476 Chekov
Selma Payneâs POV:
I remained sitting on the sofa for a long time after she left.
âYour Highness.â Kara came over and covered me with a blanket. âMiss Emma will be fine.â
âI know.â I nodded blankly. âSheâs innocent. Father knows that too.â
âSo, you donât have to worry about anything.â
âIâm not worried about Emmaâs safety. I just feel a little empty...â
Iâd always known that Emmaâs goal wasnât in politics. She loved literature and the arts. She chose to enter the vortex of power because she knew this was her only chance to be independent of her family. Another reason was because of her strong sense of responsibility.
Sometimes, we would chat. She would say, âMy childhood is over. Itâs time to take responsibility.â Therefore, she gave up her childhood dreams and ideals and worked hard to learn all the abilities needed in the officialdom. Good and bad, she had no choice but to accept them all.
But what did give up and responsibility bring her?
Her parents had used her.
Even though she was infinitely close to the center of power, she still could not escape the shackles of conspiracy. When she tried to break free from the shackles of her family, she was shocked to find that she had fallen into another trap.
I was not worried about Emmaâs safety but about her heart.
When her dreams were abandoned and her reality shattered, could this sentimental girl still bear it?
âWhoâs in charge of Emma?â I asked.
âMs. Eve will take over the secret operation,â Kara replied.
This candidate made me feel more at ease. Eve was one of my people, so at least I could guarantee Emmaâs safety.
âCould you tell Eve to immediately lock Emma into a secret prison after picking her up? No one is allowed to visit her except my father, those who we have authorized, and me. The guards in charge of keeping Emma safe will be my subordinates, who will be absolutely loyal to me. â
Judging from the Evaria Familyâs way of doing things, they could use Emma, so it was normal for them to do more excessive things, such as blaming the scapegoat.
Speaking of scapegoats, I thought of Layla again...
Woof Anca.
Evaria.
An assumption gradually formed in my mind. Were these two attacks, which had been separated by decades, really just a coincidence?
One was a fading family who wanted to rise again.
One carried a wolfâs ambition to go further.
Was there really no intersection between them?
âAsk the person in charge of the mobile patrol to come to the palace to see me,â I muttered as I stared out the window at the sunny rain that had stopped at some point. âI need to know everything that happened to the Golden Bell Pack over twenty years ago.
The person in charge of the mobile patrol team was a tall man of few words. As the mobile patrol team manager for over thirty years, his sideburns were inevitably gray, but under his droopy eyelids were a pair of bright eyes that could see through peopleâs hearts.
This secret organization usually did not take the initiative to contact the royal family. They were like crows in the shadows, only spreading their black wings when their master needed them. The last time I saw him was because of Benson, which had been a long time.
Chekov wasnât as polite as the others. He bowed to me silently and then turned back into a hard stone.
âGood afternoon, Captain Chekov.â I didnât want to waste my time on useless small talk, so I went straight to the main topic. Perhaps you still remember the mission you carried out in the Golden Bell Pack twenty-four years ago and everything about the lady named Layla?â
âYes, Your Highness.â Chekov nodded. âI was in charge of this mission at the time.â
âI think Kara has informed you in advance. Have you been able to bring all the information related to this mission?â
Chekov handed me a tightly sealed document and said, âThis mission is a secret and has not been activated for decades. But I must remind you in advance that the mobile patrol teamâs information is not much more than the Intelligence Departmentâs. We have yet to conclude about Ms. Laylaâs sudden suicide.â
I didnât rush to open the folder. Instead, I asked Chekov, âHow did you carry out this mission? 24-hour close protection of Layla? Or were you trying to investigate the people and things around her?â
âThe focus of this mission was not on Ms. Layla.â Chekov shook his head. âThe mobile patrol team was more responsible for the Golden Bell Pack. We were closely monitoring the Golden Bell Pack to prevent suspicious people from sneaking in.â
âDid you know the Woof Anca Family tried to plant people in the manor?â
âYes, Your Highness, but the Alpha of the Golden Bell Pack back then was smart compared to his in-laws. He understood that His Majesty was the one who could decide everything, so he firmly refused.â
âCan you guarantee that no one has tried to infiltrate the manor since then and succeeded?â
âYes, Your Highness.â
âIncluding the Evaria family?â
âIncluding the Evaria family.â