Result

*Chapter 90*

*Come to the banquet for my birthday next month. This is an order from the Prince of Redwinter.*

*Dare to defy me that you are not coming to my birthday, I swear that I shall strip your title as the Marchioness of Timestone, the Beta of the Wall Burgundy pack, and shall take your business you are so proud of.*

*Do not make me go to my older brother to make a royal decree so you can be forced to come, Novalie. I swear, if you did not come, I shall do anything to bring you down, Marchioness Novalie Argerich.*

*Your ex-fiancé,*

*Atticus*

"He is threatening me, Father!" I exclaimed, annoyed as I kept pacing back and forth. "Look what he said!" I showed him the parchment Prince Atticus gave to me a while ago.

I kept complaining to Father as soon as he arrived and had lunch with the royal lycan family. Father sighed and read the parchment. He blinked, surprised at what he read.

Then he scoffed, laughing. "Son of a bitch..." He crumpled the parchment and threw it aside. It was the same action I did back in the palace only to be picked up by me again.

"Why is he so obsessed that I must be present at his birthday party, Father?" I asked, annoyed, not liking what was happening right now.

I thought that I could somehow live in peace now but this bastard kept getting on my nerves. He had never been like this ever since he broke out of engagement but then, he changed his pace this year for I did not know what goddamn reason was that.

I did not know what motive he wanted to achieve. Did he want to ruin me after all the things he did? Did he want to make a fool out of me again just like he did before and back when we were in Argenta?

"If he is being earnest this time, then we really must attend his birthday banquet," Father said. His tone looked calm and composed.

"Father, this is absurd!" I stomped my feet like a kid who was having tantrums. "I do not want to attend!" I hated this. I am losing my composure now.

Father sighed and looked like he wanted to give up on how I behaved right now. I knew that I hated Prince Atticus because of what happened before.

"If you do not want to attend, just say so. Or pretend that you are sick. I shall handle it as an emissary of the House of Argerich if that is what you are worried about." He sighed for the nth time.

I bit my lower lip and averted my gaze when Father said that. Even so, I realized that I had been thinking so bad right now, that I couldn't think straight.

Calm down, Novalie. Think rationally. This was not you.

I inhaled and exhaled as I started to think about what was happening right now. If I attended Prince Atticus' birthday banquet, I might do something that could also bring him to the same path I experienced him.

I could get back to him.

I returned my gaze to my father as soon as there was a sweet smile lingering on my lips. "It is alright, Father. I shall go."

He looked surprised at my decision. "Are you certain?" I nodded. "What if you make a scene there?"

I frowned. "As if I would dare to humiliate myself there. I am lying low for a while, Father. I wouldn't dare to make a scene because that trial that happened days ago bestowed a huge impact on the noble faction." I couldn't risk being in a humiliating situation again.

Father arched his eyebrow, not believing me. "Are you certain that I must not come with you at that time?"

I shook my head. "I can handle it. I can start handling my emotions well," I said.

Father stared at me as if he was analyzing me. "Knowing you hate him so much... I feel like I am not liking letting you go alone there at his birthday party next month." His tone sounded suspicious.

I chuckled. "No, Father. I swear I will work on my emotions around Prince Atticus." I slowly stepped back so I could upstairs. "I shall retire," I said and turned my back.

I went upstairs to my chamber. I saw when one of my watchers was on the balcony holding a scroll.

"Be certain that you find anything useful this time," I said coldly and took the scroll.

He bowed his head before I unscrolled it. "We confirmed from the information intel that there is no pack being treated as exiled for the last three years. We looked for Sir Frederick's origin from Marchioness Carat's records but to no avail, there is no record from them to which pack he belongs," he said.

I creased my forehead at what he said. That was impossible... "This intel... Where did they get the information about there is no pack being exiled for the last three years?" It was kind of suspicious that they never found out about it.

"They did not tell us but we did our best to trace the origin of the information. The said information came from the royal palace. Someone tipped them according to one of the workers we asked, Beta."

"Someone... tipped them?" I asked as I stroked my chin, finding it suspicious.

Why did I feel like I had been fed by fooled information right now? And something didn't feel right after all.

"Yes, Beta. They do not know who it was but the information is really from the royal palace. Also, this information was bestowed a month ago."

A month ago? I creased my forehead. "Someone was playing with me..." I gritted my teeth. "Someone was leading me a wrong way yet this person was trying to test me..."

According to their investigation, there was no name of Erick existed when they searched the records of the nearest district where Frederick was supposed to be. That was then they knew that there was no pack being exiled after asking for information from the intel.

The intel here in the Sowinski Kingdom contained valuable information that people sold off very valuable documents in order to earn money. If the information you bestowed to them was very useful, they would agree on buying your information.

That was how it worked here.

But this information I got here... Something was really off.

I came to read the scroll again. I skimmed through the whole scroll and creased my forehead as I kept reading the information.

"What does this mean? There is a suspicious person lingering around Marchioness Carat's brothel before Frederick was delivered to them?" I asked to confirm.

He nodded. "Yes, Beta. We noticed that this person was coming whenever you were there."

I was surprised at what I had learned. "Who is this person? Have you tried to learn who it was?"

He shook his head. "That person is very cautious. But one thing we are certain of is that it was a man, Beta. However, we do not know who it really was no matter how hard we tried to investigate further. Perhaps, Marchioness Carat was trying to cover this person." I remained silent. "Do you wish us to force the information out of here, Beta Novalie?"

I thought of it. It said before Frederick arrived, a suspicious person had been seeing her every time I would arrive there. It meant that this person had been following me for some reason.

How could I not notice that? As far as I knew, there was no man allowed to enter the Maiden's Lair except if it was Marquis Carat or perhaps...

"Do you think he has been disguising as a male prostitute?" My eyes widened upon the realization. "That was plausible, right?" He blinked at my words, not getting what I said.

I thought that was plausible in order to get in.

But why would that person enter if I would only arrive there? Did this mean I managed to interact with that suspicious man?

But how about Frederick? How was it related to him? Was it a friend of his?

"Beta, is there anything you want us to do again? Do you want us to investigate that man?"

I stroked my chin as I thought carefully. "Please do. Ask the workers to see if they met a man that kept coming back to their brothel or if they happened to meet a new worker there. Scoot now." I gestured to my hand that he could leave now.

"Yes, Beta. Your wish is my command."

As soon as one of my watchers left, I couldn't help but feel betrayed. I felt like I was being toyed with by someone again and it was making me feel sick again and again.

Inhaling and exhaling, I read the contents of the scroll again. I kept reading them over again because I felt like I was missing something.

Someone was covering for Frederick's whereabouts. Also, it was hard for me to locate his scent because I had a hunch that he was wearing incantation jewelry.

The jewelry bathed with incantation was to be brought to the temple to have it blessed by the divine priest or priestess. The priests and priestesses are the messengers of the Moon Goddess. If it said that jewelry has an enchantment, it could mean that you could ask the divine priest or priestess for the blessing of an incantation to cover your scent so your mate could never find out.

That was the only plausible reason I could think of.

"Who are you really, Frederick?" I asked after thinking thoroughly about this.

I felt like Frederick was fooling me... just like what Prince Atticus had been doing to me back then.

I regretted that I did not investigate him before. Darn it!