Bye, My Ruthless Alpha
Chapter 31: The King

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: The King

Third Person’s POV

"Surely Tori has hidden it in her handbag. Search it!" Joy called out loudly, her eyes gleaming with urgency and certainty, as if she was certain the brooch was inside.

Tori’s handbag was a gift from Joy. It was made of soft leather and beautifully designed, but at the moment, it was a place fraught with danger. There was a third trap in the bag, and Joy had carefully placed something in it that would put Tori in a hopeless situation, beyond redemption.

Sophia and Joy exchanged a glance and reached an understanding. Since the first two traps had failed to work, they would play their last card and fight with their backs to the wall.

They thought to themselves that if, by luck, the brooch was really in this handbag, then Tori would be in a terrible plight, surely losing face in front of everyone and meeting a very ugly end.

"Yeah, yeah, surely she has hidden it in her handbag." Joy took a step forward swiftly and picked up Tori’s handbag deftly, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly, revealing a hint of barely perceptible smugness.

The originally dazzling necklace had been swapped, and the precious brooch had mysteriously disappeared. Two of Sophia’s three plans, which she had thought were brilliant, had somehow failed.

Her eyes widened in shock and she wondered to herself where on earth it had gone. It must be in Tori’s handbag! Something must have gone wrong and aroused the king’s suspicions, but what was going on?

Looking at Tori again, she was like a statue of silence. She hadn’t said a word from the beginning and just stood there quietly, her deep eyes calm, as if all the disputes and noises around her were insulated from her.

The king gradually calmed down at this time. He was an extraordinarily wise man, and he had only been upset and lost his composure before because his beloved brooch had disappeared without a trace.

At this moment, his shrewdness and reason had returned. With a twinkle in his eye, the king instantly saw through Sophia’s malicious intentions. Clearly, they were deliberately trying to frame Tori.

He couldn’t help but look at Tori with new eyes. This girl was really composed. If anyone else had been falsely accused of stealing, they would surely have lost control of their emotions, either hissing in anger or crying in distress. But she was as steady as a rock, and her extraordinary composure truly amazed him.

"Now it seems that you’re not in a hurry, but it’s Sophia and Joy who set you up,” Kas said to Tori expressionlessly, her voice low and calm. "They swapped the hexagram for a triangular pendant and hid the brooch in your shawl. Unfortunately, both of these plans failed. So, their only remaining hope rested on your handbag."

"If the contents of the handbag are replaced by you as well, then they could be a complete failure." Kas raised her chin slightly, a hint of certainty in her eyes.

"Not only will it fail to set you up, but also make a bad impression on the king and affect Sophia’s image in front of him, which would be too much to lose," he continued as he clasped his hands to his chest.

Sophia stood by, beads of sweat breaking out on her forehead and the tip of her nose, her hands clasped uneasily, her fingers twisting, obviously nervous to the extreme. Suddenly, she stepped forward and snatched Tori’s handbag in a panicked movement.

She reached into the bag and rummaged around, first pulling out a piece of paper, pausing briefly before holding it between two fingers, then continuing to rummage through the bag in a panic as the piece of paper fell lightly to the floor.

Joy was quick on her feet and immediately leaned over to pick it up.

"What’s this?" She raised her voice to shout, staring at it with feigned surprise, acting with an exaggerated expression and tone of voice as if she was really seeing the piece of paper for the first time.

Joy then subconsciously handed the piece of paper to the king with a hint of anticipation on her face, as if she was waiting for a good show.

The king was also wondering what was written on the paper, and he frowned slightly, thinking that the paper must be something on Tori, or Sophia and Joy wouldn’t have gone to such lengths. He was also a little curious about what was written on it, so when Joy handed it over, he took it.

The king’s Beta came along, equally curious, and the two cocked their heads to look at the piece of paper together.

Joy stood by and whispered triumphantly, "The king is going to hate Tori!" The corners of her mouth turned up and her eyes filled with gloating.

When she saw the paper, Joy thought that any woman would be angry, let alone an old king.

Sophia also pretended to continue rummaging through her handbag, but the corner of her eye was locked onto the king, trying to catch a hint of satisfaction from his expression. Joy also waited quietly for the king’s furious expression, as if the victory was already in her hands.

