The guards rushed to do what the King ordered them.
Tears fell down Rosalyn's cheeks. She gripped her dress, and sobs escaped her lips. "There is no need to close the Palace. I am sure it was Mina! She had been in love with Liam for so long, and I think she is jealous that he chose me over her! And since her marriage will be annulled soon, I think she decided to kill Nolan and me so she could remove all obstacles!" Rosalyn said before crying in her father's chest.
When Mina thought she could not hate Rosalyn anymore, life proved her wrong. If not for Hugo, Jayden, and Nolan, Mina would have exposed Rosalyn a long time ago.
Both the Duke and the King looked at Mina. She kept her composure. "It is true I care deeply for Prince Liam, but I am in love with Jayden!" Mina said, hoping everyone present would believe her. "And even if I had those kinds of feelings for Prince Liam, I would never harm an innocent child. Or Rosalyn."
Duke Tedric looked at Mina as if he wanted to burn her at the stake. "You are the worst thing that ever happened to the Castex family! King Baswein, I want her removed from the family tree! Not only does she have forbidden feelings for her cousin's husband, but she tried to kill Nolan! You have to lock her up, or who knows what else this petty bitch will do next!"
Rosalyn kept crying.
Hugo put his hands on Mina's shoulders; he had always been her pillar. "What did I say about you insulting Mina? And the moment Mina's name is removed from the family tree, you can forget about me being your heir! Besides, Mina doesn't have any romantic feelings for Prince Liam. She and the Commander are very in love and happy together!" Hugo said to his father, and Rosalyn looked at Mina with so much hate it made Mina's skin crawl.
"You can have me removed only if I committed a serious crime," Mina said to her uncle, "and so far, I have done nothing to bring shame to the family! As for Nolan, the Royal family has many enemies. Especially the King of the Litus Kingdom. I doubt he gave up on the idea of conquering Nodor! If anyone had any reason to harm Nolan, it had to be King Stig. With Kaj, the Necromancer, sealed in his tower by Jayden, who knows what King Stig will try next?" Mina added, looking at the King.
King Baswein stared into space while rubbing his chin. He thought for a few moments, time in which Rosalyn kept looking at Mina as if she was a venomous snake. King Baswein snapped his eyes to Mina. "Jayden told me the same thing the day he returned from war, that I should be careful with King Stig, but I did not listen. We better see how Nolan is; after that, we should search for the spy," he said and walked out the door and stopped. He turned around and appeared to have forgotten to say something. "Tedric, I don't understand the resentment you have towards Mina. Up until now, you always had kind things to say about her, but ever since she married Commander Jayden, you treat her as if she is the black sheep of the family. As for Commander Jayden, I understand you have a problem with him being a bastard, but I want you to sign the pardon. You have up to a week to do it. If not, I will set him free!" he said before turning on his heels and leaving.
Duke Tedric muttered something under his breath while looking at Mina. "I will never accept that bastard as part of the family! Nor will I sign the pardon! And if I find out you had something to do with Nolan's poisoning, I will make sure you are erased from any register the family has!" he said before leaving.
Rosalyn remained in the middle of the room, her gaze full of hatred.
Mina wondered why she did not look worried. A spy from the Litus infiltrated the Palace, and she did not look concerned for Nolan.
"I can't believe you are on Mina's side. I am your sister, yet you don't love me as much as you love our cousin!" Rosalyn complained.
"If you would stop being a manipulative viper and trying to make Mina miserable, perhaps I would be a more affectionate brother!" Hugo put his mouth close to Mina's ear and spoke in a low tone, "You should have left as Jayden told you to do!"
Mina knew Hugo was right; she should have gone home and let Aksel and the others know what happened.
"Well, I will see how Nolan is and if the guards have learned anything!" Hugo told Mina before leaving. "Wait for me in the room you usually use when staying overnight!"
