Chapter 171

“You’re really difficult to impress, aren’t you, your Grace?” Lord Kylton noted in amusement before he

uttered, “But I’m happy to say that bankrupting the government wasn’t the end. In fact, it was the

beginning of the end. Knowing Xandar and Christian, we gathered that they would transfer the

monarchy’s funds to sustain the government if the government funds were emptied. So, the end goal

was to wait until both those funds dried up. And when the King and his second-in-command have

nowhere else to tum for money, our family would make a sudden appearance to…”

“Offer financial support.” Greg muttered when he caught up, and he continued, “In exchange, you’d

demand that the King take your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

“Bravo, your Grace.” Kelissa said with a smilk, raising her glass while she was at it like she was already

celebrating. After taking a sip, she added, “What’s better is that we lose nothing in the process. We’d just

be giving Xandar whatever we’ve…borrowed from the government and the monarchy over the years.”

“Borrowed?” Greg questioned her choice of vocabulary.

Kelissa rolled her eyes and continued, “It’s not theft if we plan to retum whatever we’ve been taking.

When it happens, when we save the Kingdom from financial ruin, it would seem like we’re helping every

living creature, from the most insignificant wolf to the most powerful Lycan. No one in their right minds

would question my right to be Queen. My nobility and selflessness in offering aid when the Kingdom

needs it most would silence any critic. And when my subjects see me, they’d kneel, bow and utter long

live the Queen’.”

‘Sounds like a perfect plot to a horror movie with an ominous ending’, Greg thought to himself.

Greg decided to ignore the delusional and power-crazed heiress for now, and turned to Lord Kylton to

confirm the facts for the sake of the recording device stuck under the dining table, “So, you let the

ministers take the bulk of the money…because it was never about the money. You let them take the bulk

because you only wanted them to keep helping you with your plan without them asking questions about

the ultimate goal. And you three knew that the portion Wu Bi Corp took over the years would be enough

to b e used as a bargaining chip to force my cousin to make your daughter the…”

He was getting nauseous simply by imagining Kelissa as the Queen, so much so that he couldn’t say it

without throwing up. He thought fast, and pictured Lucianne in his head before he uttered, “Queen.”

Thankfully, none of the Kyltons saw through his disgust. They assumed that Greg was just shocked. Lord

Kylton smirked in arrogance when he said, “Ingenious, isn’t it, your Grace? We obviously never needed

the money but Tanner here and the ministers who…assisted us did. So, we used that as our bargaining

chip. Money in the billions in exchange for government access and no questions asked. The dollar signs

always have a way of removing unwanted questions and attracting…the right people.”

The right people whom they let get arrested and sentenced. Talk about ingratitude. The Kyltons’

pompous and triumphant expressions only showed that they had already told Greg everything he needed

to know. So, the Duke decided to reward himself with a little fun by doing what he did best: launch verbal

attacks.

He retumed the Lord’s arrogant smirk and said, “You’re not very good with timelines are you? Your plan

is taking quite a while to reach its end.”

His Lordship tried to justify the inefficiency. “Well, your Grace. Moving things too fast would raise

suspicions. So, we decided to take things slow. And we didn’t expect Xandar and Blackfur to have above

average skills to sustain the Kingdom’s economy.”

Greg furrowed his eyebrows as he asked in disbelief, “You didn’t expect the Crowned Prince and the

successor to the Kingdom’s shipping and transportation sectors to have good enough skills to sustain the

economy? Really?”

Lord Kylton shrugged and said, “Xandar looks capable but he was young when he ascended the throne.

We didn’t think he’d have the required skills to hold the Kingdom together at that age. As for Christian

Blackfur… We’ve met Blackfur several times, your Grace. He didn’t seem very promising.” 1

Greg continued to press mercilessly, “Despite his First-Class Degree in Economics, Finance and Political

Science from Helm University? And the Masters Degree in Economics after that? As for that King cousin

of mine, did you even know he has two Masters Degrees from Helm? One in Business and another one

in Economics.” 3

Oh, Goddess. Condescending the Kyltons was easier than he thought. They were so blind to their

opponents’ strengths and weaknesses that it was effortless to make them look stupid!

Lady Kylton whispered to her husband, “Didn’t Vera only say Xandar’s highest qualification was in

history?”

Greg didn’t even bother being courteous and respectful when he answered Lady Kylton’s question

without giving her husband the chance, “The PhD in history was just a waste of time and money. That

dissertation he wrote about some unknown myth about the Unhinged Prince is one of the most boring

things about him. My late uncle and I couldn’t comprehend the applicability of that in

governance and politics but that’s a story for another day. The point is…”

Greg sighed in despair again and questioned, “Were you all wilfully blind to their skills when you were

executing your plan?”

.

Lady Kylton then said, “Well, we knew about their Bachelor’s Degree in business, of course, but…we

thought those were… purchased?”

Greg’s eyebrows raised, and he asked, “I have a Degree from Helm as well. Do you think mine is

purchased, too?” When silence ensued, Greg got his answer, and it was f*cking insulting!

Kelissa asked, “Wait, isn’t it?” Greg taunted, “You’re saying that your own degrees in social sciences and

interior design from Castyard are bought, Kylton?”

