Chapter 222: Bow to any of you!

"Cesar, how could you side with Lucien in any of this?" Francis sneered, taking a step back in the middle of the corridor. "He manipulated the truth out of me! What you saw isn’t the whole story."

"Father, how can you stand there and lie to my face?" Cesar blurted out, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "Do you even realize what you’ve done?! You brought dark witches into our home and burned everything to the ground! You tried to break Lucien, to turn him into a weapon for your own greed. You plotted every single part of this for yourself!"

Francis spun around, barking at his elite knight, "Restrain the Crown Prince! That’s an order!"

The knight stood frozen, refusing to move.

"Accept your defeat, Father," Cesar said coldly. "No one will obey you after the atrocities you committed. You murdered Leia’s mother in cold blood, and you don’t feel a shred of remorse."

Behind Cesar, the remaining royal guards slowly drew their weapons, stepping up to line up behind the Crown Prince instead of their King.

"I did everything for this family, Cesar!" Francis snapped, his eyes wild with fury. "If we sit at the very top, no one can touch us, no one can question us! An Alpha King does whatever it takes to secure his throne. Don’t you ever forget that!"

"How could you even speak like that?" Cesar sneered, his gaze cold with utter disgust. He turned to the guards. "Arrest him."

"Arrest me?!" Francis burst into a dark, mocking laugh, his eyes bulging with rage. "I am the Alpha King!"

His bellowing voice vibrated through the corridor, making the walls tremble.

"You are no longer the King, Francis," a sharp voice cut through the air.

The members of the High Council emerged from the far end of the hallway, stepping up to align themselves firmly behind Cesar. The eldest council member raised his chin.

"Everyone has witnessed your crimes," the elder declared. "We do not live in a world where the cold-blooded murder of innocents is justified. For everything you have done, you must step down and relinquish the throne."

The second elder stepped forward, his tone grim. "The wolf packs across the territory have already risen up in open rebellion against you. If you do not yield the crown now, nothing will remain of this kingdom. They are currently marching toward the capital to drag you down themselves."

"That’s impossible. I am not stepping down from this throne. It’s mine!" Francis spat, taking a erratic step backward, his eyes darting wildly between the council and his son.

"It’s not yours, Francis," a voice reverberated from behind them, echoing through the corridor like thunder.

Everyone turned in unison to look.

Lucien stood alone at the end of the hallway, a towering silhouette bathed in shadows. Streaks of dark blood were smeared across his sharp jawline, and his hands dripped crimson onto the stone floor. Beneath his brow, his pupils blazed with a flaming red hue.

"The throne was created for the protection and betterment of the wolf packs," Lucien said, his tone deadly calm as he strode forward.

"For generations, that is how the sacred duty was upheld. But you ruined it. You unleashed such a monstrous side of yourself today that not a single wolf under your rule believes a word you say anymore."

"What kind of power were you so desperate to take from me?" Lucien demanded, each step heavy and deliberate as he closed the distance. "You killed my parents that day... How could you do that to me? I put all my faith in you, Francis! If there was anyone I looked up to growing up, it was you. Even when Grayson and Renzo brought me the truth about what you’d done, a part of me still prayed it was all a lie."

Francis flinched, but the fury in Lucien’s eyes didn’t waver.

"You proved every single accusation right today," Lucien continued, his voice dropping to a harsh, deadly whisper. "You tried to destroy my life, and you wanted to slaughter everyone I love. Tell me, is this what being an Alpha King means to you?"

Lucien stopped just a few feet away, his towering frame casting a dark shadow over the disgraced king. Francis opened his mouth to snap back, but looking into those flaming red eyes, the words died in his throat.

"I want to kill you so badly, Francis," Lucien growled, his jaw tight as he stared down the man who had torn his life apart. "But death would be far too easy for you. You’re going to rot in the deepest cell in this palace. You will spend every remaining breath paying for every single crime you’ve committed."

Cesar stepped up beside Lucien, placing a firm, supportive hand on his brother’s shoulder. He turned to the royal guards with absolute authority. "Arrest him. Throw him into the dungeons."

"Never," Francis hissed, a manic smile breaking across his blood-drained face. "I will never bow to any of you!"

Francis shook his head wildly and reached into the inner sash of his coat. Before Lucien, Cesar, or any of the guards could react, he ripped out a concealed silver dagger and slashed it deep across his own throat.

Blood spurted across the stone corridor as the disgraced Alpha King stumbled backward, his eyes wide and lifeless as he collapsed onto the floor with a thud.

Cesar dropped to his knees, his hands instantly clapping over his father’s neck in a futile attempt to stem the dark blood spurting over his fingers. His eyes widened in absolute shock, staring down at the lifeless face of the man who had ruled the realm with an iron fist.

"Father... why?" Cesar mumbled, his voice choking on the words.

The silence in the grand corridor was suffocating. Royal guards and Council elders stood frozen, utterly bewildered by the sudden, gruesome end of the Alpha King.

No one had anticipated Francis choosing cowardly self-destruction over facing judgment.

The blood pooled across the cold marble, soaking into Cesar’s clothes.

Francis had taken his secrets, his justifications, and his final cruel acts to the grave, leaving behind a mountain of unanswered questions and a shattered royal lineage.