Chapter 50: The red box

Hazel frowned tiredly as she slowly opened her eyes. Her whole body felt heavy, and for a few seconds, she could not remember where she was or what had happened. The last thing she could clearly remember was the anger that had taken over her body, but everything after that was mixed up in her head. She tried to remember how she had gotten back to her room, but then a strange scent suddenly reached her nose.

It was familiar. The scent shook something deep inside her, making her heart beat faster. Hazel frowned and immediately sat up, only to realize that she was holding a piece of clothing in her hands. She looked down at the shirt in confusion before slowly bringing it closer to her nose.

The scent became stronger. Her eyes widened. "Caius?" She recognized it immediately.

Hazel looked at the shirt again, wondering how she had ended up holding something that belonged to him. She looked around her room and became even more confused when she realized that she was back in her own bed.

Then the memory came back. She attacked Azula, shifted into a huge grey wolf, and fought her until Alexander stopped them. Hazel slowly touched her own body, almost unable to believe it. "I shifted..."

A smile appeared on her face. After all this time, she had finally shifted into her wolf form. "Maybe the moon goddess finally lifted the curse."

Before she could celebrate properly, the door suddenly burst open.

Hazel jumped. Janet rushed inside and immediately sighed in relief when she saw her sitting up.

"I’m very glad you are awake." She reached into her clothes and threw a small bottle toward Hazel.

Hazel caught it. "What is this?"

"Something Rita made. Rub it all over your body." Hazel looked at her suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Because your scent is too damn strong now."

Hazel blinked."My scent?" did she even have a scent?

Janet nodded. "After your first transformation, your wolf scent became much stronger. You are attracting attention from every wolf and probably half the demons around you. So use it."

Hazel sighed before opening the bottle and rubbing the liquid over her arms and neck.

Janet watched her for a moment before shaking her head. "At first, we thought we could train you ourselves, but I think we were wrong."

Hazel looked at her and frowned "What do you mean?"

Janet smiled. "Only your mate can train you properly. Look at what happened. You shifted on the first day of his training."

Hazel scoffed. "That wasn’t training. He sent me to a battlefield to die, he intentionally punished me"

Janet laughed. "Maybe that was exactly what you needed."

Hazel rolled her eyes.

Then Janet’s expression suddenly became serious. "Hazel, your parents are here."

Hazel stopped rubbing the liquid on her skin. "My parents?"

Janet nodded. "Caius just came back too, and there are some serious issues going on."

Hazel frowned. "I know fighting Azula may put me in trouble, but she brought it upon herself. She is even more annoying than Rita."

Janet chuckled. "That isn’t the problem." She walked closer. "The problem is the box we found in your drawer."

Hazel froze. "The box again?"

Janet opened the drawer beside Hazel’s bed " The one you kept here"

Hazel’s eyes widened. "That box? Where it is? That box is mine! What does it have to do with the wolf headquarters?"

She could hardly believe this was becoming a problem. The box had been given to her by a stranger when she was only six years old, and she had kept it because she believed it was some kind of treasure. She had tried many times to open it, but it had never worked.

When Scarlett stole her room, Hazel had taken the box with her because she was afraid Scarlett would find it.

Janet held it carefully. "With this box around you, you can attract demons and dark witches."

Hazel’s face changed. Janet suddenly remembered what had happened near the secret door. "No wonder those creatures were attracted to you. They must have sensed the box."

Hazel immediately stood up. "Then I need to take it back."

She started toward the door, but Janet quickly grabbed her arm. "Wait."

Hazel stopped.

Janet quickly grabbed her arm. "Wait. Be careful when you get to the throne hall. Caius is the true owner of the box. It is something that came from the secret door."

Hazel froze. A cold feeling ran down her back. She already knew Caius did not joke about that door. The situation was much more serious than she had thought.

"But I did not steal it from there," she said. "I don’t even know where the door is located." She let out a frustrated breath. "Someone gave it to me on my sixth birthday. I thought it was a treasure. I cherished it, but I could never open it."

Janet nodded. "Caius is the only person who can open that box. And the person who used to keep it is dead." Her voice became bitter. "She was a maid that Caius miraculously favored. She was not really a normal maid. She chose to serve His Majesty because she had no family left. They were all dead. She was the only person besides Rita who used to enter that secret room. She cleaned it."

Hazel was stunned. "Caius trusted her that much?"

Janet nodded. "Of course. She used to be bullied by Doris..."

"Who is Doris?"

"You don’t need to know right now." Janet waved her hand. "She’s another headache. We noticed that the box attracted many dangerous things when it stayed in that room. So the maid decided to keep it with her. After that she started facing many challenges."

Hazel frowned. "Wow... is the box the thing His Majesty is protecting?"

Janet chuckled and shook her head. "No. There is something much bigger inside that room. The box is only one of the strange items. In the end the maid killed herself so that no one could use her to find or open the door. Compared to Rita, she was not powerful enough to protect herself."

Hazel scoffed. "Did she really have to go that far?"

Janet smiled sadly. "People say that people do crazy things for love. She was in love with His Majesty, but she knew she could never confess. It was not possible even in a million years. She had no other choice. Ethan and Alexander knew about her feelings. As for His Majesty... he is hard to read."

Hazel became very nervous as they walked toward the throne hall. Her hands felt cold.

Janet noticed and gave her a gentle push."Just tell the truth," she said quietly. "That is the safest way."

When they entered the throne hall, Hazel was surprised to see her parents. Emily and Ryan were also there.

Ryan was already speaking to Caius. "I was there on her sixth birthday," Ryan said clearly. "A woman gave her that box. In fact, I was the one who collected it from the woman’s hands."

Hazel’s eyes moved to Caius. He already had the red box open in front of him. He was staring at whatever was inside with a deep frown.

Hazel suddenly felt very tired of everything. She did not want to get involved in any more secrets or danger. She wanted to go far away from this place. The more she tried to make the situation lighter, the more tangled everything became.