[CAIUS POV]
My father's face turned grim as he gazed at me, disappointment lurking behind his irises. I squashed the instinctive urge to apologize and stood firmly without budging.
"I thought better of you," my father said coldly. "Clearly, you need to make another sojourn to Moonveil Lake to cleanse your mind, if you believe your troublemaking sister over Healer Felix."
My heart sank. "Iris isn't the type of girl to seduce someone―"
Beta Basil shook his head. "Caius, you need to be more wary of scheming women like her! We've questioned the search party, and this girl purposely refused to return with them because she didn't want to ride at the end of the column. She must have deliberately ripped up her own dress to seduce whoever was willing to return for her."
Yvette gasped. "Father, are you sure? That's an awfully huge gamble for Iris to take… What if no one came? What if only Caius returned for her? Would she have seduced him too? That doesn't make sense!"
