337: The questioning

The questioning

Whenever Alicia was asked during an interview about the most nervous day in her entire life, she always talked about the first day she appeared on set for her first lead role in a drama. 2

She always thought nothing was ever going to beat that. 

But that was a lie.

She was nervous. She didn't know what to expect, especially now that she knew all of them in the room were werewolves.

Paulina had offered to come with her here, but she had refused. Paulina didn't mention it, but Alicia had been able to guess the girl's fear. Paulina feared it might be the last time she would see her. Alicia was not going to let that happen. 

She had to handle this. The more she thought about it all, the more convinced she was that someone was deliberately trying to frame her, and she was not going to sit back and die a useless death here. 

She had freshened up that morning in her chamber, where Susan was still fast asleep. She guessed Susan was very exhausted because, despite all the sounds Alicia made while moving around, Susan didn't stir in her sleep. 

All eyes were on her, reminding her of how they had also watched and waited for her to drink the poison and die. This time, however, she was not going to let them win. 

She didn't want to appear timid or weak, so she had taken the time to tie her hair in an updo, touch up her face with powder, and dress in the plain white gown members of the royal family were meant to wear while being questioned by the court. 

She looked at Harold and saw him staring right at her. He seemed to be staring at her too intensely, and it made her feel self-conscious. 

She raised a brow as though asking, 'What the hell are you staring at?' And he seemed to return to his senses and looked to the side, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 

She stopped walking and stood in the middle of the hall, looking away from Harold. Surprisingly, the person who stepped forward to question her was the queen, who had a smug look on her face.

Alicia quickly looked at Harold, who gave her a reassuring look, making her a little less tense as she looked ahead. 

At least 99 percent of the people gathered there were not pleased with the queen being in charge, but they could not voice it out. Especially Damon, her brother and Luciana's father, who was trying really hard to swallow the hatred he had for her and how she had been willing to let Luciana die. Because of her and her son, his daughter was still struggling to survive.

The queen cleared her throat and started, "Amber—" 

"Princess Amber," Alicia corrected, cutting off the queen and startling them. 

Okay, no one expected that. 

The side of Harold's lip curved upwards and he looked down, smiling. 

The queen frowned at the disrespect and scoffed. She could not believe this little thing was still trying to act like she was something. 

"Everyone knows that you are not a princess." The queen taunted, smirking. 

Alicia looked confused as she asked, "How so? I was born of a King and a Queen." She reminded her. 

"But you were sent into exile and had your Princess title stripped from you." The queen reminded her too. 

"And that brings me to the first question. Did you lie that you were a real princess when you were not?" 

"I did not lie." 

"YOU ARE FORBIDDEN FROM LYING TO THE HOUSE!" The queen shrieked in anger. She hated the fact that this little thing was not only exchanging words with her, but she also seemed confident that she was going to get out of this alive. She wished. 

Everyone else was obviously uncomfortable with what was happening and looked at Harold, but he was just watching the scene without any intention of getting involved. 

"I did not lie." Alicia said in a serious tone before adding, "But the King did." 

Everyone was shocked by her blasphemous statement and wanted to attack her with words, but they could only murmur among themselves. Seeing this, the queen got even angrier at the partial treatment between them when she was the queen!

"HOW DARE YOU LIE AGAINST THE KING BECAUSE YOU KNOW HE ISN'T HERE TO DENY IT?" The queen shrieked, asking, "Do you know you can die for this?"

"I dare not lie against the king," Alicia said in a serious tone.

That was partially true. The king had revealed to her that he knew she had been brought from exile to marry Harold but was turning a blind eye to it because Harold cares for her. 

She knew the King wouldn't let her be blamed for it if he had been well, so she could as well use him to save herself. 

"The king has always been aware. The same as my Lord Husband, who is a witness. Did you expect me to announce it to the rest of you when the King ordered me not to mention it?" Alicia asked them, throwing the question at all of them. 

The murmurs increased, and they all looked at Harold. How could he still accept her despite knowing that she had been raised in such conditions? They doubted it. 

"She is correct." Harold said calmly before gesturing at the queen, "I guess that settles that claim. Move on." Harold said this dismissively, angering the already livid queen.

 "We do not have a witness!" The queen said to him.

"I am the witness." He reminded her. 

"You are her lord husband. So you may be trying to cover for her." The queen persisted. 

"Then we should do our best and hope the king wakes up soon to confirm it," Harold said calmly. 

The queen swallowed hard in anger and looked at the other noblemen, who seemed to have given up getting involved in this. Cowards! 

Stupid cowards!

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