Chapter 164: The Wooden Doll

Beatrice returned to her chambers ready to start twitching like a broken doll. Her gaze was like balls of fire, and every servant in her way quickly backed away as she walked past them.

She walked into her chambers and slammed the door shut behind her. If Alpha Conan decides to give his Heir away, it’s not just going to mean marriage, but it would also mean she would be the future Luna of Riverrock Pack!

She hated that place.

Its reputation was terrible.

The only place she wanted to see herself was Luna of Eclipse Crown Pack, but that has gone down the drain.

She had thought of every way she could reach that position, but Malachi was in the way. And she and Leopold’s marriage was now null.

"Fucking council...," She murmured as she approached her neatly made bed, "Fucking rogues, fucking Riverrock! Fucking Della!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs before she slumped down and sat down on the bed.

The moment she did, her eyes fell on a small piece of wood sitting right here next to her on the bed. She picked it up curiously, and stared at it.

A wooden horse.

An old one.

Beatrice’s eyes widened in awe as she recognised what it was. It was the same wooden horse doll she and Della had frequently played with while they were still kids.

They’d sometimes sit in the courtyard and play with each of their dolls, trolling it against the floor while making stupid, fun horse noises, but most times they would lock themselves in the small, abandoned cottage by the workhouse so no one would be able to find them and start lecturing Beatrice on reasons why she should stay away from the Rotblood.

Beatrice scoffed as she stared intensely at the doll. What was it even doing here? Had the maids found it while cleaning somewhere and decided to drop it on her bed?!

She turned to the side of the doll and saw the words they had scraped on the body of the doll. Hers had the words, ’I love you, Della,’ and Della’s has the words, ’I love you, Beatrice’.

The words seemed priceless back then. The horse she had with her had the words written, ’I love you, Beatrice,’ which means this doll belonged to Della.

She suddenly had the urge to throw it on the ground and watch it shatter. The same way she had shattered Della’s heart before she’d finally shoved that dagger into her heart.

The thought alone was therapeutic.

She could feel the anger from this stupid marriage alliance dissipating already.

She was about to raise the wood and throw it on the ground when she finally noticed something else. Someone had scraped the underside of it — the belly.

She squinted her eyes and brought it closer to her face. Looks like something was written there. It had been scraped into words.

And they read:

Miss me?

Beatrice paused, her brows creasing in confusion. She didn’t remember Della ever writing anything else on her wooden doll, and from the looks of it, these scrapings looked... rather new.

A weird feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, but she quickly waved it off. Maybe it was one of the maids. Or another servant. It could be anyone.

"Vera!" She called out.

Silence.

"Vera!!" She yelled a little more aggressively.

A maid stumbled into the room, "Yes, my lady?" Her hands were clasped together tightly and on a closer look, they were actually trembling.

Her eyes were lowered to the ground, and she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. After all, she was Beatrice’s personal maid and unlike many others in this castle, she knew how rotten and crazy Beatrice could get.

"You left this here, didn’t you?"

Vera slowly looked up at the wooden horse doll Beatrice was holding. She didn’t recognise it. "I never stepped into your room since you left for the council meeting, my lady,"

"Then who came in here?" Beatrice questioned.

"Uhmmm," Vera squeezed her hands together again, feeling the slow, crawling wrath of Beatrice’s wicked glare on her face, "I’m so sorry, my lady. I wasn’t close by so I have no idea who could have—"

Beatrice suddenly smashed the doll to the ground, and the sound made the maid jump back in fear. The wood broke into three pieces. Two chunky limbs came off, and the last part remained intact.

The part where it had been newly scraped.

Beatrice stared at it a moment, chills running down her spine.

Miss me?

"Get this out of my sight!" She snapped.

The maid rushed forward and picked up the pieces. Then, she was out the door in a rush again.

Beatrice then laid back on her bed, spreading both arms around her lazily. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, wondering if maybe someone was just playing a prank on her.

But no one in this castle would be stupid enough to do so.

Just then, her door was pushed open and her mother walked into the room.

Beatrice groaned the moment she saw her, "Let me guess. You’re here to convince me to accept the proposal without a fight if Alpha Conan wants to give out his son?"

Evangeline strode quietly into the room, and sat down next to her daughter. She looked around the familiar walls, and then back to her daughter, "I know you won’t refuse your father. You’d do anything to please him, to get his attention,"

"Alpha Conan would most likely give out his daughter’s hand instead, right?" Beatrice asked, trying to convince herself, "I mean, she’s like a liability, right? All daughters are."

"Oh, you poor thing," Evangeline chuckled, then she gently cupped her cheeks and stared at it like she could see the cracks on her face, "Not every Alpha hates his daughter,"

Beatrice turned speechless.

"Moreover, Alpha Conan would most likely ask for you for his son. You’ll marry into Riverrock. Go under him and his son. Especially since we are the ones seeking the alliance for our Pack’s future. We are the desperate ones, so we have to give something... in return TO them,"

"People like Conan belong in a brothel. That man would sleep with me a hundred times before his son does,"

"Of course," Evangeline sounded strangely calm about this.

"I won’t let that happen!" Beatrice cried.

"He won’t sleep with you, Beatrice," She placed a hand on her daughter’s leg, the Luna’s eyes still looking bizarrely calm about this, "So long as you kill him... before he ever lays his hands on you,"