It's a good thing you had warned me before

Chapter 28

"Thanks, it's my only redeeming quality." Adrian said, smiling modestly.

Women's intuition told me that Zelda was intrigued by Adrian. It was no surprise, as in addition to being strikingly good looing, Adrian somehow exuded an exotic style. As I just entered the lounge with him, I noticed a lot of girls staring at him in interest.

Jacob came over with our drinks.

Zelda raised hers and said, "Let's toast Aiden for his great achievement."

Cheers! We clinked our glasses together.

"Bro, how do you reckon the King will reward you this time?" teased Jacob.

"There's no reward without a result." I replied with a rueful smile, stealing a glance at Zelda to see her reaction.

"I hear the King has had Paul arrested. Paul is certainly shameless enough to do such things. I also heard that Paul had plotted to assassinate the King - he deserves to die!" proclaimed Zelda in judgment.

She took a sip of her wine and asked me, "Did you find anyone else besides Paul?"

"Actually, it's not a closed case quite yet, mainly because Paul refuses point blank to confess to any wrongdoing" I replied, failing to disguise my exasperation.

"Don't worry, the King is bound to reward you sooner or later," Jacob reassured me.

"Adrian, when is Princess Alaska going to announce her engagement to His Majesty? Can you give us some gossip?" Zelda probed my companion.

"I'm not really sure about that, but it looks like they're getting along really well," Adrian replied.

His words caused me to feel a pain in my heart, and I took a quick gulp of wine calm myself down.

None of us had been to Chichimeca Kingdom, so we were curious to ask Adrian lots of questions about life there.

Adrian was very happy to tell us a lot of interesting stories about his hometown, and said graciously, "You are all my friends, if you have a chance to visit me in my hometown, I would love to be your personal guide."

We toasted him for his kindness.

Jacob soon stood up and gesture as if he were smoking: " Guys, would you excuse me?"

"Don't be too long!" Zelda glared at Jacob, as if to remind him not to get into trouble.

"Of course, dear." Jacob smiled at her and left us.

Once Jacob was out of sight, Zelda leaned forwards towards Adrian, who was sitting across the table from her, revealing her deep cleavage, and she asked in an alluring voice, "Adrian, you're so handsome, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Not at the moment, I'm afraid. I broke up with my ex-girlfriend six months ago and just want to enjoy life for a while now," Adrian answered matter-of-factly.

Zelda seemed satisfied with this answer and started to probe for more details: what he did in his spare time, what food he liked, and all sorts of personal questions, totally ignoring my presence.

I could sense that Zelda's eyes were full of lust, almost as if she wanted to swallow Adrian up in one bite. I felt like a third wheel, so I politely made my excuses and left for the bathroom.

By the time I returned, Jacob was also back, and it seemed that this time he had indeed just gone for a smoke.

I looked at Jacob and Adrian. I had always thought that Jacob was handsome and charming, but maybe because of his lifestyle of late, he now looked pale and listless, in direct contrast to the sunny and energetic Adrian beside him.

And if Alaska got married to Theo, Adrian could be our Luna's brother; no wonder Zelda might now view Adrian with interest.

We drank and talked until midnight, and I then drove Adrian back to his hotel.

On the journey back, I jokingly asked, "Adrian, I see Zelda has taken quite a shine to you."

"I felt that too. When you went to the bathroom, she asked me for my cell phone number. Charming as she is, though, she's not my cup of tea, and besides, she's engaged." It seemed that Adrian was one of the good guys.

I took on a serious tone and advised Adrian, "Then you have to be careful. I know that Jacob can be very jealous, and one time I heard that just because Zelda had taken another boy for a coffee, Jacob had him beaten up. If he finds out that Zelda likes you, you could be in big trouble."

Adrian grinned disbelievingly at this thought.

When I finally got home, I concluded that although I had lived with Zelda for all of nineteen years, I still didn't know her at all.

I thought about the time she had got those three gigolos to set me up, and this time she was trying to seduce Adrian. I would have to delve into personal life and see what I more could find out about her.

The following weekend, I had just arrived home from the gym when I got a call from Adrian on my cell phone, "Aiden, come quickly! Please help me." He spoke in a low but urgent voice, and I heard the sound of water in the background.

