All Chapters of I Became the Obsidian Lycan King’s Obsession : Chapter 71 - Chapter 79

Serena’s POVNews of the birth and the mismatched child reached the capital before the official riders did.By the time Alaric and I stood in the private study with the first confirmed reports from the holding, the lower levels of the palace already carried the story in low voices. A red haired green eyed girl. A timeline that did not match Caden’s. A labor that had nearly killed Liliana. The scandal moved through the pack network with the speed of something people had been waiting to believe. Messengers left for allied territories before noon. Questions began to arrive from houses that had once given Caden quiet support.I listened to the reports without interruption. Gale delivered them in clean sequence. The child lived. Liliana remained weak but stable for the moment. Caden had demanded a paternity test on the spot and had been refused until both mother and child were stronger. Belinda’s people still held the perimeter. Our own forces were less than two hours behind the first scou

Serena’s POVI waited until the physician’s assistant had carried the vials away and the corridor outside Belinda’s sealed chambers had emptied of all but the posted guards. Alaric remained where he was, staring at the closed door as if the wood itself might offer the next piece of the design. The bond between us carried a tight, controlled anger that had not eased since the bottle design became clear.“Walk with me,” I said quietly.He looked at me for a moment, then nodded. We took the shorter route back toward the private royal wing, avoiding the main galleries where courtiers still traded versions of the scandal around Liliana’s child. Neither of us spoke until the door of his study closed behind us and the outer guards took their positions.I set my hands on the back of the chair opposite his desk but did not sit. “The vials are palace stock. Belinda could not have brought them through the gates. The inventory of the apothecary stores will confirm how many bottles are missing and

Serena’s POVBy the time Belinda’s formal statement had been recorded and the apothecary inventory completed, the pattern no longer left room for generous interpretation.The inventory confirmed three controlled vials missing from the restricted stores. The key log showed an after hours access under a secondary steward’s mark that the steward himself denied making. The bottle design matched palace stock exactly. Belinda’s gate search records remained clean. Her statement about Kieran’s approach seven months earlier matched the dates on the clerk’s confession from Thornblood territory. The same man who had offered gold for herb routes and sightings of Liliana had later moved ashveil into the king’s goblet and then used palace poison to frame the woman who brought us the proof.Alaric listened to the full summary in the private study after the last of the scribes had been dismissed. Gale stood near the desk with the compiled reports. I remained by the window, watching the late light fad

Serena’s POVGale was still in the medical wing when we spread the torn ledger page under the full light of the study lamps. The physician had cleaned the cut on his temple and confirmed that the ribs underneath the bruising were cracked but not broken. He had ordered rest. Gale had given the kind of short agreement that meant he would rest only after the page had been fully read.Alaric placed the torn sheet in the center of the desk. I stood on one side. Gale sat on the other with his back straight despite the pain. The columns of dates and notations that had looked incomplete in the cellar lantern light became sharper under the steady lamps.“Begin with the Thornblood entries,” Alaric said.Gale traced the first relevant line with one finger. “Payment authorized for information on restricted herb routes. The amount matches what Belinda described. Date sits seven months ago. The notation after it reads partial success, secondary contact used.”“That matches the clerk with the gambli