Chapter 173 Village

Chapter 173 Village
The Celebration Hall
Freya sat in her seat as she watched everyone celebrating in the hall. The servant’s death had not stopped the feast. Beer was being passed around, and food of all kinds was being served. Yet, despite the laughter and noise, something felt wrong.
Soon after, she noticed that Henry was nowhere inside the hall and she needed to find him as soon as possible. She felt the need to confront him because nothing about this situation felt right. Everything felt too coincidental. Even after all the investigation Alaric had been doing, they had not found the cult. Then, suddenly, the culprit was found by none other than Henry, the one person no one could fully trust… at least according to Freya.
In that moment, Freya knew she needed to find him,and she needed to find Henry as quickly as possible. Even though he had an upper hand when it came to what he knew about her, she still knew she had to catch him.

Outside the Celebration Hall
Henry had obeyed the moment his eyes met Lord Preston’s signal. It told him they should meet outside the celebration hall to discuss certain matters.
“Greetings, Lord Preston,” Henry greeted the older man with utmost respect. Both men looked around, making sure there was no one in sight. When they were certain they were alone, they turned back to face each other.
“Now I know for a fact that the servant you brought in was an innocent young man. As far as I am concerned, he was one of the most loyal servants in this entire castle. Yet somehow, you got him to admit to helping Iris… and then you made him kill himself. What did you do?” Lord Preston asked.
Just then, Henry smiled.
“Lord Preston, you are forgetting that I am one of your most trusted servants. The reason you trust me so much is because I get results.”
“Yes, yes… but you still cannot bring back the gold that was stolen,” Lord Preston replied, and that was enough to wipe the smile from Henry’s lips.
“As I told you, Lord Preston, I am working on that. You will have your gold back before you know it,” he replied calmly. Deep down, he knew he had no intention of returning any of the stolen gold in the first place.
“That is good. Now that you have my trust, you must work hard to keep it,” Lord Preston said before turning around and walking back into the celebration hall.
Henry clenched his jaw. As much as he appreciated being under such an influential man’s wing, he hated how Lord Preston often treated him as though he were disposable.
Just as Henry prepared to return to the celebration hall, he paused. Someone appeared from behind a pillar. It was none other than Freya, staring at him with a suspicious expression on her face.
Henry tensed, unsure whether she had heard his conversation with Lord Preston or not.
“My queen, what do I owe this wonderful visit?” he asked, his tone polite but mocking beneath the surface.
“I didn’t know that you and Lord Preston were friends,” she said. The smile on Henry’s face disappeared.
“Two men having a conversation does not mean we are friends,” he replied. But it seemed nothing he said was enough to convince Freya. She had already made up her mind that something was going on between the two men… something very sinister.
“If you say so. But I will be keeping an eye on you,” she replied, then turned around and walked back toward the celebration hall.
“You know you shouldn’t be so proud… they say the higher you go, the harder the fall,” Henry reminded her. Freya paused upon hearing those words. Freya quickly turned around and stared at him with an evil-looking glare.
“What did you say?” she asked him openly, daring Henry to repeat what he had said to her, but instead he lifted his hands in the air in a playful sign of surrender.
“It seems as though I have stepped on your toes, my queen… I apologize,” he said, mocking her openly.
“It is a good thing you apologize… I wouldn’t want to break your other hand like I did earlier,” Freya fired back. She watched as the smile was wiped off Henry’s face, and that alone brought a satisfaction she never thought she would feel.
“By the way, you seem to have forgetting that I know a lot about you… things that would make the King turn against you,” he reminded her. Although those words sent a shiver down her spine, Freya could not allow Henry to threaten her whenever he could not get his way.
“Go ahead… tell the King that you have been threatening me for quite some time. Go on… maybe it will help you sleep better at night,” she responded, winking before turning away and entering the celebration hall, leaving Henry outside clenching his fist.
He looked at his right hand, which Freya had nearly crushed earlier, now bandaged. Anger burned within him as he realized she had been nothing more than a hybrid. The fact that she could cause such damage meant there was something about her he needed to uncover.

The next day.
Freya woke early and spoke secretly with several maids within the castle. Each of them spoke well of a servant accused by Henry of helping Iris and that alone seemed strange to her… until another servant handed her a piece of paper with an address.
Not wanting to be seen, Freya slipped out of the castle wearing a coat that concealed her face. She walked into the village and eventually found the address: an old rundown house with a small farm, animals and a modest garden in the corner.
Freya did not know whether it was a trap or not… but she knew she had to uncover the truth once and for all. After taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked three times.
From inside, she could hear children running and playing. For a moment she wondered why the servant had given her this address.
Just as Freya was about to turn away, the door opened, revealing a young woman with flushed cheeks carrying a baby on her hip. The moment Freya lowered her hood, the woman’s eyes widened in shock… realizing that standing before her was none other than her Queen.