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His lips were giving the King a welcoming smile. However, his eyes were telling a different story. They were glowing red, which the alpha wasn’t doing on purpose.

Everard looked at that angered alpha and gave a wide smile. He knew that he had poked the right chord of the alpha’s brain for him to openly display his threatening eyes.

Without losing his smile, Everard replied to the alpha, “I was just carrying out the routine check of the facility. But when I demanded the profit and loss ledger, your staff handed me a fake file.”

Romulus instantly glared at Hendrix with accusing eyes.

And as if he was doing Romulus a great favor, Everard asked, “I bet you weren’t aware of their misconducts. You should fire all the employees who are stealing from you.”

Romulus clenched his jaw and his fists. He then grumbled in his cold voice as he continued to glare at Hendrix, “Yeah, I bet. Thank you for opening my eyes to their crimes, Your Majesty.”

Everard smiled and then further said, “If it was anyone else who came here to inspect, they would have placed the blame on you. But I know you aren’t that kind of a person. Lorenzo keeps on singing your praises.”

Romulus looked at the King and then gave a nod. “Thank you for finding out the truth yourself and also informing me. I will carry out an internal investigation regarding this matter.”

.....

“Yes, you should.” Everard gave a sly smirk, knowing that Romulus didn’t have anywhere to escape now. He then looked at the guard who was about to say something before the arrival of the alpha. And he asked, “Yes, you were saying something earlier. Did you find where they were hiding the real ledger?”

The guard instantly pointed at that wall where he had found the keyhole and answered, “There’s a keyhole there, Your Majesty. I think they are hiding it there.”

Everard was looking at Romulus and Hendrix when that guard said that. Romulus showed no change in expression but Hendrix subtly widened his eyes as if that was true.

And wasting no time, Everard held out his hand and asked Hendrix, “Lord Wilson, why don’t you hand me that key? I don’t want to damage the alpha’s property.”

Romulus was already fuming in his head. He hated how Everard was acting so smugly just because he was the King. And he hated how the royal guards correctly figured out the place where the ledger was being hidden.

So, to not let the situation escalate further, he did the thing that was his last resort for resolving the current crisis.

He pulled out the solidified heart from the pocket of his overcoat. He held it out in front of the King and then said, “Your Majesty, I had something very important to discuss with you. I was about to head for your castle but right then, I heard that you were here. So, I came running to you.”

Everyone in the room was now curiously looking at that heart that Romulus was holding in his palm. Some were trying to figure out what it was, while some had already figured it out and were anticipating hearing something shocking.

Everard thought that shape was familiar, but he couldn’t guess what Romulus was showing him. Thus, he looked at Jerome with a questioning gaze.

And Jerome imparted his knowledge to the King, “That’s the heart of a dead werewolf. It turns that way when–”

“When it comes in contact with a silver object,” Romulus cut Jerome in between and then answered the King.

Everyone in the room gasped in shock because it was illegal to own silver weapons in Xanmar.

Everard was the only one who looked confused. “How did it come in contact with the silver object then?” he innocently asked, thinking that the heart had turned that way because someone was conducting some kind of sick experiment on the heart of a dead werewolf.

And instead of answering the King in the room full of people, Romulus asked the King, “Why don’t we talk about this matter in private? This is something serious.”

Before Everard could agree to it, all of the staff of the distillery scurried out of the room in a hurry.

Jerome then said to the King, “I think you should listen to the alpha first, Your Majesty. It indeed looks serious.”

Upon hearing that, Everard gave a nod and then asked his guards, “Everyone, wait outside.” He then looked at the alpha and continued ordering his guards, “And don’t let anyone escape away from this facility. I still have to question the workers regarding the fraud.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the guards said in unison and then marched out of the room.

Jerome, however, didn’t leave the King’s side.

And Romulus also didn’t mind his presence because he wanted someone to confirm the things that he had to say about the werewolf. He closed the door of the room and then dragged a chair to sit down in front of the King.

He handed that heart to the King and let him examine it.

After looking at it for a while, Everard gave that heart to Jerome and said, “I had never seen something like this before.” Then he focused his attention on Romulus and asked, knowing all too well that Romulus was doing all that to distract his attention from the ongoing investigation, “So, what is this about? It better be worth my time.”

The corners of Romulus’ lips slowly curved upward. But before a smile could fully form on his lips, he opened his mouth and said while pretending to be devastated, “I don’t know how to say this to you. But I hope that you will forgive me for not finding out about this sooner.”

Everard frowned a little and asked again, “What did you find out, Lord Romulus?”

Romulus then pointed at the heart that Jerome was still inspecting and then answered, “That’s the heart of someone who went behind your back and attacked our valued guests from Sorvando and Orsenia.”

“Wh-What?” The moment Everard heard that, he felt his heart sinking, and his temperature rising at an alarming rate. His eyes looked stunned and he felt cold sweats trickling down his spine.

He gulped hard and then asked in a shivering whisper, “What did you just say?”