The Crown's Obsession (WN)
chapter-684

Hearing his grandmother's words, Calhoun said, "I had nothing to do with this, grandmother. It aches my heart that you are putting the blame on me, but I can understand it is because you have been caught and you didn't expect it."

"Mother," came the loud voice of Laurence, "I thought you are the only one who has the keys to the locks of your room. No one else has the keys to open your cupboard. Are you telling Calhoun stole the key from you, unlocked it and then placed it back in your hand?"

Morganna's hands clenched, "I would never try to kill you. You are my son! My only son!"

Laurence continued to have a look of disbelief on his face. He hadn't expected this from his mother that she would poison him.

"Why would I even keep the poison in such a plain sight?"

"Maybe you thought we wouldn't search your room," stated the King. "Let's wait for the physician and then see what he tells. And stop blaming Calhoun for something he had nothing to do with."

Morganna didn't know how to convince her son to understand that this was all Calhoun's ploy! Right now, she had been placed upon a hot pan, and the only thing she could do was come clean about what had happened until now.

"I will explain everything to you, but you need to listen to me, Laurence," said Morganna. She threw a glare at Calhoun before looking back at her son. "Calhoun has been trying to set me up against you since he has arrived at the castle. He behaves like the perfect son and grandson in front of you, but with me, he has been vocal to me about how he wants to hurt you and me. Yesterday, he came to me with a deal, telling how he would not expose me if I listened to him."

"Expose you? About what?" Laurence's eyes narrowed. "Is this about the woman's death?"

Morganna was ashamed to reveal the truth, and she didn't know how her son would react after finding the truth.

"No, it's not about that. I-I...it has something to do with the treasury-"

"Grandmother was stealing the wealth that you accumulated from the people, father," Calhoun dropped the information, and Laurence's eyes widened.

"You did what?!" shouted Laurence, and Morganna closed her eyes.

"I didn't mean to-"

"We have been facing low wealth and have been discussing it while you have been not only stealing but also hiding it from me!" exclaimed the King, and he looked away from her as if he couldn't stand her actions.

Morganna quickly spoke, "No no, you don't see it do you? Calhoun has something to do with this-"

"Are you telling me Calhoun was the one who has been stealing from the wealth that belongs to the King, when it has been only a few months since he arrived at the castle?" questioned King Laurence. "And Calhoun, why haven't you informed me of this before?"

Calhoun lowered his eyes at this, "I didn't want grandmother's name to be sullied in front of everyone. I didn't want you to feel hurt over her actions and mistrust her," he shook his head, a sigh leaving his lips. "Yesterday I did go to meet her, I told her to stop doing it because I knew if you found out, you would be greatly hurt by her actions. But I have no idea about what parchment she is speaking about though."

Morganna continued to glare at Calhoun, "The parchment that had two copies, one which you gave me and another that you took back to keep it with you, where you mentioned wanting to be the King right away!"

"If what you are saying is true, where is the parchment? Even if I don't have mine with me, you should have yours, isn't it?" asked Calhoun.

King Laurence and the others waited for Morganna to show them the papers' parchment, but she stood there feeling her control slipping through her fingers. Before leaving her room, she had burned it down so that she could frame Calhoun, but who would have thought that they both would burn down the parchments, turning the whole thing baseless!

Morganna walked towards where Laurence stood, coming to stand in front of him.

"Believe me, Laurence, I didn't mean to steal the wealth. I was only keeping a portion just like your father wanted me to keep," she pleaded with her son.

"You could have told me, mother. I would have given part of it to you myself, but you went behind my back. I cannot tell how disappointed I am with you," replied Laurence, a grim expression on his face. "And now you go as far as to accuse Calhoun. If you had issues with him, you should have come to me about it. I would have done something, but you resorted to poison him and now me!"

"No! I didn't poison you! I would never do that to you. Calhoun placed the poison in that pouch! He has been scheming to put you against me!"

Once again, Laurence looked away from his mother, and he then ordered, "Guards! Make sure to stay with her and see to it that she doesn't go anywhere." Laurence, Lady Samara, and Calhoun stepped out of the room.

After some waiting time, the physician arrived to check the powder with his equipment in front of the King.

"What is this?" demanded Laurence.

"It is the same poison that was used on Advisor Calhoun, my King," answered the physician, bowing his head, who desperately wanted to leave the castle as soon as possible because of the tense atmosphere that had formed in here.

King Laurence took a few steps away from the people, watching the castle grounds in deep thought, while he held both his hands behind his back.

Laurence would have never thought that his mother would go behind his back to take such an extreme step, but then this wasn't the first time for her to do something he opposed. She had been lying, trying to scheme, and he would have let her off the hook if she had confessed. But she had gone as far as to poison both him and Calhoun.

It seemed like his mother still wanted to get rid of Calhoun and wanted to turn his nephew to be the King.

"Calhoun," called King Laurence.

Calhoun was quick to go near Laurence. "I am not happy that you didn't come to me, when you found out about what your grandmother did."

"My sincere apologies, my King," Calhoun bowed his head, "I thought grandmother would rectify her ways. I promised her I wouldn't mention it to anyone including you if she would not commit the mistake again, but I would have never guessed that she would try to kill you. I only wanted to strengthen my relationship with her."

Silence again filled between them, and Laurence went back to Morganna's room.

On seeing her son return, Morganna stood up from her chair in hope, ready to explain further to him why she wasn't the one who poisoned him. But before she could say anything, and their eyes could meet, Laurence said,

"Take her to the dungeon."