Hundreds of eyes fixated on the young maid to see what she had to say.

The queen watched as Shelley went to open her mouth.

Unfortunately, the wait had made many of the guests antsy—most of the children brought by guests were toddlers and were unable to handle the strong aura the queen released. Their packs attempted to comfort them as they knew that their queen/friend had a short fuse.

Loud cries prevent Shelley from continuing her words—for the first time in her life she was happy about shrieking and sniveling children did when they cried, to her at that moment it was like music to her ears.

She heaved out a heavy sigh, finally relaxing.

"Dear..." King Leopoldo, who sat nearby, spoke to get her attention. The queen noticed and began to release her soothing cinnamon-scented omega pheromones. Immediately, everyone in the perimeter felt less stressed out and more calm, especially the children.

Out of nervousness, Shelley gulped when she saw what was happening. There was nothing preventing her from telling the truth now.

The queen rubbed her husband's leg in thankfulness and gave him a peck on the lips before redirecting her attention to the maid. Her eyes narrowed into slits.

"You were saying?"

Shelley shook in fear and said, 'Damn it, if I knew that the queen was hosting a party for that country bumpkin, I never would have treated him that way. Why did I have to go and ruin all the work I put into it? ' She took a deep breath before speaking.

"Queen Esme, I did indeed leave Noah behind." She finally admitted, the Queen's eyes flashed red in anger, and even Gael narrowed his eyes at the admission, "But!" The maid lifted her head, "I did it in an attempt to protect myself!"

"Protect yourself?" The Queen reiterated the maid's words, "Go on." She said.

"Your son-in-law, my young master, abused me!" Shelley said, lying by the skin of her teeth.

She listened as the guests began to mutter, "Terrible, for such a young girl to go through something like that is horrible!"

'Yes, everything is going according to plan... now I need the omega sl*t to keep out of this situation and I'll be home free.' She covered her mouth behind her hands and began to laugh.

"... proof?" She heard someone utter.

"Excuse me?" She looked up to see who had asked the question just to see Prince Gael, her crush, talking to her.

"I said, Do you have any proof, you dim-witted woman?" He said, his eyes cold like ice.

"I... uh..." She was shocked... 'proof? What proof? Everything I had been saying was a lie! ' She began to tremble until she remembered the bruises she had received from being clumsy at her job as a maid. 'Perfect!'

"Here is my proof!" She pulls up her sleeves to reveal nasty bruises the size of golf balls.

Again, the guests began to mutter in amazement. Who knew that this dinner party would end up becoming something so controversial? To think the royal family brought in a hooligan to the upper ranks—some of the guests looked at the maid in suspicion before looking at their two friends, wondering what they were going to do about the situation.

"He grabbed me and threw me around like a doll." I thought I was going to die! I had to get out of there, so I came back here. "

"Then why did you not go and tell the Head-Butler about this? Why did we have to find out that Fre- I mean, Noah, did not arrive together with you? Do you know how much embarrassment you brought upon us the royal family? " Gael said, looking down on the maid, fed up with her stupid act. He could clearly see through her. He could feel his wolf pacing around under his skin, ready to attack the woman. The thought of the woman degrading freckles ticked something off inside of him, making him feel incredibly angry.

Shelley flushed at the reprimand she received from her crush.

"No! I hadn't intended to-"

"But you did it anyway." He cut her off. His silvery gold eyes turned an alpha red. The maid gulped, fearing for her life. 'It's ok,' she thought, 'I know that he isn't going to harm me! We've known each other for almost 14 years now! ' She looked desperately at Reina for help. During the time here, she made sure to build a friendly relationship with the Princess. She admired the Princess fiercely.

Reina looked into Shelley's forest green eyes before talking.

"I don't believe Noah would do anything of the sort." All of Shelley's hope crashed down into pieces.

"It's true! He really did abuse me! " She turned around and faced the guests, "You have to believe me!"

"Such insolence!" King Leopold finally broke his silence. "How dare you attempt to manipulate our guests and children!"

Shelley began to cower in fear. She no longer attempted to say anything and avoided the King's gaze.

Meanwhile, in the guest seats...

"Man, this is getting a bit too spicy," Florence said to his friends. He had long, wavy blonde hair and blue eyes.

"True that! Everything's getting spilled today! Haha~" Mikey, short for Michael, added. He had a buzz cut and short brown hair, with dark brown eyes. Mikey turned to Chris and Bernard. Chris had messy dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and a laid-back look, while Bernard had slicked-back honey blonde hair and wore silver-rimmed glasses. His eyes were a shade of green. All of the men speaking were friends of Gael as well as his retainers.

"That omega has the nerve to be so late; that country bumpkin must not even have any brain if he decided to hit somebody, especially a woman." A voice nearby replied, her face puffed red in anger. She looked similar to Florence in appearance.

"Man, sis, don't take it too personally. Gael's just in a bit of a predicament, that's all. Your soon-to-be-fiancé, not really, isn't going to get hurt or anything." Internally, he was thinking of something else entirely.

