CHAPTER 265: CHAPTER 265 HE KNOWS

The Alpha King deliberately emphasized Claire’s status as an illegitimate daughter, openly belittling her just as she had belittled Addison by calling her a wolfless omega right in front of her own father.

To him, it was only fitting that Claire be humiliated in turn, be reminded that she was no princess, merely a rat crawling in the shadows of the sewer.

Now, not only had Claire dared to harm the heir apparent to the throne, but she had also defamed her, further adding to her crimes. His voice turned colder, laced with authority."Keep running your mouth, and you’ll only add more to your sentence. That hundred lashes of silver might just double, enough to kill you outright."

"Brother... are you saying my niece endured that torture?" Dimitri asked in disbelief. Everyone in the kingdom knew Addison, the future Alpha King, was cherished and revered. No one dared even touch a strand of her hair, yet she had been subjected to a hundred lashes with silver?

Silver was a werewolf’s greatest weakness aside from wolfsbane; even someone as strong as Addison could have died from such torment. And yet here she stood—alive, vigorous, and carrying herself as though nothing had happened.

Her survival alone was proof of her extraordinary life force and strength. This undeniable truth shattered Claire’s earlier claim that Addison was nothing more than a wolfless omega.

"Why? Did your precious daughter fail to tell you what she’s been up to in the Midnight River Pack after being rescued from the Vampire Lord?" The Alpha King’s words carried a subtle taunt.

If not for the dignity required of his station, he would have been far more cutting and merciless with his sarcasm and scorn. But as the Alpha King, he had to uphold his image, so he reined himself in, opting instead for a passive-aggressive push-and-pull approach.

Though frustration simmered within him, this controlled method was better than letting his fury run unchecked. After all, if Claire thought she could conceal her misdeeds, she was gravely mistaken.

He would not allow her to parade around pretending to be a noble princess when she was nothing of the sort. To grant her that title would only tarnish the Royal Family’s name.

It was already disgraceful enough that his younger brother was a constant source of trouble; he would not allow Claire to add fuel to that fire and make them the laughingstock of the entire kingdom.

Hearing the Alpha King’s words, Claire’s heart skipped a beat, and for a fleeting moment, she forgot her own fear, nearly stepping forward to defend herself. "Uncle..." she began, but the instant her eyes met the Alpha King’s icy glare, a shiver ran down her spine. She quickly lowered her gaze and corrected herself.

"Alpha King, please... you can’t simply take Princess Addison’s one-sided story at face value. I haven’t done anything wrong. I beg you, be fair in your judgment."

The way she forced out Princess Addison, each syllable almost ground between her teeth, betrayed how much it stung her to say it. The title alone reminded her of the bitter gulf between their statuses, one she could neither deny nor bridge.

Hearing Claire’s words, the Alpha King could only let out a bitter laugh. Truly, there were times when anger left a man speechless.

After all his warnings, both open and veiled, for her to stop dragging his daughter’s name through the mud, Claire still hadn’t learned her lesson. Continuing to argue with this woman would only shorten his patience further... and might even end with her losing her life.

’Oh, sweetheart... Addie,’ he seethed inwardly, his molars grinding in suppressed rage. ’How did you endure being bullied by such a foolish, vile woman to the point you returned home half-dead? Was it because you appeared wolfless... because your kindness made others mistake you for a doormat?’

"Shut up!" the Alpha King roared. "Not only do you show no repentance, but you even dare twist black into white? Do you think my daughter was the one who tattled on you? No! She barely utters your name; just speaking of you makes her look as if she’s swallowing filth."

"The one who told me what you’ve been scheming these past three years was none other than her fated mate and former chosen mate, Alpha Zion Greyhound. Did you really think your shameless attempts to seduce him at every turn would never reach my ears? Did you believe your covert role in bullying my daughter would remain hidden from the world?!"

Truthfully, Zion hadn’t said much. After all, when Addison first confessed, he was already beaten down and silenced, and saying any more now might well send him straight to his grave, because if the Alpha King ever heard the most brutal and crucial details of how Addison ended up being tortured, he might completely lose control.

Still, the Alpha King wasn’t a fool. Even with the little Addison revealed, with only fragments here and there, he had managed to piece them together into the full, devastating picture.

Why else would Addison have been bullied so ruthlessly when her wolf was sealed and she couldn’t even remember who she truly was, to the point of becoming haggard and gaunt?

Why else would she return to his side, barely clinging to life, as if on her deathbed?

The answer was obvious; another woman wanted her gone, desperate to steal Addison’s rightful place as the Luna of Zion’s pack. It wasn’t unheard of. Many she-wolves had resorted to such vile schemes before, especially when the bond was not one of fate but merely of choice.

The Royal Court did not often intervene in such "domestic" matters, but the Alpha King had heard enough stories to know how cruel and real such betrayals were.

And besides, all those rumors he had once heard, the whispers and misunderstandings about Claire being Zion’s Luna, none of them would have taken root if someone hadn’t deliberately fanned the flames to mislead the public.

If it wasn’t Zion himself, then the culprit was obvious.

And did Claire truly believe her shameless stunt in the Royal Palace, faking a heat cycle and attempting to crawl into Zion’s bed, had gone unnoticed? This was his palace. Nothing within its walls escaped his eyes, least of all the mutt Zion, whom he had been watching closely ever since his arrival.

Even before he learned the full truth about what happened between Zion and his daughter, the Alpha King already bore a grudge against him, for Addison had been grievously hurt under Zion’s territory. But who would have expected that Claire would try such a brazen trick right under his nose in the Royal Palace?

With all the information he had gathered, he would be a disgrace to his tutors if he still failed to see through the farce. Even without Zion or Addison recounting every detail, he was more than capable of piecing together the truth on his own.

Claire’s face drained of all color at the Alpha King’s words. She opened her mouth to protest, stammering for an excuse, but nothing came. The Alpha King didn’t allow her even a moment to recover. His voice thundered through the throne room, shaking the very glass panes in their frames.