Chapter 134

The four ministers felt the tension the moment they stepped foot into the hall. With their heads held low,

they knelt on one knee before the royals as they uttered, “Your Highnesses. Your Graces.”

Lucianne smiled graciously as she spoke in a much gentler voice, “Yarrington, Weaver, Pamela and

Vanessa, it’s so nice that you four could join us tonight, despite your current workload.”

Her warmth was contagious, and the atmosphere of the room took a 360-degree turn, their mood easing

with the Queen’s mellowed voice. Xandar matched his mate’s smile as he said, “Stand, ministers.” 3

They stood, all looking less fearful than before. Yarrington then handed a grey folder to Christian as he

started explaining, “We’ve negated the last two complaints made against you, your Grace. I’ve asked

Vanessa and Pamela to trace the roots of the complaints, and they found that all ten false allegations

were made from the same IP address.” He then looked behind him as he said, “Vanessa, it’s your cue.”

When Yarrington stepped aside, Vanessa looked mostly at the encouraging Lucianne and Annie as she

spoke, “Basically, we traced the complaints to the location that it was sent from. Oddly and coincidentally,

all ten were made from the same IP address and the same device, a laptop registered under the name of

Herbert Horasho Martin’, and the IP address is the Dawson residence.”

“Huh.” Lucianne muttered in response as all eyes fell on the two Lycans who were as white as sheets at

this point. 2

Christian and Xandar growled at the young couple so fiercely that they even made Dorothy burst into

tears. For the first time, Lucianne didn’t stop Xandar. She was equally enraged. The click-clack of

Lucianne’s heels and Dorothy’s sobs were the only sounds in the dining hall when Lucianne walked

towards them.

Xandar, Christian and Annie were not far behind her. Every Lycan and wolf held their heads low when

they walked past. When Lucianne was right in front of them, Dorothy sobbed even louder. The couple

would leave but they doubted that the two policemen behind them would let them go.

Lucianne didn’t bother faking a smile and asked curtly, “Why did you both do it?”

Herbert opened his mouth but nothing came out. Dorothy continued to sob as she spoke incoherently, “I

didn’t w-want to. Her-bert made me.”

Herbert seemed taken aback as he hissed, “It was your idea, Dory! I was just ranting after mom got

arrested!”

Xandar then spat, “So, you decided to take your anger out on the Duke?!” His thunderous voice echoed

in the quiet hall, making Dorothy sob even louder.

Herbert fidget uneasily as he said almost in a whisper, “Your Highness, it m-meant to be a j-joke…”

“A joke?!” The strength of Annie’s voice scared many, especially the young couple. And she wasn’t

finished. “Do you have any idea of the distress you’ve caused me and my mate, along with the King and

Queen?! How dare you make false allegations against an innocent?!”

Seeing that the only way out was to beg for mercy, they knelt in front of Annie and Christian as Dorothy

begged, “We’re s-sorry, your Graces. Plea-se, it was a mistake. A mistake we’ll r-regret for the rest of our

lives. P-Please, spare us.”

“Spare you?” Christian asked rhetorically in a low, homicidal tone. “You both didn’t have the decency to

respect the system in place to deal with sexual harassment. You made allegations against someone

defending the system. You acted with nothing but slanderous intentions, and you have the gall to ask us t

o spare you?”

Dorothy tried begging again, “It… It was a mistake. A very big mistake.”

“And it’s one you’ll regret making for the rest of your lives, correct?” Lucianne asked, to which Dorothy

hastily replied, “Yes! Yes, of course.” Herbert nodded aggressively in response as well, thinking that the

Queen may be offering them a way out.

Lucianne smiled and said, “Very well, then. You can spend your lives regretting it in prison.” She gave the

policemen an affirmative nod to cuff them.

“What?” Dorothy uttered in disbelief as she was being cuffed, expecting the little wolf to have mercy or at

least some respect for Lycans, the superior species!

Lucianne’s voice was laced with dark humour when she said, “Why are you so shocked, Ms Dawson?

Don’t you know the law on fabricating evidence? Allow me to enlighten you: it’s an imprisonment term of

fifty years and forty strokes of the whip with Oleander cuffs on to suppress healing. But seeing that you

both fabricated evidence against a member of the royal family, the punishment is imprisonment for life,

along with five strokes of the whip every single day until you both die. Does that put things into

perspective?”

Dorothy was horrified when she muttered, “No. No no no no no. That can’t happen. Please, your

Highness. I am starting an internship next month. My parents were so proud when my application was

approved.”

Lucianne responded without missing a beat, “You can tell your parents and your future employer that

there has been a change in plans. That, or you can leave it to tomorrow’s news to notify them of what

you’ve been up to with your boyfriend lately.”

“No no no…” Dorothy continued to mutter.

Xandar then said, “Get them out of our sight.”

“Yes, my King.” The policemen took them away from the hall with Dorothy still muttering an endless

stream of ‘nos’ like a jammed robot.

After they left, the two cousins gave each other a brotherly hug. The ordeal was finally over. The four

ministers came forward, and the royals thanked all of them. Seeing that they could manage the

complaints so efficiently, Xandar and Christian opted to step aside to let them finish what they started

while the cousins themselves focused on the rogue attacks.

Before leaving the dining hall, Xandar called for a government meeting first thing in the morning the very

next day. Although it was a Saturday, no one dared question his decision because with so many

ministers gone, the work was piling up. Either new appointments had to be made, or the work had to be

taken up by those in the clear.

When Xandar and Lucianne were walking back to the hotel, something came to his mind. The energy he

felt radiating from Lucianne back in the hall when she spoke to Dorothy felt stronger than any ordinary

creature’s emotions. He suddenly recalled feeling her inspirational fighting spirit right before the rogues

appeared in Forest Gloom as well. There was also the fact that Lucianne seemed to always be able to

control the atmosphere in any room they were in.

After concluding that his mate may have some sort of innate ability, Xandar started their conversation as

they entered the elevator, “Babe?”

“Yes, darling?” Lucianne asked affectionately as she stroked his cheek.

He leaned into her touch as he asked softly, “What did you do to make Martin’s girlfriend hold her head

down like she did?”

Lucianne got confused so she asked, “What do you mean? She held her head down before all of us,

even before Annie and Christian.”

“No, sweetheart.” He held her hand on his cheek, and pecked a kiss on her palm before he explained,”

Right before Christian came in, when you were talking about her threat to burn Blue Crescent to the

ground, you radiated an energy.”

“Did 1?”

“You didn’t feel it?”

Ding!

As they stepped out through the elevator doors, Lucianne said nonchalantly, “I just felt angry, darling.

Maybe it was my radiating anger you felt.”

That didn’t convince Xandar at all. He continued to think about it, and as he followed Lucianne into her

room, he said, “Lucy, I think you radiated something different, an Authority”

Lucianne paused in taking off her shoes as she asked in surprise, “I’m sorry, Xandar. Could you repeat

that? I don’t think I heard you right.” He looked at her with pride as he approached her, and with his

rough hands on both her shoulders, his eyes sparked excitement as he whispered firmly, “You radiated

an Authority, Lucy. The Queen’s Authority”