'She should know that Gael isn't interested in her after he asked our parents to break the engagement. However, Mika chooses not to accept this, and still calls him her fiancé. No offense, but having that brute as a brother-in-law would mean no more sneaking out during practice... but I can't say that or she would beat the stuffing out of me 'He thought absentmindedly.

"Please believe me!" 'Oh it's starting up again?' He thought in entertainment.

Creak

Suddenly, the door opened wide to reveal the most beautiful looking omega anyone had ever seen. The omega wore a navy blue tuxedo with matching pants—black floral print could be seen on the outfit, which showed off his lithe body to the people gathered. His platinum blond hair was combed back with a slight wave for his bangs. Everyone noticed the light dusting of freckles that dotted his face and how his jawline looked so sharp it could cut stone. His bright hazel eyes glanced around before finally landing on Gael. Suddenly, the lovely omega blushed before looking away. The two locked eyes. Gael was looking very handsome—like a king. I wonder why he was sitting there in the first place. In the end, the charming action served to endear him to the guests.

Crack

Florence turned around to see his lovely younger sister break her wine glass.

'Oh no...' he thought.

Noah noticed the group sitting in their seats near him and stood awkwardly in front of the door that had shut softly behind him.

He suddenly saw the maid from earlier and gazed at her in confusion.

The maid widened her eyes in disbelief. All my hard work! How did he manage to find this place! It's not even in the same building as his room...' She gritted her teeth, staying silent.

"You must be Noah, please... come here."

Noah quickly and quietly took long strides, conscious of the people on either side, before standing in front of the woman who seemed to be in charge of this grand event.

As he looked around the hall earlier, he noticed that there were large portions of food everywhere. He wanted to ask what the occasion was, but as he didn't know anybody, he kept his mouth shut.

As he stood in front of the beautiful woman, he could feel the powerful aura that she exuded. And so, became even more nervous.

He made sure to tilt his neck in submission, something he had learnt from the Omega classes he had been taught by his mom. It was going to be hard to unlearn the brash tendencies he had when he was an alpha, but he's slowly getting there.

The woman before him smiled, a beautiful full toothed smile, her eyes crinkling. Noah couldn't stop gazing at her and blushed hard. He looked down at his feet and automatically became more submissive and happy at the attention.

He had a strange feeling. 'She reminds me of mom.'

Gael watched the exchange with slight agitation. He couldn't help but clench the chair when Noah smiled back at his mother, but he didn't know why he did that.

"Noah, please tell us. What truly happened between you and the maid? "

The queen asked him kindly, placing her hand on his cheek and pushing back the stray hairs that escaped from the hair gel he had used earlier. This action was used on omegas to tell them that they were safe. As Noah was still new to being an omega, he was completely unaware of the action but felt himself calm down. He felt as though he could tell her anything, but the happiness he felt came crashing down at the reminder of the maid. Noah began to tear up, unable to hold on to his feelings as he was in front of a motherly figure.

Her face immediately changed to one of surprise, as she began to panic at the sudden tears. She immediately gave him a big warm hug and released soothing pheromones.

She cradled her son-in-law in her hands before looking back at the maid, who jumped in fright after seeing the icy blue eyes that looked like they would freeze the world over; a contrast to the queen's normal golden eye color.

"Seeing his reaction, it seems to me as though your admission isn't true. Now is it Shelley? " The Queen stood up, firmly holding Noah up by the shoulder so that he wouldn't fall.

"The fact that you have lied straight to our faces is considered treason against the kingdom." Guards! Take her to the dungeons. As we have known you for almost your entire life, I will be more lenient with your punishment, but should this happen again, I will exile you personally."

"What?! No, your majesty, please! It was an honest mistake." Guards came to take her away with no mercy. She could be heard screaming and crying along the way, until they finally exited the halls and through the doors.

The Queen turned around and sighed. Had they been spoiling her too much lately? She looked at her cute son-in-law, bad mood gone, and called her no-so-cute son over.

"Comfort him while I start the banquet. If he doesn't want to mingle, it's alright—there are two more days to this celebration left. You are not allowed to refuse. " She glared at him.

"Now go." She immediately turned. "Shall we begin?" She picked up a wine glass to begin her speech.

Gael looked at the sniveling Omega. He picked him up bridal style and moved to his seat, placing the omega onto his lap.

Calm him. Rub his back. His wolf said to him.

Gael huffed at the suggestion until he heard tiny sniffles leave the omega. He ended up doing what his wolf said.

Reina, who watched the entire exchange in worry, told him, "You might have to take him to your room for the night. When omegas get this distressed, it's not safe to leave them alone."

Gael looked back down at Freckles then to his group of friends. Something in him wanted to hide the omega sitting on his lap, so he twisted his body as far as he could before they could no longer see the omega.

The party continued without a hitch. Even though the main person of the event was incapacitated, the guests still enjoyed themselves, and after what had occurred today, they couldn't wait to gossip about the drama that they had witnessed. They couldn't wait to actually talk to Prince Gael's mate in the next couple of days.