"In that case, my suspicions have been right," Noel muttered subconsciously.
He had long suspected the king was a lycan but he didn't have any evidence. He saw the king had great regenerative abilities when they sparred and he was wounded, but he couldn't use it as the base to accuse the king.
Even though he was the head of the Royal Lycan Hunter, he couldn't easily accuse noblemen of being involved with lycans or even a lycan. He needed to have all the evidence to prove his claims.
And this was even more difficult when it came to the members of the royal family. The king was the head of the state and his words were the law.
He didn't know how Nicholas could be involved with the lycans but since several years ago Noel had noticed something slightly unusual with the king, even though he couldn't pinpoint them. He also had never seen Nicholas shift into a lycan.
So, he brushed off all his gut feelings and never thought about it further. However, now that Karenina, the king's own fiancee had made the accusation, claiming that she had witnessed the transformation herself, Noel thought back to all his suspicions all these years.
"YOU KNEW???" Karenina bulged her eyes when she heard Noel's words. She looked at the man with an accusing gaze. "What? Are you really the king's pet dog that you knew about him being a monster yet you still protect his reputation??"
Noel looked at Karenina with displeasure evident in his eyes. He liked the king and thought he was a good man. He respected Nicholas enough to cover for him and even look out for him on the night he was accused of attacking his fiancee.
But he especially hated being called the king's pet dog, especially by a woman whom he thought was vile enough to frame the king by spiking his wine.
Noel was very certain that Karenina put something in Nicholas' drink that night, but he couldn't find any evidence because the servants had gotten rid of the wine and the cups.
"What? Are you trying to deny me? If you knew that the king is the monster he is, but you didn't say anything to anyone, and when your job is to hunt and kill all lycans in this kingdom, but you let him go scot-free... are you not his pet dog?" Karenina crossed her arms on her chest.
Seeing Noel's hand rubbing his sword, however, Karenina immediately changed her tone. "Actually... I apologize for accusing you earlier. I think you only suspected him but you lack evidence. Isn't that right? I am sure you wanted to do the right thing but you couldn't... because you have to be careful when it comes to the royal family."
Noel narrowed his eyes. He couldn't deny Karenina's words because they were true.
"I am not your enemy, Noel," Karenina continued her words. She smiled and approached the head of the royal lycan hunter. "I want what's best for this kingdom. I also hate those monsters."
Noel was still not impressed. "So?"
"Well... now I am convinced that you didn't have evidence or witnesses before. That's why you are not doing anything. But now you have me. I can prove to you that the king is really a lycan."
Noel spoke coldly. "What do you want?"
"Noel!" Karenina sat next to Noel and looked the man in the eye. "After learning that the king is a lycan, will you just stay quiet?"
"Princess Karenina, I am sorry, I can't act just relying on that statement because it won't prove anything. If you said this to everyone, you would only be seen as accusing the king. Besides, I wonder you are telling me this. Aren't you the king's fiancee? Shouldn't YOU be the one to cover this up, right?"
"I love my country more," said Karenina making Noel feel like laughing. That woman really had two faces.
"I'm very impressed to hear that," Noel said with a faint smile.
"Noel, if you don't act fast, soon this kingdom would be ruled by those monsters, like Armeria. Now the royal family is dead and the people are enslaved. Do you want that for Riga?" Karenina still tried to make her point. "Don't you know they are already close? They are around us now, and I am not talking about the king."
Noel furrowed his brows when he heard Karenina's last sentence. She was not talking about the king? So, who was it?
"What do you mean?"
"I am talking about Duke Ariam Romanov and his people," Karenina snapped. "I went there today and I had a suspicion that he is also a lycan."
Noel was now impressed by Karenina. He actually also suspected that Duke Romanov was a lycan. Noel's suspicions of the king have been around for a long time but his suspicions of Duke Romanov were only in the last few months.
At that time, he and his troops were ordered by Queen Marianne to bring the king home after he left the royal palace on the night of Karenina's birthday, where she claimed to be assaulted.
Noel and his team came to the royal villa near Duke Romanov's manor and found the king there but he failed to bring the king home because he said he was unwell and needed to rest in his villa.
However, on the way home, Noel's team found two lycans fighting fiercely in the middle of the meadow. One huge grey wolf with amber eyes and a white wolf with blue and green eyes. The full moon gave away their appearances, so Noel and his people could see them well.
The two wolves were obviously not regular wolves from their sizes and the way they could respond to humans' presence. Noel and his people tried to capture them with no luck.
He didn't immediately think about the significance, but after returning to the palace and contemplating, he finally realized that the fur color and eye colors of the white wolf was similar to the hair and eye colors of Duke Romanov and the gray wolf that attacked him had amber eyes which closely resembled the king's.
Now, everything started to make sense.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