120 A Coward
Selma Payne’s POV:
Adele was the southern Duke’s daughter!
I was so shocked by this dramatic development that my scalp went numb.
As for the mother that Adele mentioned, I didn’t have to guess at all. Who else could it be other than the pure white witch?
I didn’t expect the southern Duke and the pure white witch to be together during the war. There seemed to be a hidden story behind this sad and beautiful love story.
The Council of Elders’ reaction was the most intense of the people present. The royalist faction frowned, and their eyes were filled with worry, while the anti-king faction seemed to be celebrating a festival as they rubbed their fists and palms in excitement.
f𝗿𝙚e𝙬𝗲𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵ𝑒𝗹. 𝒄𝑜𝘮
“How dare you! You colluded with the enemy during a war!” The first person to criticize the southern Duke could not help but say, “The land of gentleness is the grave of heroes. Southern Duke, I’ve long suspected that you betrayed the werewolves. Otherwise, how could Fitch kill our people so easily?”
“The evidence is conclusive,” his accomplices chimed in. “Not only did you collude with the enemy, but you also left a mixed-blood bastard behind!”
“What’s wrong? Didn’t you comfort your illegitimate daughter? You let her come to the pack and stir up trouble. You might have secretly contacted the sorcerers, so you must have something to do with this!”
The crowd began to discuss, but the central figures of the incident, the southern Duke and Adele, seemed to have heard nothing. There was only one other person left in the world.
“Alright, all of you shut up!” My father was furious because of these shameless politicians. “Now is the time to interrogate the witch. This is not a market where you can pester people! All of you are experienced old men. How could you be confused by a few words from a witch? If you’re so old that you can’t tell the truth from the truth, I don’t mind sending you to stay at home with Eric!”
As soon as he said that, the angry anti-king faction immediately stopped.
I could see that in the eyes of these people who only think about power, everything was bullsh*t. The only thing that mattered was to keep their official positions.
The confrontation between the southern Duke and Adele continued.
“You’re lying,” the southern Duke said. “How did you get my blood? Who created you with Anna and my blood? Is it Kafka? Hurry up and tell me!”
Adele laughed. “Are you still deceiving yourself? Great southern Duke, what’s the matter? Is that relationship that hard for you to talk about? You don’t even dare to admit what you’ve done?”
“This is impossible!” the southern Duke growled in pain. “Anna never told me… She should have told me… This is fake. It’s your trick.”
“If you think it’s a trick, then why did you come to save me?”
Adele laughed strangely.
“You still have hope in your heart, don’t you? You’ve guessed my origin and even hoped that your guess would come true. After all, I look so similar to my mother. Other than blood relatives, what other possibility is there?”
The southern Duke looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. The tall man bent his back deeply, and tears flowed down his face.
“Anna, no… Anna! Oh, Moon Goddess… No…”
“Do you regret it? Or are you ashamed that your secret was revealed in front of so many people?” Adele continued to attack. “Stop pretending. A hypocritical man like you, even your tears are a disgusting pretense.
“Why do you have to pretend that you love my mother as deeply as the sea? An old widower who had lost his wife? When you face Carolyn, will you also cry because of her mother, who died during childbirth? How ironic. Do you think you can play the role of a good father and good husband to different people before us?
“That’s scary. Who have you ever loved? The witch Anna who sacrificed her life for you? Or is it the mate your goddess chose for you? Or perhaps you don’t love anyone but have this perverted satisfaction of pretending to be deeply in love!”
“Stop it!” the southern Duke roared. “Don’t say more! Moon Goddess, please stop torturing me!”
Adele also cried. Her tears were like a dried-up stream, washing out a river of blood and tears from the dried blood on her cheeks.
She shouted, “If praying to the goddess was useful, my mother wouldn’t have died! You coward! Did the werewolves choose a coward like you to be their hero?”
Finally, my father stopped this not-so-warm father-daughter reunion.
“Enough! Guards, take Adele away and lock her up!” He motioned for the guards to bring Adele away and then ordered the eager elders in an irrefutable tone, “Now that the interrogation is over, we’ll talk about this later. You’d better keep what happened tonight to yourselves. I’m sure you don’t want to lose the chance to recuperate with Eric, right?”
After sending away the irrelevant people, my father gave the southern Duke a deep look and said, “Walk with me, Lennon. We need to talk.”
