Conquering His Cold Heart

301 Accusation

“About the new King?” Jake knitted his brows, wondering where Regulus was getting at by asking that question.

Regulus tightened his clutch on Jake’s shoulder and then nodded. “Yes. The new King.”

“I just know a few generic things like where he studied and what he looks like,” Jake replied in a rather confused manner.

“Everyone knows where he studied, Jake!” Regulus took a deep breath in and then went to sit down on the bed again. He looked at Jake and asked a few more specific questions. “I wanted to know what kind of a person he is. Is he also a werewolf? And if he is, how strong is he? I bet the Crestfires are going to select him as the next alpha, aren’t they?”

Jake was now sure that Regulus was even suspecting the King of committing the murder of his brother. His face instantly turned pale because of nervousness.

And instead of answering Regulus’ question, he asked, “Why would you think that the King might have something to do with our alpha’s assassination? The King recently came back from Lavinya. I don’t think he had any time in his hand to have enmity with our alpha.”

Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I’m not saying that it was the King who killed my brother. I am just keeping him under suspicion because he was the last outsider who met Romulus.”

“He was the last outsider?” Jake looked at Regulus with a confused expression on his face.

Regulus gave a glare to Jake and asked sarcastically, “I came all the way from my hometown and I already know who my brother met, what he did, and even what he ate for his last meal. But you don’t know anything even when you were here with my brother?”

.....

Jake hung his head low in embarrassment and apologized. “Please excuse me, Milord. I will ask around and get a full update regarding everything.”

“There’s no need now.” Regulus rolled his eyes and lay down on the bed while still facing Jake.

He couldn’t blame Jake for not knowing anything because he knew how his brother was. ‘He probably never even let this old man come near him. I doubt that Romulus ever took this man’s advice even though he was the advisor. So, he must have made himself scarce.’

After thinking that, Regulus updated his brother’s advisor about his brother’s activities before he died.

“I heard from our men that the King came to the distillery for an inspection yesterday afternoon. Though I heard that no physical fight happened between him and my brother, I heard that the King was trying to shut my brother’s pet project because of the tax fraud.”

Jake nervously clasped his hands together because accusing a King of something as big as murder without any solid proof was like inviting the destruction of the whole clan.

He gulped and then tried to make Regulus see how absurd he was sounding. “I bet that was just a mere coincidence. Why would the King take someone’s life just because of a small issue of tax fraud? I don’t think we should discuss things about the King now.”

Regulus was, however, not willing to clear off Everard’s name from the list of the people who were under suspicion for the murder of Romulus. “I know that nobody would kill someone over such a small issue like tax fraud.”

He narrowed his eyes and mumbled, “But for some reason, I am getting this uneasy feeling regarding the new King… I will have to look more into him. Maybe there was some problem between the two of them that we don’t know of.”

“But–”

“No buts.” Regulus cut Jake off in between and said, “Oh, and uh…” He narrowed his eyes at Jake and said in an accusing tone, “Apart from all the dead ones, you never told me that there was someone else in the dungeon.”

“Someone else?” Jake furrowed his brows and tried to think who the young lord was talking about. “Oh! The guest of our alpha… Umm… It completely escaped my mind.” His face turned all red because Regulus had been catching his mistakes again and again.

“Guest of my brother, huh!” Regulus took a deep breath, knowing that his brother was going to do something disgusting to her. “How long has she been staying here in the manor?”

“I think it’s been about a week or something. I heard that our alpha met her at the King’s coronation and since she didn’t have any place to go, he offered shelter to her,” Jake replied rather confidently.

Everyone was aware of that woman’s presence in the manor because of the unmissable red hair that she had.

Regulus scoffed and then mumbled, “King’s coronation! Coincidence much?” He looked at Jake and then asked, “You sure that the King didn’t have anything to do with my brother’s murder? What if he deliberately sent that woman to my brother so that she could spy on him and provide information about his daily activities? Or what if he was here to rescue that woman because my brother kidnapped her?”

Jake slightly tilted his head and asked in an obvious tone, “If the King was here to rescue her then why didn’t he take her with him? And why would a King need to send some spies and kill someone discreetly when he can directly send his soldiers and capture anyone in the Kingdom if he so desires? He can create fake evidence and hang anyone he wants.”

Regulus shrugged and questioned back, “Because he was too impatient to do all that? Ugh! I don’t know...”

There was silence in the room for a while. After hearing Jake’s reasonings, Regulus started to think that it wasn’t probably the King who killed his brother.

“How did my brother treat her?” Regulus sighed and asked in order to understand how his brother viewed that woman.

Jake answered without missing a beat, “He treated her with kindness. She is a very innocent and kind woman, so none of us treated her badly.”

“Hmm… Treated her with kindness...” Regulus scoffed and asked again, “Where is she right now? I was thinking of questioning her. Maybe she saw something while she was down there in the dungeon.”

“I doubt that she saw anything. From what I heard, she was unconscious for the whole time.” Jake looked at how Regulus was about to get mad again and instantly corrected himself, “I think she is in her guest room at the moment. I will ask someone to send her to you.”

“Send her to the meeting room that my brother used,” Regulus asked Jake.

Jake gave a polite bow to Regulus and took his leave, “I will send her to the meeting room right away.”

Regulus took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. And he mumbled to himself, “I hope she saw the killer. Or at least heard his voice. It would be so much easier... Or... I hope she will confess if she is the real killer or assisted the killer in any way.”