Chapter 164

The next morning, Xandar scrolled through the headlines on his phone while he waited for Lucianne to

fix her hair, which already looked perfect to him. After reading a few articles on the corruption case, he

smiled, and picked the best one as he approached his beautiful mate. His arms crept around her waist

from behind as he handed his phone to her and said, “Have a read, sweetheart.”

Xandar inhaled Lucianne’s scent from her neck when she skimmed through the article. It reported on the

trial, and reproduced the statement the four of them collectively wrote while they were in the court

cafeteria the previous day.

When Lucianne reached the end of the statement, her body stiffened. Her widened eyes were still fixed

on the screen when she asked, “Why is my name above yours?”

Xandar’s lips curled into a smile at her neck when he explained in amusement, “Because it was your

idea, my love. Why do you seem so surprised?”

“Because the Queen’s name normally comes after the King’s?” Lucianne pointed out matter-of-factly.

Xandar showed a disgusted look before saying, “That wouldn’t be fair. You want to burn down the

patriarchy, don’t you? I’m helping you do just that, in my own little way for my own little freesia.”

“This is NOT a little way at all, Xandar.” Lucianne noted firmly, and turned to see his affectionate lilac

eyes gazing deeply into hers while his head rested on her shoulder. She pecked a kiss on his nose and

uttered gratefully, “Thank you, my love.”

He scoffed before kissing her on the cheek and turning her around as he declared, “Babe, the three of us

should be thanking you. None of us had a solution. I, for one, assumed that Cummings, Martin and the

others were going to drag the whole governing body with them into the tainted parts of history.”

Xandar’s hand cupped her cheek, and she leaned into his touch as he continued, “But you showed us

that not all was lost, that there was a way to come out stronger than before. Have you seen the

comments section? Our people seem to be trusting the monarchy and the government more than they

did before. You were right, Lucy! Explaining the debacle to them, without sugar-coating or blame-

shoving, made them feel…assured. Owning up to it made them feel assured. Lowering tax because of

the debacle made them happy, and it was only lowered by a small percentage. They’re just happy that

the monarch and the government are taking steps to rectify the wrongs. Do you have any idea how

amazing you are, sweetheart?”

Lucianne was lost for words. Every sentence coming out of his mouth made her feel…worthy. Despite

her rejections, Lucianne had taught herself to never feel worthless, justifying it by the fact that she was

alive, and she was a warrior, a friend, a sister, an adopted daughter and an aunt.

But she never felt this level of worth that Xandar was showering over her through his words alone. She

felt touched. Apart from feeling loved, what Xandar said made her feel… amazing.

With glistening eyes, Lucianne pulled him into a deep kiss before they parted their lips, and she

whispered, “I love you…so much.”

His smile broadened before he said, “I love you, too, sweetheart.”

His anticipating eyes demanded the usual response, and Lucianne chuckled before she said, “I know.

Thank you.”

Something was still bothering Xandar’s animal, so much so that it kept pestering its human part to bring

up with their mate. And that was exactly what Xandar did. “What I don’t love are those idiots in the

comments section flirting with you. The emoji with hearts in its eyes are way too much, and honestly,

very anger-inductive. Can’t they read the word ‘Queen’ before your name?! And it doesn’t take an expert

to guess that they are NOT the King. I AM. Seriously, they’re just looking for a way to”

Lucianne silent her ranting mate with another deep kiss. “I’m with you, my indecent beast. Only you.” 4

When her beast seemed a little calmer, she dragged him by his arm to the door before their conversation

prolonged. Xandar’s Lycan was so happy with the kiss that it cooed during the whole drive to the court.

###

In the High Court, everyone trailed into the courtroom and waited for the trial to begin. Judge Cook

entered, and announced that Marie Martin had pleaded guilty the night before to the charges against her,

so there was no further questioning needed in her case. Xandar and Christian were both trying to press

back smiles, with the second-in-command having a harder time doing it than the King

The judge then granted the prosecution permission to begin questioning Pierre Whitlaw. What caught

Lucianne’s eye wasn’t the minister in his dark blue tuxedo and well-ironed white shirt but a woman sitting

alone in the second row on the other side of the

aisle.

‘It’s his wife.’Xandar linked her when he saw Lucianne looking that way.

Lucianne linked in response, ‘Oh, I know, darling. I’ve seen her in the tabloids whenever Whitlaw is in the

news. She looked beautiful in those pictures but she looks even more stunning in person.’

After kissing her hairline, Xandar sighed and linked, ‘You only say that because you don’t have a mirror

with you, babe. If you haven’t noticed, every man in the room has been stealing glances at you, not her.

You’re breaking their hearts by choosing to only look at another woman.’

“That’s not true, Xandar. The journalists and reporters are looking at her, too. I’m not alone.’

Xandar then groaned and argued, ‘Lucy, they’re looking at her diamond earrings, jade necklace, gold

bracelet, the emerald ring on her finger and that handbag that only Goddess knows cost how much.

They’re not looking at her per se. You can almost see the mental calculator working in their minds if you

looked closely enough, sweetheart. When they look at you, on the other hand, it’s like their brains stop

working, which is good. It gives me time to tear them to shreds before they make a run for it.’ 3

Lucianne narrowed her eyes and shook her head disapprovingly as she inched herself closer to her mate

to feel his warmth, and muttered, “Indecent beast.”

He glued his lips on her ear as he whispered, “If you don’t correct what you just said, my love, I’m going

to pull you into a deep kiss i n front of all these people.”

Lucianne’s eyes widened in horror, making Xandar chuckled softly as he stroked her shoulder with his

thumb and waited. Lucianne leaned into him before she whispered shyly, “MY indecent beast.”

He smiled radiantly, and pecked a kiss on her temple before he whispered back, “Always and forever, my

little freesia.”

As soon as Xandar retumed his sights to Whitlaw, he caught Mr Clark quickly averting his gaze right after

looking at his mate, so h e muttered, “If this trial takes too long, Clark is not going to survive it. I’ve been

wanting to gouge his eyes out since yesterday.”

Lucianne stroked his rough hand as she cooed, “Shh…I’m with you, Xandar. Only you.” He took in a

greedy whiff from her hair to calm the growling animal in his head, and to calm himself as he started

listening to what the prosecutor was asking Whitlaw. 1

“Mr Whitlaw, you own watches from the most luxurious brands, and you make it a point to buy up limited

edition sports cars. How did you come about affording these with your annual salary?”

“Those were gifts.” Whitlaw’s answer was instant. The prosecutor asked, “Gifts from whom?”