Chapter 7: The Substance In Evelyn's drink, is Gwaram

Evelyn’s POV

After I ran away from the feast, I went straight to my mother. She couldn’t attend the feast tonight. She was doing worse than before. Her sickness skyrocketed last night, and now she looked so pale and weak, barely breathing in her sleep.

I sighed deeply as I watched her rest peacefully. I lost my father early, and now she’s the only one I have left. I can’t bear to lose her too. The thought of it alone is enough to drive me insane.

Flashes of what happened earlier at the feast kept haunting me. How Lucien came after me just because I switched the drink that was supposed to harm me. The way he looked at me—it wasn’t just anger, it was the kind of look a protective mate gives when someone tries to hurt his beloved. For a moment, it almost felt like he cared.

That’s how he’s supposed to protect me, to shield me like a true Alpha would. But instead, he was furious—furious that I changed the same drink his precious girlfriend tried to give me.

I know I’m nothing but a worthless omega in his eyes, but at least… shouldn’t he act fair? Shouldn’t he see the truth, even just once?

I shake my head at myself, at how pitiful my own voice sounds. My heart aches, heavy with all the words I can never say to him.

With that, I curl up beside my mother, hugging her frail body close. She’s my only comfort in this cruel world. My only reason to keep breathing. Slowly, I close my eyes, letting the exhaustion pull me under.

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Lucien’s POV

Selena was completely wasted. I carried her to her room, intending to leave right after, but she clung to me like an octopus, her arms tight around my neck. Her voice was slurred and trembling.

“I’m so scared, Lucien. Please stay with me tonight. It’s been so long since we spent time together,” she whispered.

I had planned to walk out, but looking at her shaking and tearful, I hesitated. Maybe she truly was scared. Maybe she just needed me for tonight. So I sat down beside her, keeping a little distance, but staying anyway.

Then, in a loud voice, I called out, “Rowan.”

He answered instantly from outside the door. “Yes, Alpha.”

“Have you investigated what substance was in the drink Evelyn was supposed to drink?” I asked.

“Yes, Alpha. I have investigated.”

His tone was cautious, hesitant. It annoyed me. “Then say it. Why do you sound like you’re hiding something? Are you trying to protect Evelyn?”

“No, Alpha. I would never dare to lie to you or look at your woman in that way.”

“She is no woman of mine,” I said coldly. “She’s too worthless to claim.”

Rowan didn’t reply, but when I turned, I saw him shaking his head slightly—as if saying, You can pretend all you want, but I saw how your eyes burned when she was almost hurt.

I clenched my jaw. He wasn’t wrong.

“Speak, Rowan,” I said, my voice hardening. “Stop wasting my time.”

He straightened, then said firmly, “Since you asked for it, the substance found in the drink was Gwaram.”

“Gwaram?” I repeated, to be sure I heard correctly.

“Yes, Alpha. Gwaram—the root used to make someone lose self-control. It’s powerful and Dangerous. especially for an original omega like Evelyn."

I went silent for a moment, the word echoing in my mind. If what he said was true…

“If Lady Selena truly put that in Evelyn’s drink,” Rowan continued carefully, “then it means she wanted to harm her.”

My brows furrowed. The thought didn’t sit right.

I told him not to jump to conclusions. “We only saw Evelyn switch the drink. We can’t be sure Selena didn’t plan it that way. For all we know, Evelyn could have done it herself to frame her.”

Rowan frowned. “But Alpha”

I raised a hand to silence him. “No assumptions, Rowan. We have no proof. And there’s no witness who heard Selena say anything.”

He bit his tongue, though I could tell he wanted to argue.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “We’ll wait until morning. I’ll question both Selena and Evelyn myself. Until then, no more talk about this.”

Rowan nodded, though the look in his eyes told me he didn’t agree.

When he left, I sat there for a while, staring at Selena as she slept, her hand still clinging weakly to my sleeve.

Part of me wanted to believe she couldn’t do something so vile. But another part of me—the part that remembered Evelyn’s trembling eyes—wasn’t so sure anymore.