CH 211

Chapter 211: Why She Couldn’t Get Pregnant

“You lost her?” Igor asked, voice full of reprimand.

Basil dropped his head low. “I apologize, Your Majesty. They say she ran away during transport.”

“Basil, correct me on this – did you allow one woman to escape several soldiers surrounding her?” asked Igor.

A flush of panic heated Basil’s cheek. He had made a careless blunder. “She did not escape alone. A person was helping her.”

Igor’s brows furrowed. “Is it someone Count Clovis or her current husband sent?”

“We’re not sure yet, Your Majesty. But that isn’t likely so. They’re currently under heavy surveillance, after all. Since they’re being investigated, we’ll be able to apprehend them soon.”

Igor rubbed his head and sighed miserably. His mind ran back through his past memories, recalling every minuete detail. Who helped her escape? No matter how much he ransacked his brain, no certain figure came to mind.

“Find her no matter the cost. We don’t know what she’s capable of doing,” said Igor.

Straightening his back, Basil declared, “Yes, Your Majesty! We’ll make sure she’s captured!”

After Basil left, Igor’s back slumped. He rubbed his face with both hands. His eyes were bloodshot red, tired from a better lack of sleep. He was fine with it, though. He would not have a wink of sleep until he was sure the woman was captured and thrown in prison.

That vile woman ruined everything he had meticulously built and strove towards. He believed he would be able to live happily with Rihannan then, but at his least guarded state, Leticia coiled her tails around him like poison, causing all the work he had done to come crashing down.

Flashback.

“Count Clovis and Count Alessin met in secret, Your Majesty.”

After sending Rihannan to the seasonal palace, Igor spent his days preoccupied with work. He kept a close eye on his mother and the troubles she caused in Crichton; he focused all efforts to eradicating her power.

During that time, Count Alessin was eerily quiet. Prior to the incident of the count revealing his true colors, he was treated like a closea*sociate by the king. Now that he was cast away alongside his daughter, Igor thought he would enact revenge for his loss.

“It seems they had some sort of discussion between them,” Basil reported.

After reading the reports he received from Basil, he realized the reason why Count Clovis was quiet for the past years. Over the past ten years, Count Clovis was as quiet as a mouse, hiding his ambitions and greed for the throne in the shadows. He planted a spy in the palace, patiently watching and reporting the happenings of the royal family to him. With the information, Count Clovis bid his time.

While investigating further in things related to Count Clovis, he stumbled upon an awfully dreadful thing. Count Clovis, all along, planted contraceptive pills in Rihannan’s food the moment she entered the palace. If she was unable to give birth and produce an heir, the count and his bloodline would naturally inherit the throne. This was his end goal.

Once Count Clovis heard the relationship between the king and queen soured and he stopped seeking her embrace each night, the count ordered his spies to cease their secret act of planting contraceptive pills. He thought the possibility of bearing a child was next to impossible. There was no chance if their relationship was ruined.

Igor pounded the wall and grit his teeth. He had the urge to strangle and kill Count Clovis. The king and queen were unable to produce an offspring. His wife was unable to bear him a child; all the blame was directed toward her, speculating that she was sterile and he allowed them to speak ill of her, too.

The rumors inside the palace walls were no different. Her menstruation was erratic. They blamed it on her poor constitution.

If Rihannan had never consumed those contraceptive pills and bore him a child earlier in their marriage, their relationship may not have turned for the worse. It only became visibly better once she became pregnant with his child.