227 A Tear
“Is there a problem, Lord Jerome?” Romulus came and asked Jerome when he saw the acting beta almost strangling his most prized chess piece.
Jerome immediately let go of his hold on Lorenzo’s collar and then adjusted his shirt.
Lorenzo, on the other hand, began to sweat profusely because he hadn’t expected the alpha to be back in this hall again when he was supposed to be enjoying the diplomatic talks with the heads of the other Kingdoms in the other hall.
Jerome gave a subtle bow to the alpha of the Atkinson clan and then tried to brush off the matter, “Oh, it’s not something that should concern you, Alpha. I was just trying to make him understand something.”
“Ah!” Romulus looked at Lorenzo and pretended as though he wasn’t that close to him. “It looks like he is from my clan. Did he do something to upset you?” He looked at Jerome and said, “If he did then I would be happy to give him suitable punishment.”
Lorenzo’s body instantly turned stiff because he could sense the subtle threat that was imbued in the alpha’s tone. He fixated his gaze on the floor and began screaming in his head, ‘Oh dear goddess! He sounds so mad! Why is he back so soon? I didn’t want him to see the King when he was still unconscious.’
Jerome looked at Lorenzo and heaved a sigh of disappointment. At first, he thought of keeping quiet, but he wanted Lorenzo to pay for what he had done. He was clearly trying to stir up some problem for the King.
Thus, he said while pointing in Everard’s direction, “This kid offered a drink to the King and now the King is... That’s why I got a little angry at him.”
Romulus had already seen the state that Everard was in. Yet he still took a quick glance at the King and then looked back at Jerome to say, “Hmm... I see why you are angry, and you have every right to be.”
.....
He then patted Lorenzo’s shoulder, making him jump a little in fear, and spoke from between his teeth, “Allow me to take him away and give him a fitting lecture then.”
Jerome didn’t deny the alpha’s request because that was what he wanted. So, he gave a nod and said, “To be honest, I would really appreciate that.”
Romulus then looked at Lorenzo and asked chillingly while pointing his brows towards the staircase, “Follow me.”
When Romulus started walking ahead of him, Lorenzo quietly walked after his alpha. He was scared that the alpha was angry at him for real since he had messed up for real. He had made the King fall unconscious when his alpha had clearly asked him to just make him drunk.
And when they reach downstairs, surely enough, Romulus abruptly turned around and then glared at him with big red angry eyes. “Why did you do that? Why did you make him unconscious?” he shouted at Lorenzo in disappointment.
Jerome was watching and listening to the two of them from the balcony. When he saw how angrily the alpha was scolding Lorenzo, he believed that the alpha indeed had good intentions toward the King. If only he knew the whole truth...
Lorenzo hung his head low in front of his alpha. And then he apologized while being mindful that they were in the middle of the crowd, “Please forgive me this one time, Alpha. I will never disappoint you again.”
Romulus, however, was already too angered by his earlier failed source of amusement. His ego had already been bruised after being threatened by a vampire, who was one of the very few entities to have given him chills.
And he took that out on Lorenzo. Why? Because he could.
“I don’t want to hear any excuses.” He glared at the scared werewolf and threatened him in a low growl, “If the King doesn’t wake up within ten minutes, then Lord Jerome won’t be the one killing you, it will be me.”
Lorenzo was too stunned to hear that from the alpha. He had never seen such an angry side of the alpha before; at least he hadn’t seen the alpha getting this furious at him. And directly getting a death threat from the alpha made him feel as though he was a great failure, and that the alpha was so disappointed in him that he saw death as the befitting punishment.
When Romulus saw Lorenzo staring at him with a dumbfounded look on his face, he snapped again, “What are you looking at? You better hope that the King wakes up. Or else, you are done for.”
Jerome was looking at them while subtly raising his brows. He didn’t know that Romulus could also get angry. And he didn’t know that Romulus ‘respected’ the King so much that he got so furious on his behalf.
Lorenzo quickly turned on his heels and ran back to the balcony. He ran past Jerome and reached the place where Everard was.
He looked at Everard and then restlessly thought to himself, ‘What do I do? How do I wake up someone who got unconscious because of the alcohol?’
Lorenzo knelt down beside the King. He tried calling Everard and also tried shaking him by his arms and shoulders. However, Everard was out cold.
‘I don’t want to die! Not like this!’ Lorenzo’s sweat dripped down from his temples and down to the floor. He tried shaking Everard harder and calling him, “Your Majesty! Please! If you can hear me then please wake up!”
Jerome was angered at how Lorenzo was now starting to make a scene. He came and stood by Everard’s side, grabbed Lorenzo’s hands, and threw them away from Everard.
And he shouted at Lorenzo, “Stop embarrassing yourself and stop causing a scene! You should have thought about the consequences before you tried to disobey the command that you were given. Now, get ready to accept the punishment from your alpha because your time is almost over.”
However, just like how a cat retaliates when it is cornered, Lorenzo also glared back at Jerome and snarled, “I was simply following the command that I was given!”