Outcast: The Alpha King’s Beloved by Blue Tears
CHAPTER 46 THE REAL CULPRIT
Anthony’s POV:
For some reason, Austin asked me and Jennifer to stay for dinner. It was unusual because, ever since our father passed away, I had never sat with him at the same table. He was acting suspiciously.
I finally realized his intention when he started chatting with Jennifer on and off throughout the evening.
He was testing my relationship with Jennifer. What was he trying to do? Did he want to use Jennifer to control me?
He had no shame.
Fortunately, Jennifer cooperated with me by giving no hints that we were in a relationship. I merely winked at her, and she realized that we were in a precarious situation. So we both acted as if we were not interested in each other. What I was not sure of was whether or not Austin bought our act.
I thought that our visit to the royal palace would end with dinner. I had not expected Austin to ask us to stay the night. I turned down his offer, using tomorrow’s training as an excuse.
On the way back, Jennifer and I deliberately kept some distance between us. When the car finally left the palace premises, I reached out for her hand, intending to twine her fingers with mine.
Unexpectedly, Jennifer brushed off my hand. She crossed her arms over her chest and leisurely leaned back against her seat.
“You are not interested in me, right? So why are you trying to hold my hand?” Jennifer asked teasingly.
I smiled, pulled her into a hug and sincerely apologized, “I didn’t mean it, honey. I lied to Austin for a reason.”
Pressing her cheek against my chest, Jennifer asked, “Do you have a bad relationship with him?”
“We have the same father but different mothers,” I explained, hoping that Jennifer would stay away from Austin from now on. There was a deeper reason behind my complicated relationship with Austin, but I thought it was better to keep that from Jennifer for the time being.
“He is slyer than you think. You should keep your guard up around him in the future,” I told her. For the sake of her safety, I hoped that she would never have any contact with Austin for the rest of her life.
“All right. I will listen to you.” Thankfully, Jennifer didn’t question my request, but she promised to be careful. She then settled her head on my lap and let me stroke her hair.
“There was one thing that felt off.”
“What was it?” I asked Jennifer.
Jennifer sat up and answered seriously, “When I went to the bathroom earlier, I saw someone in black. He seemed to be looking for something.”
“Oh?” I pretended to be interested, but I wondered if the person she saw was the attendant I had sent to search the palace for information.
“Did you see his face? What did he look like?” I asked.
Jennifer replied, “No, I didn’t see his face, but he smelled familiar.”
I briefly considered letting Jennifer in on my plan. But after second thought, I decided it was safest for her not to know anything for the time being. I decided not to tell Jennifer everything about me until she was strong enough to protect herself. Before that, I had to find a way to ensure her safety.
“For now, go ahead and take a nap. I’ll wake you up when we arrive.”
I gently encouraged Jennifer to lie back down on my lap and told the driver to drive slowly. I then caressed her hair to lull her to sleep.
When we arrived at the island, Jennifer was fast asleep. Her head on my lap, she wrapped her arms around me as if I was a pillow. This was a sign that Jennifer trusted me a lot. She seemed to be at ease even in her sleep.
I didn’t want to wake her up. It had been some time since she last slept well, so I hefted her onto my arms and carried her to her dorm room. I took the path where few people passed through.
As I tucked her into bed, I really wanted to sleep with her in my arms. But at that moment, I received a message. My attendant informed me that the murderer who had attempted to poison Jennifer had been found and was now at the training ground.
I went downstairs, called for the drillmaster and Daniel, and then sent the surveillance video I had received to them.
The video revealed that it was Anna who had bought medicine from a pharmacy, disguised herself as a waitress at the restaurant, and then put the medicine in Jennifer’s food. She clearly had not expected Daniel to eat the poisoned meal. Silver powder was deadly for werewolves.
The video shook everyone. Even the drillmaster could not believe that was such a terrible she-wolf among the trainees.
“Explain yourself, Anna.”
My attendants had Anna under control. It seemed that she had tried to escape because her hair was a mess and her clothes were dirty. She looked like she had rolled in the mud. My attendants dragged her over to me with her hands bound.
“Mr. Jones, it wasn’t what it looked like! I didn’t put silver powder in their food. What I bought was supposed to be a laxative. I didn’t mean to k*il*l anyone. I just wanted to give Jennifer diarrhea to teach her a lesson. I didn’t expect things to turn out like this!”
Anna tried to shake herself free from my attendants so that she could crawl to my feet and beg me, but she failed to do so because she had little strength left.
“According to the video, you were the one who poisoned the food. Do you have any evidence to prove that you bought a laxative and not silver powder?” I asked her.
Even if it was true that she had bought a laxative, what she did was really bad. My mate could have died as a result. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Jennifer had eaten that dish as originally intended. If she ate it, would she still be alive and standing before me?
“Mr. Jones, it really wasn’t me.” Anna desperately shook her head and burst into tears.
“If it wasn’t you, who else could it be?” Daniel chimed in. As the victim of the incident, he was very angry. He had nearly lost his life because of Anna.
At the moment, Anna did not know how to defend herself. She could only kowtow desperately before me. She didn’t stop even though her forehead started to bleed.
“Anna, did you ever stop to think about the consequences of your actions when you decided to poison your fellow trainee?” Carson asked sternly.
“Mr. Jones, this she-wolf has done something terrible. She cannot stay in the training camp any longer. But if she insists that she only laced the food with laxative, there might be another culprit in this case.”
“You must be right, but she doesn’t seem to have any idea who the real mastermind is. For now, she should stand trial at the royal court for her crime. Play the surveillance video tomorrow morning at the training ground. I want everyone to see it on a large screen.”
“Yes, Mr. Jones,” Carson responded before stepping aside.
“Gag her and take her away,” I ordered my attendants.
I watched my attendants escort Anna off the island, but I was still worried that the real culprit would do something else to hurt Jennifer. Jennifer told me before that her first suspect was Ella, but we hadn’t found any evidence of her involvement. If Ella really was the culprit, then she was more cunning than we thought.