Awakening Love: Reborn to Be His Duchess Chapter 296: Hidden

Warren straightened, expression serious. "Your Highness, I was held in Nordia for years. A while ago I found a gap and escaped, barely. Avenlor's situation with Nordia is delicate. My return can't be public yet. If it's exposed too early, it could invite trouble. It could even draw Nordian agents. The Duke placed me here to protect me, and to protect the stability of our borders."

Alaric gritted his teeth. "Even so, Cassian doesn't need to come here this often."

Warren didn't blink. "He comes to discuss matters related to Nordia. And he comes to learn cooking from me. He said he wants to make food for the Duchess of Duskmoor. The Duke and Duchess are close."

Then, as if trying to be helpful, he asked, "Do you have anything else you want to ask, Your Highness?"

Alaric couldn't find a single hole to tear open.

His face stayed pale.

Warren looked to Quin. "Lord Jett, you said His Majesty summoned someone? Sounds like there was supposed to be a 'young woman.' Do I still need to go?"

Quin inhaled, then glanced at the Crown Prince, who looked half-dead with humiliation, before turning back toward Cassian and Warren. "This appears to be a misunderstanding. Duke of Duskmoor. Lieutenant Wrenner. Please come to the palace and explain matters before His Majesty."

On the way back, the carriage jolted over the road, but Alaric's mind jolted worse.

He knew Warren's history.

Warren had been captured in battle by Nordia and had refused to surrender. Nordia wanted Avenlor's military intelligence and hadn't killed him quickly.

He'd been imprisoned for years.

Theodric often praised him in court, bravery, loyalty, a hero worth mourning.

Warren's escape had been recent, and Cassian had gone to retrieve him.

In Alaric's last life, the public commendation for Warren had happened later than this.

But Alaric remembered it.

Theodric had called Warren "the backbone of Avenlor, a hero of the realm."

Words like that were the highest honor imaginable.

And today, the Crown Prince had brought the emperor's own attendant and guards to "catch" Cassian's mistress.

And instead, he'd dragged a national hero into the mess.

Alaric's heart raced. His palms stayed slick.

With Theodric's temperament, Alaric would likely be confined again, barred from court.

And those officials Alaric had arranged to impeach Cassian over the last several days would probably be blamed as well.

No.

He couldn't just accept this.

He needed someone to carry the blame, someone he could claim had given him false information.

As Alaric stepped into the study, he took a breath, ready to say the rehearsed line, he had been fooled, he had been deceived, but Cassian spoke first.

Cassian's voice was calm, almost mild. "Your Majesty. My conduct has been improper and I'm unworthy of responsibility. Please remove all my duties. Strip me of my title."

Alaric's eyes snapped wide.

Theodric, already worn down by recent headaches, blinked, then slammed a palm down on the desk.

The heavy wood boomed. The brush stand jumped.

"You did keep a mistress?!" Theodric roared.

Cassian said nothing.

His stillness looked like confirmation.

Alaric lunged forward. "Your Majesty, that isn't, Uncle, he..."

"Shut up!" Theodric snapped at Alaric. "You came to me with this accusation. Now you want to defend him?"

Theodric pointed at Cassian, furious and wounded. "What did you say when you begged for that marriage? You swore you loved her. I gave her to you with my own decree. And this is what you do? She's alone in the world. Her father and brothers died for this realm. If you don't treat her well, who does she have? Who is she supposed to depend on?"

Theodric's voice rose higher. "And I was sitting here trying to protect you from rumors, trying to keep court quiet. I was covering for you, and you do something like this? You disappoint me."

Cassian didn't defend himself.

Not one word.