Chapter 171
“You’re really difficult to impress, aren’t you, your Grace?” Lord Kylton noted in amusement before he
uttered, “But I’m happy to say that bankrupting the government wasn’t the end. In fact, it was the
beginning of the end. Knowing Xandar and Christian, we gathered that they would transfer the
monarchy’s funds to sustain the government if the government funds were emptied. So, the end goal
was to wait until both those funds dried up. And when the King and his second-inmand have
nowhere else to tum for money, our family would make a sudden appearance to…”
“Offer financial support.” Greg muttered when he caught up, and he continued, “In exchange, you’d
demand that the King take your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“Bravo, your Grace.” Kelissa said with a smilk, raising her ss while she was at it like she was already
celebrating. After taking a sip, she added, “What’s better is that we lose nothing in the process. We’d just
be giving Xandar whatever we’ve…borrowed from the government and the monarchy over the years.”
“Borrowed?” Greg questioned her choice of vocabry.
Kelissa rolled her eyes and continued, “It’s not theft if we n to retum whatever we’ve been taking.
When it happens, when we save the Kingdom from financial ruin, it would seem like we’re helping every
living creature, from the most insignificant wolf to the most powerful Lycan. No one in their right minds
would question my right to be Queen. My nobility and selflessness in offering aid when the Kingdom
needs it most would silence any critic. And when my subjects see me, they’d kneel, bow and utter long
live the Queen’.”
‘Sounds like a perfect plot to a horror movie with an ominous ending’, Greg thought to himself.
Greg decided to ignore the delusional and power-crazed heiress for now, and turned to Lord Kylton to
confirm the facts for the sake of the recording device stuck under the dining table, “So, you let the
ministers take the bulk of the money…because it was never about the money. You let them take the bulk
because you only wanted them to keep helping you with your n without them asking questions about
the ultimate goal. And you three knew that the portion Wu Bi Corp took over the years would be enough
to b e used as a bargaining chip to force my cousin to make your daughter the…”
He was getting nauseous simply by imagining Kelissa as the Queen, so much so that he couldn’t say it
without throwing up. He thought fast, and pictured Lucianne in his head before he uttered, “Queen.”
Thankfully, none of the Kyltons saw through his disgust. They assumed that Greg was just shocked. Lord
Kylton smirked in arrogance when he said, “Ingenious, isn’t it, your Grace? We obviously never needed
the money but Tanner here and the ministers who…assisted us did. So, we used that as our bargaining
chip. Money in the billions in exchange for government ess and no questions asked. The dor signs
always have a way of removing unwanted questions and attracting…the right people.”
The right people whom they let get arrested and sentenced. Talk about ingratitude. The Kyltons’
pompous and triumphant expressions only showed that they had already told Greg everything he needed
to know. So, the Duke decided to reward himself with a little fun by doing what he did best:unch verbal
attacks.
He retumed the Lord’s arrogant smirk and said, “You’re not very good with timelines are you? Your n
is taking quite a while to reach its end.”
His Lordship tried to justify the inefficiency. “Well, your Grace. Moving things too fast would raise
suspicions. So, we decided to take things slow. And we didn’t expect Xandar and ckfur to have above
average skills to sustain the Kingdom’s economy.”
Greg furrowed his eyebrows as he asked in disbelief, “You didn’t expect the Crowned Prince and the
sessor to the Kingdom’s shipping and transportation sectors to have good enough skills to sustain the
economy? Really?”
Lord Kylton shrugged and said, “Xandar looks capable but he was young when he ascended the throne.
We didn’t think he’d have the required skills to hold the Kingdom together at that age. As for Christian
ckfur… We’ve met ckfur several times, your Grace. He didn’t seem very promising.” 1
Greg continued to press mercilessly, “Despite his First-ss Degree in Economics, Finance and Political
Science from Helm University? And the Masters Degree in Economics after that? As for that King cousin
of mine, did you even know he has two Masters Degrees from Helm? One in Business and another one
in Economics.” 3
Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.
Oh, Goddess. Condescending the Kyltons was easier than he thought. They were so blind to their
opponents’ strengths and weaknesses that it was effortless to make them look stupid!
Lady Kylton whispered to her husband, “Didn’t Vera only say Xandar’s highest qualification was in
history?”
Greg didn’t even bother being courteous and respectful when he answered Lady Kylton’s question
without giving her husband the chance, “The PhD in history was just a waste of time and money. That
dissertation he wrote about some unknown myth about the Unhinged Prince is one of the most boring
things about him. Myte uncle and I couldn’tprehend the applicability of that in
governance and politics but that’s a story for another day. The point is…”
Greg sighed in despair again and questioned, “Were you all wilfully blind to their skills when you were
executing your n?”
.
Lady Kylton then said, “Well, we knew about their Bachelor’s Degree in business, of course, but…we
thought those were… purchased?”
Greg’s eyebrows raised, and he asked, “I have a Degree from Helm as well. Do you think mine is
purchased, too?” When silence ensued, Greg got his answer, and it was f*cking insulting!
Kelissa asked, “Wait, isn’t it?” Greg taunted, “You’re saying that your own degrees in social sciences and
interior design from Castyard are bought, Kylton?”
