Even if there was a lightning strike from outside, Mars and Gewen wouldn't be this shocked to hear Lily's statement.
Emmelyn accused Ellena of killing the queen??
Why would Ellena do that? Queen Elara was so nice to her and treated her like her own daughter. Ellena, Gewen, Mars, and Edgar were very close since they grew up together and the queen was kind to all of them.
"Don't you dare speak bullshit about Ellena!" Gewen immediately snapped at Lily. "I know you are Athos's wife, but I will not tolerate you spouting nonsense about our good friend!"
Lily shrank in her place to see his anger. She didn't expect the beautiful general would lash out at her.
Seeing his wife scared, Athos immediately rose from his seat and stood before his wife, as if protecting her from Gewen's fury.
"Don't you dare speak in that tone to my wife!" Athos touched the handle of his sword, and his face looked equally angry. "She is just telling you what she heard from Lady Emmelyn. What happened to being unbiased and listen to all sides of the story? You slimy hypocrite!"
Gewen's eyes bulged so big when he heard Athos call him a slimy hypocrite.
Which part of him was slimy? He was now clean-shaven and looked as handsome as he was before the fateful trip to Wintermere.
And Gewen was clearly not a hypocrite. He was just speaking his mind. He knew Ellena well and was certain that the woman would never do such a heinous crime to someone they loved and adored, like Queen Elara.
Emmelyn, on the other hand, had all the motives, the opportunities, and even the murder weapon.
Mars was equally surprised to see Athos calling Gewen with those words. He had never seen his cousin looking this angry.
Athos was usually a very calm man, much like himself. But apparently, Athos could turn into a beast for protecting his wife's honor?
Well, that sounded like they did share a gene, he thought. All the men from the Strongmoor family were very loyal and protective of their wives and families.
"Stop it, both of you!" Mars quickly raised his hand and made a sign for the two men to step back. He turned to Gewen with a raised brow. "Athos is right, Gewen. You cannot call yourself unbiased if you are partial against Emmelyn and only show favors to Ellena."
"But he called me slimy hypocrite!" Gewen pursed his lips. "Only girls and little children resort to name-calling."
Mars turned to Athos and nodded. "Gewen is right. We are all adults here. Can we talk like adults, please? I just want to hear the truth and collect information. If you are going to make things difficult for me, I don't see the point in continuing the conversation. I would rather go and take Harlow with me. I don't need this shit!"
Athos and Gewen went silent. They regretted their bickering just now when they were supposed to help Mars to uncover facts and find out what really happened between his mother, Emmelyn, and Ellena.
"I am sorry," said Athos with a sigh. "I will not call him slimy hypocrite again. Just don't let him bully my wife. Or else..."
Gewen glanced at Lily and then he lowered his head. "I am sorry for lashing out. I shouldn't have done that. I was just shocked to hear Ellena being accused of such a heinous crime when I know her personally and I believe she would never do something like that. I will hold my peace and listen to all sides of the story now."
"Thank you. Now, can we please continue?"
Mars was upset by what happened between Gewen and Athos, but he realized both men were just defending the women they were close with. He was not that much different from them.
He would do the same for Emmelyn.
However, as the future king and someone who must uphold justice in this land, he had the obligation to be impartial and not taking sides, even if it was his wife's.
He turned to Lily and asked her to continue. "Lily, please continue."
The crown prince's voice sounded very tired when he spoke and it tugged Lily's heartstrings.
She felt deeply sorry for what Mars and Harlow were going through and wanted to help as much as she could.
"I went to visit Lady Emmelyn one week after she was detained. I had to disguise myself as a maid because we are not allowed to visit her. The king's guard commander said it was the order from the king himself."
Lily took a deep breath before she continued. "Emmelyn said she was framed and she believed it was Lady Ellena Greystorm, Duke Preston's adopted daughter, who did it. She said Lady Ellena killed your mother to frame her."
Mars was hanging on Lily's every word as if his life depended on it.
"What happened on the day of the murder? Did she tell you? Why she thought Ellena framed her?" He asked Lily urgently.
"She said on the day of the murder, she received an anonymous letter from someone who claimed that they kept her nephew and they would kill the boy if Emmelyn didn't come with the ransom. They asked 1000 gold coins."
"Did Emmelyn have a nephew? I have never heard of that," said Mars. "It must be bait."
"She thought of that too, but she couldn't risk not going because... what if it's true? What if her brother Killian really left a child behind? So she went in disguise as a man to look for information. She told me they were lying. They only did it to lure her out of the castle."
Mars felt his heart drop to the floor. He could imagine what happened. Emmelyn got caught and she was missing from the castle all day when his mother came.
By the time Emmelyn returned, the queen was already dead and everyone was looking for her as the murder suspect.
"Did she have any witness that could vouch for her?" Mars asked impatiently. "She must be bringing my butler and some guards for protection when she went."
Lily nodded. "She said she went with your butler, Roshan, but when the king's guard commander testified that Roshan was in the castle when the murder happened. He was the one who welcomed the queen inside and took her to see Emmelyn."
"So, Roshan was not with Emmelyn?" Mars asked to confirm what he just heard.
Lily shook her head. "Roshan did say he accompanied Emmelyn to go to town in the morning, but they went back before lunch to see the queen."
"I will talk to my butler personally and ask him about this matter," said Mars finally.
He realized all parties involved seemed to have their own version of the events and he needed to know which one was the truth.
He also would talk to Ellena. Since Emmelyn accused her of the crime, Ellena must defend herself and tell her own side of the story.
"Did Emmelyn say anything else?" Mars asked Lily. "Did she mention me or...?"
"She said she wanted to write a letter to you to explain everything but she had no access to send it. She was worried that they will confiscate her letters. They also didn't give her your latest letters from Wintermere."
Then she added, "Emmelyn also asked me to send a message to Lady Ellena to tell her that Emmelyn wanted to meet."
"Emmelyn wanted to meet Ellena?"
Mars was shocked to hear this. He knew how much Emmelyn hated Ellena. So, why did she want to meet the woman she hated?