284 The Day Of The Trial (8)
Aided by Dane’s personal attendant, the elder woman stepped into the hearing chamber. She had lost a lot of weight from the last time Ronan saw her. The shrunken cheeks and pale complexion added even more to her ghastly appearance, but the bright pair of greenish-blue eyes exuded an aura that brimmed with life.
Those inside the chamber were all shocked to death, except of course Dane Silverback.
Ronan could not rip his eyes from this mysterious person who looked so much like his mother. But it could not be, could it?
His mother died.
His father literally cremated her on spot.
Ronan only got to scatter her ash together with Lucien at the Eternal Sleep Lake...
“Mom...?” the Alpha whispered in a low voice. So low that only he could hear it.
Lady Adele Fangblade scanned the room, her eyes flew from one frightened face to another until she found her son.
“Ronan...” she quickly welled with tears.
.....
“My baby... I missed you so much...”
“MOM!!!”
Ronan lunged at his mother and pulled her into his arms.
“Mom... Mom... I missed you so much... Mom, am I dreaming...?” the Alpha broke into tears. He did not give a crap about the people who were gaping at him. He did not give a crap about maintaining appearance.
His mother was back.
His mother did not die.
Ronan did not care about anything anymore.
Lady Fangblade sobbed into her son’s shoulder.
“No... Ronan, Mom is truly here. Don’t cry...”
“I am not crying,” Ronan sobbed. “I am not...”
Next to them, Dane Silverback suppressed his smile with a scowl. He tipped at Ronan’s shoulder, prompting the latter to look up at him.
Dane was stunned for a split second.
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He believed to look into little Ronan’s eyes again, back when the little boy still adored him. When he had not hated him yet.
The elder man cleared his throat.
“We are in the middle of a hearing.”
Ronan was reminded of Lucrethia and her evil deeds right away.
The Alpha turned to look at Lucrethia, his mother safely tucked behind him.
The elderly stared at Lady Fangblade like the latter were a ghost that came to seek vengeance.
“You...”
Lady Fangblade pushed her son aside.
“Aunt,” she greeted her aunt who shared the same Fangblade blood with her. “The Moon Goddess denied me entry to the afterlife, so here I am again.”
“Oh goodness,” Elder Aaron whispered. “Lady Adele. So happy to see you again. We thought... I mean... But then...”
The elder was entirely disoriented, and he was not the only one.
Did Dane Silverback not say that he accused Lucrethia Woodland of a murder attempt toward his wife, the Lady Adele Fangblade?
“Good Lord,” Elder Rick whispered. “Madam Lucrethia, was Lady Adele not your niece?”
Lucrethia threw him a sharp look filled with hatred. The elder yelped from fright.
“I didn’t mean to,” she growled. “Don’t take it personally, Adele.”
Standing some distance away from Lucrethia, Ronan’s mother clawed into his upper arm.
“Not take it personally? How else am I supposed to take it? Aunt, you tried to kill me! No... You did kill me,” Lady Adele’s voice trembled from anger.
“You immobilized me and then you injected a huge volume of air into my IV drip.”
Ronan widened his eyes in shock.
The evil woman meant to induce air embolism, which then could fatally lead to a heart attack.
The Alpha knew a long time ago that Lucrethia did something to end his mother’s life, but he did not know any details.
Hearing about it made Ronan’s blood boil inside his veins. Before he knew it, he was already pouncing at the elderly. Elder Rick, Elder Aaron, and Elder Jonas threw themselves at him and dragged him away from Lucrethia.
Elder Kragen stood in front of Lucrethia with extended hands.
“I WILL KILL YOU!” he shouted while struggling against the three elders around him.
“I WILL KILL YOU!!!”
“Alpha Ronan, please!!!”
“Please calm down!!!”
“Alpha Ronan, you are at the Werewolf Council Headquarters in an official hearing!!!”
Despite knowing where he was and what he was doing there, Ronan still tried to break free. The fire in his heart burned away every bit of rationality within him. All he wanted to do was see Lucrethia hurt.
He wanted to sink his claws into this vile woman and tear her apart limb by limb.
“Ronan.”
Dane’s voice quickly sobered Ronan up. The elder man grabbed his son’s upper arm and squeezed it hard.
“Control yourself,” he said through gritted teeth. “Keep calm. Your mother is still here. She is not going anywhere.”
Lady Adele Fangblade grabbed her son’s other arm and pulled him down for a kiss on his cheek.
“Darling, I am here to testify. Let Mom talk, alright?”
Ronan gave his parents a stiff nod. Unable to rip Lucrethia into pieces, he had to be satisfied with cursing Lucrethia silently in his head and showering her with sharp, icy looks.
Dane took Lady Fangblade by her elbow and led her to a chair.
Gregor Gravecrown cleared his throat.
“Lady Fangblade, please speak. We are listening.”
The elder woman raised her eyes and gazed at the many faces who were holding their breaths in anticipation.
“Some time after the war was over, my son came and showed me a few pictures of the belt that implied the Silverback family’s involvement in the horrible attack on Ralph Youngshaper, the young heir of the Night Prowler Pack.”
“When I saw pictures of the belt, I felt a little strange. It seemed familiar and not familiar at the same time, but I didn’t know why.
I thought for a long time before I came to remember the particular belt.
Back then after I left my husband and just entered St. Clarence due to my worsening health, my aunt — Madam Lucrethia Woodland — came to visit me.”
“I was at the lowest point of my life. I could not be happier to meet with someone who came from the Fangblade family. I told her everything — my pain, my disappointment, my sorrow. She cried and cursed the Silverback family together with me.”
“And then she told me that she did not want to have a further relationship with such a chauvinistic family and pack, no matter how ancient or how noble.
The next time she came, she came with a Trust Box.”