Klaus's POV
"General," I sat up. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't know who gave you that fake news that could get anyone killed?"
The man shrugged.
"I was given the order by you to go and get her sister..."
"Because you gave me the news that Layla died and her sister Mara was said to have killed her."
"I'm afraid my lord that it might have been a rumor from my men."
Now I was visibly pissed at this news. It took me everything to hold myself back from attacking him and tearing him to shreds.
How could he lie to me? Now I felt stupid for not doing my research before doing anything to him.
"My apologies lord Klaus," he bowed to me, his head almost touching the table. "I should have stopped when I had the chance. But I went ahead with my stupid mistake and here we are."
I had a few words for him but I had to keep my cool. I would not do anything to him.
"It's okay," I sighed, waving him away. "You should get your men ready and do what I said you should do."
He rose to his feet, bowed and exited the room while I sat there connecting the dots on Layla's murder.
There was no way Mara could have been able to see a lot of places since she was being locked in her house for two decades.
That was from her story and this proved her innocence.
The more I thought about it the more I saw how innocent she was.
If I was the person in her place I don't think I would be able to do much of anything while locked up in my house.
Plus she had only one chance to leave for a night and that night was when her life went downhill.
Something was clearly wrong.
How was it that she had committed murder the first time she stepped out of the house?
No. This was something I would not accept.
Something was not right. I was going to find out who killed Layla and who had framed Mara for her sister's death.
I would not mind going to the depths to find out the truth. From what I could see, she was innocent.
I decided that there was no need to fight with her anymore. It was very clear that she was innocent.
What I would instead do was try to apologize through my actions and get closer to her.
That was an idea I had seen in a book and I was going to try it. It would bring us closer to each other and I wanted her to trust me while the investigation was going on.
With what she had told me I believed her. She was innocent and just a victim of circumstance. This was not a time to push the blames on her. She was innocent and she didn't deserve what she was getting.
I decided that I would take her out on a tour to places I was sure would blow her mind.
She had been locked up all her life so this would be a great idea for her to go out and see the world.
What better way than for her to see the outlands? Maybe she could see me wrestle another mystical bear.
I smiled at my plans.
It would make her happy being out of the house. I had held her prisoner myself. Maybe I needed to let her out too.
I got out of the couch and walked to the balcony. I would take her to see the grasslands and the valleys. I had a but not far away from the castle, it would be better to show her the woodlands there.
I smiled at the idea I was bringing up and got ready for the trip that I would take the next day.
I walked out of my room and got to her chambers. There, I knocked on her door and waited for her to open up as I entered to see her in her nightgown which fitted her better than how I had seen it on the mannequin before buying it.
"His royal highness appears," she chuckled before falling into her bed. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit."
I was confused as to why she was acting the way she was acting. I was sure I had not done anything wrong.
"Is anything the problem?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I was wondering if you would show up today but you finally showed up this late."
"I went hunting."
"Of course you did. And you didn't show up this evening to at least tell me how it went?"
We bantered back and forth like married couples before we settled on peace which I initiated.
"What are you here for?" She asked as I shrugged.
"I'm taking you on a tour around the city because of what you told me the last time. We can go around the kingdom and from there we would be going to the mountains to see the sights there."
She didn't say anything as she gasped after what I had said.
Finally, she could see that I wasn't the monster I had been in her eyes. I was a vampire with a soul.
"I know it hasn't been very good here lately with you being locked up in here and maybe kept prisoner according to you, but I'm trying to make it up to you. I'll take you out and we'll have the entire mountains to ourselves. It is my land after all. Who knows? Maybe you could see me wrestle a bear."
"A bear?" She chuckled. "Is that how weak you are? You're a vampire. A bear shouldn't be that hard to take down."
I laughed after hearing that. She had no idea that the animals in the mountains were mystical. She was about to find out first hand.