Mina wanted to go with Hugo, not wishing to remain alone with Rosalyn, but as soon as he left the room, Rosalyn locked the door and turned her attention to Mina. She looked so angry and spiteful that she could be easily mistaken for a harpy.
"Jayden does not love you! He can deny it as much as he wants, but his heart is mine!" Rosalyn hissed. "And I will prove it to you!"
Mina did not understand Rosalyn's obsession with Jayden. Rosalyn married Prince Liam, and one day, she would be the Queen of Nodor. And while Jayden was the hero of the kingdom, it would take a long time for people to forget he was a bastard. And Rosalyn already said she wanted to be Queen.
Then why did Rosalyn keep insisting Jayden loved her?
Was Rosalyn still in love with Jayden? If that so, did Rosalyn regret her choice of marrying Prince Liam?
"It was you, wasn't it?" Mina asked, her eyes going to the tea before looking back at Rosalyn. "It was for me, not for Nolan!"
Rosalyn narrowed her eyes. "I don't know what you are talking about."
"The moment Nolan started complaining, you entered the room as if you were waiting next to the door!" Mina said.
"I was coming to see how Nolan was when I heard him cry and rushed inside!" Rosalyn defended herself.
"I don't think that's it. It is no secret you hate me! And since Jayden married me, you hate me even more! You can't digest the idea that Jayden sleeps with me every night, that all his kisses and touches are for me!" Mina said.
Rosalyn laughed. "He might share the bed with you, but you are still a virgin! I bet he can't stand the idea of making you his woman! Not that I blame him! I mean, look at you, and then look at me! Did you know I was his first? That day he made me his five times because he couldn't get enough of me!"
Mina remembered her uncle saying that Jayden used to sell his body at the port. She could not believe he could tell such lies about Jayden.
"You might be beautiful, Rosalyn, but too bad you are rotten. I might not be fair like you, but beauty isn't everything! Jayden might have loved you, but now the idea of touching you repulses him!"
"Jayden still loves me! He is angry at me for marrying Liam, but he will return to me once he forgives me!" Rosalyn hissed.
Mina tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you have any idea what will happen if Prince Liam hears you talking like this?"
"I don't care about him! You can have him! He is not even half the man Jayden is!" Rosalyn said nonchalantly.
"You might not care about Prince Liam, or Hugo, or Nolan, but I do! And talking about Nolan, aren't you concerned about him?" Mina asked.
"He will be fine!" Rosalyn snapped. "It was a weak poison!"
Mina's eyes went wide. "What the darkness is wrong with you?" Mina asked. "Not only did you put poison in the tea and did not stop to think what would happen if Nolan drank from it, but you accused me of trying to kill him!"
"You are what is wrong with me! And when you are out of my way, Jayden will be mine!" Rosalyn said with so much hatred that Mina wondered how the air around Rosalyn was not poisonous.
Mina was so angry her hands started shaking. She fisted them and tried to inhale a few times deeply. "If it had been me who got hurt because of your narcissism, I would not have said anything, but this time you went too far! I will tell Prince Liam everything!" she said and went to the door.
"Even if you tell Liam anything, he will never believe you! How could he when your mother tricked your father into marrying him? Did you know he laughs about you behind your back and calls you the daughter of a whore?" She laughed sardonically. Mina gritted her teeth and unlocked the door. "Go out that door, and anything can happen to Jayden in prison!"
Mina turned on her heels. She needed to be smarter than Rosalyn and not let anger cloud her mind. "Let's say Jayden returns to you," Mina said, and her heart throbbed with pain thinking about Jayden being with another woman, "are you willing to give up on your life as a princess? As the future Queen? He is just a Baron and might lose that title because of your father!"
Rosalyn laughed bitterly. "Just a Baron? You know nothing about him!"
Mina did not let Rosalyn's words hurt her. "I know he hates you for breaking his heart when you promised to wait for him! He will never forgive you for marrying another man!"
