243 Only Two More Weeks

“Of course not, Grandmother,” Lillian grinned from ear to ear.

Conrad Woodland looked at his mother and his daughter. The sight of the two women exchanging smiles over the poisoning of Lucien Clearwater made him sick.

“Excuse me,” the Alpha said before he hurried away, leaving more than half of his breakfast behind.

Lucrethia humphed with disdain as she watched her son’s figure retreating from the dining table.

“He has always been a weakling, your father,” Lucrethia commented, not even restraining herself from badmouthing her son in front of her granddaughter.

“I think he got his genes from his weakling father. Glad that you have none of those. You are strong, just like me.”

Lillian beamed at Lucrethia, but she was seething inside.

Just who wanted to be as evil and cruel as Lucrethia?

Conrad Woodland hobbled down the path that led him as far away from his own mother as possible. Beads of cold sweat formed on his head as he asked himself again and again what would happen if his mother’s evil deeds were found out.

.....

What would happen to her?

What would happen to him and his family?

What would happen to the Ironclad Claws Pack?

They had stirred up trouble against the Infinite Eclipse Pack and the Night Prowler Pack! Those were the two strongest packs across the continent!

They were doomed!

The whole pack was doomed!!!

Conrad Woodland screamed in his head.

There was no way out of this mess.

He was so immersed in his own thoughts that he did not hear the voice that called for him several times already.

“Papa!”

Conrad Woodland finally turned his head to look at his daughter. Having left the breakfast behind as well, Lillian Woodland marched toward her father with a crease between her brows.

“Oh, Lillian, my baby girl. What is it?” he asked, wiping cold sweat off his face with his sleeve.

Impatiently, Lillian took out her own handkerchief and handed it to her father.

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While Conrad was dabbing his forehead with the square piece of cloth, Lillian proceeded to question her father.

“Papa, you know what kind of poison it was, right? Tell me about it.”

Conrad stopped his hand right away. He raised his wary eyes at his daughter.

“Why do you need to know?” he asked in suspicion.

“Shouldn’t I? I don’t want to be blamed if Lucien suddenly dies when I am around.”

That was of course not why Lillian even bothered to ask. She planned to secretly feed Lucien the cure, making sure to revert the poison effect and return Lucien to the peak of his health.

“There is no need for you to know,” Conrad snapped. “Anyway, he is already sick. His sickness will not be tied to you. It will not make sense at all.”

Lillian cursed in her heart. Her father was usually rather open, always ready to share information about his own mother’s evil plans and schemes. This time he was so secretive. Lillian did not like it even one bit.

“Then what about the cure?” She dug further. “Where can I find it?”

Conrad shook his head.

“There is no cure.”

“Every poison has a cure,” Lillian insisted. “Papa, tell me the truth.”

Conrad took his daughter’s hands and squeezed them.

“This poison specifically attacks the fated connection between two fated mates.”

He then tapped on his left chest.

“It attacks the heart. The more often the poison gets triggered, the closer the person is to death.”

Lillian’s jaw dropped open. She stared at her father in disbelief.

“Lucien... is going to die?”

“What do you think?” Conrad snapped when he saw weakness in his daughter’s eyes. “If he stays alive, will you ever become the Luna of the Infinite Eclipse Pack?”

“I am trying!” Lillian insisted, shaking her fists frantically. “Why do you have to poison him? It is a crime!”

Conrad growled at his daughter. “Do you think that I want this to happen? Do you think that I want to stain my hands with blood? Huhh??”

The elder man grabbed both of Lillian’s shoulders and shook them.

“If you don’t want it anymore, you go back to your grandmother now and tell her that you no longer want to be part of her ambition! Let’s see what she will say to you!”

Lillian shut up in an instant.

Her hands wandered to her protruding belly again.

She could not do that. Otherwise, her son would die.

Lucrethia did not stop at verbal abuse. She would lock Lillian up again and beat her up. Until she and her unborn son perished.

Anyway, Lucien was already poisoned. Even if Lillian got herself and her son killed, it would not save Lucien at all.

“Papa, it is not yet too late,” she coaxed her father with a soft voice. “Deceiving Alpha Ronan is one thing, but murdering his mate is on a completely different level of crime. I know that it has a cure. You just don’t want to tell me.”

Conrad heaved a sigh.

He rubbed at his nose and then pinned his daughter with a glare.

“It really has no cure. Not now, at least. Even if society works hard to find a cure, there are simply not enough fated mates to test it on. Stalling death is possible, but Lucien Clearwater will die for sure. If not in a week, then a month.”

Lillian still refused to give up.

“Does it mean that it is also possible that the poison effect stalls over the period of ten years or so?”

Conrad scoffed.

“Baby girl, stop dreaming. The reason why your grandmother picked this poison is her certainty that Lucien Clearwater is not going to survive for a long time. Only a stone statue does not take any harm from the affair between you and Alpha Ronan.”

Oh, Goddess.

Lillian’s mouth dropped open.

This was why Lucien got sick in the first place.

After he got poisoned, the poison attacked him a few times. It was already too late to stall.

Conrad lifted two fingers.

“Depending on his physical endurance, he is going to die sooner or later. I do not think he will go past two more weeks.”