The Married Alpha Who Refuses to Be a Heartthrob (A/B/O · Alpha POV) - Chapter 26

The next instant, the doll trampled by the priest appeared from the direction of another church door. Its silhouette flickered and shifted positions, quickly moving toward the front entrance.

 

Keith and the others chased after the doll, running to the front of the church. Kaes mounted his horse and galloped after it: “I’ll chase it!”

 

Traveling by carriage was too slow, so Keith also rode after it on horseback. The attendants, just catching up, scrambled onto their own horses. Only two attendants without mounts were left to drive the carriage.

 

They tried their best to stay close to the doll, but it could teleport. Being only palm-sized, they had to stare intently each time it reappeared.

 

The wizard reeled in his “fishing” line. Following the doll would likely lead them to the wizard.

 

The doll exited the city and entered the forest, where few people ventured and the paths branched.

 

It vanished at a fork ahead, with roads branching left and right. They decided to split up: Kaes and Keith took the left path, while Erlan took the right.

 

Erlan sat in the carriage, pursuing for some time, until the coachman shouted, “Inspector! We’ve found the wizard!”

 

Erlan leaned out the carriage window and saw a tall cloaked figure ahead. The face was entirely covered in fur, revealing only two eyes—green eyes filled with cold indifference.

 

The strange figure carried Abe’s corpse over one shoulder, clutching the doll in the other hand.

 

Erlan shouted, “Who are you?”

 

The figure offered no reply, merely staring back in silence.

 

Erlan should have seized the stranger, but he changed his mind. The figure floated into the air and vanished. Most wizards possessed levitation, so Erlan saw nothing unusual in this.

 

His servant, however, was puzzled: “Master, why let him go?”

 

“Shut up. Keep talking and you’ll lose your head. If anyone asks, say we didn’t find him.” Erlan ordered coldly, then climbed back into his carriage.

 

Returning to the fork in the road, he found Kaes and Keith who came back empty-handed. They haven’t found the wizard.

 

Kaes glanced at Erlan’s carriage window. Seeing only Erlan inside, he pressed further: “Did the Inspector perhaps found the wizard?”

 

“No. He likely went into hiding,” Erlan replied with a hint of regret.

 

His coachman kept his head bowed, pretending not to overhear their exchange.

 

Kaes couldn’t tell if Erlan was being truthful or not: ” He got away fast. I’ll send men to search again.”

 

Kaes dispatched men to comb the route Erlan had taken, but it was too late. They found no trace of the wizard.

 

…

 

Finding the wizard will take time. It was best to resolve the Dead Dog Curse first, so everyone could eat normally.

 

Kaes brought Keith back to the Inspectorate to discuss with Long Shi how to solve the dead dog incident. Kaes proposed waiting at the painter’s house at midnight; if that time didn’t work, they’d wait until the body was buried.

 

Both Keith and Long Shi thought this method was worth trying. After agreeing, Long Shi left.

 

Kaes instructed his attendant to bring Xiaolu to his office.

 

Soon, the attendant returned with the birdcage. Xiaolu lay listlessly inside, squawking, “You’re starving your master to death!”

 

“Poor Xiaolu.” Keith took the cage from the attendant and examined the parrot closely. Despite two days without food, it remained just as plump.

 

“Kiss, you finally remembered to come back! Your master is nearly starved to death by the governor.” Like a prisoner seeing a relative during a visit, Xiaolu poked its head out of the cage and pecked at Keith’s hand.

 

Keith apologized, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t feed it freely these past two days. It wouldn’t eat porridge, so it only had water.”

 

The livestock in the city were fed as usual, but whatever they ate turned into dog meat. Many animals died, causing great losses for the common folk. Every day, they wrote letters to the governor, hoping he would quickly resolve the curse of the dead dogs.

 

Xiaolu fluttered its wings. “Let me out. I’ll find my own food.”

 

“That’s not possible. Right now, you can only have water or some congee broth,” Keith said.

