Chapter 132: Who Could It Be
Chapter 132: Who Could It Be
Rebecca’s POV
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the dim light of my room. Two healers, a doctor, and Stephanie were all standing around my bed, their faces filled with deep worry.
I tried to shift my weight and move, but a sudden, sharp pain flared in my lower stomach. I gasped, pressing a hand over the sheets.
"Be careful," one of the healers said quickly, stepping forward to gently press my shoulder back down. "You need to rest. Do not force yourself to move just yet."
That was when I noticed the thin tubes hooked into the backs of my hands, connected to clear bags of fluid hanging beside the bed. My breath hitched in my throat as my heart raced.
Stephanie immediately moved closer, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She carefully helped me sit up against the headboard, placing a soft pillow behind my back to support me. I turned my head slightly, looking outside the window. It was pitch black. Night had completely taken over the palace grounds.
I leaned my head back, my mind racing as I remembered everything that had happened before the darkness took me. I had been sitting right here, discussing the situation with Stephanie, when a sudden, blinding pain had ripped through my belly. It felt like my insides were being torn apart. I remembered Stephanie screaming, running out of the room to get help.
And then... I remembered Alpha Kaden.
I remembered him bursting through the door, his eyes wild as he rushed to the floor and gathered my shaking body tightly into his arms. He had looked so incredibly worried, his voice desperate as he begged me to hold on. Or perhaps I was just imagining things. Why would a ruthless King ever care about my pain?
I remembered the healers rushing into the room, and Kaden carefully lifting me up to place me on the bed. After that, everything had gone completely black.
Doctor Thomas stepped closer to the bedside, breaking my train of thought. He looked down at me with a serious expression. "How do you feel, Rebecca?"
"The pain has reduced," I whispered, my voice sounding raw and cracked. "But... it’s still there. It’s a dull ache." I swallowed hard, looking between him and the healers. "Please... what is wrong with me?"
Doctor Thomas didn’t sugarcoat it. He didn’t try to hide the harsh reality from me, going straight to the point.
"Someone has been secretly mixing your food with a very strong pregnancy-prevention drug and highly toxic herbs," Doctor Thomas stated coldly. "The poison has targeted your reproductive system. It is actively attacking your womb, trying to destroy your ability to ever carry a child."
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth as cold terror flooded my veins.
"We have already started the aggressive counter-treatment," the doctor continued, his tone heavy. "But I will not lie to you. Because the poison was in your system for weeks, the treatment is a gamble. Your chance for a successful recovery is fifty-fifty."
My heart sank completely into a dark, bottomless pit. Fifty-fifty.
Doctor Thomas turned to Stephanie, handing her a small bottle of medicine. "Make sure she takes these drugs exactly on time. I will be back with the healers tomorrow morning to check her progress."
"I understand, Doctor," Stephanie murmured quietly.
The moment the doctor and the two healers walked out of the room, closing the heavy wooden door behind them, the tight knot in my chest snapped. I broke out into bitter, loud tears.
Stephanie immediately climbed onto the bed and held me tightly, pulling me into a warm embrace as my body shook with heavy sobs.
"My womb, Stephanie..." I choked out through my tears, clutching at her clothes desperately. "I’m so scared. I am so, so scared."
"Shh, please don’t cry, Rebecca," Stephanie whispered, her own tears spilling over as she rubbed my back. "You shouldn’t worry yourself right now. The treatment will be successful. It will all come out fine, I promise."
"What if it doesn’t?!" I cried out, my voice cracking with fear. "What becomes of me if the treatment fails? A breeder who cannot bear children is useless. Alpha Kaden... he will hate me. He will kill me. He will have absolutely no reason left to keep me alive in this palace!"
Stephanie pulled back slightly, looking into my eyes with a fierce, protective look. "Stop thinking about him right now. You need to focus on surviving." She wiped a tear from my cheek and sighed heavily. "The truth is finally out, Rebecca. Alpha Kaden knows you didn’t take those pills. They caught it on the kitchen CCTV records. A new maid named Lily has been poisoning your meals while the trays were waiting on the counter. The palace is on a total lockdown right now, and Kaden sent the tracking teams to hunt her down."
I stared at her, more tears leaking from my eyes as a deep bitterness washed over me. If only things were different.
"If I had my wolf..." I whispered brokenly, looking down at my trembling hands. "If my wolf wasn’t locked away by this collar... she would have detected that I was eating something poisonous. She would have warned me before a single leaf of those herbs touched my lips. I wouldn’t be lying here, fighting for my future."
Stephanie hugged me tighter. "You will be fine... you need to stop worrying, Rebecca," she said softly, squeezing my hand to reassure me. "The healers here are the best in the kingdom. Just focus on taking your medicine and getting your strength back."
I wiped a fresh tear from my cheek and leaned back against the pillows, a heavy, dark thought suddenly crossing my mind. I looked up at her, my voice dropping into a tense whisper.
"Stephanie... who do you think sent that maid?" I asked, my chest tightening. "Lily was only a recruit. Someone had to give her those poison herbs. Someone had to pay her to destroy my womb."
Stephanie went into deep thought for a while, her eyes darting toward the closed bedroom door as if ensuring no one was listening to us. The silence stretched between us for a long, agonizing moment before she finally let out a low sigh.
"I suspect two possibilities, Rebecca," Stephanie said seriously, leaning closer to my bed. "First, it could be a council member. There are several elders on the pack council who do not want Alpha King Kaden to have children with you. I heard from the guards that they completely opposed the idea of you being the royal breeder because of your history. They would do anything to stop your bloodline from mixing with the King’s."
She paused, her expression turning incredibly uneasy. She swallowed hard, looking genuinely uncomfortable to even speak the next words out loud.
"Or..." Stephanie trailed off, her voice dropping into a fearful whisper. "It could be Alpha Kaden’s betrothed... Lady Tanya."