Chapter 263

Chapter 263

KALEB

Much to my surprise, Cassandra walked into my study with a smile on her lovely face. As she approached my desk, though, I could sense that there was nervousness beneath the surface, like she was cornered prey. She seemed prepared to run at any given moment, and the sight of it, as well as the very idea, made me feel strange.

I remembered the first time I’d met Cassandra in the village square in Anemond, in the back alley behind the pet store. When I’d saved her from the kidnappers, she’d thanked me while wearing the same expression. Smiling, but nervous.

“Take a seat,” I requested. Once she sat down in the chair opposite me, I cleared my throat and continued. “How was the part at Ronald’s residence?”

She smiled politely. “It was quite lovely, thank you for asking.”

My l*ps drew into a thin line. She was speaking to me as if she did not know me in the slightest, and I wasn’t a fan of it at all. Why was she behaving this way in front of me? Was she truly so scared of me that she was going to act like a stranger?

I let out a soft sigh and rolled my shoulders back.

“What brings you here, Cassandra?” I shifted the subject and then I smirked at her. “We just met yesterday. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that perhaps you’ve truly fallen in love with me after all.”

Cassandra bit her full lower l*p and her cheeks flushed scarlet. My words had practically fallen out of my mouth, and the moment they did, I wished I could unsay them. She was clearly feeling awkward about it, but she managed to quickly compose herself.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” she said, and she tugged on a lock of her long copper hair. “I discovered something strange that I needed to bring to your attention.”

Truth be told, I wasn’t surprised by this in the slightest. Here in Vlokwell, weird things happened daily, if not hourly. There were loads of people who came to ask for a meeting with me, claiming that they found a traitor or unearthed a conspiracy. Some of them might be true, but most were not. Many sought attention or desired to use me as a tool to banish their enemies. All it took was a simple accusation to open up an investigation, and many in the castle were well aware of this fact.

But Cassandra… I had never expected her to say such words to me. What did she want to report to me? What did she want? Was this some sort of attempt at deceiving me?

“What is it?” I asked.

She took a breath. “It’s Helene. She’s acting… strange.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

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Chapter 263

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I had heard about all of the fusses caused by Ronald lately. Rumors had spread around Vlokwell saying that my cousin had confined his fiancee, who’d allegedly lost her mind and persuaded a maid to take her own life. I also knew that Ronald, in an attempt to halt the rumors, had held his little party to clear his and his fiancee’s reputations.

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I had little reason to care. Ronald would be dead after the wedding, so I didn’t care or feel troubled

at all.

I took a moment and contemplated the best way to go about this. I obviously couldn’t let Cassandra in on the truth, so I needed to play along and act at least halfway interested.

“I’ve heard about the things that happened to Helene,” I offered, and I leaned forward in my seat and rested my hands on the table. “I assume that most of them are nothing more than rumors. She might just have premarital anxiety. I’m sure Ronald will be able to handle it.”

“I don’t know,” Cassandra countered, and her eyebrows knitted together as she shook her head politely. “I think there’s more to it than nerves. She’s acting like a completely different person. It’s like she’s been hypnotized, Kaleb.”

I laughed before I could stop myself. “Hypnotized?”

She nodded her head and I laughed again.

“Ronald isn’t capable of something like that,” I assured her and then I reached my hand out toward her. “You might be over-exhausted these days, Cassandra. Maybe we could go on a trip after this so you can get some air.”

Cassandra hesitated for a moment and then spoke again. “I don’t think it’s Ronald. What if… it’s Raven? I think she has something to do with this, Kaleb.”

******

Well, that had certainly been a surprise.

I hadn’t expected Cassandra to put things together so quickly. I’d been so absorbed in other business these days. Roxy and Anubis’ delayed returns, necessary arrangements for the wedding, and the other issues that occurred amongst the other high-born lords in Yurene… all had consumed my mind so completely that things had fallen through the cr acks. I had forgotten to keep an eye on

Raven.

It seemed I needed to thank Cassandra for what she had told me, though none of it was surprising in the least. Unlike her sister, Roxy, Raven had always been interested in these evil games. She enjoyed manipulating people and loved the idea of using sorcery against people. She had always been difficult to keep under control, and it was clear that she was up to something.

There was a time when she was obsessed with the idea of hypnotizing lords who came to meetings in the castle. She had great fun making them do things that they never would have done by their own will, like taking off their trousers and other shenanigans like that in front of the other lords. There had been several high-born court members who had asked me directly to execute Raven for

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her insolence.

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I had strongly considered taking such an action to show that I didn’t allow such-foolery to take place in my own home, but the cons outweighed the pros. I knew that Raven had so much more to offer than these childish pranks. She was a talented sorceress and had a lot of potential to do great things. She just needed strong supervision and observation.

It wasn’t until I let her research the living dead plan that she finally stopped such mischief. She ceased all childish pranks and focused all of her time and energy on research and theorizing what poisons and magic could really do. She’d seemed dedicated to the idea of using mind control for Yurene’s gain, but now that I knew she was up to more than just that…

Since I had objected to her crazier ideas and the research had reached a bit of a block, she seemed to want to resume these st upid games and pranks. Perhaps Ronald had taken note of her restless behavior and appealed to her more immature side to use her for his own nefarious schemes.

Anger swelled within me at the very thought of it all.

Ronald was not the innocent, kind-hearted man that people believed him to be. I had a strong feeling that he had offered his fiancee up to be Raven’s pet and puppet. I knew he coveted my power. Maybe he thought this would bring him closer to bringing me down.

Either way… this wouldn’t stand.

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