Chapter 73: Chapter 73

LUCIUS' POV

"Locked in a dream?" I asked, and he nodded.

"This isn't ordinary," he said, and I tapped Seline, not because I didn't believe, but because I wanted to see for myself. She didn't show signs of responding, but she was breathing steadily. Then Marcus came and gave a deafening roar, but Seline slept on.

Just then, the door burst open and Dusk came in.

"What happened to Seline?" She asked and rushed to her.

"She seems to be unable to wake up," the Physician said, and Dusk's eyes filled up with tears.

"Could this be the doing of that underling?" Marcus asked me, and I nodded.

"They have an ability to influence dreams; they probably influenced hers because she seemed like a threat," I said, and Dusk sighed.

"Will she still wake up? Maybe when we deal with this thing?" She asked, looking at Seline.

"Hopefully, we'll definitely find a way around it," I said, and she sniffed.

"I went to her room early this morning. When I checked her bathroom, her potion bottle had been emptied," she said, and I looked at Marcus.

"She did tell me she wanted to work harder on the potion. Maybe she succeeded in making it and found out who the underling was. That could be the reason why she was locked up in her dream," I said, and they all seemed to reason with me.

We went to Seline's room and found all the ingredients she had collected together on her table. Some were on the floor, as were some books. Her sheet had been ruffled. Everything pointed to a fight. They had fought.

"They fought in her room. I'm suspecting Ariadne," I said, and Dusk looked at me.

"Ariadne doesn't come into Seline's room. I doubt Seline would let her in," she said.

"Maybe she forced her way in," Marcus said.

"Why do you think it was Ariadne?" Dusk asked me.

"When Seline sprinkled her potion on the ground yesterday, Ariadne happened to be coming our way, and shortly after she had spoken, she claimed to have a headache. And Seline told us earlier yesterday that if she succeeded in making the potion, the possessed person would have a headache."

"And Ariadne had a headache?" She asked me, and I nodded.

"Although, I found out they don't possess people, they turn into the exact replica of that person and hide the real person away," I said, and there was silence for a while.

"I'll clean up her room," Dusk said, and I allowed her to.

When I got back to my study, Arya was there waiting patiently for me.

"Is there any problem?" I asked as I took my seat.

"No, there isn't Alpha. It's just this letter that came in," she said, placing a letter on my table gently.

"What letter?" I asked, looking at her.

"It came in not long ago, and the messenger said it was urgent," she said, and I sighed.

I opened the letter and read it. After reading, I scoffed and squeezed the paper before throwing it to the floor.

The Alphas of the Kingdoms we were allies with decided to have a peace meeting the next day, and they expected me to reply, so they could be sure I was going to attend. I wondered if I was going to get an apology from Alpha Roland but dismissed it immediately. Those conniving old men didn't look like they'd force Roland into apologizing.

With that, I took my spear and decided to go hunting.

~

In the forest, it was so quiet, I couldn't even hear the sound of any animals. I once looked in the direction of Naomi's pond and thought about going but gave the thought up. I didn't want her to think she was having any power over me.

I stayed in the forest for hours thinking of my next move, but unfortunately, nothing came to me. Then I stood up and finally decided to leave. After all, the issue was going to be solved one way or the other.

By the time I got back to the Palace, it was already late at night. I walked through the hallways, wondering if there was any progress on the matter we had at hand. Then I realized I needed to relieve myself. I hadn't been to the restroom the whole day.

"Where's the nearest restroom?" I asked a standby maid.

"Follow me, please," she said, and I followed her. Then I saw the restroom, but she walked past it.

"Where are you going? This is the restroom," I said, and she turned and looked in the direction I was pointing at.

"Oh, that restroom has been out of use for years. No one uses it, so I'm taking you to the nearest one on the next floor," she said with a smile.

"No, I think I'll use this one. I'm fine with it," I said and went into the restroom.

It looked like it wasn

't cleaned frequently because there were some specks of dust on certain surfaces, but it didn't look like it had been out of use for years.

I went into one of the cubicles and relieved myself. I really hated the occurrences that had been happening ever since I became the Alpha of the Kingdom; it made me seem incompetent.

Then I thought of going to Ethan. He seemed to know about what was happening, but my pride didn't allow me. He was a traitor and wasn't sorry, so I had made up my mind he was going to stay there for the rest of his life.

I left the cubicle and washed my hands and face in front of the mirror.

Then the water stopped. I tapped it to be sure nothing was wrong with it, and the water came pouring out again. It stopped again and continued that pattern for a while.

The water would stop running for some seconds, then it'd run again.

But that was nothing compared to what I saw next. As I looked up in the mirror, I saw a terrified face staring back at me. And the face wasn't mine.

It was Dusk's.