Abandoned by the Alpha, I Became the Lycan King's Mate-Chapter 291: Ask Around

[Margaret’s POV]

I just shook my head slightly upon hearing that, not particularly concerned with Benjamin’s response. After musing silently for a bit, I posed another question, "Does Her Highness the Empress Dowager have any other relatives by her side? I mean, besides Donald and Prince Henry."

It seemed Benjamin hadn’t expected me to change the topic so abruptly, and a slow confusion crept onto his face. However, he’s always been an extremely intelligent man and wouldn’t overtly display curiosity without measure, especially when it comes to dealing with Donald and me.

Benjamin looked up at me respectfully, pondered for a moment, and replied, "Most of the Empress Dowager’s relatives perished in the wars that occurred over a decade ago; there aren’t many others close to her. If I really had to mention someone, there is Mr. Levi from the Spirit Dragon pack, who is a distant nephew of Her Highness the Empress Dowager."

"However, the Spirit Dragon pack is far too distant from the Werewolf Royal City. I guess the Empress Dowager hasn’t had any contact with Levi for many years."

As Benjamin spoke, I kept my gaze firmly on his eyes. Besides our relation as sovereign and subject, Benjamin and I had been comrades through many life-and-death crises, and I trusted that he wouldn’t deceive me with these matters.

Behind Benjamin stood a family of considerable strength, so this seemingly secret information about the Royal Family wasn’t much of a secret to him. This was one of the reasons why I had taken the initiative to stay behind today; I needed him to provide me with some useful information.

After listening to Benjamin’s response, I furrowed my brows, pondered for a moment, then voiced a follow-up question, "If she has no relatives by her side, what about close friends? Does she have any here in the Royal City?"

Given the extent of my concern for this issue, Benjamin shook his head almost instinctively and couldn’t help but ask in a soft voice, "Your Majesty, why do you inquire about these matters? Wouldn’t it be faster and more accurate to ask His Majesty directly about such things?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Seeing the clear question in Benjamin’s eyes, I knew I couldn’t learn much from him and let out a light sigh in response, "I don’t want Donald to get involved in certain matters, so I had to avoid him and come to ask you instead."

I rubbed the phone in my hand as I spoke and, when I raised my eyes back to Benjamin, I emphasized in a grave tone, "Keep today’s matters a secret for now. When the opportunity arises, I’ll explain things clearly to Donald."

Upon hearing my words, Benjamin nodded, and his body relaxed imperceptibly, as if burdened by an incredibly grave matter!

I glanced at him, slightly amused, and with a more relaxed tone, I teased, "Look how scared you are. I only came to you because I genuinely couldn’t find anyone else to help. I thought since we’ve been comrades through life and death together, you would be willing to help me."

With another slow sigh, I turned my gaze away and continued helplessly, "This afternoon, we were nearly attacked by Lillian in the gardens. I thought, since she is someone the Empress Dowager wants to protect, it wouldn’t be good for me to confront her directly. Yet clearly, she doesn’t think the same way..."

"What? Lillian actually tried to ambush you! No...that’s not right. How would she know when you’d be in the garden? After Austin’s suicide by poisoning, she was taken away by the Empress Dowager and confined. Why is she still so obstinate? Your Majesty, did she injure you during the ambush?"

At that moment, Benjamin was like a walking "’Why’ Encyclopedia." I simply shook my head and looked at him without speaking, equally curious to know the answers to these questions.

Seeing that I only shook my head and didn’t talk, something seemed to click for Benjamin, and he widened his eyes slightly as he continued, "So the Empress Dowager just now took some medicinal remedies from me, and it was all actually for Lillian! But...why would she do that?"

Benjamin now realized something was amiss and looked at me strangely, pressing on with his question, "Lillian’s attempt to ambush you failed, and instead, she got injured, yet the Empress Dowager quietly covered it up and even specifically came to me to request medicine for her rapid recovery...why would that be?"

I looked at Benjamin, who had finally come to understand, and said in a calm voice, "You don’t need to analyze so clearly; it’s a bit upsetting."

Benjamin: "..."

Not dwelling much on the apologetic look etched across Benjamin’s face, I averted my gaze and continued, "So the Empress Dowager wasn’t actually discussing my injuries earlier but was getting medicine for Lillian, right?"

Benjamin, not daring to leave my question unanswered, nodded and then looked at me with a slight concern.

My mouth curved into a faint smile as the whole affair began to seem more interesting to me. While there was some discomfort in my heart, it wasn’t going to affect my rationale.

Licia’s steadfast defense of Lillian might really be due to some other important reasons and not because she dislikes me...