Chapter 176 Smart Queen

Chapter 176 Smart Queen
The Castle

When Henry walked into the castle premises, the night was quiet. He was extremely tired. He had searched the entire village for Loki's wife, but he had found nothing. Even some of the sources they had trusted to guide him had failed completely because, by the time they arrived at the house, it had already been abandoned. It only led him to believe one thing—the Queen had gotten there earlier and had made sure that Loki's wife had left.

This made Henry feel completely worried because if Loki's wife had run away, it meant that she knew a thing or two. Worse, Loki might have told his wife his name, which would be nothing but bad news. She could use that information to report him to the King, which would ultimately ensure that Henry was jailed.

Henry hated it. Freya was so smart, always managing to stay a few steps ahead of him. He knew that if he was not too careful, Freya would be the reason he would be executed as though he were some kind of animal.

Just as he walked deeper into the castle, Henry paused when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around only to see the Queen walking toward him with a light smile on her face. He smiled in return. There was no way he would allow the Freya to see the worry in his eyes.

"Good evening, my Queen. I must say you're up very late. Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" Henry asked, trying his best to make the conversation casual. He did not want the Queen to notice the worried expression on his face.

"No. I'm just walking around. I couldn't sleep. How odd. Aren't you supposed to be asleep as well?" Freya asked. To her surprise, Henry flashed a smile in her direction.

"I am a soldier, my Queen. My job is never finished, so I thought it best to take a stroll around the kingdom. Now I am back, ready to retire for the night," Henry answered confidently. Deep down, however, Freya knew he was definitely lying to her.

"Oh, is that the case? Well, I hope you have a good night's sleep," the Queen told him before continuing toward her own chambers. Just before she disappeared into the hallway, she stopped and slowly turned her attention back to him. Henry frowned as he looked at her with suspicion in his eyes.

"I know that you're looking for Loki's family, but I can assure you that you will not set your eyes on them if it is the last thing I do," Freya told him with so much determination in her voice.

At that moment, the mask fell from Henry's face. He could no longer pretend. He looked genuinely shocked because they both now knew that he was the one who had betrayed Loki. Even though neither of them admitted it aloud, the truth hung heavily between them.

Before Henry could ask the Queen any more questions, she turned and walked back to her chambers. Only then did Henry ball his hands into fists as he realized that, once again, Freya had intercepted his plans.

At that very moment, instead of thinking about how he would find Loki's wife, Henry began making plans to get rid of the Queen. He needed her out of the way if he was ever going to achieve his goal. What had started as simply coming to the kingdom to attend the King's man hunt for who had helped Iris sneak into the castle had turned into a desperate race to save himself.

In Henry's Chambers

Henry paced around his chambers as he thought of multiple ideas he could put in place to trap the Queen and somehow make the King turn against her. However, the more he thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. The King loved the Queen so much that nothing anyone said about her would ever make him doubt her.

Just as Henry was about to call it a night, the door to his room slowly opened and Preston walked inside. The man looked as confident as always, making Henry wonder whether Preston was ever worried about anything at all.

“Good evening, Lord Preston.” Henry was quick to greet the man who could easily turn his entire life around, for better or for worse, within a matter of minutes.

“You look stressed,” Lord Preston said without even returning Henry's greeting. “It seems as though you have a lot on your mind, and from the look of it, I feel that Freya is involved.” At that moment, Henry wished to hide the look of surprise on his face, but he failed miserably.

“No. I just have a lot of things on my mind, that's all,” Henry lied. Lord Preston merely rolled his eyes. For years, he was used to people lying to him, but their facial expressions always revealed everything.

“You may lie to a monkey, but you cannot lie to me. If your plan is to harm the Queen, I suggest that you banish that thought from your mind because the Queen is someone you can hardly touch, especially when the King is constantly on her side. You must think of another approach,” Lord Preston said. His words left Henry feeling more defeated than ever.

“If that is the case, then how do I get rid of the Queen?”

“It is easy to get rid of the Queen. You just have to find out who is helping her, or who she is protecting, because very soon she might report you to the King for being responsible for Loki's death.” At those words, Henry looked at the old man with an unconcealed expression of surprise.

How had Lord Preston gone about this entire matter on his own? Henry had not even told him that he had paid Loki to take responsibility for helping Iris. Yet somehow, the old man already knew the truth.

“How did you find out that I was the one who convinced Loki to take the fall?” Henry asked.

“It was simple. First, I was the one who helped Iris, which you already know. Second, I did a little research and discovered that Loki was not even in this castle on the day of the incident. So how is it possible that he could have helped Iris enter the castle if he wasn't here at the time?” Lord Preston asked. That was something Henry had not even considered.

“You're right. I didn't think about that,” Henry admitted as he scratched his head.

“Exactly. If you had not thought about it and someone else has before you, then I wonder what would happen to you. I can only imagine all the cruel things the King would do after discovering that you tricked him into believing Loki was responsible.”

Lord Preston's words left Henry feeling even more uneasy than before.

“I need to leave now, but I want you to be careful with the Queen. She's not as stupid as she seems.” With those final words, Lord Preston turned and exited Henry's room, leaving behind a silence that felt far heavier than anything he had said.