The Crown's Entrapment

“It’s true,” Lady Shila warmly smiled. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He never held that kind of gaze towards any other attractive woman I’d seen. And trust me, I’ve seen a lot of them.”

Again, Clara didn’t know what to say. The way Lady Shila said those words… As much as she tried, she didn’t think that the older woman was lying.

“I-I see,” Clara found herself repeating, still at a loss for what to say.

“There’s no need to be modest, Lady Clara,” Lady Shila smiled. “You’re a beautiful lady yourself, and I can see why my son took a liking to you.”

The younger of the two tried her best not to cringe. Again, just being reminded of Gilas’s affection for her only made her feel strange in ways that didn’t sit right with her psyche. Oh, her body was fine with it for some reason, but intellectually, she still had her heart settled on chasing Darius and proving to him that she was more deserving than his mate.

“You’re a good woman, putting up with my son with all of his faults,” Lady Shila gratefully told her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re actually his mate.”

Yet another hard string of words echoed in her ears. It was the one thing that her wolf hounded her about, but she paid it no heed seeing as she couldn’t feel it anyway. Still, the older woman’s words resonated painfully in her head, as if there was some truth to them that she refused to recognize.

“If that’s true, then surely I should’ve felt it by now,” Clara reasoned, her own words ringing hollow in her ears.

“As far as I can tell, the Mate Pull isn’t something that every werewolf is blessed to feel,” Lady Shila insisted, her tone taking on a teasing lilt as she continued. “Why, if I was one, then perhaps-“

*crash…*

A sudden shattering sound interrupted the exchange, both of them turning around to see that a servant had somehow nudged the vase nearest to her.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Before she could even ask, the servant quickly left, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway once more.

“Huh… That was weird,” Clara shrugged, watching the servant practically flee down the hallway and turn right at the nearest corner. “I wonder what that was about… Anyway, where were we?”

“I-I should go…”

…

…

Clara blinked, the sudden change in demeanor taking her off-guard as Lady Shila then promptly left her alone. She didn’t even manage to ask what had changed, having been left standing in the middle of the hallway without so much as an explanation. It looked as if the older woman had been spooked, leaving her alone with nothing but her thoughts about the strange string of occurrences that just happened.

“Huh…”

It was strange… Why suddenly leave? It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with what they were talking about. The whole thing just reeked of suspicion for some reason.

Curiously, she looked around, hoping to see if her feelings were actually valid.

‘What the…’

Clara inwardly took a breath as she saw what looked to be a robed figure walking down the distant corner of the hallway. She also noted that it was the only way that the servant from earlier could take, and judging by the girl’s demeanor, she could only assume that it was far from mere coincidence that she was merely spooked out of being seen breaking a vase.

Intrepidly, Clara moved to follow. Tracing the steps that the servant could take, she rounded the corner where she last saw the suspiciously cloaked figure.

“Elder Nasser?”

She couldn’t help but voice out what she was seeing. Sure enough, there was the Elder standing in the hallway, talking to the robed figure as if they were cutting a deal with one another.

‘What is going on?’ she inwardly thought, her mind already searching for possibilities and answers to said question. ‘Is this why Lady Shila practically ran away from me earlier?’

There was no other possible explanation for it. Why else would the usually warm lady of the house suddenly act as if she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing? Perhaps this was some kind of spy then for Nasser…

‘What are they talking about though…’

With curiosity burning, Clara decided to move cautiously, slinking further up the hallway in an attempt to close the distance.

‘So close… I can almost hear them…’

If she could just hear what they were saying, perhaps Clara could find some manner to help in her own way. Maybe she could stop going with Gilas just for him to be able to spend some time with the poor lady.

“Is it done?” Nasser’s voice faintly echoed from a distance.

“They are- Who’s there?!”

Clara stiffened, quickly hiding behind the nearest podium as she barely managed to hide herself from view.

“We’re not alone,” Nasser huffed. “See who it is then.”

The echoing sound of footsteps nearing her almost made Clara’s heart stop. Looking around, she had no way of hiding, especially with the way the hallway was built to avoid crevasses.

Still, she tried looking for a way out, hoping that an open window or something was near for her to jump out of. She knew that she just saw something that she had no business knowing, and being caught right now would ensnare her in whatever web Elder Nasser was trying to spin.

As the footsteps echoed ever closer, Clara resigned herself to getting caught. But just before the guard reached her location, a hand suddenly grabbed her by the arm, pulling her in before she could even react.

“Come here.”

“Wha- Mmpphhh!”

Her eyes widened as Gilas didn’t even let her speak. Without any warning whatsoever, their lips met, a strange electrifying feeling running through her body as he clearly looked like he was trying to make the whole thing convincing.

“Who goes there?!”

Clara didn’t know what was going on, but she melted into his kiss anyway, knowing full well that it was an act they had to sell to make it all look decent.

She most certainly didn’t enjoy it. She was just acting… or so she said to herself.