After ten seconds, Leland put Anne back down. For a moment the baby squirmed but did not wake up.
Then Leland picked Jack up and did the same to him. His heart ached to see the weak baby. He quickly took out Jack's soul stone and fed it to him.
A faint blue light emitted from the pup's chest. And then Jack's heartbeat became louder, more steady, and his fever suddenly went down.
"It works...." Leland muttered to himself. He realized Eloise was telling the truth regarding the soul stones. This made his anger rise again. To think that the witch took it out on innocent children made his blood boil. He couldn't wait to punish Eloise when the time came. No, he wouldn't let her die easily like his mother.
"I love you, Anne. I love you, Jack," Leland spoke very softly right at the pups' ears to make sure nobody could hear him but them. He kissed Anne's and Jack's heads affectionately and then put them back on the box.
He turned to the side and finally looked at Sophie who was sleeping with two young wolves by her sides. The boys really kept their mother warm when the weather was bad like it was outside. Leland was glad Luciel and Jan were around to keep their mother and younger siblings safe while he was away. He promised he would finish his mission quickly and return as soon as possible.
After he sorted everything on his end, he would apologize to Sophie and the kids and ask their forgiveness. Right now, nobody should know what he planned. He didn't want Eloise to be alerted.
Leland stepped closer very very lightly. He looked at them lovingly, not wanting to touch them or say anything to them for fear they would wake up and his plans would be disrupted. He really didn't want to take any risks because Anne's life was at stake.
'Luciel and Jan, I know I told Sophia that you are a burden and parasite, but that's not true. Even though you are not my flesh and blood but I love you since the day you are born. From now on, I leave the responsibility of taking care of Sophia, Anne, and Jack to you.'
He could only say those words in his heart. He hoped he could soon make up for everything to them. Leland looked at Sophie in a glance and then turned around and headed to the door.
He didn't dare to approach Sophie for fear his resolution would falter because he missed her so badly.
"Please take care, Sophia," he muttered then left the room.
Before Leland actually left the palace, he sneaked into Nicholas' study. He found a stack of paper and decided to write a short note to the king. He put it on the desk and made sure Nicholas would find it easily when he entered his study.
After he made sure he had everything covered, Leland he darted from the window of the second floor and landed on the palace courtyard where he immediately disappeared behind some big trees.
The next day, when Nicholas entered his study, he found the note Leland had written last night.
*Watch out for Karenina Verhoeven and your children's personal teacher, Katherine Sommers. Both women are dangerous. Don't let them come near your family.*
He frowned as he read the contents of the letter. He then flipped through the paper, looking for the sender's name but he couldn't find anything.
The letter did not have a sender's name. He read it again and wondered who wrote and put the letter on his desk. He also couldn't recognize the handwriting. It was written in a hurry and like scribbles, only enough to be legible.
Who was this person writing the note? And why did they bother infiltrating the palace to send this note? Couldn't they just say it openly to the king? Also... did they know the two women personally?
Karenina Verhoeven? Katherine Sommers?
Nicholas had not met Karenina for months. He thought she had finally decided to return to her hometown and restart her life. As for Katherine, Nicholas had never met her. He only knew about the teacher from Sophie and the boys.
Nicholas tapped his fingers on the desk and read the note over and over again as if it contained a secret message waiting for him to decipher. It was not.
Nicholas thought about Karenina and why would the sender warn him about that woman.
Even though their engagement had ended and Karenina said she accepted his decision, she acted like she was cool with him, but who knew how would her heart truly feel? Nicholas knew enough about Karenina's characters after getting to know her for more than five years, being her fiance.
It's possible that Karenina might want to hurt Sophie out of jealousy if she thought Sophie was the reason why she was not the queen of Riga today, after waiting patiently for Nicholas to make their relationship official as husband and wife.
Nicholas didn't expect Karenina to still love him and she may be telling the truth that she had moved on, however, it didn't hurt to stay vigilant. No matter what, Nicholas would not allow anyone to hurt Sophie and her children.
Then what about Katherine?
If he remembered correctly, Katherine was a teacher who had helped Sophie a lot while she was studying at Cawden Academy, and recently she was teaching Luciel and Jan as their private tutor. Why was she dangerous?
Nicholas walked out and called a guard outside. "Were you on guard here last night? Did you see anyone coming into my study after I left?"
"No, Your Majesty," said the guard politely. He noticed the king's annoyed expression and wondered what happened in his study to make him this angry. "Is there anything wrong, Your Majesty?"
"Call the guards who were doing the security here last night. I want to talk to them," said Nicholas. Now he was very curious about the sender of the note.
The guard nodded and immediately went to call his friends who were guarding in front of the King's study last night.
A few minutes later he returned with two of his friends.
"Are you guys here all night?"
"Y-yes Your Majesty." The two soldiers were a bit tensed, thinking that they had done something wrong or something had disappeared from the king's chamber and they would be held responsible for it.
"Did you see anyone enter my study last night or before you left this place?"
"No, Your Majesty," said one of the soldiers, remembering clearly what happened last night. Indeed no one entered the king's study, they even looked into the room several times to make sure all the files in there remained in their place.
"Before we left there was only a maid who came in to clean the room as usual," said another soldier.
"Call the maid now," Nicholas said then entered his room and sat on a chair, staring intently at the letter.
"Who wrote this? It's very bad," he muttered, studying someone's handwriting on the letter.
"Your Majesty."
"Come in."
Nicholas looked at the woman standing in front of him at this moment, bowing her head. "Did you clean this room this morning?"
"Y-yes Your Majesty, but I swear I didn't steal anything. I just cleaned this room and then went out," said the maid fearfully.
Her thinking was not much different from the previous soldier's thoughts. She was afraid that something was missing and she was called for the matter.
"Who said you stole something? I called you because I just wanted to ask an important question. When you were cleaning this room this morning, did you see this note?"
The maid raised her head and looked at the paper Nicholas was holding and then looked down again. "Yes, Your Majesty. When I entered your study, the paper was already on the desk."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Alright, you can go now and ask the soldiers outside to tell the chief of the palace soldiers to come and see me."
"Very well, Your Majesty." The maid nodded and hurriedly left. He was very relieved that nothing had happened.
***
Elsewhere, in the Armeria Kingdom, Eloise was pacing back and forth waiting for Leland's arrival but Leland still didn't come. She knew how much time he would need to go back and forth to Riga, but after it had passed for a long time, he still didn't show up.
This made Eloise feel very angry. She vented her anger by throwing and destroying all the things in her room.
The maids outside who heard Eloise's commotion and angry screams immediately ran away. They were afraid that if Eloise saw them, she would take her anger out on them.
"Leland, where are you??? Are you trying to break our agreement? Are you now??? Do you dare to do it?!" She grabbed the flower vase on the table and smashed it into pieces.
"If you really do that, I will destroy your daughter's soul stone!" Eloise clenched her fists, staring at the shards of the vase in annoyance.
"CELIA!" Her voice boomed in the room.
Celia who heard the call rushed in and faced her master.
"Yes, Your Grace..."
Eloise stared intently at Celia. Her face was red with anger, making Celia feel intimidated.
"Go to Lievstad, find out if Leland is there or not. If he's there, keep an eye out and tell me what he's doing there. You can bring some lycans to help you find Leland faster."
"Okay, Your Grace."
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com