Chapter 68 - Sophie Receives Bad News

Along the way to Hastings, Sophie would hear a lot of news and gossip that were about the crown prince but she was utterly distracted by the fact that her husband was missing, so she didn't pay any attention at all.

In Sophie's mind, the people's current favorite topic was not her interest.

All she cared about was vested in her husband and living a happy life with him. Sophie would stop at nothing to create a life with Nicholas because even though a younger Sophie dreamed of a life of adventure?

Her days with Nicholas were like an adventure too.  Each day with her husband was an amazing experience and she loved him so deeply. 

***

After a week of traveling, Sophie finally arrived at Hastings and she would soon come to one of the greatest shocks of her life. When she arrived at Baron Ferdinand's castle, the men stationed there were completely different.

All of the guards looked fearsome and ferocious that Sophie became hesitant to even draw closer. The way that they looked at everyone who even drew close to their castle was given a death glare.

What changed? 

Sophie didn't know and first checked inside of an inn in Hastings to gather some news. While eating in a tavern, the details would hit her right in the face like a slap.

She was eating her meal quietly when she overheard the people talking with one another.

"It's incredibly sad that Lord Ferdinand passed away with his young relative."

"The new lord that is occupying the castle is really scary too. It makes travelers uneasy to pass our road at night because they said they could hear loud dogs howling at night."

Sophie turned to them and pointed at the first speaker. "W-what... what did you say?"

"Are you not from around here, Miss?" The speaker looked at Sophie closely but then shook his head. "There's trouble brewing in the air, it's already spread that Lord Ferdinand and his nephew who were coming in from the capital were killed."

His friend responded. "Don't say that! The reports say it was an accident, the roads were incredibly slippery during the awful snowstorm so the carriage went—"

"My neighbor's son happened to be one of the guards stationed at the baron's castle, and the reports said that the bodies were literally unrecognizable. It's the work of murderers. Maybe assassins? No, they were too torn up."

"If their bodies were unrecognizable, it doesn't sound like an assassin and more like a monster." One spoke up and leaned against the countertop. "That's a simple deduction. That ain't no accident at all. We're not dumb."

"What do you think of werewolves?" An old man who was sitting far away stood up and raised his cane. Even though he was wobbly, there was a look of anger in his eyes. "It's those damn werewolves for sure!"

"Hey shut it old man." A younger speaker shouted. "If you start spouting nonsense about werewolves, we can get in trouble!"

A middle-aged person nodded. "You know that the king has already decreed that the issue about that has already been solved years ago during their last military tour around our kingdom."

"Saying that there are werewolves in Hasting is like saying they're hidden in our society! We won't know who to trust!"

"Yeh, so shut your mouth." 

Others soon agreed.

"It was an unfortunate accident, but now we have someone else occupying the damn castle so it's not like we've actually lost anything," another spoke over their fellow companions.

"But who's this Duke Romanov?"

"Er, they say he's from a nearby kingdom that's in alliance with ours but moved to Hastings. I think he wants to become a member of our kingdom even though he's not originally from here."

"Sounds kinda suspicious."

"Hey, we're not here to speculate. But I did hear that Lord Romanov has some dealings in the underworld and black market trades. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who sent the assassins so he could get the castle."

"You're the one who's speculating!" 

"But I think we've all seen that the castle guards hired are not even from Hastings. It's like he has his own militia prepared for some reason."

"All nobles have their guards."

"Well, why couldn't he have hired some people from here?"

"Did you know that he's supposed to be insanely wealthy and comparable to the Rotshcilds family? I bet the mayor is bootlicking with him."

All of the people were now all talking over each other and rapidly discussing both news, gossip and everything mixed in that they failed to account for the look of horror in Sophie's eyes.

Sophie shook her head and started to mutter under her breath. "No, no it can't be true."

No way… This is not right. She felt the world was spinning around her.

Did Nicholas go to the capital and then he was killed along the way by werewolves? Maybe something urgent happened and Nicholas had to leave Sophie immediately. He went to see his uncle and they were attacked together…?

Sophie remembered Nicholas was kidnapped as a child by the werewolf clan. He was tortured and bitten by the alpha and made to become one of them.

Perhaps… those monsters wanted to finish what they started eight years ago?

Oh, gods…

The idea was too surreal and Sophie couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept that her husband was gone. 

But who else was it who was attacked together with Duke Ferdinand? And where else could have Nicholas gone?

The tavern owner who was serving food to his customers finally noticed her distraught appearance and approached her. "Is there something wrong with the food, Miss?"

"N-no... I just lost my appetite, that's all," Sophie replied with a stammer. 

"You're still going to pay for it." The man scrunched up his nose.

"Of course, let me pay now and leave." Sophie's hands were shaking as she pulled out her coin purse. A good chunk of it had been spent to ask for the carriage to take her to Hastings because the driver wasn't actually supposed to go out.

Now, she trembled and tried to take out some coins and placed them on the tavern owner's hands and then tried to rise out from her chair. 

Unfortunately, her legs had already gone numb and she buckled down in pain.

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Oh, no! Poor Sophie...

PS: Thank you for not throwing tomatoes. ^^