The Alpha King's Witch Bride
Chapter 149: _A Culprit’s Unease

Chapter 149: _A Culprit’s Unease

Marcellus’ POV

*****

To his surprise, the body of the maid whom he had made kill herself wasn’t found until five days later, which happened to be the same day as Celine’s Charity Ball.

The funniest part of it all was seeing the stressed-out look on Kaelos’ face when he realized that the murder cases were becoming too much.

Okay, no, that wasn’t the funniest part.

The actual funniest part was the fact that they were doing an investigation and racking their heads on how to find the culprits when one of them, him, was standing among them.

"Ah, I keep outdoing myself," Marcellus muttered to himself with a chuckle as he walked out of the Alpha king’s mansion and shook his head.

Before he left the Alpha king’s mansion, he turned his gaze to the guards and scrutinized them closely.

He had placed a mind control spell on one of them, a young man named Alaric, days back, and wanted to see how his spell was doing.

His other herald of chaos, Celine, was constantly surpassing the expectations of his spell with each scandal or trick she pulled off, and he had a feeling she was about to pull off a grand one tonight at the Charity Ball.

While his spell on Celine had increased her hatred for Odessa to unfathomable levels, his spell on Alaric increased the thought of conspiracies and spreading rumors in his mind.

Both of which could weaken the trust the pack soldiers have in Kaelos and his rule.

’It seems my spell is working well on him.’ Marcellus thought to himself with a smirk as he made his way to leave the compound.

However, before he could move beyond a few meters out of the compound, a voice called after him.

"Beta Marcellus!"

Marcellus frowned before he turned around to see who it was.

To his surprise, it was Madame Greyheart, AKA the person who had bribed the now-dead maid to poison Odessa.

A slight smirk curled up the corner of his lips for a few seconds before he cleared his throat and fixed his attention on the approaching hag.

She glanced around wearily at the guards before she got in front of him and curtsied. "Good morning, Beta. I hope you’re having a good day so far."

Marcellus raised an eyebrow, already bored of this conversation before it started. But he managed to plaster a smile on his face as he gave her a curt nod.

"Depends on your definition of a ’good day’, Madame Greyheart." He remarked, sighing solemnly as he shook his head, pretending to be disturbed.

As expected, that lured the woman in as she glanced back at the mansion before grabbing Marcellus’ arm and pulling him away from the compound.

Once they were a good distance away, she whispered. "Why wouldn’t it be a good day, Beta? I– I heard something happened in the mansion."

Marcellus acted clueless as he felt her interest piquing. He wanted to poke at the frustration and anxiety that flowed out of her.

"Something like what?" Marcellus queried, folding his arms in front of his chest as he glanced at her hand still on his arm.

As much as he would love dominating an evil cougar like her, he didn’t have the time or patience.

"Come on, Beta. Don’t play coy." Madame Greyheart finally snapped, flinging her arms into the air. "I heard whispers from the staff members about a dead maid. That she... That she poisoned herself and that her body–"

"Why do you care so much, Greyheart?" Marcellus furrowed his eyebrows, pretending to sound suspicious.

That one action was enough to cause her heartbeat to increase as she shook her head repeatedly. " I-I’m just curious because my daughter and I still live in that mansion. And I—"

"And so does the Alpha King and his bride." Marcellus chimed in, sighing with genuine dissatisfaction.

This woman is pathetic...

"For now, all information about the incident is being kept away from the general public." He continued, tilting his head as he flashed her a smile. "Unless you have any compelling evidence that could help, you have nothing to worry about."

He paused, scanning his gaze around them before he brought his head closer and made his voice even lower, revelling in her unease.

"You don’t happen to have any evidence to help our investigations. Do you?"

Madame Greyheart stood frozen for a few seconds, blinking, before she finally shook her head with a wry smile. "N– No, Beta. Not at all."

Marcellus nodded, stepping away from her and placing his right hand on her shoulder. He was tempted to peer into her mind, but it was clear he didn’t even need magic to get inside her head.

"See you at the ball tonight, Greyheart."

.

.

Nighttime finally arrived. Marcellus stood on his balcony, staring into the night sky as he placed his hands on the railing.

Soon enough, his assistant, Cullen, walked to his right side and made a report.

"Guests are already trooping into the pack from different sides of the continent."

Marcellus nodded in response, adjusting the cufflinks of the white suit he was wearing to the occasion.

Earlier today, he and Kaelos had a conversation where the latter poured out his frustrations and how he hoped to address werewolves, witches, and humans alike to build back their reassurance.

Marcellus had acted like a ’listening ear’ to him while knowing fully well that whatever Celine had prepared for tonight would ruin the poor Alpha king’s plans.

"Let’s go," Marcellus muttered simply as he turned his gaze to Cullen and nodded with a sadistic smirk on his face.

They both got downstairs and then hopped into a car and drove to the event hall. It was a short drive, barely lasting a few minutes, but Marcellus didn’t feel like walking.

When they stepped down and went up the stairs and into the building, it didn’t take long for Marcellus to realize that Odessa and Kaelos hadn’t arrived yet.

"How quaint..." He muttered as he scanned his gaze around the hall.

He still stood in front of the entrance of the hall and was contemplating heading upstairs, where the VIP seats were, when someone bumped into him from behind.

"Oh, sorry."

When he turned around to see the person, his eyes furrowed with suspicion.