The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 105: Growing Up!

Chapter 105: Growing Up!

The guards were quick to stop them as soon as they reached the entrance. Kenric decided to handle the situation as he stepped forward and stared at the guards with an intense gaze. "We are here to meet the City Governor."

The guards didn’t even pretend to be scared of him as they directly refused to let them in. "It’s already evening and time for sunset. Our Governor doesn’t meet anyone from the outside after working hours. You can visit him tomorrow morning at the bureau."

Kenric was ready to speak, or more like to protest, when Annalise decided to take over. She patted lightly on Kenric’s arm to get his attention and when the man turned to look at her, she signaled him to step back. He didn’t ask anything or hesitate even for a second and immediately stepped aside, allowing her to face the guards.

She could feel her heart beating at a very fast pace as she prepared herself to put on the biggest show of her life so far. She thought about her mother and tried to imagine how she would have handled the situation if she was the one facing it.

Taking a small but deep breath, Annalise stretched out her right hand towards the guards with the jade pendant dangling from her fingers. "We are from the Capital City. Go and inform your Governor to come out and meet us immediately."

She had no idea how she succeeded in keeping such a calm and serious expression on her face while she was literally shivering from the inside in anxiety. Besides, her voice was also full of confidence that definitely didn’t seem to belong to her.

The guards quickly shared looks among them as they wondered what to do. It seemed like they quickly came to a decision as one of the guards immediately ran inside to inform the Governor.

"What? Are we supposed to wait here outside the house?" Kenric questions the other guard who finally seemed intimidated by the third dark lord’s persona.

"Of course, not. Let’s go inside." Annalise spoke as she walked past the shocked guard and entered the manor, her husbands following right behind her.

They found themselves in a courtyard with a beautiful garden and a pavilion built in one of the corners and decided to wait there for the Governor’s arrival.

"Not bad, Little Bird." Kenric praised her as they all settled around the stone table that was sitting under the pavilion. The other lords also seemed equally impressed by her.

Annalise finally let out a huge breath as she placed her head against the table and patted her chest to calm down her stupid heart. "Goodness, I’m a mess in just dealing with the guards. How am I gonna handle the Governor?"

She looked at her husbands for help but it seemed like she wouldn’t be getting any help from there, and Valerius’ next words only confirmed her guess.

"Let me remind both of you, that no one is allowed to help her out today." He turned his sharp gaze at her as he continued, "You have to survive today on your own. We won’t let anything happen to you but whether this case will be solved or not, it will all depend on you."

"I agree with your idea. She needs to grow up and if we continued to be soft on her, it will take forever to happen." Damien immediately supported his brother’s idea while Annalise stared at both the men with a stunned look on her face.

"What do you mean by that? Do I act like a child or are you trying to say that I am a good-for-nothing?" She questioned him as she turned her glaring eyes at Damien.

Damien seemed a little astounded by her sudden outburst but he quickly pulled himself together. However, before he could have spoken, they heard a little commotion at a distance.

Kenric hurriedly elbowed her and she immediately understood the signal and returned to appear like the confident and strong woman that was definitely not. Deep down, she did agree with her husbands. She was no longer living under the protection of her father, now she was married to three men who were anything but simple and if she had to live with them, she need to become their support instead of their burden.

Her gaze landed on the old man who was walking along with the guard and a few other people and they all were heading in the direction of the pavilion. The old man seemed quite angry while the old woman by his side was constantly muttering something to him in whispers.

It took the group barely half a minute to arrive at the pavilion and the old man stared at the four of them with anger as he entered the pavilion along with the old woman and another woman who appeared younger than them.

"Who are these shameless and daring people who have broken into our house? Father-in-law, you are the Governor of this city, and yet these people were daring enough to..."

Damien slammed the table so hard that the sound rang through the pavilion. The woman stopped speaking and hurriedly moved to hide behind the old woman. "Presumptuous!" Her husband muttered as he shook his head but remained silent after that.

Annalise took the cue and placed the jade pendant and another golden pendant on the table and pushed it toward the City Governor before settling back in her seat and waiting for the old man to finally move from the place he had been frozen to.

The old man and woman, definitely his wife, shared a quick look before he finally walked closer to the table and bent his waist to look closely at the two pendants sitting on the table.

She noticed how barely a few seconds later, the man’s eyes widened with pure shock and terror as he immediately kneeled down and bowed in courtesy. "Please forgive this servant, Your Highness. We failed to recognize you."

"Your Highness?" The woman, who had been hiding behind the Governor’s wife, asked in confusion as her eyes landed on Annalise.

"What are you all doing standing there? Hurry and greet the Princess." The Governor almost screamed in alarm as he signaled the two women and the rest of the men standing outside the pavilion to cone and greet Annalise.

The feeling was both normal and weird. It wasn’t the first time she had been given the respect that her given title of tge Princess demanded from the citizens of the Seelie Empire but it was the first time she had seen someone being afraid of her title.

"It’s alright, you all can rise." She watched as everyone, who had kneeled to greet her on the Governor’s order, started standing up one by one along with the Governor.

"You can take a seat and relax. We are here only because we have something important to talk about. We are hoping that you will be able to help us as it’s related to your city." Annalise sweetened her tone the tiniest bit but didn’t change her expression at all.

The Governor who had finally relaxed for a mere second once again became stoic and panicked after listening to her words. "M-my city, Your Highness?"

Annalise nodded her head in response and watched as the Governor shared a look with his wife and daughter-in-law before he finally returned his attention to her. "Alright, I’ll try to help as much as I can. But how about you all come inside for tea and evening snacks? My wife is really good at brewing tea."

"No need for that. We have to leave as quickly as possible." Damien spoke as he gave the Governor a very intense look that made the old man gulp down his saliva in fear.

It was the Governor’s wife who spoke this time and her question was directed at Annalise. "If this servant can be bold enough to ask who these gentlemen..."

Annalise didn’t give the old last enough time to finish her question before she answered, "My husbands, the dark lords of the Cursed Castle." The smile playing on her lips at this moment was as genuine as it could have ever been. She was more than proud of herself.

Her words were followed by a long silence that lasted way longer than she was assuming. The expressions of the Governor and his family were almost blank while her husbands were looking at her as if she had committed some sort of crime.

"So, can we now talk about the issue that we wanted to discuss with you?" She asked in her sweet voice while looking at the Governor who spared one quick look at her husbands before immediately bidding his head in agreement.

Annalise knew it! For a moment, the pendants could fail in frightening the City Governor but her husbands’ identity as the Dark Lords would never fail to get her what she wanted. This was what she called the actual ’growing up’!