotter. If she was no longer able to bear my kids, then she had no need to stay alive. The pack elders would demand her head, and I would have absolutely no excuse left to protect her or keep her alive in this palace. She would be forced to die.
I looked down at them, my green eyes cold and dead.
"I didn’t do it! I swear on my life, I didn’t do it!"
Rebecca crawled forward on her knees, her hands pressed tightly together in a desperate plea. Tears streamed down her face, and her whole body shook as she looked up at me. "Alpha Kaden, please listen to me! Stephanie and I... we suspect someone else is doing this. We think a maid is secretly putting pregnancy-prevention herbs into my food when the trays are left waiting on the kitchen counter!"
I let out a harsh, mocking laugh, though my chest felt tight. "A maid? No one in this palace would dare do such a thing! They know the consequences. Anyone who touches your food or tries to ruin my bloodline knows they will face a brutal execution!"
"Then please look into it! Just check!" she sobbed, reaching out toward the hem of my robe before drawing her hands back in fear. "Please, Alpha Kaden... I swear to you, I want to get pregnant more than anything in this world! I am not a fool! I know that if I carry your baby, you will be kind to me. You will protect me. Why would I ever jeopardize my only chance to survive?!"
Her words hit me like a physical blow.
I froze, her voice echoing in the sudden silence of the room. For a long moment, I just stared down at her. I searched her tear-stained face, waiting for the flicker of a lie, waiting for her scent to change with the stench of deceit.
But there was nothing.
I didn’t even need to use my Alpha command on her. Looking at the raw, desperate terror in her eyes, I could see the truth. She wasn’t lying. She truly hadn’t taken those pills. She wanted to live, and she knew carrying my child was her only lifeline.
A heavy, complicated weight shifted in my chest. If she was telling the truth, it meant someone else had successfully poisoned her. Someone inside my own walls had managed to damage her womb and play me for a fool.
Stephanie swallowed hard from the floor, her voice shaking as she backed up Rebecca’s words. "The medicine doesn’t have to be pills, Alpha. It could be pregnancy-prevention herbs. The cooks cannot do it because of their blood oath, but the food sits on the kitchen counter before I pick it up. Anyone could have slipped herbs into her meals while the plates were waiting. Someone is trying to frame her so you will kill her!"
The room fell deathly silent.
I stared at Stephanie, then turned my gaze back to Rebecca. She was looking at me with pure terror, her blue eyes begging me to believe her. If what Stephanie said was true, it meant there was a traitor in my own palace. It meant someone was actively poisoning my breeder right under my nose to destroy my bloodline.
But I couldn’t let her see that her words had gotten to me. I couldn’t let her see that my wall of anger was cracking.
I masked my face, forcing my expression to remain hard and unreadable. I looked down at her one last time, my voice dropping into a low, threatening growl.
"You had better pray you are telling the truth, Rebecca," I hissed coldly. "Because if I find out this is just another game, I will cut off your head and send it back to your people."
Without waiting for her reply, I turned on my heel, my robe flying out behind me, and stormed out of the bedroom.
The hot anger I felt a moment ago was now turning into a wild, cold rage.
If Rebecca was innocent, it meant an enemy had slipped past my guards and harmed her right under my nose.
As I walked fast down the hallway, I opened my mind to the pack link. I searched for my second-in-command.
Logan, I shouted into the mind link, using my full Alpha power.
Logan answered right away. Yes, Alpha? I am with the doctors. What should we do with Rebecca?
Change of plans, I commanded coldly. Rebecca didn’t take the pills. Someone is poisoning her food with herbs to frame her and ruin her womb. They are doing it right here in the palace.
I could feel Logan’s shock through the link. A traitor inside the palace? Alpha, the cooks have the blood oath. They would die if they touched her food.
It’s not the cooks, I cut him off sharply. The food plates sit on the kitchen counter before Stephanie picks them up. It’s one of the maids. Someone has been slipping the herbs into her meals while the plates are waiting.
The mind link went completely quiet for a second before Logan spoke again, his voice grave. They are attacking your bloodline directly.
Exactly, I hissed. I want a complete lockdown right now. Close all the gates. Nobody enters, and absolutely nobody leaves the palace grounds.
Understood, Alpha. What about the staff?
Call the technical engineer right now, I ordered. Tell him to check the kitchen CCTV records for the last three weeks. I want him to watch every single second of that footage. Look at every person who went near the food counters.
I will get him on it immediately, Logan replied.
Good. While he checks the cameras, gather every single maid who has been in the kitchen during these three weeks, I commanded. Line them up in the grand hall.
"The palace is locked down, Alpha. We are on it," Logan said, and the mind link closed.