|| Traitor || - kth.ksj

: One More :

"We found them floating upon the lake,Your Highness.",Chanyeol stated.

"After three days?",the Queen inquired.

"Yes,Your highness.According to their family,they went to the fair that was held four days ago at my region.The last person who saw both of them was their friend Ban Yeowool.After inquiring him,we got to know that they were scared about something, which...took place at the fair and they mentioned to him that they wanted to inform me something as soon as possible. But...nobody got a sight of them after that until yesterday morning.",the duke explained as the furrow on the Queen's forehead deepened.

"So it is clearly a case of murder...?",the female alpha wondered.

"There is no doubt about it, my Queen. But, what confused me is the fact that none of the corpses has any sign of abuse on them.Except....", the duke trailed.

-"Except?"

-"Except two deep holes on each one of their necks."

It was as if the entire courtroom gasped collectively.

"Have the corpses turned pale?!", one of the Nobles asked with a hollow voice.

"You see, they were almost drowned inside the lake. Naturally, they've become pale.", Chanyeol answered before the room went silent once again.

"Your Grace, could it be a deed of... one of them ?", General Jung, Hoseok's father asked worriedly.

The Queen clenched her jaws while looking at the eldest alpha present in the courtroom.

-"You mean....the Northerners?"

The middle aged man only nodded as an answer.

"I think General Jung is right, Your Grace. The way Duke Chanyeol-nim interpreted the condition of the corpses, it seems like this can be done by those soulless creatures only.", a knight commented.

Jeongguk frowned. He knew whom all of them were talking about. However, he seemed to focus on something else rather than finding if it was a northerner or not.

Chanyeol said that those alphas wanted to inform him something; urgently.

Usually the peasants try to meet the dukes when they want their requests or messages to reach the throne.

Otherwise, they can solve their own regional problems by the help of the vassals only.

Maybe.....maybe those men wanted the Queen to know something.

Maybe it was.....really important.

What made the crown Prince more curious was the fact that those men mentioned the fair to their friend.

They were scared about something that occurred in that very fair where his siblings had gone the same day those two became missing.

Jeongguk glanced at his right where his sister's soon to be brother-in-law was sitting with a serious and thoughtful expression on his face and decided to talk to him after the courtroom would be adjourned.