Chapter 87: How Did Betty Know?

Chapter 87: How Did Betty Know?
Vlad seamlessly switched lanes in his mind, locking onto what Aurelia had just said.

She’d spoken to Bronan.

And she thought she knew who the culprit of the horse incident was.

“Do you suspect her?” he asked as Betty slowly approached behind him.

Aurelia instantly noted that Vlad was being completely serious now. She winced. “I don’t have proof—”

“Proof is never reliable anyway,” he said. “Too easy to erase, too easy to fabricate.

“She’s been mean.” The words rushed out before she could stop them. She looked embarrassed suddenly and lowered her gaze. At the first hint that he might be on her side, she blurted the most childish thing she could possibly say. Just great.

Aurelia sighed. “I sound childish, I know, and you hardly care about the qualms of two silly girls. But, after she schemed to plant stolen goods under my bed, I can’t help but suspect her.”

He was standing very still, silently staring at her.

She bit her bottom lip. Just as she thought.

He didn’t care much about two girls and their silly rivalry. Understandably so. She’d also tried to ignore Betty for as long as she could and had avoided bringing the girls’ behavior to Fiona’s attention to avoid creating conflict.

Her cheeks burned, and Aurelia suddenly felt very petty. “Never mind. She’s nearly here,” she quietly said. “You must have more important matters to attend to, I’ll—”

“If you think I’m going to leave you alone with someone who may have tried to kill you,” he quietly muttered, his voice deeper than it had been moments ago. “You’ll need to think again, princess.”

Aurelia’s eyes widened.

She was momentarily speechless and stared up at him. But she didn’t get time to say anything because Betty reached them then.

“Good morning, Sir,” she greeted with a curtsey. “Always a beautiful morning here at the Legion c—”

“Bring her to my castle,” Vlad told Aurelia. And then he walked away.

Betty straightened with an anxious glance at Aurelia as she watched Vlad walk away. “What’s going on?”

Aurelia straightened her spine, closely studying the girl.

Perhaps Betty believed that this was merely another instance of spiteful behavior between rivals. Aurelia was sure that the girl had no clue who she was messing with.

She had no idea that, if there was anything in the world Aurelia could forgive, an attempt on the life she’d sacrificed her body to reclaim was not one of them.

Her grey eyes chilled until they were the color of frozen steel.

“You’ve been summoned,” she murmured. “Follow me.”

And then she turned and walked toward Vlad’s castle, leaving a puzzled Betty to slowly follow.



The chair was uncomfortable.

And Betty had slept on enough floors to know hardness very personally. But the hardness in this seat had to do with more than just the thickness of the cushion beneath her butt.

Was it because the room was so silent? Was it because she was forced to stare into the infuriatingly elegant face of Aurelia, the slave girl?
Or was it because Vlad loomed over her, standing behind her chair like a thundercloud rumbling with danger?

Betty swallowed hard.

Maybe all the answers could be equally combined into one big glob of doom. Nevertheless, she felt like she may have miscalculated somewhere and landed in more trouble than she could currently handle.

“Betty,” Aurelia began in her soft, dainty little voice. “I’d like you to remain calm. I’m only going to ask you a few questions.”

Betty put on the most innocent face she possibly could. “What is this about? The time you stole the goods in the pantry? You’re upset I told Fiona, aren’t you?”

“I never stole anything, Betty.”

Sighing, Betty slowly shook her head. “We all saw them beneath your bed, Aurelia. But…” She glanced up at Vlad and was met with a dark stare in the shadows of his hair. That was enough to have her turn quickly back to Aurelia with a shaky smile on her lips. “But i-if you’d rather I agree with you since we have company right now… I will. After all, as ladies, maybe we should try to protect each other’s reputations. Especially since yours is already…”

Aurelia narrowed her eyes until her lashes nearly touched. “You know what? Alright. I don’t have time to focus on that right now since Syre’s already investigating it for me.”

Betty paused. “Syre…?”

“Yes. He’s promised to find out exactly how those goods got under my bed, and then he’s going to make sure that the real culprit is punished.”

The girl’s brown eyes shook, but she forced a casual shrug. “Well, if you manage to prove your innocence, I’ll apologize then.”

“The reason you’re here,” Aurelia continued, carrying on. “Is because I’m investigating the horse accident.”

Betty looked clueless.

Aurelia forced a smile. Was she really going to pretend she didn’t know what Aurelia was talking about?

“When I was thrown by that stallion, Betty,” Aurelia said.

“Oh! Aye, right, I’d forgotten!” With a chuckle, Betty brushed back a few wayward strands of hair. “You know, I was thinking that maybe that accident was the reason you dropped dead that one time. Don’t you think? Sneaky injuries creep up on us—”

“Be quiet.”

Vlad’s chilly voice practically sent frost through the room. Betty’s shoulders visibly tensed.

With a timid bow of her head, she sat still in her chair, waiting for Aurelia to continue.

“I understand what you’re saying,” Aurelia said. “Perhaps, you’re right, but that isn’t what I called you here to discuss.” She tilted her head, closely studying the other girl. “I spoke to Bronan.”

Betty’s gaze was like the sharp edge of a sword as it cut through the air to pierce Aurelia. That name was like the trigger of all things evil, and Betty clenched her teeth, suppressing her rage.

Aurelia knew, didn’t she? She knew that Betty and Bronan were meant to be lovers, and now she was rubbing it in her face that she’d been sweettalking him.

“That so?” she flatly said.

Aurelia nodded, smiling. “Yeah. He told me something interesting about the horse that threw me.”

“Interesting to me or you?”

“Give me a moment. You’ll soon find it just as interesting as I do.”

Sighing, Betty crossed her arms.

Standing up, Aurelia calmly walked over until she stood before her. “Betty. I recall you asking me how I was feeling after being thrown by the stallion. Did you know that you’re the only person who asked me that?”

Scoffing, Betty shrugged. “What can I say? I inherited my caring heart from my sweet ma. Were you shocked to see that nobody else cared to ask if you were dead or alive?”

“That isn’t what I meant,” Aurelia muttered, feeling her temper start to spark. “I meant that everyone else who asked me about the incident knew that it was a gelding that I’d been riding. Because Bronan gave me gelding. You’re the only one who knew that it was a stallion who threw me. How, Betty?”

Betty was staring at her. “Wh… what?”

“How… did you know?”