The Crown's Entrapment

At Hindman Manor

The next morning, Freya woke up in a rather grumpy mood. She had fallen asleep while waiting for Gideon to barge inside the bedchamber, but nothing had happened long enough for her to get bored and fall asleep.

She was startled when the door slowly opened. There, she saw Gideon's mother peeking through the gap.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just checking to see if you're already awake," the woman said with a friendly smile.

"Please come inside," Freya said.

Rosa promptly entered the bedchamber, a small still on her face as she began to explain her presence.

"You're probably wondering where Gideon is. Last night, he went here to check on you and leave a word, but he said you were already sleeping," the older woman explained. "He didn't want to disturb you since he believed you needed rest after your journey."

"Did he leave?" she worriedly gasped, wondering what had happened.

"Yes, there's been news that the former Great Justicar committed suicide, so he had to rush back to the scene with Aurelia," Rosa explained with a nod. "They've probably already arrived at the Capital City by now since they traveled in Gideon's wolf form."

"With Aurelia?" Freya asked with knitted brows. Right, they were probably at the Capital City by now, seeing as she and Gideon took more than a half day to journey in their wolf form from Castle Cordon to Everett's Manor.

Rosa nodded. "Aurelia is the head of the physicians in the Capital City of our kingdom, my dear. Her presence is needed for the investigation."

Freya nodded in turn. She could feel how proud Gideon's mother was of Aurelia based on her tone alone.

"You should get ready now, my dear. The servants will assist you. I'll be waiting for you for breakfast," Rosa said with a warm smile. "Gideon will be back soon, so while he's not around, I will keep you company."

Rosa then promptly left the room, signaling for the servants to come in and then assist Freya in cleaning up and getting dressed for the day. Still, she couldn't help but think of what was happening.

[Stop that…] Yal suddenly scolded her.

Freya let out a sigh. Her wolf wasn't liking what was going on inside her head.

[I can't help it. I feel like I'm good for nothing except for being a pampered Princess,] Freya inwardly admitted with a self-deprecating chuckle. [I mean, look at how proud Gideon's mother is of Aurelia. Well, my mother is definitely proud of me too, but I wonder if I even did something to warrant it.]

It was embarrassing, thinking that she had nothing in mind on what she was good at aside from her born title as a Princess.

[You're good at procrastinating…] Yal commented.

Freya suddenly burst out into laughter at her inner wolf's words, making the servants look at her in confusion.

"Oh, it's my wolf. She loves to make me laugh," Freya explained, letting the servants go back to their duties of styling her hair.

After her preparations were done, Freya had a hearty breakfast with Gideon's parents. Rosa then asked her to accompany her for a tour around the Everett Manor.

"You should familiarize yourself with the whole territory of the Black Claw pack soon, my dear," Rosa commented. "This will be your home soon once you and Gideon finally do the Ritual of Marking."

Freya simply smiled with a nod. Gideon was the Alpha of the Black Claw pack, and she will soon be his and his pack members' Luna. She should do her best on this, which prompted her to keenly listen to her future mother-in-law as she took note of every single important thing inside the manor.

After some time, they rested and sat on the nearest couch. Rosa asked the servants for tea while Freya's eyes darted towards the unfinished embroideries on the table. Following her gaze, the older woman explained, "Ah, Aurelia and I do those together whenever she has time."

"Aurelia is such a fine young lady," Freya genuinely praised.

Rosa let out a sigh. "Aurelia lost both her parents during the war twenty years ago. Her father was a great warrior under my husband while her mother was a healer. Both of them helped in the war," she regaled.

"I'm sure you've heard about it since Alpha Clara's parents also died in that war. The Queen Mother wanted to adopt Clara, but because of a political uproar, they weren't able to do so. With Clara being the only heiress left for her pack, she had to uphold her parent's name by embracing her duty with her pack."

Freya nodded in understanding. Her curiousity flaring up, she keenly listened, too engrossed to know more about Aurelia,

"Aurelia is a hybrid since her mother was a human," Rosa added out of nowhere. "Hmm, she's basically more human because she doesn't have a wolf inside her."

"She's just twenty-five. I've heard it's possible for a hybrid to have a delay in forming a connection with their wolf," Freya commented, having remembered what she had learned from her books regarding hybrids between werewolves and humans. "She still has two years to go before we can be certain that she really doesn't have a wolf in her."

In fact, Gilas had the same case, but he had a wolf that awakened when he was ten, unlike pure werewolves who could easily communicate with their werewolf the moment they learned to speak and communicate.

"But according to Aurelia, she doesn't harbor any of the symptoms at all. She also doesn't have the physical strength of a werewolf," Rosa wondered aloud. "Still, you're right. It's still too early to tell."

It was just like how a werewolf had a maximum of twenty-eight years to know if they were blessed to experience a Mate Pull or not, a hybrid also had a maximum of twenty-eight years to confirm if they had a wolf inside them.

"You seem particularly interested in Aurelia," Rosa commented.

"Hmm, I'm interested to know more about Gideon, milady," Freya insisted with a blush. "I want to know the people he cares about too. I already know a lot about you and Lord Tubal from my mother, but I didn't even know a single thing about Aurelia except that she was an adopted child of the Everetts."

Flashing an awkward smile, she was hoping that she didn't sound too weird just now. She was genuine in wanting to know more about Aurelia, and she felt that there was more to the girl than she let on, giving her an uneasy feeling every time she looked at her.

"Hey now, why are you addressing me and Tubal so formally?" Rosa teased. "You should get used to addressing us as Mother and Father from now on, dear."

"I understand," Freya's smile widened as she answered. "I'll do that from now on then, Mother."

********

Oct. 18, 2022 AN: Again this is a work of fiction so this author has her own version regarding werewolves' matters.

PS. We'll have 5 chapters to be released at random time within the day because we crossed 200 Golden Tickets. Continue voting for another hundred more so we'll have 5 chapters again. *Kisses and hugs*