Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 96: Episode : You touched my baby?

The Great Hall of the Golden Citadel was silent enough to hear a pin drop—or in this case, a reputation shatter.

Nala, the high-born Tiger noble, lay prostrated on the marble floor, her broken leg sprawled awkwardly behind her. She looked up at King Torian with tear-filled eyes, her face a mask of desperate, calculated victimhood.

"You doubt me, my King?" Nala sobbed, her voice trembling with feigned hurt. "You doubt your own kin for a... a savage outsider? I tell you, she has dark magic! She can be in two places at once! She sent a shadow to throw me! It was her!"

She pointed a shaking finger at Roxy, who was standing by the dais, looking less like a murderous sorceress and more like a woman who desperately needed a nap and an ice pack.

Torian looked down at Nala. His expression wasn’t one of concern. It was the look a man gives a glass of wine that has turned to vinegar.

He started to laugh.

It began as a low rumble in his chest and grew into a full, echoing sound that bounced off the gold-leafed ceiling. It wasn’t a happy laugh. It was cold, cruel, and utterly mocking.

"Dark magic?" Torian wheezed, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye. "You accuse the Mother of sorcery to explain her whereabouts?"

He stepped down one more step, looming over Nala.

"Nala, you are a fool. You say she was in your chambers at midnight?"

"Yes!" Nala insisted, digging her grave deeper. "At the hour of the Wolf!"

"Impossible," Torian declared, his voice booming so the entire court could hear. "Because at the hour of the Wolf, the Mother was otherwise occupied."

He turned to look at Roxy, a wicked, possessive smirk curling his lips.

"She was in my bed," Torian announced, his tone dripping with arrogant satisfaction. "Screaming my name. Taking my knot. I was fucking her, Nala. Thoroughly. Repeatedly. And quite loudly."

The court gasped. The nobles whispered furiously behind their fans.

Roxy’s face flamed so hot she thought her hair might catch fire. She glared at Torian, mouthing ’You bastard’, but he ignored her.

"And after I was finished with her," Torian continued, pacing around Nala like a shark, "she did not sneak away to push you out a window. She crawled, yes, crawled, because I left her legs shaking, to the West Wing."

He gestured to Zarek and Kaelen, who were standing stiffly nearby.

"Where she then spent the rest of the night being claimed by her Dragon and her Wolf. I heard the furniture breaking myself."

Torian leaned down, his face inches from Nala’s.

"So, unless she has the stamina of a goddess to murder you in between servicing three Alpha males during a Red Moon Rut... your story is a lie."

[TheSassyGoddess: Spits out tea. Oh. My. God. Did he just air out the laundry to the whole kingdom? I love him. This man is chaotic evil and I am here for it. 10/10 for the receipts.]

Roxy rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. Great, she thought bitterly. My reputation is now ’The Woman Who Took Three Kings in One Night’. Wonderful.

Nala’s face went pale. The blood drained from her lips. She realized too late that she had backed herself into a corner. Torian hadn’t just given Roxy an alibi; he had bragged about it. To challenge the alibi was to challenge the King’s sexual prowess.

"I... I..." Nala stammered, looking around for an exit. "Perhaps... perhaps it was a mistake... perhaps it was just a shadow..."

"A shadow?" Torian’s smile vanished. The temperature in the room dropped. "You lie to your King. You slander my Empress-to-be. And you waste my time."

He raised his hand, his claws extending.

"Wait."

The voice came from the side of the room. It was rough, dry, and quiet, yet it cut through the tension like a blade.

Rix, the Shadow Wolf, stepped forward.

He was still holding Iris in the crook of one arm, while Drax clung to his leg. He walked with a silent, deadly grace, ignoring the Tiger guards who bristled at his approach.

"The female did not slip," Rix stated calmly. "And the Mother was not there."

He stopped in front of the throne, looking down at Nala with eyes like flint.

"I threw her," Rix confessed.

The court murmured again. A wolf attacking a noble?

"He admits it!" Nala shrieked, seeing a lifeline. "Arrest him! He tried to assassinate me!"

"Why?" Torian asked, his eyes narrowing. He looked at Rix—a lowly wolf bachelor. "Why would you touch a Tiger noble?"

"Because she was in the nursery," Rix said simply.

The air in the room grew heavy.

Roxy, who had been nursing her embarrassment, suddenly went still. Her head snapped up.

"The nursery?" Roxy repeated, her voice low.

Rix nodded to her, then looked back at Torian.

"I was guarding the pups. She entered with a dagger. She stood over the crib of the female child."

"She called them abominations," Rix continued, his voice devoid of emotion but terrifying in its clarity. "She raised the blade to cut the infant’s throat. So I broke her leg and threw her out the window."

Rix shrugged. "It seemed polite. I could have taken her head."

The silence that followed was absolute. It was heavy, suffocating, and violent.

Torian went still. His playfulness vanished. His eyes turned black. Someone had tried to kill a child under his roof? A child that belonged to his mate?

"Is this true?" Torian whispered, looking at Nala.

Nala was trembling violently now. She couldn’t speak. The guilt was written in every line of her terrified face.

But before Torian could move, before Zarek could light the room on fire, before Kaelen could draw his knife...

Roxy walked towards Nala..

The air around her seemed to warp. The System, reacting to her skyrocketing heart rate and adrenaline, flared a warning at her.

But Roxy ignored it.

"My children?" Roxy whispered.

She walked past Torian. She walked past Zarek. She walked past Kaelen.

None of them moved to stop her. Even Torian stepped back, sensing the danger radiating from the small human woman.

Roxy reached Nala.

Nala tried to scramble backward, dragging her broken leg. "No... stay back... I am a noble... you can’t..."

Roxy didn’t listen.

She dropped to one knee, ignoring the pain in her joints. Her blue silk dress, Torian gifted her pooled around her on the floor.

She reached out and grabbed Nala by the chin.

Her grip was iron. She dug her fingers into the Tiger female’s jaw, forcing her to look up.

Nala stared into Roxy’s eyes and saw death. There was no mercy there. No hesitation. Just a cold, dark abyss of fury.

Roxy smiled.

It wasn’t a nice smile. It didn’t reach her eyes. It was the smile of a predator looking at prey that had made a fatal mistake.

"You came into my room," Roxy said softly, her voice carrying through the silent hall. "You insulted me. You lied about me. I didn’t care. I let you play your little games."

She leaned closer, her breath ghosting over Nala’s face.

"But then... you went to the nursery."

Roxy tightened her grip, her nails digging into Nala’s skin, drawing beads of blood.

"You held a knife over my baby?"

Nala whimpered, tears streaming down her face, paralyzed by the sheer weight of Roxy’s presence.

"Answer me," Roxy hissed, her voice dropping to a terrifying growl that rivaled any beast in the room.

"You dared to touch my children?"