He Sold Me Into Slavery I Returned As Queen Chapter 02
The moment the royal order left the palace, the entire capital erupted.
In taverns, cafés, and academy halls, it was all anyone could talk about.
“This is absurd. The court is selecting a sworn official, not a handmaiden for the Queen.”
“Cedric’s essays were brilliant. If his career is buried over this, it’s the court’s loss.”
“He came from a small pack and worked for fifteen years just to make the royal selection list, only to be blocked by a single sentence.”
“No matter how much the Lycan King trusts the Queen, he can’t allow ordinary candidates to lose all hope.”
By the time those words reached the palace, my maid, Tessa, was so furious her eyes were red.
“My Queen, they’ve gone too far. They’re actually saying you’re ruining his life.”
I sat by the window, mending an old cloth pouch embroidered with a wren crest.
It was from fifteen years ago.
I sewed very slowly.
“Don’t worry. It’s not our turn to panic yet.”
With reddened eyes, Tessa said, “Not yet? The supervising elders have already submitted seven petitions, accusing you of interfering in the selection and influencing the King.”
“There’s also a whole group of academy students petitioning for Cedric outside the palace.”
“They say he’s a rare talent, and that eliminating him proves the court has no respect for ability.”
I lowered my head and tied off the thread.
“The louder they shout for him, the better.”
Tessa didn’t understand.
I set the pouch back into its wooden box.
“The higher he stands, the harder he’ll fall.”
Cedric, it turned out, had a real gift for leveraging public sympathy.
That evening, he stood below the palace steps in a faded academy uniform, his right fist pressed to his chest in the formal gesture of a candidate’s appeal, his gaze fixed on the throne hall.
He didn’t cry out against the injustice.
He only said he welcomed the review.
Then he turned to the gathered crowd and announced, “I come from a humble background. To have ranked first in the selection is already an honor the court has given me.”
“Please, Your Majesty—don’t let my case cause ordinary candidates to believe the selection is unfair.”
He spoke with quiet restraint, his back ramrod straight.
The students around him listened, their eyes red with emotion.
Some of them pressed their fists to their chests in solidarity.
“Justice for Cedric!”
“Give common-born wolves a path to the court!”
“If even the top candidate can be blocked by a single word from the Queen, what hope is there for the rest of us?”
The cries spread through the court’s public channels, sweeping across the capital.
That afternoon, Rosalie appeared.
She stood beside Cedric in a plain white cloak, crying so hard she looked as if she might faint.
“Cedric, if they cancel your qualification, I don’t want to live.”
The crowd’s sympathy immediately went out to her.
“Rosalie’s waited for him for years. They were about to become mates.”
“With one sentence, the Queen is tearing apart two lovers who have been devoted for years.”
“If Cedric loses his place, Rosalie loses her future, too.”
I listened to the guards’ report, feeling nothing.
Rosalie hadn’t changed at all.
She never needed to say much.
As long as she cried, others would always say what she wanted them to.
My father, Alaric Raine, couldn’t remain idle either.
That evening, he requested an audience with me in his capacity as Alpha of the Ironwood Pack.
I agreed to see him, but only from behind the half-open door of the reception room.
After fifteen years apart, he’d grown old.
He was the one who had once held me in his arms and taught me to read the names in the bloodline register.
And he was also the one who had given up the search so easily after I vanished, allowing Rosalie to become the sole heir.
He performed the formal court greeting outside the door, and his first words were:
“Alaric of Ironwood begs Your Highness to spare Cedric.”
I asked, “And why are you pleading for him, Alpha Alaric?”
Alaric answered at once, “Cedric is a boy I watched grow up.”
“He is upright, courteous, and grateful.”
“When my eldest daughter went missing, he blamed himself for years. Every Full Moon Festival, he lit a lamp for her.”
“A man like that could not possibly have committed an offense worthy of losing his qualification for the final trial.”
I looked at him in silence.
When his eldest daughter went missing, he hadn’t brought in outside trackers to continue the search, nor had he investigated the disappearance of her birth token.
And now he was using that very tragedy as proof of Cedric’s loyalty.
I asked, “And what if he is guilty?”
Alaric replied instantly, “Impossible.”
The investigation hadn’t even begun, and he had already decided it was impossible.
I set down my teacup.
“Then I suggest you attend the public review, Alpha.”
Alaric frowned.
“Your Highness, I mean no offense.”
“But the royal selection cannot be decided by your personal whims.”
“If Cedric is ultimately prevented from entering the court, every pack will remember that a talented young man was ruined by a single sentence from you.”
I smiled.
“Then let them all see for themselves.”
“Whether he’s a true talent—or a monster in an academy uniform.”