“Yes.” Kelissa said with no shame. This was news to Greg. He never took an interest in the Kyltons
enough to dig into the heiress’s background.
Greg bit his lip to stop the insults from pouring out, and said, “Then, let me put it this way: just because
your own qualifications were…bought, it doesn’t mean that ours are. And Helm has never entertained
bribes for student admission or a better grade. Believe me, I tried paying for a better grade and was
given a worse one instead.” 1
There was a brief moment of silence before Kelissa smiled to herself as she uttered like she was in a
beautiful dream, “Hm, I was already more than happy with a handsome and powerful King as my mate.
Now, I leam that he’s a smart one, too. I can’t wait for us to be reunited again.” Lady Kylton smiled
blissfully as well when she held her daughter’s hand and gave it a gentle, encouraging squeeze.
Greg pressed his fingers on the sides of his nose bridge. After a moment, he spoke to the Lord in a low
voice, “I’m beginning to see why your daughter can be delusional when ites to the truth, Kylton. This
problem clearly runs in your family.”
The Kyltondies broke out of their fantasy and red at the Duke as Kelissa snapped, “You’re just
jealous that you NEVER had anything real and intimate like Xandar and I once had and WILL have
again, your Grace!”
Greg almost burst outughing, and his own animal was not helping him cope with the way it was
chuckling and rolling all over the floor in his mind at what the heiress just proimed. ‘Control. Control.
Control.’, he repeated to himself. He didn’t want to over piss Kelissa for fear of the Kyltons invoking their
contingency n to wipe out Blue Crescent.
Kelissa thought that the Duke’s silence meant what she just said was true. So, she smirked like she had
won the battle and asked,” Nothing to say, your Grace?”
Greg-thought about Lucianne, reying how she was always calm andposed when the situation
demanded it, and his own urge tough at Kelissa reduced. As theer of his lips curled up into a
mischievous smile, he uttered, “Ignorance is blissful, Kylton, until it gets you killed.”
Kelissa asked in confusion, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
As much as Greg wanted to fire a whole list of incidents from the past to justify that the King had never
been and will never be even faintly interested in the heiress, he held back. Instead, he chose to say, “It
means that daydreaming about something that hasn’t happened yet will not get you to your end goal.
And ack of knowledge of my cousins’ skills is the main reason your family’s n is going sideways. I
hate those two to the bone but I’ve never been willfully blind to their qualifications and abilities. They may
not be the smartest creatures but they are far from stupid.”
‘Unlike you’, Greg wanted to add but was careful not to.
Lord Kylton tried to mask his displeasure from the Duke insulting his daughter, and said, “Perhaps that
was where we went wrong, and a ten-year n has now dragged on to almost twenty years. What’s
worse is that we’ve hit an obstacle.”
“The fact that my cousin found his mate, or the fact that the ministers who helped you are now
imprisoned?” Greg taunted. This family couldn’t even count the number of obstacles before them.
Ridiculous.
“Two obstacles, then.” His Lordship muttered, and went on, “We had to improvise to get to the end goal
now. All these issues started because of the wolf. The longer the wolf stays there, the more damage
she’ll cause to our ns. We need her…removed from the King. Waiting for government and monarchy
funds to dry up has been taking too long, and obviously not workable anymore. Kelissa has taken the
initiative to lead the improvisation, and she’s doing very well for a beginner, I must say.”
“Thank you, daddy.” Kelissa smirked in arrogance.
A servant came to remind them that they had an appointment with the rogues in twenty minutes. So,
everyone finished up and left the table to get ready for the meeting.
Greg concluded that the rogues didn’t talk much. The rogue Lycans didn’t talk at all. It was just that rogue
wolf who spoke minimally, asking only necessary questions. When everyone was dismissed, Kelissa
requested Jake to stay behind for a private discussion in
Greg left in a hurry to pretend to want to use the bathroom. He dashed down the hallway, and locked
himself inside the restroom before putting in his earpiece to eavesdrop on Kelissa and Jake’s discussion.
Thank Goddess Greg had a device installed in the meeting room, too.
When Greg heard what Kelissa proposed to Jake, which the rogue wolf reluctantly obliged to carry out
after a lot of persuasion and pestering from the heiress, Greg’s eyes tumed onyx. He then took out a
paper clip-like gadget from inside his shoe, clipped it on his wristband, waited for it to emit a faint green
glow, before he tried mind-linking his servant to see if the wristband could detect his attempt. 4
When the link went through, the screen showed no signs of his attempt, much to Greg’s relief. The Duke
then mind-linked Ivory, asking him and Alissa to be ready on the date Kelissa wanted Jaké and the
rogues to put their n into action.
That was when Ivory informed him that apart from himself and Alissa, there were three other people
watching the King and Lucianne. Ivory gave the Duke facial and body descriptions, and Greg came to
the infuriating conclusion that those were the Kyltons’ men. He had only seen them in the mansion at
night, and one of them would always be carrying an envelope. Unknowingly, Greg emitted a low growl,
uttering, “How dare they.” After confirming the date of the rogue attack, Ivory ended the link. Now, all
Greg could do was wait and pray that Lucianne woulde out well and safe.