Cursed and Fated: Offered To The Wicked Alpha Prince
Chapter 10: I am not lying!

Chapter 10: I am not lying!

Gideon released her, giving her a gentle shove . Without another word, he strode out of the room, leaving her in the stifling silence of his chambers.

Adeline blinked rapidly, her mind racing as she processed her mistake. One thing was now painfully clear: she had landed herself on Gideon’s dark side. Worse, the Luna Queen had clearly never spoken to him as she’d promised.

Why had she lied? Why use a "broken" Omega as a pawn in her games?

"Miss, you must follow me to the main hall," a maidservant’s voice cut through her thoughts. "These are for you," she added, placing a pair of slippers on the floor. Adeline stepped into them, and followed the servant toward the hall where her fate was about to be rewritten.

As she entered the vast space, her eyes immediately found Jammie, the wolf who had lunged at her. He looked battered and terrified. Gideon was nowhere to be seen, but Micah stood near Jammie.

"Why have we all been summoned at this hour?" a sharp, feminine voice rang out, echoing off the high stone ceilings.

"Our elder brother must be wanting to punish someone," a second voice followed, dripping with bored disdain.

Adeline looked toward the source of the voices. Standing there were the princesses, who were exact copies of their mother, the Luna Queen.

"Who is this woman?" the princess on the left asked, her gaze sweeping over Adeline with cold indifference.

Before Adeline could even attempt an introduction, the Alpha King entered the hall, with Luna Queen Presley trailing elegantly at his side.

"Why has Gideon summoned us at such an hour? Micah, what is your master trying to achieve this time?" Huxley demanded the moment he stepped into the light.

He stopped, his brows furrowing as he noticed the battered man held by the guards. "And who is he?"

"The man who attacked the bride you chose for me, Dad," Gideon stated as he finally marched into the hall.

Adeline’s breath hitched. In his right hand, Gideon gripped a silver dagger, its polished surface catching the light. She felt a surge of panic, wondering if that was intended for her own heart.

"What? When did this happen?" Huxley asked, his sharp gaze finally landing on Adeline.

She flinched under the weight of the King’s attention and instinctively lowered her eyes to the floor.

"Tell him," Gideon ordered, his voice dangerously low. "Tell him the truth."

"Say it, dear. What exactly happened?" Presley asked, her expression a mask of concerned elegance.

"I was told by the Luna Queen to leave the palace because the curse on Prince Gideon could have cost me my life," Adeline began, her voice trembling slightly.

"She said she cared for the Prince and did not want him to suffer the consequences of my presence. Later, a palace maid, I believe she was a maid, asked me to follow her. It was evening. I followed her to the back exit of the palace, and the moment I stepped outside, I was attacked by a wolf. Luckily, Prince Gideon arrived in time to save me."

She looked toward Gideon, but his gaze was fixed elsewhere.

"Did you say that, Presley?" Huxley questioned, his voice vibrating with the authority of an Alpha King.

"I did not, Your Majesty. I have no idea why she would say such a thing," Presley replied.

Adeline froze, staring at the Luna Queen in sheer disbelief. "You did—"

"Shut your mouth, you lowly omega! How dare you accuse my mother?" Edith, the Queen’s daughter, yelled, stepping forward with a sneer.

"Dad, is this the bride you’ve chosen? On the very first day of her arrival, she dares to utter such heinous lies about the Queen."

"I am not lying! There was a servant... she told me to follow her," Adeline stammered, trying to defend herself.

Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She felt the weight of everyone’s contempt, but it was Gideon’s silence that terrified her most.

She looked at him, searching for any sign of support, but he remained a statue of cold fury.

"Dad, punish her for dragging the Queen’s name like this!" Vivian, the youngest princess, added, her voice sharp with indignation.

Gideon didn’t respond with words. Instead, he shoved Jammie forward with such force that the man landed sprawled at Huxley’s feet, drawing audible gasps from the onlookers.

"Explain why you attacked Adeline, a woman you didn’t even know existed until today," Gideon demanded, punctuating the question with a hard kick to the man’s ribs.

He then turned his frigid gaze toward his father.

"Adeline is new to this palace. Why would she wander to a remote back exit when she knows nothing of these grounds? And a wolf just happens to be waiting there to attack her?" Gideon’s voice was dangerously calm.

"This either proves that our palace security is pathetic, or that someone within these walls guided that beast to her, specifically to manufacture ’proof’ that my curse is real."

Gideon’s eyes landed straight onto his stepmother, who remained unnervingly calm despite the accusation hanging in the air.

"Your Majesty, I—I was just told by someone in the palace to hurt the woman who stepped out of the gates," Jammie admitted, his voice trembling as he looked up from the floor. "I have no idea who it was. I work for money, and I was paid. That is all." Joining his hands in a desperate plea, he cried out, "Please, forgive me!"

"Summon every maidservant in this palace immediately!" Alpha King Huxley commanded, his voice booming through the hall.

He then turned his sharp gaze back to Presley. "Adeline would not speak such a blatant lie without reason."

"Your Majesty, I truly did not say anything of the sort to that girl," Presley replied, her voice soft and laced with feigned innocence.

"Indeed, I checked on her well-being earlier, but I never spoke of a curse or anything so dark. As for which maidservant guided her to the exit, I have no idea who it could have been."

She looked at Adeline with a pitying expression, but in the back of her mind, she already wanted the girl dead.