Chapter 117: Sounds like a poor excuse

After Lauren talked with Julian, she went upstairs to go to the King’s office. Back when her father was still the ruler, she never had a chance to step inside the royal office. Apart from being a female child who was believed to have no knowledge of court affairs, she was the least favored among the King’s children.

Two servants awaited outside the double doors and when they saw her coming, they were quick to open them.

The first thing Lauren noticed upon entering the royal office was the tall shelves at the east filled with state books and loads of paper. The room had a high ceiling and seemed to be bigger than the royal family’s bedchambers. On the west was a large desk where Alec was. He lifted his gaze to her the moment she entered.

"Finally, you got your own office. Must be doing a lot of work, aren’t you?" She walked towards the window beside his desk. She glided the curtains to the side which were covering half of the windows, letting the warm tones of sunlight bring life to the sullen room.

"Power costs a lot of work," said Alec and put down the paper he was reading. He started tapping the desk with his fingers as if he was following a rhythm.

"That henchman of yours. Is he capable enough to serve you? He seems to be quite young. If Edith managed to knock him down that easily, I don’t think he is reliable. I bet he will just bring you trouble."

Lauren’s eyes narrowed at his grim tone while talking about Julian. She remembered Julian saying that Alec was probably jealous. She had seen several times Alec being possessive and thinking about it now, she thought Julian could be right. Why else would Alec bring it up with a mischievous look in his eyes.

After all, as she knew him, his properties or his ’toys’ were only his to play with.

"Julian is more reliable than you think, trust me." Lauren leaned back on the window. "He had been working for me for almost two years now. You think I’d keep someone useless for that long? Of course not. Julian didn’t fight back out of chivalry."

"Chivalry, huh? Sounds like a poor excuse to me."

Lauren snorted. "Stop belittling my person, will you? Did I say anything about your subordinates? My people are mine to take care of, dear husband. Why don’t you just stick your nose in your own business?"

She didn’t like anyone demeaning her people. Darius and Julian were her most trusted men and they had put their faith on her at the expense of putting their lives at risk. They had big roles in achieving her goal.

"Your business is mine because you are my wife. I am just concerned that he might bring you trouble-"

"He never did and he won’t. I have trust in my people."

"Sure, you have," he muttered sarcastically, smirking at her without humor.

"Are we just going to talk about this nonsense or are we going to discuss what you called me for?" Alec’s temperament was getting on her nerves and she might need some cold drink to calm her down.

He glared at her and silence prevailed between them for a moment. However, just when he was about to speak about the court meeting’s agenda earlier, they were interrupted by a knock.

Matthias went inside. He cleared his throat, feeling uneasy when he saw the irritation on Lauren’s face and Alec’s grim expression. He didn’t have to ask to know that the couple bickered again.

"Colton sent a missive, Your Majesty. A group of black mages massacred three families in Abalone village. People from the council are on their way to check the situation."

Lauren straightened up, her lips were pressed together in a grim line. It had been a while since the black mages massacred a mass of people, and no deranged human came after the lad and the young girl who were the first humans to be corrupted. Evardin was a little peaceful for weeks but it seemed like the black mages were on the move again.

"Dr. Bentley said that the black mages seem to be gaining control over themselves considering that various groups had been emerging lately. His assumption was, the black mages must have learned to retain their sanity even when they are running wild. It means they don’t just go killing people randomly," Matthias added.

"Black mages in the past don’t kill people in groups because when they run wild they lose all their sanity. So when they feel the need to feed, they go to the far villages to hunt for a soul, or secretly keep a living prey to make sure that they won’t reveal themselves. But recently massacres had been happening. They don’t intend to hide their true nature anymore and even dare to tease the council. So, it must be true that black mages are gaining more power," Lauren said. She had also been thinking about it for a while. She thought it was suspicious, but then she had no idea how a black mage could retain its sanity even when running wild.

Alec stood from his seat and grabbed his black overcoat.

"Are you going to the village?" Lauren asked because she wanted to go as well. A massacre wasn’t something to be taken lightly, especially when it already happened several times this year. With how the black mages are growing powerful, their existence had become a bigger threat.

"Yes, I will go check it briefly. It’s the council’s job to investigate the matter but I want to have a closer look. Perhaps I can find something."

"Let me come with you."

"Are you sure? I thought you are busy. Don’t you need to discuss things with your henchman?" He looked at her with piercing eyes. "When I went to the tearoom your servant was laughing casually. You seemed to be having fun with him."

Lauren looked at him with disbelief. "Don’t tell me you are jealous again?"

Matthias who remained standing in front of the couple looked away as if he didn’t hear anything.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read