"What happened? Is it the humans?" Roman impatiently asked, his eyes coldly gazing at the creature in front of him, half-human and half-beast.

The guard bowed and without bothering to shift completely, he quickly started relaying the message.

"My Lord. Patriarch Cadmus Akhekh has ordered you to visit him urgently." He panted.

"Huh? What did you say?" Roman froze. His lips twitched as a bad feeling crept up at the back of his mind.

The guard bowed and once again started to repeat his words. "My Lord. Patriarch Cadmus Akhekh has…"

"Ya Ya. I heard it the first time." Roman snapped, not letting the man finish his sentence.

"What does he want with me now?" He muttered rubbing his temples. He didn't have a headache but he was most definitely expecting one shortly.

Roman might be the Lord of the Lycan clan but when it came to the Akhekhs…

He let out a long deep sigh and then stood up from the throne to walk out of the castle. Unlike what the message said, there was no urgency in his footsteps.

He leisurely walked out and was about to whistle, but he paused and started unbuttoning his shirt instead.

The weather was nice and warm. So he decided to run all the way by himself.

Well, more honestly, he wanted to run and tire his limbs out in order to relieve some of the frustrations beforehand. After all, prevention is better than cure.

Roman's lean and muscular body glistened in the sunlight as he removed all the clothing covering him.

A couple of maids walking past him blushed, their faces turning bright red.

However, they didn't dare to linger, not to mention ogle at the Lord, and quickly walked away, whispering in hushed voices.

Roman ignored the eyes on him and brazenly stood naked in front of the castle.

He stretched his limbs before shifting into the elegant and mysterious snow-white wolf, body covered with blue runes.

Letting out a loud howl, he kicked his hind legs, and sped forward, leaving behind only a huge dust cloud.

His body flashed and disappeared, crossing forests and villages, leaving after images as he ran free and wild with terrifying agility and power.

Roman reached the royal castle in the span of a few seconds when it had even taken his bird several minutes to cover the same distance.

In fact, the huge fierce griffon was no match to him. They were in two different leagues altogether.

Roman did not stop at the entrance of the castle and ran through, only slowing down at the southern part of the castle where the old man typically resided.

Though the castle was split into different sections, the garden still ran continuously, only slightly separated by a thin fence made of various creepers and brambles that added a wild charm to the otherwise neatly mowed lawn.

But just as he was about to jump over the fence into the old man's private residence, he froze, momentarily pausing in front of a pond on the adjacent quarters.

His deep blue eyes stared at the beautiful figure laying peacefully on the ground. Her chest heaved up and down as she calmly breathed in the fresh air.

She looked so thin and fragile as if she was going to turn into a puddle of water any second and seep into the ground without leaving a trace behind.

His mind wavered for a moment, as he lifted his leg, starting to walk in her direction, but the next second he snorted and jumped over the fence instead, reaching the Patriarch's residence.

Roman then lazily took out his clothes from the silver pendant on his neck, which was his spatial storage armament.

He only wore a loose robe as he planned to once again shed everything when returning back, but while doing so, he kept gazing at the pond and the figure who rested beside the pond.

"What took you so long, brat? Didn't I say that the matter was urgent?!" A grumpy voice sounded from inside breaking his thoughts.

Roman instantly whipped his head away, as if he was caught doing something inappropriate.

He walked away from the spot in a haste, heading inside, even though the old man was already on his way out.

Not that he was covering his tracks. He was merely taking a look. There was nothing wrong with that.

It was just that the old man seemed to favor the girl a lot and he didn't want to get mixed up in something complicated, especially when it involved him, the troublesome man known for his temper.

"Brat. Stop dawdling and get in fast." Cadmus muttered and walked back inside.

Roman sighed and shook his head helplessly before following him inside.

A pair of guards even closed the chamber doors behind them and stood outside making sure that no one else was privy to their conversation.

Roman gazed at the old man's odd behavior in puzzlement and sat down. "What happened, your highness?"

"Brat. Start from the beginning and tell me everything. Leave no detail behind. Tell me everything you know about my granddaughter."

Oh… Roman nodded in realization. It made sense that this was why he had been summoned so urgently.

On one hand, it tickled his arrogance for being summoned like this as if he was an errand boy but on the other hand…

A pair of gorgeous blue eyes not unlike his, but seeped with sadness entered his mind and he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Your highness." Roman let out a deep sigh and started sharing with the old man everything, not leaving out any detail, even the most insignificant one.

He started from the masquerade ball where he had seen her first and how he had researched everything about her.

He told Cadmus about the Prince who had bought her as a slave and unsealed her beast.

He told everything including his own theories and how Sylvia had been imprisoned.

The old man trembled and his sharp eyes grew darker and darker as he silently continued listening to everything.