Chapter 65: Too Peaceful is Suspicious

Alpha Iyoha heaved a sigh of disappointment. "I had high hopes when I first met you several minutes ago," the werewolf said to Elys, "really now? A knife up in your sleeves?"

"You can’t blame me," she said, "if you were in our position, I am most certainly sure that you would do the same thing. The only difference would be is that in my case, I was caught."

The werewolf raised a blade that he confiscated from Elys. The Princess merely shrugged as if it was expected of her. Iyoha’s disappointment intensified, his scowl evident as his snout scrunched.

Aleksander stifled a sarcastic laugh, to which the sensitive ears of the werewolves still picked up. The pack snarled at the vampire prince, angered by his lack of respect for their alpha. The prince looked away in an attempt to look innocent, but it didn’t really help that much at all.

Iyoha rolled his eyes in exasperation. The werewolf pointed at them individually with the knife he still had in his paws, trying to intimidate the vampires and their human companions.

"This is my last warning for all of you," he growled.

Unfortunately for him, Aleksander wasn’t the least bit concerned with his threats. He had his chin raised indignantly, whereas the knights stood proud without even flinching as the werewolf intimidated them.

Cordelia straightened her back, preparing herself if ever things start to suddenly escalate. She hoped it wouldn’t, but nonetheless, she still made sure she was ready.

The only one who probably took the alpha seriously with his threat had to be Henry.

Elys raised her hands in mock defeat, and then asked, "Alright, now that you have all of our last line of defense from any unwanted attacks, when are you going to let us through?"

The alpha flicked the knife across to join the pile of weapons on the ground. He motioned for his subordinates to gather everything, and then instructed the one who stood guard to hoist down the drawbridge.

"Thank you," Elys smiled sweetly at the alpha.

"Don’t thank me yet," the werewolf grunted. "There is one last thing."

The princess tilted her head in anticipation.

The alpha beckoned on of his subordinates, and a she-wolf with silver fur and ice-cold blue eyes came forward. She stood to her full height just short of about a few inches from Iyoha, and took with her a metal box covered in intricate designs.

The alpha produced a key and opened the chest. He grabbed something inside of it, and then without further explanation, latched a bracelet round their visitors’ wrist except for Elys, Cordelia, and Henry.

"We will need you to wear this," Iyoha said.

Aleksander scrunched his nose. He raised his hand to see a bracelet that softly glowed in the dark. He couldn’t make out the color, but it somehow reminded him of water as light refracted against it.

"What the hell is this ugly thing?" he asked.

The werewolf smirked, "A magic inhibitor."

The prince’s face twisted.

"I have never heard of such atrocities to inhibit something natural to people such as vampires," Aleksander snapped at the werewolf. "Take this off this instant."

Iyoha shrugged and then crossed his arms, "If you really want to enter, you will have to compromise to how the Eastern Kingdom works. No magic, no weapons. If not, we can have you go your merry way back to the West."

"And if we don’t?" challenged the prince.

"Then it will get bloody nasty for you," the alpha snarled.

"Alright," Elys tried to mediate, "that is enough. Husband, stand down. We must honor the Eastern Kingdom’s wishes."

Aleksander spat right next to the alpha’s feet, and Iyoha and the rest of his pack snarled in response.

"Stop it!" Elys slapped Aleksander’s arm.

The prince glared at her, but then she signaled with her face for them to enter the carriage. He interpreted this as something that meant she had something to say once they were inside.

They climbed back into the carriage while waiting for the drawbridge to be fully lowered.

Aleksander leaned forward and whispered, "Tell me you got something planned to agree with these monsters stripping us of everything we have to defend ourselves."

"Later," she replied.

Elys opened her window and craned her neck to get a glimpse of the other side, but unfortunately, there was not much to see except fog.

It didn’t help much that it was still too dark to see without the aid of a lantern too.

The werewolf bent down to level his eyes with the princess who was now sitting comfortably inside the carriage. She had the satchel tucked securely beside her; the scrolls guarded until they could deliver it to the Eastern Queen.

"The Eastern Kingdom is a peaceful place ruled by the purest of queens," Alpha Iyoha warned. "I know you have underlying motives somewhere inside that tiny head of yours. Don’t you ever make any wrong moves or else we will eat you alive once you return to the outside."

"You won’t accompany us to the palace?" Elys raised a confused brow.

The werewolf shook his head, "Our deal is only to guard the borders from enemies. Like I said, the Eastern Kingdom is peaceful to the point it doesn’t need weapons and such to keep their people in place."

"Huh," Aleksander scoffed. "A kingdom that doesn’t need any weapons but inhibits people with inherent magic in them. Quite questionable and selfish to me – ahh!"

Elys kicked the prince to stop him from angering the werewolf further. She smiled meekly at Iyoha, and coincidentally, they finally heard the drawbridge clink to a full stop.

The werewolf guard motioned for the carriage to move, and Henry promptly took the reins from Cordelia this time around. The horses trotted forward, the carriage’s wheels rolling smoothly as they hit the road once more.

The knights followed, and the envoys slowly entered the foggy kingdom. As soon as the last of the knights passed through, the metal gates dropped shut with a loud bang, and the drawbridge was hoisted back into place.

The fog slowly disappeared, revealing to Elys and company a perilous road leading to the Eastern Kingdom.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read