The Crown's Entrapment

Savannah let out a heavy sigh as she paced back and forth inside her chambers. She had never seen that kind of smile on her son's face before, especially not while mentioning someone's name.

"The pull must have been strong," she restlessly uttered.

It was only when there was a knock on her door that she paused midstep.

"It is Clara, Queen Mother."

Hearing the familiar voice from outside her chambers, Savannah closed her eyes before letting out a sigh. "Come in, Clara."

At Savannah's consent, Clara entered her chambers with her usual warm smile.

Savannah helplessly sat on her chair before she asked, "What did you find?"

"Queen Mother, we found this identification emblem of the Princess among one of the outsiders His Majesty saved and brought into the castle," Clara promptly reported.

"According to our sources, this belonged to Xen, the lad and wanderer that His Majesty took in as His warrior-servant. He let this Xen stay in his connecting chamber during that time, and I could only assume that it was because his wolf recognized this lad as his mate."

There was a pause as Clara waited for a response. When Savannah signaled her to continue, she promptly resumed.

"According to one of the survivors, Xen was traveling with them on their way to Cordon. I can't attest to whether this rumor about her seducing his Majesty on purpose is true or not, but if all else, the situation is more complicated than it seemed," Clara pondered.

"She was promised to marry the Vampire King of Valcrez, but it was her younger sister that ended up marrying the Vampire King instead. We can only assume that she ran away from the arranged marriage and coincidentally met King Darius along the way in her disguise as a lad, but..."

Clara paused. Seeing the woman fidgeting, Savannah frowned.

"What is it?"

"Queen Mother, no one can tell if all of these are true except for the Princess of Ebodia. It would be much better if we simply asked her directly about the purpose of her travel towards Cordon," Clara postulated with a furrowed brow.

"The rumors are getting out of hand as it is. It has already spread all throughout the kingdom, and we're still unable to find the source of such rumors."

Savannah heaved out a long deep sigh, "At this point, there's no point in finding out where those rumors came from. Gossip will always be like that. It spreads like a plague, with the worst of it coming out even more wrong as it spreads like wildfire."

She turned back to Clara and continued, "You must've already been informed that Darius has returned with a mate alongside him. He will introduce the Princess to the officials come dinner, and I'm sure he already knows about the rumors by now."

Savannah sighed. "Right now, I'm just worried that this will cause him harm. He worked hard to secure the throne, and even his father had to sacrifice a lot. And I..."

She couldn't find it in herself to continue with the line of thought. Just the mere thought of how her late husband died... Of how Lucian died to save his son Darius...

Sensing the older woman's distress, Clara leaned down and hugged her. "Everything will be alright, Queen Mother. King Darius will definitely handle things well. We just need to trust him."

"Oh, Clara..."

Savannah pitifully breathed out. If only it was Clara, then things would've gone smoothly for her son. Unfortunately, she didn't want to intervene in her son's personal life as much as possible.

It was too early for her to judge Darius's mate anyway, so she would simply observe this Princess for now. If she found her wanting and unworthy for his son, only then would she not turn a blind eye to it.

"Hmm... What did you find about Princess Xenia?" Savannah inquired. She wanted to know more about this princess and her personality. Knowing Clara enough, no other person would be more interested in finding out a single thing about said princess than her.

In response, Clara heaved out a long sigh and said, "I don't think I'm qualified to say such things about her to you, Queen Mother. I fear that I may be too biased and would utterly bad-mouth her as a basic principle."

Her shoulders sagged as she admitted, "Everyone knows how I look at our King in a different light. They can easily tell how special he is to me, even though I'm not sure if King Darius himself is even aware of it. So please forgive me if I will refrain from answering that question."

Nodding at the woman's reasonable response, Savannah had a humble smile on her face as she held Clara's hands and gently squeezed them. "I am so sorry that things had to go this way."

Savannah meant every word she said. She liked how honest Clara was to her. Of course, she also knew how much she cherished his son.

She could've easily cheered her up by saying that Darius's mate was a human and thus, was unable to feel the pull, leaving her with a high chance to still be with Darius as his Queen. And that was on top of if the human princess would even pass The Five Trials. However, recalling how firm her son was in saying that his mate would be his Queen, it hindered her from doing so.

It was simply natural. Dariuswould do everything to make what he wanted happen even if it was impossible. That was just how her son was.

"Please don't say that, Queen Mother," Clara stated with a reassuring smile. "I love Darius so much that I'm willing to give him away so long as he is happy and the woman that is with him is worthy."

Despite the woman's words, Savannah could still see her eyes welling up with tears threatening to fall at a moment's notice. It was clear that the pain was too much, and it only made her pity Clara more.

"I'm sorry, Queen Mother, but I still have things to do," Clara tersely broke off, her voice cracking and raspy as she gently pushed the Queen Mother away. "I'll be taking my leave now."

Having nothing else to say, Savannah could only nod, giving Clara her leave as the latter then quickly left the chambers. As soon as she was out by the hallway, her tears finally fell. Clara sniffled as she quickly wiped her eyes dry.

"That human isn't worthy, so why should I even think of giving way?" she whispered with a grunt as she walked into the hallway with a smirk.

The rumors were her welcome gift to the Princess of Ebodia who dared to steal the man she loved. In fact, she was just warming up as thought of the numerous presents she had planned to give the Princess during her stay here.

She could only wonder how long the human would last. Surely, the princess would end up running away from this marriage once she had enough, running away yet again from an unwanted union.

"It would be nice if you ran away before things turn bloody, Princess," she snorted with narrowed eyes. "Spare us the pain... For both our sakes..."