Awakening Love Reborn to Be His Duchess (Elowen Hale) novel Chapter 585

Chapter 585 Cracks Beneath the Surface

Piers’s footsteps finally slowed, then came to a complete stop, the echo of them fading into the damp stillness of the corridor before he turned back at last.

Behind him, Dominic struggled upright, his face streaked with grime and tears that had long since dried into uneven tracks. His voice came out hoarse, unsteady, like something dragged up from deep inside.

“My lord… I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything.”

He drew in a ragged breath, forcing the words out. “The Crown Prince… the attack on the Nordian envoy… everything I know.”

For a brief moment, Piers simply watched him, saying nothing, as if weighing whether the man in front of him had truly reached the end of his resistance. Then he stepped back toward the cell, stopping just short of the iron bars, his posture straight, his gaze fixed and unyielding.

“You’re certain?” he asked, his voice even but edged with warning. “Once you start, there’s no walking this back.”

Dominic let out a hollow, broken laugh that carried no trace of humor. “At this point, what is there left to walk back to?” His lips trembled as he forced a bitter smile. “It’s all true. I’ll sign whatever confession you put in front of me.”

He faltered, then added in a lower voice, “I only ask… that the Duchess-”

Piers cut him off before he could finish, each word deliberate and unmistakable. “If you confess, the Duchess will see that your family is protected.”

That was enough.

Dominic closed his eyes and nodded, the last thread holding him together finally giving way.

Only then did Piers allow himself a quiet breath.

Since the night before, when Dominic had first been brought into the Ministry’s custody, Piers had already tested every approach he could think of. Pressure, persuasion, cold reasoning, even the careful laying out of consequences. Dominic had been shaken, visibly so, but he had held on with surprising stubbornness, refusing to say anything that mattered.

In the end. Piers had sent word to Hale Manor.

The reply had been infuriatingly simple. “Wait for Iris.”

At the time, it had made no sense.

1/5

Wait for her? A former attendant from the Crown Prince’s household?

Sylvia had mentioned, almost in passing, that Iris had already shifted her allegiance and was now working for the Duchess, but even then, Piers hadn’t thought much of it. In his mind, a servant was still a servant, no matter how clever.

Until now.

Just moments earlier, he had stepped away under the pretense of retrieving writing materials, pausing in the shadows where he could hear without being seen. What he heard had been enough to change his mind entirely.

Iris had not raised her voice. She had not threatened. She had not pleaded.

She had simply spoken, calmly and precisely, placing each word exactly where it would do the most damage.

And Dominic had broken.

Not forced. Not cornered. Just… undone.

Piers’s gaze shifted slightly, thoughtful.

There was something unsettling about that kind of control, about the way she seemed to see straight through a person and find the one place they couldn’t defend.

And beneath that quiet, compliant exterior, there was something far sharper, far colder than he had expected.

No wonder Elowen had taken her in.

Even so, the thought rose unbidden.

Sharp as she is… she’s still not Sylvia. Not quite.

The outcome of the interrogation sent a ripple through the entire Ministry of Crown Justice.

The questioning itself had ended quickly, almost abruptly once Dominic began speaking, but what followed was anything but simple.

Senior officials gathered behind closed doors, the atmosphere inside turning heavy as voices rose and fell in tense, drawn–out debate that stretched deep into the night..

On the table lay Dominic’s confession, signed and sealed.

Only a few pages.

2/5

Chapter 900 Cracks Denedure ounque

Yet no one reached for it.

No one seemed willing to be the one to carry it forward.

Piers stood off to one side, watching the entire exchange unfold with quiet detachment, his patience thinning as the hours dragged on and the arguments circled the same cautious concerns without resolution.

By the time the first pale light of dawn filtered through the high windows, he had seen enough.

“My lords,” he said at last, his voice cutting cleanly through the room, not loud but impossible to ignore, “the facts are clear, the testimony is complete, and the case has been laid out in full. What exactly are we still discussing?”

The room fell briefly silent.

A few avoided his gaze.

Piers let that silence sit for a moment before continuing, his tone steady but edged now with something firmer.

“Or perhaps the question isn’t about the case at all,” he said. “Perhaps it’s whether this report is ever going to leave this room.”

The Minister of Justice glanced at him, fatigue written plainly across his face. “That’s not what this is,” he replied. “Of course it will be submitted. Just not immediately.”

“Not immediately?” Piers repeated, as if testing the words.

The Minister exhaled slowly. “Timing matters. How this is presented matters. If this reaches His Majesty without preparation and he reacts badly, do you understand the consequences? This concerns the Crown Prince. If it shakes the court, if it destabilizes the realm… who answers for

that?”

Piers paused for a split second.

Back at home, Gareth had given him a quiet warning.

If anything real came out of the interrogation, the seasoned officials in the Ministry wouldn’t dare submit it up the chain.

At the time, Piers hadn’t quite understood.

Why wouldn’t they?

Now, hearing the minister speak in almost the exact same way, it finally clicked.

3/5

Of course. Men like that know exactly where the line is… and how not to cross it.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify