Chapter 18: The History of Abomination

"Why would I want to negotiate with someone I did not know his name?" He arched his eyebrow after he remained unfazed by seeing that I was only in disguise and a woman, not a man. But I knew better since I was keen enough to see his eye twitch.

I had taken him aback, so I was sure of that.

We, the Cantavalle children, had learned different facial expressions and how to utilize them. We underwent vigorous training before we were finally dispatched to our first mission.

That was why Crown Prince Henricus couldn't fool me.

I chuckled and stood up. "Pardon my rudeness, Your Royal Highness." I bowed my head before him. "I believe we have met already. I greet the little sun of the Yuanzhong Kingdom, His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Henricus. I am Dominixe Lilith Cantavalle from the House of Marquis Cantavalle."

Being called the little sun of our kingdom meant that he was the son of the Alpha King, who called the sun, and Luna Queen, who called the moon. If it were a lycan princess that we needed to greet, she would be addressed as the little moon of our kingdom.

"Ah... The eldest daughter of the marquis," he said nonchalantly. "I know you." I sat across him and crossed my legs. "What do you want to negotiate with me? If you want to propose an engagement with me, unfortunately, I will refuse."

I pushed back my hair on my behind and scoffed. "I did not know His Royal Highness is such an airheaded one."

Well, I admit that he was as handsome as Valerian. What attracted him the most was the silver eyes he had. All of the members of the royal lycan family had those unique silver eyes that were said that they were glowing during the lunar eclipse.

"Fear not, Your Royal Highness. You are not even my type. And I am certain my father wouldn't allow his daughter to get engaged with you." Because he hated Alphas and lycans, I must say.

He looked offended by my words before he shook his head. "Then tell me what you came for? It is bizarre that you must travel here to speak with me instead of making an appointment."

"I believe you will not entertain me, Your Royal Highness." I smirked. "Also, I did not wish to alert my father if he saw I was with one of the members of the royal lycan family." He would bombard me with endless questions about why I was seeing him.

That would be a problem I must need to avoid.

"Why do you want to go to lengths to speak with me here? And how did you know that I would be here?" He arched his eyebrow.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the door revealed Sir Lanfrid with a food tray. "Your Royal Highness, I have brought your..." he paused and exchanged his glance between the prince and me. Then he creased his forehead.

"She is my beautiful uninvited visitor, Lanfrid." There was mischievous in his tone.

Sir Lanfrid glared at me. "How dare you enter the Crown Prince's quarters, you woman."

"Well, I am in the middle of negotiation with Your Royal Highness. I hope you will give me a chance to explain first." I ignored Sir Lanfrid and fixated my attention on the crown prince. "This is about my father. And no, I will not propose to have us engaged." He creased his forehead, wanting to know about what I said. "I want the downfall of the House of Cantavalle."

"Oh?" An enigmatic smile drew out on his lips. "The eldest daughter of Marquis Cantavalle wants the downfall of her noble household? Why is that?"

He sounded like I was insane for telling him that. But curiosity was lingering in his eyes as they sparkled with curiosity.

I reclined on my seat and crossed my arms over my chest. "Because we are committing treason," I revealed.

"What do you mean by committing treason? On what grounds?" His attention was being paid more to me. I could see that I got more of his curiosity.

"Felony," I answered shortly.

"What did this household commit? For years had passed, this is the peaceful, unproblematic aristocratic nobles I have known."

I scoffed a laugh. But Sir Lanfrid growled at me. "Do not disrespect, His Royal Highness, Lady Cantavalle." He squinted his eyes.

"My apologies." I cleared my throat to instill solemnity for this negotiation even though I found it funny that His Royal Highness said our noble household was peaceful and unproblematic. "Well, looks can be deceiving, Your Royal Highness. Behind that facade lies the people who could make someone's blood run cold."

"Which means?"

"We are the culprits you are looking for." He creased his forehead more, slightly baffled. "The House of Cantavalle is behind all of the deaths of the Alphas for the past 23 years. In short, we are the Alpha slayers."

As soon as I revealed that, I immediately tackled Sir Lanfrid by injecting him with a paralyzing potion that I kept in my ankle holster. I let him fall to the ground before swiftly turning at Crown Prince Henricus, who was about to unsheath his sword from his scabbard. Still, I was quick enough to point the dagger at his neck. I even straddled him to make sure that he would make any movement.

"Careful. This dagger has wolfsbane coated on it." I smiled at the crown prince, who growled a warning at me, when the tip was grazing his chin.

"Your Royal Highness..." Sir Lanfrid groaned and attempted to move, but he was paralyzed no matter what he did. "Shit! I can't move!"

"Tsk." Crown Prince Henricus looked at me coldly. "I believe you now. No need to threaten me. Can you get up now and move away from my lap?"

I lowered my dagger and smiled furtively. "Certainly, Your Royal Highness." I got off his lap before I returned to my seat. "Thank you for believing me." Then I turned at Sir Lanfrid, throwing a vial that had an antidote. "Here. It is good that I always brought antidotes even if I was not dispatched for a new mission." I was smiling and turned at the crown prince. "So, shall we negotiate this more seriously this time, Your Royal Highness?"