 

“I’m dead.” Xiaolu was starving. He simply lay on his back, feet pointing skyward, eyes tightly shut, pretending to be a dead bird.

 

Keith carried the birdcage back to the annex, waiting until midnight to go together to the painter’s house.

 

…

 

Long Shi had someone notify Wei, and he arrived at Wei’s house just after 1 a.m.

 

Before leaving, Kaes took the nun’s magic stone with him. After a moment’s thought, he also grabbed the dead dog’s head—who knew if these things might come in handy.

 

At 2 a.m., Kaes arrived at Wei’s home with Vansen, the nuns, and the butlers. The small house instantly felt crowded.

 

These past days, Wei had been restless and unable to eat or sleep. Closing the windows wasn’t enough; he also drew the curtains, spending his days trembling in his bedroom. Even during daytime naps, he was plagued by nightmares—dreams of the dead dog rising from the backyard and stuffing meat into his mouth.

 

After receiving the notice, Wei tidied up the living room to accommodate the dozen or so guests.

 

By 2:30 a.m., everyone had arrived.

 

Tension hung thick in the air as they waited, unsure if this method would work.

 

At 3:00 a.m., the same time Wei had completed his drawing, the backyard remained eerily silent when viewed through the window.

 

“Let’s go check,” said Kaes, carrying a candlestick into the backyard as the others followed.

 

Kaes placed the nun’s magic stone on the spot where the dog had been buried. No reaction. He had someone toss the dog’s head from the governor’s mansion onto the same spot. Still no reaction.

 

This only proved something was missing, or that this wasn’t the solution to the puzzle.

 

Long Shi frowned, unable to think of a better approach: “Why isn’t it reacting?”

 

Kaes: “Wrong timing? We must wait ‘til dawn, the same time the body was buried.”

 

Vansen dug a few shovelfuls to bury the nun’s magic stone, but the result was the same. Kaes, remembering Vansen was also a wizard, asked: “Any thoughts, Bishop Vansen?”

 

“Something feels off. Timing alone won’t solve this, and it’s not the artifact’s fault… Let’s think of other approaches while we wait.” Vansen dug up the nun’s magic stone and handed it to Kaes.

 

It was like a puzzle right before their eyes, yet none could figure out the solution.

 

Watching them from the window, Wei felt a pang of disappointment.

 

Everyone returned to the living room and sat down. Keith asked, “What time was the dog’s body buried?”

 

Wei sat in the corner, away from the window. “Eight-thirty in the morning… Why don’t we all go back for now and come back at dawn?”

 

“I’ll wait here.” Kaes sank into the sofa, worried he might miss something during this time.

 

The others shared his sentiment, each finding a spot to sit.

 

“Let’s wait.” Keith moved to the sofa and sat close beside Kaes.

 

Few could endure the late hours of the night. Even insomniacs often drifted off during the wee hours.

 

In his past life, staying up all night chasing criminals was routine for Kaes. Those in his line of work always found ways to stay alert.

 

Keith was starting to struggle. He rarely pulled all-nighters unless chasing enemies or being hunted himself. Leaning against Kaes, he squinted slightly:

 

“Keith, are you tired?”

 

“You try to sleep.” Kaes wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulder, letting him rest against him.

 

“I’ll just doze off for a bit. Wake me later, then you can rest too.” Keith yawned, draping an arm around Kaes’s waist. His head pressed against the other’s shoulder as he drifted off.

 

“Sleep.” Kaes ruffled Keith’s green hair.

 

The sofa only had three spots. Keith sat in the middle, with Vansen beside him. Vansen leaned sideways, propping his head on the armrest, watching them with disdain.

 

Vansen hadn’t eaten much these past two days. He was exhausted too, but he couldn’t sleep. His nerves were taut. The butler and the nuns sat leaning against the wall, each of them drowsy.

