Chapter 114: The Evil Queen’s Downfall

Vincent left that morning. While Alec was busy with court affairs, Lauren went to the east wing of the castle where Thalia’s chamber was. She thought she could spare her poor stepmother a visit who was too embarrassed to face people. She knew that as the former queen, she held no power against the current ruler. It meant she wouldn’t have her way in the castle anymore.

The guards guarding Thalia’s room quickly pushed the door open. Holding her head up with a look of disdain on her face, Lauren’s shoes made clicking sounds against the marble floor. The guard closed the door behind her.

Thalia who was sitting by the window and holding a wine bottle darted her eyes at Lauren. Her hair was exploding on her face and the dark circles below her eyes were in stark contrast with her overly pale face. The whole room reeked of strong wine and the food on the table hadn’t been touched, letting Lauren know that Thalia had only been consuming alcohol.

Thalia’s eyes bulged in anger. Her neck corded as she stood up to throw the bottle at Lauren.

Lauren raised her hand in the air and a transparent barrier appeared, putting a division between her and Thalia. The shattering noise echoed in the room when the bottle hit the barrier that was no different from a hard wall.

Thalia stood from her seat without bothering to wear shoes or slippers. Her white nightdress had stains of red wine, and with her bloodshot eyes, she looked nothing less than a woman from an asylum whose mind had been damaged beyond repair.

"So, all this time you are acting weak. The truth is you have been learning spells in secret and plotting against your family."

"What do you mean plotting against my family, Queen Dowager?" Lauren asked in a calm tone, emphasizing the word ’dowager’ to shove into her face that she no longer held the power she once had.

"You have never considered me your family, so why would I consider your family as mine? How silly of you." Lauren arched her brow and shook her head.

"Why are you here? To show off your new status? To slap it in my face that I am now living under your mercy?"

Lauren smirked. "Yes, of course, I am here for that. Why else would I visit you when your face makes me sick. Well, I’m not here solely for that. I also have a question that you might want to answer."

Thalia’s fists balled. She was an arch mage and she could escape the castle if she wanted but Alec was smart enough to put a strong spell around her room that would forbid her from escaping. She couldn’t even break the glass of her windows.

"The thing is, I have met this man named Jasper Owens..." Lauren saw how Thalia’s eyes widened when she mentioned the man’s name.

She didn’t have proof of how Jasper was related to Thalia but she knew it was one of her dark secrets. There was no point in hiding what she knew now. After all, Thalia’s status as the Queen Dowager was all in name.

"I guess that got you surprised, Queen Mother," Lauren teased.

"Don’t you dare touch him, Lauren! Don’t you fucking dare!"

Seeing Thalia’s violent reaction, Lauren’s eyes squinted. Now it was confirmed that her stepmother had a deep relationship with Jasper Owens.

"Interesting," she hummed. "What is he? Your lover?" She shook her head. "I don’t think so. When I asked him who gave him his necklace with a black gemstone, he said it was a woman he regarded as a family."

"You evil bitch-"

Thalia’s body was suddenly thrown to the wall. Her knees fell on the floor while groaning in pain. Her eyes widened when the realization hit her. She looked at Lauren with a bewildered expression.

Even arch mages needed to utter an incantation to use a spell but the whole time she didn’t see Lauren utter incantation. Besides, a lowly mage could not make such an attack.

"How did you manage to become so powerful?" Thalia slowly pulled herself up despite her aching back. She walked towards Lauren but she couldn’t step any farther because of the barrier between them. "You must be doing sorcery."

"You seriously have the audacity to accuse me of doing sorcery when it’s your daughter who was a black mage? I can’t believe you, Thalia." For the first time, Lauren had the chance to address her without honorifics. She had been meaning to do it all this time. She hated how Thalia always used her status as the Queen to twist the laws and harm innocent people.

"He is your son, isn’t he?" Lauren asked instead of answering the question thrown at her.

Thalia gritted her teeth. With the fury Lauren saw in her eyes, she immediately knew the answer. It was only a wild speculation since she had with no visible proof and only relied on intuition, but she was surprised that she hit it right.

"I don’t think she is your son to Lord Owens though," Lauren believed that the real father was dead. Thalia wouldn’t risk her affair getting revealed. But then she still had a heart of a mother, so she spared the child and took care of him in secret.

"You must have given birth to him before you married the King. I heard that back when you were to marry my bastard father, you went to Acheron for eight months to have music lessons because of your interest in music. When you returned, that was when you got married. With the time frame given, it can be assumed that you got pregnant with another man’s child even though you were already betrothed to the king. I couldn’t imagine what father would think of you if he learned about it. I planned to tell him, but unfortunately, he died too early."

Thalia grabbed the other bottles of wine from her table and threw them to the barrier because of her anger. The loud shattering of glass was heard in the hallway outside but none of the guards nor servants dared to step inside.

Lauren remained calm while watching Thalia go berserk in front of her.

"One more thing, I know you just let Cassandra kill Casper because he is another product of your mistake. You know Father wanted a male child so much, and to satisfy him, you brought Casper into this world out of a forbidden spell."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read