Chapter 26: Chapter 26: THE CLOAKED ONE

VALORIA WILDEROSE

Thanks to Yue’s brief tour around the castle, I’m able to find my way to the eastern parts and stumble across the old tower—it’s remarkably easy to spot.

It’s an old bell tower, one of the tallest buildings in the area, with a construction style dating back to the 1600s.

It’s definitely old; a good strong wind could probably tear it down.

By the time I reach its entrance, there’s an array of yellow caution tape surrounding it along with a signboard stating that the building is slated to be torn down in a few weeks.

I can’t help wondering what about this creepy, fragile-looking building screams “perfect secret meeting place” to my blackmailer—aside from the fact that it reeks of “obvious trap.”

It’s a clear sign to abort mission, but the stakes are too high to ignore, even if it means walking straight into a hazard like this.

Taking a deep breath, I summon courage and step inside, stepping over the tape.

There are a few steps before I can open the old wooden doors, riddled with moss, and step into the wide open space where broken floorboards scatter the ground and plants creep along the walls.

Looking up, I realize there’s no ceiling blocking the view of the highest floor—something must have collapsed years ago.

A single large chunk of wood acts as the sole pillar into which the remaining supports of the building are built.

At the very top hangs the old bell, rusted and motionless, with the stairwell leading to it long gone, along with every other upper floor.

It’s terrifying just looking at it. A sudden fear strikes me—the bell could fall, and I’d be crushed beneath it.

I quickly avert my eyes, focusing instead on the cloaked figure standing at the far end of the floor, waiting and seemingly unaware of my presence.

“H-Hello?” I call out, taking a step closer as the floor beneath my feet creaks, fragile as everything else. “Y-You t-told m-me to c-come here?”

“You did come, like the good little girl you are.” I recognize her voice before she slowly turns to face me and pulls her cloak off.

Ivana smirks with sinister mischief, fighting to hold back her chuckle.

I swallow. My suspicions are instantly confirmed, but I remain cautious, not daring to draw too close and keeping a reasonable distance between us.

“I-I’m not surp-prised that y-you’re black-mailing me.”

From the way our last encounter ended—with her humiliation—someone like her would be forced to retaliate to feel better about herself. Something my sisters often did.

I force a smile, hiding my fear, my eyes darting to the exit behind me, keeping it in sight.

She scoffs, folding her arms below her chest and rolling her eyes.

“There’s no point acting tough while stuttering like a fool. The jig is up. I know your secret. Instead, shouldn’t you be on your knees, begging me not to go to the King right now and tell him?”

She seems too cocky and confident to be lying. Realization sinks into my gut like a stone, dread settling on my shoulders.

I swallow, faltering, my world spinning around me, knowing it’s all over—but just before panic swallows me, the thought to confirm what she knows pops into my mind.

How far has she read into my plans? How much can I still figure a way out?

“W-What se-secret do y-you kn-ow?”

“Confirming if I’m lying? Wise.” She chuckles, her tone dripping sarcasm. “I know the real reason you’re here… and not your sister. Marcella, was it?”

I freeze along with my breath and the lump in my throat.

“W-what?”

“I did some digging. You’re not the one who was intended to be sent, were you? His Majesty requested a beloved daughter from Ottomar Wilderose to be added to his court of women because he’s been acting on his own recently. But unfortunately, you were anything but beloved—scorned, ridiculed, and hated. Treated like filth and garbage all your life because your whore of a mother birthed you for another man while your father was away. You’re not even his actual daughter. Yet in a desperate attempt to save his flesh and blood, he traded the bastard child instead. I hear he even gave your mate to her, because even he couldn’t stomach the sight of you.”

She spits out intimate secrets no one but my family and pack know—secrets kept only among those on a need-to-know basis to hide the hideous shame of Ottomar’s mate.

My lips quiver, filled with emotions from being reminded once more of my filthy, bitter origins, pushed almost to the brink of tears by her taunts but never fully there.

She does know my secrets, but not the real one. Still, it could pose a problem for me.

“Now what will His Majesty think and feel when he realizes he’s been scammed…?” she continues. “…sent coal instead of the gem he requested. He’d be furious, don’t you think? Enough to kill you on the spot?”

“I kn-know you w-won’t tell hi-m.” I cut her off in the middle of her threats. “I-If you w-want-ed to, you w-ould have alr-ready j-jumped at t-the ch-ance to do it. Y-You’re not— You’re n-not telling h-him because y-you want so-something from me.”

It was things like this my sisters would do when they wanted me to cower in fear and bend to their will.

They’d threaten and force me to do inhumane acts while holding my mistakes over me until they were done. Yet it always ended with them tattling.

For that reason, I know that look in her eyes all too well.

“Maybe you’re right… maybe you’re wrong.” She shrugs, trying to hide it, but it’s too plain not to see.

“W-What d-do you w-want fr-from me?”

“It’s simple, actually. A series of favors.” Her smile stretches even further. “You’re going to help me win His Majesty’s sole affection… by eliminating every other obstacle in my way. Not excluding those three bitches that parade themselves at his side.

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