Chapter 44 - EDMUND'S ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS

"I REMEMBERED I only called Ed here," Wulfric said, seeing the smiling Hildred walking into his room with Edmund.

"What? Am I now unwelcome here?" Hildred asked with a shock expression. Then he suddenly appeared sad. "I only wanted to check if you're okay. Wulf, how can you not appreciate my sincerity?"

Wulfric only gave Hildred a blank look. "Stop with the act or I'll kick you out."

Hildred's expression suddenly changed to a playful one. Then he grinned at Wulfric and just shrugged. "Ed and I were having our dinner when you suddenly called him here. You know how much I hate eating alone. So, I had to go with him."

Edmund wanted to pull Hildred behind him. Couldn't he see that the general was in a bad mood? How could he still act like this? What if the general's temper flared up and he ended up at the receiving end of it? But before he could pull Hildred, he felt the general's sharp gaze on him.

"Tell me exactly what happened after I… fell asleep," Wulfric said to Edmund, completely ignoring Hildred.

He still felt that it was kind of unbelievable that he just fell asleep like that. First off, it was a foreign environment. Ever since he was a child, he had a hard time sleeping in places that he was unfamiliar with. That had gotten worse after he became a soldier. All his trusted subordinates knew about that. So, he was sure that they wouldn't just leave Delryria without at least making sure that what happened was a natural occurrence and not someone attacking him in any way or form.

Hearing the question, Edmund immediately told everything that had happened. He made sure not to leave any details out.

"When the General stormed to the drawing room of the house we were in, I was just right behind you. I was about to call you when you suddenly fell forward. Of course, I immediately caught the general. Then I noticed that you lost consciousness. I panicked, thinking something bad might have happened. That's when the Madam came in. I asked if she could take us to a hospital because I seriously thought there must be something wrong with the General. But the Madam said that she would lend me a body scanner first to see if there was really wrong with your body.

"The result showed that there was nothing wrong and the general was simply asleep. Of course, I doubted it. Because I know how hard it was for the General to sleep in an unfamiliar environment. Then I remembered that you ate a lot of snacks two hours prior. So, I accidentally blurted out that it must be the food. The two brothers heard it and the one with the black hair – Astrid, became really scared.

"He cried and said that they didn't have anything to do with what happened. He even begged and asked me that we shouldn't kill their family. I was so shocked by his reaction that it made my brain think clearer. If they really put something in the food that the General ate, then you should have fallen asleep the moment you ate it. I was in the same room as you, so I didn't think they sprayed something in the air. Because if they did, then I should have also fallen asleep.

"Then we move you to the guest room. I guarded you there until Hil arrived. And then the three of us flew back here in the Beowulf. That's everything that's happened."

From the start of Edmund's report until the end, Wulfric's expression became darker and darker. It was probably the ugliest at the part where Edmund said that Aster cried and begged him not to kill his family.

He wanted to say that he couldn't believe that Aster would actually act and say that. But then he also remembered how he acted once he knew that he was the prince. He started as someone distantly polite. Then as minutes passed by, he became more and more polite. As if he was scared that if he ever tried to retaliate again, something bad would happen.

It was like all the spunk that he had shown him on the lake disappeared and it was all replaced by the timidity of a mouse. Wulfric was so disappointed and angry by it that he stormed back inside the house. And that's when he lost consciousness – which according to report was just him falling asleep. Something that he still found extremely weird until now.

Because he knew that he wasn't feeling sleepy back then, especially since he was so pissed off. But since the result of the medical report said that there was no trace of drugs or any other outside influence on him, the only really explanation was him falling asleep.

No, that was not the most important right now. Did Aster really ask Edmund for him not to kill his family? In his eyes, was he that type of person? Someone who would murder people just because he 'fell asleep' in their house. He felt a twinge of pain in his heart for no reason.

He closed his eyes. When he opened them, the chaotic mess that was in his mind did not show on his face. "Do you have a record of what happened?" he asked, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"Yes! I already saved it in my Terminal. I'll quickly send it to you, General."

Edmund quickly opened his Terminal and sent the video. It was a good thing that he listened to Hildred when he said that he should immediately processed the footage on the secret camera that was attached to his clothes. Because the general would definitely ask for it once he woke up. As expected, Hildred was right.

Wulfric opened his Terminal that he had turned off for almost two weeks. When he saw the file, he said, "You can both go now."

Edmund let out a sigh of relief and quickly turned around to leave.

But Hildred remained and said something, "I watched the footage. That black-haired kid seemed to be really scared out of his wits. That or he's just extremely good at acting. So good that even someone like me couldn't tell if he was acting or not."

After saying that, he turned around and pulled the dumbfounded Edmund out of the room.

Wulfric clenched his fists. Because Hildred not being able to tell if someone was acting or not meant that what he would watch next was most probably real. He didn't know how he would feel about that. But he still went on and pressed the play button of the file Edmund sent.