“Yes.” Kelissa said with no shame. This was news to Greg. He never took an interest in the Kyltons

enough to dig into the heiress’s background.

Greg bit his lip to stop the insults from pouring out, and said, “Then, let me put it this way: just because

your own qualifications were…bought, it doesn’t mean that ours are. And Helm has never entertained

bribes for student admission or a better grade. Believe me, I tried paying for a better grade and was

given a worse one instead.” 1

There was a brief moment of silence before Kelissa smiled to herself as she uttered like she was in a

beautiful dream, “Hm, I was already more than happy with a handsome and powerful King as my mate.

Now, I leam that he’s a smart one, too. I can’t wait for us to be reunited again.” Lady Kylton smiled

blissfully as well when she held her daughter’s hand and gave it a gentle, encouraging squeeze.

Greg pressed his fingers on the sides of his nose bridge. After a moment, he spoke to the Lord in a low

voice, “I’m beginning to see why your daughter can be delusional when it comes to the truth, Kylton. This

problem clearly runs in your family.”

The Kylton ladies broke out of their fantasy and glared at the Duke as Kelissa snapped, “You’re just

jealous that you NEVER had anything real and intimate like Xandar and I once had and WILL have

again, your Grace!”

Greg almost burst out laughing, and his own animal was not helping him cope with the way it was

chuckling and rolling all over the floor in his mind at what the heiress just proclaimed. ‘Control. Control.

Control.’, he repeated to himself. He didn’t want to over piss Kelissa for fear of the Kyltons invoking their

contingency plan to wipe out Blue Crescent.

Kelissa thought that the Duke’s silence meant what she just said was true. So, she smirked like she had

won the battle and asked,” Nothing to say, your Grace?”

Greg-thought about Lucianne, replaying how she was always calm and composed when the situation

demanded it, and his own urge to laugh at Kelissa reduced. As the comer of his lips curled up into a

mischievous smile, he uttered, “Ignorance is blissful, Kylton, until it gets you killed.”

Kelissa asked in confusion, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

As much as Greg wanted to fire a whole list of incidents from the past to justify that the King had never

been and will never be even faintly interested in the heiress, he held back. Instead, he chose to say, “It

means that daydreaming about something that hasn’t happened yet will not get you to your end goal.

And a lack of knowledge of my cousins’ skills is the main reason your family’s plan is going sideways. I

hate those two to the bone but I’ve never been willfully blind to their qualifications and abilities. They may

not be the smartest creatures but they are far from stupid.”

‘Unlike you’, Greg wanted to add but was careful not to.

Lord Kylton tried to mask his displeasure from the Duke insulting his daughter, and said, “Perhaps that

was where we went wrong, and a ten-year plan has now dragged on to almost twenty years. What’s

worse is that we’ve hit an obstacle.”

“The fact that my cousin found his mate, or the fact that the ministers who helped you are now

imprisoned?” Greg taunted. This family couldn’t even count the number of obstacles before them.

Ridiculous.

“Two obstacles, then.” His Lordship muttered, and went on, “We had to improvise to get to the end goal

now. All these issues started because of the wolf. The longer the wolf stays there, the more damage

she’ll cause to our plans. We need her…removed from the King. Waiting for government and monarchy

funds to dry up has been taking too long, and obviously not workable anymore. Kelissa has taken the

initiative to lead the improvisation, and she’s doing very well for a beginner, I must say.”

“Thank you, daddy.” Kelissa smirked in arrogance.

A servant came to remind them that they had an appointment with the rogues in twenty minutes. So,

everyone finished up and left the table to get ready for the meeting.

Greg concluded that the rogues didn’t talk much. The rogue Lycans didn’t talk at all. It was just that rogue

wolf who spoke minimally, asking only necessary questions. When everyone was dismissed, Kelissa

requested Jake to stay behind for a private discussion in

Greg left in a hurry to pretend to want to use the bathroom. He dashed down the hallway, and locked

himself inside the restroom before putting in his earpiece to eavesdrop on Kelissa and Jake’s discussion.

Thank Goddess Greg had a device installed in the meeting room, too.

When Greg heard what Kelissa proposed to Jake, which the rogue wolf reluctantly obliged to carry out

after a lot of persuasion and pestering from the heiress, Greg’s eyes tumed onyx. He then took out a

paper clip-like gadget from inside his shoe, clipped it on his wristband, waited for it to emit a faint green

glow, before he tried mind-linking his servant to see if the wristband could detect his attempt. 4

When the link went through, the screen showed no signs of his attempt, much to Greg’s relief. The Duke

then mind-linked Ivory, asking him and Alissa to be ready on the date Kelissa wanted Jaké and the

rogues to put their plan into action.

That was when Ivory informed him that apart from himself and Alissa, there were three other people

watching the King and Lucianne. Ivory gave the Duke facial and body descriptions, and Greg came to

the infuriating conclusion that those were the Kyltons’ men. He had only seen them in the mansion at

night, and one of them would always be carrying an envelope. Unknowingly, Greg emitted a low growl,

uttering, “How dare they.” After confirming the date of the rogue attack, Ivory ended the link. Now, all

Greg could do was wait and pray that Lucianne would come out well and safe.