Melchior looked exhausted.
Sylene had been watching him all day—discussion after discussion, meetings that stretched without pause, reports stacked high across his desk. He reviewed data, cross-checked statements, tracked movements, searched for any trace of where Q99 might be hiding.
If this fiancée truly was the same as Q99, as Zephyr claimed, then killing the Crown Prince isn't impossible for her.
Yet Melchior frowned.
Rosencraft would never discard a perfect puppet so easily. Not after investing so much into shaping him. And if the goal had been to eliminate the prince… why now?
Why not when Melchior had been in vampire territory?
That would have made it easier to blame him.
Instead, Corvin could be detained—for now. Not Melchior himself.
As long as Melchior lived, Crimson Thorn could not be seized.
So what was their true objective?