Each of these three plans, in their eyes, was a masterstroke, and if only one of them worked, Tori would be doomed. Sophia’s heart was full of triumph, and she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, ‘It was a thrill, but it worked.’

However, things didn’t go as they had hoped, and Sophia saw the Beta frown at the paper and then give Joy a puzzled look.

‘It worked, it finally worked!’ Joy didn’t understand the situation yet, and she followed suit with a sigh of relief, her eyebrows revealing a few moments of pleasure, her face beaming with the joy of an impending success.

They both remained transfixed on the king.

But in the next instant, the king looked up, and instead of the indignation Sophia and her daughter expected, he looked puzzled. Immediately after, the king’s lazy face appeared to be angry.

He threw the paper to Sophia, completely ignoring the etiquette, and questioning unceremoniously loudly, "Sophia, you and Joy, what are you doing? I’ve seen enough of one act at a time, now tell me what the hell are you up to?"

Sophia was shocked and thought, ‘No, that shouldn’t be his reaction! Anger is anger, but the direction of anger is not right, he should be scolding Tori, not us!’

With her heart full of doubt, Sophia quickly glanced at the paper in her hand, then almost slipped on her feet realizing that it was a blank sheet of paper!

This was not the paper she had prepared! Everything Sophia prepared, Tori switched!

‘That’s impossible! How could she know that I’ve been preparing meticulously for seven days?’ Sophia’s eyes darted around in panic, racking her brain to figure out what was wrong.

She’d gone to great lengths to stop Tori from getting close to Cayden, to banish her from the pack. She’d meticulously organized every step of the way, prepared everything, even spent a lot of money over the past seven days, and how did it all go down the drain when she got here?

Sophia was shocked! At the same time, Joy also saw the white paper, and both of them changed their faces at once. The two of them combined were outmaneuvered by Tori alone.

Joy growled in displeasure, her face reddening and her eyes filled with chagrin.

The king asked them questions, and they didn’t answer, with strange looks in their eyes. When the king saw this, he turned around and looked sternly at Tori behind him.

"Miss Tori, do you know what is going on?"

Tori’s voice was gentle and unassuming as she replied to the king, "If you want to know the reason, why don’t you look in the pocket of Sophia’s coat?" Tori pointed at it, and the king immediately realized where Tori had switched things.

Sophia was so shocked that her face instantly turned white, her eyes glazed over, and she scrambled to protect the coat, stumbling a little in her panic. The king, however, was quicker, pushing her hands out of the way, and stepped forward to search the pockets.

After watching half a day of drama, the king completely disregarded his noble demeanor, full of anger burning, his eyes wide open, fiercely reaching out to pull out Sophia’s coat pocket.

When the king first pulled out a delicate gold pendant and, upon closer inspection, realized that it was actually his enemy’s sacred hexagram, his face changed drastically. His lips trembled slightly, and his eyes were filled with shock and anger as he stared dead at Sophia.

She wanted to protect the coat, but under such a cold knife-like gaze, she only felt a chill around her body. Her feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, no longer able to move the slightest bit, and the tender flesh of her cheeks trembled uncontrollably.

The king clutched this hexagram tightly in his hand, put it in his own pocket, and proceeded to dig into Sophia’s coat pocket with a sharp, hard movement.

This time, he pulled out a porcelain-white, diamond-studded brooch.

He couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air. "My brooch!” he exclaimed, his voice trembling a little.

The surprise of the lost and found made the king’s eyes wet in an instant, tears glistening in his eyes. He almost cried with joy, his hands trembling slightly while he held the brooch tightly as if he was afraid that it would disappear again.

However, he quickly came back to his senses, his brow furrowed, his eyes filled with confusion and anger. "Why was it in your coat pocket?" he questioned.

Still angry, the king continued to dig into the pockets. This time, he pulled out a piece of paper.

Unfolding it, the sheet was filled with malicious rumors that someone had made up about him, in vulgar and vicious terms, mainly saying that the king was messing around with women and was an infertile invalid.

His face instantly reddened, his forehead veins bulging. He angrily put the paper away, then flung his coat fiercely to the ground, pointing angrily at Sophia. "Good, how good you are!"

The king was furious and walked out with great strides, each step carrying endless anger.