Loving The Cursed Werewolf King-Chapter 194: Still Looking For Arielle
"Is it true that yesterday there were two people who came with Lazarus?" asked Ronan matter-of-factly.
The shop owner nodded his head and then looked down again. "Y-Yes, Your Majesty. The woman with white hair came to accompany the man who ordered a pin the shape of a rose," answered the man.
White hair? It was definitely Arielle.
Ronan pushed the jewelry box away. He would buy it. He wanted to ask directly if he met Arielle later. Was it really the girl staring at the jewelry longer that made Lazarus think like that, or was it just a trick by the guy to get away from him.
"I’m going back to the palace," said Ronan briefly, who then left Lazarus to bring with him the jewelry he had just bought.
***
Ronan rode quickly back to the palace. Before entering, he took the time to stop in front of the gate to ask the guards on duty. Seeing the presence of the king, some of the guards there stood in an upright posture and saluted.
"Have you seen Princess Arielle and Lucas come back?" asked Ronan making the guard furrow his brows.
He glanced at his friend on the side, but his friend also didn’t remember there was anyone passing through the palace gates since this morning, other than Ronan and Lazarus himself, who had left the palace a while ago, of course.
"I’m asking you," Ronan said, who didn’t get an answer from the man he asked.
"Sorry, Your Majesty. Since this morning, no one has passed through the palace gates other than Lord Kael’s group who returned from camping, then you and Sir Lazarus are the only ones who left the palace," the guard replied quickly.
Ronan narrowed his eyes. "If you get caught lying. I will not forgive you, nor your family. And you know the consequences yourself, right?"
The man swallowed his saliva. Instantly the armor he was wearing felt so hot that beads of sweat trickled down his temples.
"And this applies to all of you," said Ronan to the other guards who were silent.
After conveying his threat, Ronan pulled the reins of his horse to continue walking inside the palace courtyard. Then he stopped in front of the Whitethorn Palace. A palace guard rushed to the king to hold his horse reins because after getting off his horse, Ronan immediately ran towards Arielle’s room.
Maybe the girl had already returned to her room. He opened the door to Arielle’s room so hard that someone inside jumped in surprise.
Tania, who was squatting in front of the table to take Arielle’s present, immediately hid it when Ronan appeared suddenly. The woman stood up to greet the king.
"Your Majesty, is there anything I can help you with?" asked Tania politely.
"Where’s Arielle? I haven’t seen her."
Tania thought for a moment, then put on a confused face. "I thought Princess Arielle was with you, because this morning when I brought breakfast, Princess Arielle said you were sleeping. After that, I went back to the servants’ quarters to do some other work."
Ronan watched Tania, and he could see that Tania was trying hard to look relaxed.
"Ah, maybe you could check out the library? I think, at this hour, Princess Arielle usually spends time studying. B-but usually, Princess Arielle doesn’t like to be disturbed while studying."
Ronan looked around Arielle’s room once again.
"Where are the rabbits?"
Tania glanced at the empty basket where Arielle used to put her rabbits to sleep.
"Maybe they come with Princess Arielle to the library," she replied calmly.
Ronan also left Tania just like that and walked quickly out of Whitethorn Palace. It was still snowing outside, and he didn’t mind a few snowflakes falling on his head. He didn’t even answer the guard, who offered to return his horse to the stable.
Lazarus, who managed to catch up with Ronan, slightly kept his distance and didn’t dare to come closer to see the man’s hands were tightly clenched. He hugged the jewelry box he had bought for Ronan. Lazarus knew when to fool around or when to be serious. And now was not the time to force himself to distract Ronan from Arielle.
The man just hoped that Arielle had finished her preparations. Otherwise, the king might tear down the entire palace to look for the girl. From the corner of his eye, he saw William hiding in one of the pillars of the palace. His forefinger moved to summon Lazarus to follow him secretly. Lazarus finally smiled in relief.
Inside the library, Ronan rushed up to the top of the second floor. There, he found no one and that made the man growl in annoyance. His jaws clenched tightly in anger.
He went back down the stairs and grabbed the librarian’s arm hard. The man’s eyes opened wide, feeling a new terror before his eyes. His neck felt suffocated, and his body trembled.
He knew nothing. Since morning he had been guarding the library without doing anything wrong, and he did what he had always done until the king was suddenly angry with him.
"Did you see Arielle?" the king asked between grunts.
"Y-yes, Your Majesty. E-Earlier, Princess Arielle visited the library to return this book."
Ronan reached for the book that lay on the table and read its title.
A recipe book for cakes?
"Do you know where she is now?"
The man shook his head quickly, and Ronan threw him away.
Cake ... cake ... cake ... one of Ronan’s eyebrows was raised, and he now turned to head for the palace kitchen. It didn’t take long for the man to get there. He opened the kitchen door hard enough to make Chef Michael, the head of the palace kitchen, jump in surprise.
Chef Michale’s eyes opened wide with a racing heart. The man immediately lowered his chef’s hat and then bowed respectfully to the king. Likewise with other chefs who also bowed behind Chef Michael.
Ronan looked carefully at the kitchen and it looked very messy. Lots of leftover flour was scattered on the floor, table, and several other places. It was obvious that the kitchen had been used by many people.
Judging by the few small footprints on the leftovers flour scattered on the floor, Ronan knew immediately that Arielle and the bunnies had spent time here.
