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Jerome had already left the chamber to oversee the necessary protocols that were to be carried out after the death of the King.

Everard took a deep breath when he saw the warm morning rays of the sun touching his feet. He didn’t want to, but he had to keep his emotions under control now. So, he finally got up from the cold floor and dared to walk closer to his father’s bed.

He sat down at the edge of the bed and looked at his father’s face with wistful eyes.

‘At least he is no longer in pain anymore,’ he thought to himself after looking at his father’s resting face.

The maids and servants had already groomed the late King’s body and had put him in his royal attire. People from all over the Kingdom would be coming to pay their last respect to the late King.

Everard slowly extended his arm to hold his father’s hand.

He sharply inhaled and instantly pulled his hand away when his fingertips touched the cold and stiff hand of his father.

The rims of his eyes glistened again, but he didn’t let the tears fall down. He was well aware that soon enough, people would start to flock in to offer their condolences to him. And he didn’t want to appear weak in front of all those people by showing off his puffy red eyes.

.....

He was now going to be their King.

He needed to act like one.

After putting up a lot of courage, Everard held his father’s hand again. Although he didn’t get to say his goodbyes when his father was still alive, he wanted to say it before the others would start to pour in.

“Father...” He looked at his father’s serene face and whispered in a low voice, “I hope that I was a good son to you. I... I never really got to spend enough time with you and mother though. I was always in Lavinya for as long as I can remember.”

He looked at his father with deep longing and mumbled in a painful voice, “If only you had lived for a little longer.... Maybe we would have been able to spend some father-son time.”

Everard breathed in through his mouth and leaned down to kiss his father’s knuckles. He then gently patted his father’s palm and whispered, “I love you, father. I hope that... that you are listening from wherever you are. And please, please forgive me for being late.”

“If only I could turn back time...” he closed his eyes and hung his head low.

A drop of his tear landed on the King’s cold hand.

He then rested his forehead on his father’s knuckles and made a promise to himself and his father, ‘I will try to make up for it by being a great King as you wished me to be.’

The moment with his father was interrupted when suddenly he heard some commotion outside the door.

He could hear a back-and-forth between the guards and Ruby.

“I’m telling you, His Highness wants to be alone. And no, I cannot let you inside the King’s chamber.”

“But I just want to see him, just for a moment. Please.”

“That’s not how it works, ma’am. Please try to be respectful to the bereaved person. Now, if you keep on insisting any further, then I will have to respectfully drag you away.”

“I just wanted to make sure he is okay. Just a minute will be enough.”

“Okay! That’s it! I have to take you away now. You are unnecessarily causing a scene here.”

Everard clenched his teeth and took some time to collect himself. He then slowly left his hold on his father’s hand and went to get the door.

The moment he opened the door a little, Ruby peeked inside and heaved a deep breath when she saw the state he was in.

She walked closer to the door and said from outside, “I’m so sorry, Everard. I’m so sorry for what happened to your father. Are you o- How are you doing?”

For a moment, Everard simply kept on looking at Ruby, thinking back to everything that happened yesterday. The longer he looked at her, the closer his brows drew together, creating a deep frown line on his forehead.

He blamed Ruby for not being able to accompany his father during the last moments of his life. He regretted it a lot. Even if he wanted to, he could never turn back time and change what had already happened. And the only way he could forgive himself for not fulfilling his father’s dying wish was by putting the whole blame on Ruby.

After trying his best to control the rage that was boiling inside of him, he asked Ruby with a straight face, “What did you do to me?”

Ruby was obviously confused by that out-of-context question. “Er... I did something?”

“Yes. During the night. What did you do to me?” he asked in a stern tone, almost as if he was interrogating her.

Ruby thought that he was now talking about the voices in his head, so she apologized, “I’m sorry if you heard my inner thoughts earlier. I was really worried about you when I-”

Everard suddenly grabbed Ruby by her neck, pushed her back, and slammed her against the corridor wall.

The corridor got filled with sudden gasps from a group of maids who were heading towards the King’s chamber. The royal guards gestured for the maids to stand right where they were. But they didn’t dare to interfere with what the Crown Prince was doing to a woman.

Ruby looked into Everard’s eyes which were burning with rage and asked while struggling to breathe, “Ev-Everard... W-What are you d-doing to me?”

“I was the one asking that question!” Everard snarled like a madman at that poor woman and suspected her intention, “You did something to me, didn’t you? Are you into witchcraft or something? Because the way you controlled my mind and made me dance to your tunes yesterday, that is something only a witch can do, isn’t it?”

Ruby gripped Everard’s wrist and pushed his hand away from her neck, surprising Everard with her strength. She was utterly shocked to her core because never in her dream had she thought that Everard would accuse her of something like that.

She was greatly hurt. But since Everard was going through grief, she tried to understand his erratic behavior.

Therefore, she answered in a low and soft voice, “There is no such thing as witchcraft, Everard. Why would you even think that way? Even I felt the same way yesterday. I felt this unexplainable connection with you that was much greater in intensity than before. I don’t know much about this werewolf thing, but, if I am to believe what I’ve heard until now then that pull that we felt is the result of the ma-”

“It was the result of the sire bond and nothing more!” Everard exclaimed furiously and pulled his hand away from Ruby’s grip.

He glared down at her and purposefully said hurtful words to her, “Don’t forget your place, you damned woman! You’re here only because I took pity on you. Else, you would have met your death by now. Be thankful that you are still alive. Don’t dream of things that are out of your reach, and stay the hell away from my sight from today onwards.”

Ruby had no idea why Everard was now a completely different person than yesterday. She thought that it was grief. She wanted to believe that it was grief and nothing more.

She didn’t want him to push her away for something that she had no control over. She didn’t think that she would be able to live with herself if Everard suddenly turned cold and distant to her.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Everard slammed his fist on the wall right beside Ruby’s face, greatly startling her, and screamed right in front of her face, “GET OUT!”

So as not to let things escalate even further, Ruby gave a subtle bow and politely said, “I will be in my room. Please call me if you need me.”

She swiftly turned and started to walk away from Everard while clutching her gown and holding back her tears.

Ruby jumped a little when she heard Everard shouting from behind, “I won’t be needing you anymore, you witch! Just be grateful that I am not kicking you out after what you did to me!”

Ruby focused her eyes on the end of the corridor and tried not to listen to what he was saying.

However, she felt a pinch in her heart when she heard him shouting some more, “And you don’t get to address me as ‘Everard’! We aren’t that close! We never will be, not even in your dreams.”