Conquering His Cold Heart

When they entered the gate of the distillery, Everard noticed how everyone was running around as if they were already aware of his arrival.

Everard looked at Jerome and then mumbled, “Our smell is really a disadvantage in situations like this, isn’t it?”

Jerome smiled and nodded. “Yes. I think it gave away our presence. And not to mention our sharp vision. They must have seen us coming from a distance.”

Everard looked out of the carriage window and stared at the facility in front of him. He narrowed his eyes at that facility and softly said, “Maybe I should have sent you ahead so that you could have confiscated the important documents for me. I think they might have hidden everything by now.”

“This will be our lesson then,” Jerome replied in a calm manner.

The carriage soon stopped at the doorstep of the distillery. When the coachman opened the door for the King, Everard stepped out and looked at the facility.

A middle-aged nobleman who looked after the distillery on behalf of Romulus was already standing in front of the carriage along with several other higher-ranking officials of the distillery.

They all bowed to the King and that nobleman also welcomed the King. However, his welcoming words weren’t that welcoming.

.....

“Good evening, Your Majesty. It is a great honor to have you here in our humble facility. But you shouldn’t have troubled yourself by coming all the way here. If you had just sent a word, we would have sent our finest batch of alcohol to the castle.”

Everard simply smiled and put that nobleman in his place. “Are you saying that I am not allowed to come here? I hope you aren’t hiding something, are you?”

That nobleman became all red within seconds. He didn’t know how to respond to that direct question from the King. Thus, he nervously smiled through his fear and then took some time to reply.

“Wh-Why would we hide anything from you, Your Majesty? I wasn’t saying that you aren’t allowed to come here. I was simply implying that you didn’t need to trouble yourself. I was just trying to say that we would have brought anything to your doorstep if you had simply given a word to us.”

“But then I would have given trouble to you.” Everard smiled again and then spoke in a calm voice, “Oh, and I am not here to buy the alcohol. I am here for an official matter. Why don’t we sit down and talk about it?”

The moment the King said that he was there for an official matter, the nobleman started to sweat profusely. He looked at his staff as if he wanted to say something with his eyes. And he asked the workers while hesitating greatly, “Why don’t you all arrange a place for His Majesty?”

All those workers ran toward a small room that was adjoined by the distillery.

And without waiting for them to arrange the chairs, or to be more precise, let them hide important documents under the pretext of arranging the chairs, Everard followed those workers despite the nobleman’s effort to stall him.

As expected, he found a few of the workers pretending to neatly arrange the files on the desk when Everard entered that room.

One of the workers blurted when he saw the King standing very close to him, “Umm… we were just cleaning the dust. I think the maids didn’t properly clean this room today.”

“Oh, don’t mind me. I will be gone in a few minutes.” Everard then went and sat down on a chair that was inside the room. Then he looked at the workers with an eerie smile on his face.

The workers couldn’t even maintain eye contact with the King. They put their hands behind their backs and hung their head low as if they were guilty of something.

The nobleman tried to minimize the tension in the air by asking one of the workers, “Mr. William, will you go and ask the maids to serve some refreshing drinks to the King?” And he turned to look at the King and kept on ordering that worker, “And if His Majesty wishes to have a taste of our fresh batch of the beverage then offer that as well.”

Everard raised his hand and denied, “No, I’m good. A glass of warm water will do.”

William bowed and then hastily ran out of the room, while all the others kept on standing inside the room. They all looked restless and were covered in sweat.

The King looked at the nobleman and asked, “What do I call you?”

“I am Hendrix Wilson, Your Majesty,” the nobleman replied while slightly bowing to the King.

And without dilly-dallying further, Everard looked at the nobleman and came straight to the point. “Lord Wilson, I was looking at the list of our Kingdom’s major taxpayers. And it caught my interest when I saw that alpha Romulus’ name barely made the list. After all, he owns a lot of businesses. And for his name to be at the last of the list didn’t make that sense to me.”

Hendrix was already turning pale. And although he was trying hard to hide his fear from being reflected on his face, Everard could smell it.

Everard further spoke, “After digging a little more, I found out that the distilleries don’t pay that much tax even when the beverages from these distilleries are the most popular ones in the Kingdom. So, that brought me here.”

He leaned a little forward and asked while glaring at Hendrix with his glowing yellow eyes. “Let me see the ledger where you keep the record of your profit and loss.”

“O-Of course, Your Majesty,” Hendrix gave a bow and turned to look at one of the workers who was standing behind him. “Fetch that file for His Majesty,” he ordered.

And when that worker walked toward a drawer, Everard asked in a sharp tone, “Make sure that ledger is the real one and not the fake one.”

That worker suddenly twitched a little, which didn’t go unnoticed by Everard.

A sly smirk appeared on Everard’s lips. He folded his arms and casually threatened everyone present in the room, “If I find out that it’s a fake then I will seal this distillery for the foreseeable future. I bet that the alpha wouldn’t like that.”