I took my sweet time to observe him when he became earnest this time. Gone was the mischievous expression he had.

In my peripheral vision, Sir Lanfrid stood and was about to tackle me when I glared in his direction and smiled menacingly.

"Do not underestimate me. This place might be a pool of blood if my patience has cut." Then I glared at His Royal Highness. "Do not even dare to summon any of the nobles here, or I am not going to help you with this investigation of yours," I said in my oh-so-sweet tone, getting impatient as to when this was going to be over.

Sighing, Crown Prince Henricus summoned his hand. "Halt now, Lanfrid."

"But Your Royal Highness..." When the crown prince shook his head, he hissed at me and backed down. "As you wish, Your Royal Highness." He returned by going behind him, quietly staring at me cautiously.

"Why are you telling me that you and your family are responsible for those Alphas? What is your objective?" His tone changed into an annoyed one.

"Papa has a huge grudge against the Alphas." I smiled sweetly as an answer.

"What do you mean by that, Lady Cantavalle?"

"You know that we are the only noble household, House of Cantavalle, that does not join in any packs, which is not an issue to the royal lycan family, correct?" He nodded. "We are nobles but rogues."

Crown Prince Henricus clasped his hands. "It is because the House of Cantavalle contributed a cumbersome amount of manpower back in the rogue war five hundred years ago. Your ancestors have been asked what wish they wanted before they have been granted a noble title, marquis." He heaved out a sigh. "Your ancestors disregard the wish. However, since your father became the patriarch, he has demanded my father recall the royal lycan family's promise."

"And he became the talk of the town from daring to exile the House of Cantavalle from the Purple Rose pack. We know that, and Papa was very proud of that decision." I was smiling until it became an empty one. "Three months after he exiled our noble household, the Alpha of the Purple Rose pack was killed, and his pack members were massacred. May I recall that part?"

I watched their reactions. The crown prince squinted his eyes in my direction.

"And your father did that all along?" I nodded. "By himself?" Another nod. "That is impossible..."

"Is it?" I stroked my chin. "Is it that hard to believe that my father had done that all by himself? Well, he likes to use poison, so annihilating one pack is not hard." I looked intently into his eyes. "And I have done that so many times. I can enumerate all the Alphas I killed since I was 12."

"Since you were... 12?!" he parroted.

I nodded. "As much as I want to brag about it, it is inappropriate to act like that to a member of the royal lycan family." I smiled meaningfully. "Well... shall I start with the deceased Count Leon Urson of the Lightning Brew pack? He was my first kill. Shall I describe how I killed him? How I stabbed a hundred times on his chest so I could gouge out his heart as a noble prize to my father..."

Sir Lanfrid looked alarmed. It could be probably how I killed that deceased Alpha since everyone knew he was stabbed, but it was never spread to the kingdom that his heart was even gouged out. Only the royal lycan family and some trusted third parties were allowed to know the investigation and how they were slaughtered. "Your Royal Highness..."

"I know..." He halted him and looked at me intently. "Is this some kind of tradition? He passed down his legacy?" I nodded. "What is the root of this? Why did he start to infiltrate some packs and even decide to kill the Alphas?"

"It is one single Alpha that made him feel abomination at all of the Alphas." I shrugged, smiling.

"And who is that?"

"Ernest Dunn, the deceased Alpha of the Cruel Fang pack..." I began to tell the history of Papa's abomination against all the Alphas. "It all started with that Alpha when Papa needed substantial assistance to join a pack after being abused and became prey for the nobles in the LittlePixie Woods."

Those woods were the hunting ground for the nobles who did it for fun. The prey was the rogues or other people being thrown as prisoners in that forest. Those preys had to do their best to hide; if they didn't, they would be killed and hunted by those barbarous nobles who saw them as noble prizes.

I had tried to go there to hunt as they said it was a great hunting forest, but the place was awful. The forest had this foul smell and many vultures revolved around the LittlePixie Woods because of the deceased bodies scattering around. I even saw before that the other wild animals ate some skeletons and rotten bodies.

"Papa sought salvage throughout the forest and had come to meet Ernest Dunn, who happened to be a passerby." I looked at the crown prince and saw him listening intently to my story. "What do you think, Your Royal Highness? What would you think had happened after their paths crossed?"

"This Ernest Dunn... As you were proclaiming, I believed he was not just a passerby. Or, more likely, he was also a hunter who came there for his leisure time," he concluded.

"Correct. But what do you think would have happened at that time?"

"That Alpha hunted him."

I twitched my lips, shaking my head. "He took him in."

He looked baffled. "To join in his pack?"

I nodded. "Indeed. Papa thought that he was an angel in disguise." I inhaled and exhaled, looking at the clock. I wanted to check how long I would narrate my father's history. I hoped that I wouldn't bore His Royal Highness after this and would make an agreement with him. "However, joining his pack was a nightmare."

"How so?"

"Compared to being hunted by the nobles, joining that pack was hellish. He was mistreated and can't even be treated properly when he is sick from working without rest. In short, he became a slave for the whole pack," I revealed that, making their eyes widen in shock.