 

Long Shi sat by the doorway, leaning against the threshold and gazing into the pitch-black night outside. Suddenly, a sharp “whoosh” sound snapped him wide awake. He grabbed a candle and went out to investigate, only to see a cat prowling about. Long Shi returned quickly.

 

“What was that outside?” Kaes whispered, while Vansen also turned to look at Long Shi.

 

“Nothing much, just a cat.” Long Shi set down the candlestick, disappointed that nothing significant had occurred.

 

Wei stared blankly at the wall, the dark circles under his eyes pronounced. He hadn’t slept well these past two nights, managing only brief naps during the day. His stomach growled.

 

Kaes: “Hungry?”

 

Wei gave an embarrassed “Mhm.”

 

It was only natural to feel hungry in the middle of the night, especially after days of barely eating, surviving on nothing but watery porridge.

 

Vansen kept his eyes narrowed, conserving his energy without speaking. He wasn’t cut from the same cloth as that necromancer; he couldn’t figure out how to break the curse either.

 

Kaes trusted Vansen’s words. Vansen knew witchcraft too, and his gut told him the Dead Dog Curse can’t be broken this way.

 

Kaes figured nothing would happen by 8:30 am either. It seemed hopeless.

 

Keith’s sniffles echoed on his neck, but Kaes felt no sleepiness. He sensed he was missing a crucial piece of information. The Dead Dog puzzle seemed deceptively simple.

 

The problem was: when Wei finished the drawing, another space had appeared, only to vanish moments later. Now that the drawing was complete, how could they reopen that space?

 

The trigger must have been the moment the drawing was finished.

 

Clearly, none of them could turn back time.

 

“Wei, come talk for a moment,” Kaes called softly.

 

Wei dragged his chair over and sat beside the sofa. “Governor, I shouldn’t have drawn that picture. Strange things happened right after I finished it. It’s all my fault! What should I do?”

 

Wei felt foolish. He shouldn’t have listened to that strange person. Now, people in the city subtly disliked him, whispering behind his back.

 

“Learn from your mistakes… There’s always a way to solve it.” “ Why did you start learning to paint?”

 

In this era, painting wasn’t something just anyone could delve deeply into, especially since Wei was quite talented. He must have had a teacher.

 

Wei: “When I was little, my family had some money, and I had S-class talent. My parents planned to send me to military school to become a warrior or something.”

 

Close combat was an ancient profession, with schools for it in nearly every nation.

 

In Lanqi, only close combat and firearms existed. Military academies there taught only those two disciplines. Those who wished to study magic had to go abroad—to places like Bain Perella, where schools for wizards and mages existed.

 

Back then, the concept of studying abroad didn’t exist; you could only learn what your own country offered.

 

“I had no interest in melee or firearms. Wanting to study magic wasn’t an option, so I turned to drawing… Later, my family fell on hard times, and I had to fend for myself.”

 

“So did you have a teacher come to your home for drawing lessons? What did you study?”

 

Wei was somewhat surprised the governor had time to chat about such trivial matters: “Yes, we hired a teacher to come to our home… Sketching and such, but mainly oil painting. It wasn’t difficult per se, but learning it was frustrating… As a child, I lacked patience and drew very crudely, which my father disliked. The teacher, however, was quite special. He always encouraged me, and that’s how I gradually learned to paint with detail.”

 

Kaes knew oil painting wasn’t easy to master: “So what defines when a painting is finished?”

 

“I asked my teacher that once. He said a painting gets finished when the artist feel it’s done and they put down the brush.”

 

Kais realized he was missing a crucial piece of information. His eyes lit up, and he perked up instantly. He glanced toward the room where the paintings were kept: “I know how to unlock it now.”

 

“Huh?” Wei stared blankly at him.

 

“What’s wrong?” Keith woke up, his eyes still hazy as he looked at Kaes.

 

“Wake up, everyone. I have a method we can try.” Kaes pulled Keith to his feet and roused the others in the living room.