“I heard you went out last night. Did you meet that rogue again?” Luna Sierra asked her son, Alpha Prince Felix, as they ate breakfast.
Felix remained calm. “It’s a midnight stroll.”
His mother worried about practically everything about him. At this point, he was already used to it. However, the fact remained that she was connected to the carriage incident. After all, she was the one who sent the driver to the Crimson Stone Pack and to think that it wasn’t known by Alpha Jake made the situation worse.
“That rogue is not suitable for you, Felix,” Luna Sierra pointed out. “Her pack was destroyed and her fellows were leaving for scrapes. How can you choose her as your arranged mate?”
Finally, Felix lifted his gaze. Luna Sierra hated low ranks, that was certain to Felix. She had expressed her refusal to Felix’s idea of having Gaia, the captured rogue, to become his arranged mate.
In reality, Gaia and her pack members were only forced to leave their territory because of another pack. The pack that attacked them was rumored to be the Night Ridge Pack. Although it wasn’t yet confirmed, Gaia wasn’t in the position to lie to him. Not when Felix already arranged a deal between them.
“Regarding this matter, let me handle it, Mother,” Felix said. “Besides, it will help me know more.”
Luna Sierra let out a deep sigh. “Whatever. If she stirs trouble, I will punish her and banish her.”
Felix could only look away and silently returned to his food.
Gaia wasn’t a simple rogue, after all. She knew how to fight and most importantly, she was knowledgeable outside. Felix learned many things while living in that tower for many years but as they say, experience would always be the best teacher. And Gaia had that. She knew better than Felix in almost everything.
In fact, she might even have known what kind of illness the carriage driver had.
Thinking about this, Felix quickly went to see Gaia after sending Luna Sierra off back to the main village.
“What do you think?” he asked her
They were inside the private shed that Rhys, Felix’s cook, used to live in.
The carriage driver still lay unconscious, seemingly in a deep sleep on the wooden bed. Lin, the healer and assistant of Luna Sierra, stopped by early in the morning to check his status. According to her, the driver was very much alive and his breathing was stable, but for some reason, he still hadn’t woken up. Strangely, nothing worked.
“This man has drunk a special dew,” Gaia said.
Felix looked at her. “What do you mean?”
Gaia glanced at the said man, eyes serious as she uttered in a low voice, “The Light of Memory. From what I can see, this man has taken its dew.”
Both Felix and Max exchanged looks, their gazes sharp and filled with coldness and worry upon hearing the extraordinary plant. Everybody had heard about that plant, but not everyone had personally seen it for it was rare.
Light of Memory is a special red plant with toxic leaves. The flowers, when mixed with another special plant, are said to make people who forget remember their memories, while the leaves, when boiled and drunk its residue, are said to make them forget. On the other hand, if anyone drank the dew that came from this plant, they surely would be paralyzed; their minds and hearts would freeze despite being alive. In other places, it was called the Dew of Memory.
“That flower is a rare plant, how did this man take it?” Gaia asked, voice stern and cold.
It was the same question that filled Felix’s mind. In fact, from the books he read, there were no such plants that existed in the West Wood Pack territory. He had also strolled around all the borders and had yet to see this rare, extraordinary plant.
Max saw the accusatory and suspicious look of Gaia towards Felix. He couldn’t help but clarify, “It’s not Alpha Prince’s fault. This driver was traveling outside the territory when this happened.”
“And nobody saw it?” Gaia asked. “You should be smarter than this, Alpha Prince.”
Felix watched as Gaia looked at him with a serious gaze.
“Your pack member has indeed been poisoned but his fingers are at rest. The dew,” she glanced back at the body on the bed, eyes calculating as she declared to Prince Felix. “He has taken it himself with his own hands. It’s either he doesn’t want to live anymore or someone made him do it.”
Just then, they heard the sound of a female’s voice.
“Father! Father!”
Gaia frowned.
Felix gave her a look, “That must be his daughter.”
The door swung open and revealed a female servant. Pale and trembling, she looked at everyone in shock, then spotted her father at the bed. She rushed to him and began to weep. “Oh, father… What happened to you? How did this happen?”
Behind her was Grizel, another female servant. She paid respect to Alpha Prince Felix.
“Sorry for bothering you, Alpha Prince Felix. My friend, Eris, and I are going to take her father now.”
“There’s no need to worry about that. You can stay here for the meantime,” Felix said before turning to Eris. “One of my healers will come here to check your father.”
Eris cried and knelt down before Felix. “Thank you, Alpha Prince. Please do everything to save my father. He’s the only family I have left.”
Hearing the heartbreaking voice of a daughter weeping for her ill father made Felix feel different emotions.
Still with a solemn, relaxed look, he ordered Max to arrange everything. Then he and Gaia left the shed, giving Eris some privacy.
Outside, Grizel paid more respect and gratitude to Alpha Prince Felix.
“I heard you’re a servant of Kael,” Felix said.
Grizel was stunned.
“I saw you during the reading ceremony,” Felix explained.
“That…” Grizel was a little embarrassed. That time, she had taken the disguise of Naya to meet with Sana Azalea.
Felix gave her a look before saying, “If possible, please don’t mention this event to him or anyone from his house. Can you do that?”
“Of course, Alpha Prince,” Grizel answered despite the confusion in her heart. Before she could ask anything, Felix had turned to leave.
Max gave a few reminders to Grizel then they left.
Watching the three figures disappear into the distance, Grizel couldn’t help but wonder what the alpha prince meant.
Keep it a secret… Did he mean what happened to Eris’ father? But why?
Just then, her friend, Eris, shouted from the shed, “Grizel! Come here! My father… His eyes have opened!”