The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me? Chapter 436: A Robbery That Reveals the Truth (II)

If the soldier refused to speak, then all Primrose needed to do was ask the right questions and let him think about the answers in his own head.

It was an effective thod because people couldn’t stop themselves from thinking of an answer whenever they heard a question.

"Why did you work with the bandits?" Primrose asked.

The soldier turned his face away, clearly uncomfortable whenever his eyes t Primrose’s golden ones. Edmund stepped forward, ready to force him to look at her, but Primrose lifted her hand slightly, telling him to let it go.

She didn’t say anything after that, letting the silence stretch between them.

Not long after, the soldier finally started thinking.

[Why is she asking such a stupid question?] he complained in his mind. [What other reason could there be? Of course I needed money! After losing five thousand gold coins from gambling, I had to find a quick way to get it back.]

He clicked his tongue in his mind. [If the bandits hadn’t threatened to report to my fellow soldiers, I wouldn’t have helped them again this year.]

Primrose pieced the story together.

The soldier had lost 5,000 gold coins from gambling last year, and because of that, he helped the bandits rob villagers’ shops last year and again this year.

In other words, these bandits always appeared near winter.

But... why?

The roads around the Azria Kingdom weren’t good for bandits at all. The terrain was too open, and they would run into cliffs more often than forests.

It made more sense for bandits to take routes covered by thick woods in neighboring kingdoms. Even in winter, the bare trees still helped them hide.

So then, why?

Why would they pass through Azria, and even enter Illvaris City?

"I heard recently that the security in this kingdom has gotten very loose," Primrose said, asking another question. "Bandits can slip inside so easily. Why is that?"

The soldier—whose na Primrose didn’t even know—only scoffed in response, clearly not treating her question as sothing important.

But like Primrose had said earlier, his words didn’t matter to her at all.

What she needed was what he was thinking.

[Loose?] he sneered inside his mind. [The King is the one who let those bandits in! Especially to raid the Duke’s distillery!]

What?!

No wonder Lazarus had lost around 1,000 bottles of alcohol last year. The damage was so terrible that her father locked himself in his room for three days.

Primrose and Lazarus had assud the kingdom had simply failed to stop the bandits and that those criminals were just creating chaos by robbing any store they could find in Azria.

But the truth was... they had specifically targeted her father’s distillery?

No, wait... According to this soldier, the one who wanted it to happen was the King of Azria?!

Why the hell would he do that?!

Lazarus had never caused him trouble, and the Queen of Azria was even Primrose’s friend.

The more she thought about it, the less it made sense.

"Like last year, are the bandits also planning to rob the shops in Illvaris?" Primrose asked the soldier once more.

The soldier finally turned his face toward her, but he still refused to speak.

[Who cares about other shops? Those are all just distractions!]

[They’re going to empty the Duke’s distillery tonight! If I’m going to die anyway, at least I want to watch the Duke’s family suffer!]

Primrose’s frown deepened, and she clenched her fists tightly.

In her first life, sothing like this never happened. Yes, Lazarus had been robbed one year before she left for Noctvaris, but after that, he was never robbed again.

Wait, how could she be so sure?

She only knew about her father’s situation through letters, and knowing her father, even if he went bankrupt, he would never tell Primrose because he wouldn’t want her to worry.

The chance of him going completely bankrupt was small anyway because he was supported by Edmund’s distillery business.

But what scared Primrose most now was the possibility that her father might have been badly hurt by those bandits.

Her chest tightened at the thought. She gritted her teeth and turned to Edmund. "Husband, be honest with . Did my father’s distillery factory ever get robbed badly back then?"

Both Edmund and the soldier widened their eyes at her question.

The soldier was shocked she could even think of sothing like that, while Edmund looked torn, like he didn’t know if he should lie or tell her the truth.

"Your wolf hid that mory from , didn’t he?" Primrose asked. She didn’t even care if the soldier heard it. She could make him kill himself afterward anyway.

Edmund opened his mouth, then closed it again. He was clearly torn about answering her.

But after Primrose stared at him for a long ti, he finally spoke. "Yes. Bandits burned your father’s distillery back then, but he asked not to tell you."

Primrose’s stomach dropped. She stepped forward, grabbing Edmund’s arm tightly before asking again. "Was he hurt?"

Edmund fell silent again, looking at her with heavy, troubled eyes.

After a long breath, he finally answered, "Yes." He added softly, "He was inside the factory when the fire started... and his legs were crushed by a heavy beam."

The mont she heard those words, Primrose felt like her heart simply stopped. Her knees gave out beneath her, and she would have collapsed if Edmund hadn’t rushed forward and caught her.

"No, no, no... that must have been awful," Primrose whispered in panic. "He must have suffered so much back then. We should—" Her voice broke as her mind went completely blank. After a shaky breath, she continued, "We should help him... he won’t be able to live normally if he can’t walk..."

"Primrose," Edmund gently shook her body, just enough to pull her out of her spiraling thoughts. "Your father is fine right now."

Oh... right.

Her father was fine. His legs were not crushed in this life, and Primrose was here in Illvaris with him. Everything was different now.

"But... the bandits are still going to attack his distillery tonight, right?" she asked.