Sadly, the cough didn’t stop.
Hearing Drigo’s cough, the King stopped walking.
"Is something the matter?" he asked, his eyes meeting Ulva’s. "What are you waiting for? Check him!"
"Yes, your majesty! Go!" Ulva looked at the witches behind her. "Check the crown prince!"
"Drigo?" The Queen ran down the stage and approached her son.
Drigo just continued coughing until his shoulders started shaking, his face turned red.
"What is going on!"
"Your majesty... please take a step back. I will personally check his majesty." Ulva said as she approached Drigo. On the outside, Ulva looked concerned but on the inside, she was wondering why Drigo was coughing instead of dying immediately. The poison that she gave Ava was enough to kill three Lycans in seconds!
Why is Drigo still alive?
She immediately cast her magick and examined Drigo who was now sitting on his chair, surrounded by everyone. Right now, Drigo’s breathing had turned shallow. It looked like he was struggling to breathe while coughing at the same time!
"Hm?" Ulva frowned.
"Ulva? What is happening?" The King asked.
"I— " She doesn’t know! Ulva was frowning as she used her magick again. What is going on here? How come she couldn’t see any magick or poison inside the Prince’s body? She lifted her eyes and found Ava who was standing far away from her. She still had that blank look on her face. Seeing this, Ulva lowered her gaze and once again examined the Prince.
"Is he sick? Why is he— "
"Your majesty— "
"I think it is best that we take him somewhere safe," Ulva said. "His highness isn’t exactly feeling well, right now. But he should be fine after some potions."
"What is going on, Ulva?" the Queen was holding her son’s hand as she glared at Ulva. "Why is he coughing— Did someone just try to poison him?"
"Your majesty— "
**THUD**
The loud thud attracted everyone’s attention.
"Your Highness Kieran!" Erenes who was standing a few feet away from Kieran shouted when the latter’s body fell to the floor. Blood started oozing from his mouth. The sudden changes earned a lot of gasps.
"Kieran?" Ulva’s frown became more pronounced. Everything happened so fast, the next thing Ulva knew, Erenes was already yelling while shouting Kieran’s name.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, what is going on? Open your eyes!"
"What happened?"
"What are you standing there for? Help Kieran! Are you just going to stand while my son suffers?" The King’s voice seemed to wake up everyone from their surprise. The witches that surrounded Drigo earlier immediately crowded around Keiran, trying to do their best to stop the blood but in the end, none of them was able to do it.
The blood flowed without stopping until it created a small puddle of blood. Soon, the cries and whispers started. Not long after, the King instructed the witches to take Kieran and the still coughing Drigo out of the room and then asked the guards not to let anyone else leave this room until he says so.
"Prince Kieran is dead." One of the witches declared. "We found poison in his body." Almost immediately, all of the witches who followed Ulva knelled. "Please forgive us, your majesty. Please spare our lives!" The witches said in chorus.
Hearing this, Ava tried to hide the amusement in her eyes.
She had been trying to find the right word for these witches. She finally found one!
Cult.
Yes. They are acting like cult members!
She respected everyone’s religion but these people are just... simply weird!
"A poison?" The King said just as silence covered the area. "What about Drigo?"
"His Highness stopped coughing when he got out of the hall. He is currently resting with Queen Luna."
"Ulva!"
"Your Majesty, I am here."
"Investigate! I want you to find the one who poisoned my son in an hour!"
"Yes, your majesty."
"Your majesty," one of the witches called out. "I believe I knew who did it."
Now that Ava saw the witch, she immediately notice that this was the same witch who accidentally bump into her earlier. Just as she expected, this was all part of the show.
"Speak!" King Josiah said as he sat on his intimidating chair. His voice was serious, his gaze sharp.
"It was that woman!"
Ava wasn’t surprised when the woman pointed at her.
"She— I mean— I was the one who served His Highness Kieran’s wine and I bump into that woman before I served Prince Kieran’s wine. Everyone else saw it!"
"Miss Woods?" The King finally looked at Ava. "Would you like to explain yourself?"
Ava calmly held his gaze. This man wanted to use her as a pawn. How entertaining. She smiled a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "I have no motive, your majesty. I believe she’s framing me." The King must have noticed the changes inside Ava as he narrowed his eyes at her.
Of course, this was because the King expected Ava to poison Drigo tonight. Ava couldn’t help but wonder If the King thought that Ava honestly made a mistake. Now that the planned assassination failed. What would the King do? Is he going to send assassins to kill his own son?
"No motive?" the woman continued. "You wanted to stop the event tomorrow! You must have wanted to poison the future crown prince but accidentally gave it to Prince Kieran!"
"Now, why would I do that?" Ava asked. "Killing the future King inside this palace would be the death of me. Did you really think I am a fool to plan such a lousy assassination?" Of course, Ava stared at Ulva as she mentioned the word ’lousy’. Actually, the plan was brilliant. It would have worked if they could fully control Ava.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t.
"Isn’t that right... Priestess Ulva?" Ava asked. Slowly, a smirk appeared on Ava’s face as she taunted the older witch.
"Since Miss Woods said that she didn’t do it then we should try and look at the facts instead," Ulva uttered calmly as if Ava’s words didn’t mean anything to her. "The one who brought the poison is still inside. I have a way to find the people who held the poison that killed Prince Kieran!" Ulva said.
Almost immediately, the smile on Ava’s face vanished.
...
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