Rosalyn smirked. "When he finds out what I did for him, he will!" Mina opened the door, and before stepping into the hallways, Rosalyn grabbed her by her arm. "I want you to ask for an annulment and marry Count Dickman! If not, I will have Jayden accused of being the spy, and I will make you watch while he is being tortured, and you will live with the knowledge you could have saved him, but you were too selfish to do it!" she said in Mina's ear.
Mina jerked her arm free. "No one will believe Jayden is a spy!" she said before going to see how Nolan was feeling.
A Fire Church was next to the Royal Palace, and Prince Liam made it in time with Nolan to have the Fire Mages save his life. The Prince brought him back to the Palace, and Nolan was sleeping peacefully in his parents' bed.
Hugo and the King were also in the room talking to Prince Liam about the incident. To Mina's relief, Prince Liam did not blame her for what happened to Nolan. They asked her about the maid who brought the tray with tea, and Mina replied that she vaguely remembered her. She wanted to tell them that it had been Rosalyn, but she was not scared for Jayden but that she would be accused of spilling lies about Rosalyn, so she decided to wait until she had proof. She wasn't sure what she would do when she could prove the truth about what happened to Nolan, but she hoped it was enough to make Rosalyn think twice before putting Nolan in danger and leaving Jayden and her alone.
After Mina was sure Nolan was well, and the men had no more questions, she decided to go to the kitchen. She asked about the maid who served the tea, but no one had seen her since she took the tray to the young prince's room. She searched inside the palace and around it, asking guards if they had heard anything about a missing maid.
When Mina couldn't find anything useful, she decided to go to the dining room. Not that she was truly hungry, but she needed to eat and drink something before she continued her search. The maid had to be found, and the truth, as cruel as it was, had to be exposed it. At least to Hugo.
When she only saw Duke Tedric and Rosalyn sitting at the table, she wanted to retreat to her room when her uncle called her.
"Mina, come here! I want to have a word with you," he said, his brows furrowed.
Mina wasn't in the mood to talk to her uncle, but when he stared at her with a serious gaze, her legs moved before she realized it. She swallowed hard before sitting at the table, facing him.
Rosalyn moved to the chair next to Mina.
"Uncle?" Mina asked.
"Rosalyn told me you came to your senses and finally agreed to marry Count Dickman. Is that true?" Duke Tedric asked.
"I never said—" Mina started saying but stopped when Rosalyn knocked over the decanter of wine, the red liquid spreading fast on the tablecloth and dripping down on Mina's dress.
Mina tried to stand fast, but Rosalyn grabbed her hand. "Remember what I told you!" Rosalyn whispered into Mina's ear before letting go of her. "I am so sorry!" Rosalyn said when Mina stood and rushed out of the dining room.
Mina could not believe Rosalyn had ruined the dress Jayden loved the most. She ran to her room, took off the dress, and put on an old robe. She tried to clean her dress in the bathroom, but the stain was stubborn, and no matter how many times she scrubbed it with soap, it was still visible.
She returned to the room and threw the dress on the bed before falling to her knees next to it. She buried her face in the duvet and screamed as hard as she could. One day, she would make Rosalyn pay for everything she did to her. She would gather proof of everything Rosalyn did and show it to Prince Liam. Gods, she was so angry she was ready to run to the King and tell him about Rosalyn and Jayden.
She inhaled deeply. *'I should not make decisions when I am this angry. Rosalyn thinks she has the upper hand because Jayden is in jail. King Baswein said he would* *release Jayden in a week. I must talk with Hugo and tell him about the poison and find that maid. I will have to write a message for Aksel and Caesar and ask Neth or* *any other guard to deliver it for me,'* she thought.
When she was calmer, she looked at the terrace. The glass doors were open, and a soft breeze fluttered the curtains. Mina thought she saw the silhouette of a big black wolf, and she jumped to her feet. When the curtains moved again, the wolf was gone, and instead of him was a man. A naked man. And he entered her room.