"What's wrong with you? Where are you?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm in Zelda's bathroom. To cut a long story short, Zelda called me this morning and said she wanted me to come to her apartment so that she could introduce me to a girlfriend of hers, and she mentioned that Jacob was there with her, so I guessed that was OK. "

He gasped and continued, "But when I arrived, I realised that she was the only one there, and according to Zelda the others hadn't arrived yet. Then Zelda suddenly said she didn't feel well and asked me to help her get to her bedroom, but when we arrived she started undressing and tried to kiss me. I made an excuse and said I should take a shower first, and I'm now calling you from the bathroom. "

I was taken aback Zelda's lack of shame, but I then realised that it was just the chance for me to drive a wedge between Jacob and her.

I left home to drive to Zelda's apartment, and called Jacob as I was on the way, "Jacob, get over to Zelda's apartment now, I heard she's not feeling well."

"What? How do you know?" Jacob asked worriedly.

"I just happened to call her about another matter, and she sounded weak and hung up suddenly. You'd better go and check it out. I'm on my way to her house right now," I advised, feigning concern.

"Thank you, Bro, I'll be right there." Jacob had no reason to disbelieve me.

When I arrived at Zelda's apartment block, I saw that Jacob's car had already.

He gasped hurriedly to me, "Come with me now!"

We took the elevator to Zelda's floor, and rather than ring the doorbell, Jacob opened the door with his key. This was a stroke of luck as I didn't think Zelda would open the door if we rang the doorbell!

It seemed that Zelda didn't notice the door opening, and as we approached the bedroom door, we heard Zelda's voice from inside, "Sweetie, why are you taking so long in the bathroom? I can't wait much longer!"

I could see the realisation on Jacob's face, and angrily he kicked the bedroom door open.

When we entered the bedroom, we Zelda lying expectantly on the bed, wearing a silky nightgown.

"What are you doing here?" she stammered as she was petrified to see Jacob and me entering.

"I thought you were sick, but I never guessed you'd be cheating on me," Jacob snapped at her.

"Believe me, honey, I was forced to do it." Zelda looked pitiful and cried as she spoke.

Next thing, the bathroom door opened and Adrian came out. Before Adrian had a chance to explain, Jacob swung his fist at him and cursed, "Boy, how dare you try to seduce my fiancée."

Adrian used me as a shield and protested, "I'm innocent, I have a recording to prove it."

I grabbed Jacob by the arm, "Calm down, mate, give Adrian a chance to explain first."

Jacob grunted and waited.

Adrian explained to Jacob just as he had said to me when he called me. Fearing that Jacob wouldn't believe him, Adrian added, "I still have the recording here to prove she was coming on to me."

Adrian turned on the recording, and Zelda's flirtatious voice emanated from the phone, "I was fascinated by you the first time I saw you .... Don't you think I'm beautiful enough? ...Don't be embarrassed, there's no one here to see us."

I blushed as I listened to the recording. Jacob huffed angrily and approached to Zelda: Snap! Snap! He slapped Zelda twice in the face and cursed, "You bitch, I'll deal with you properly later!" before storming out.

When I looked at Zelda's face glowing with five red fingerprints and a bleeding nose, I really wanted to go and give her a slap myself as well.

But I restrained my instincts and said coldly, "How dare you humiliate our honoured guest, I will report this matter to Princess Alaska."

Zelda looked horrified and pleaded, "It's not what you think..."

I didn't want to listen to this drama queen's nonsense, and I instead led Adrian away with me.

Adrian expressed his lingering fears to me when he was in the car. "It's a good thing you had warned me before, so I played it safe and recorded today's events, or maybe this woman would have lied and said I seduced her."

"Absolutely, you did a great job today, " I said approvingly, then I changed the subject, "But I think you should stay at the palace so don't get into trouble again. how about you come back when I close this case?" To be honest, I didn't want him following me around all the time.

Adrian's smile, which had just been complimented by me, froze instantly and he nodded reluctantly, "Okay."

I dropped Adrian off at home and called Jacob, as I needed to add fuel to the fire.

When I caught up with Jacob, he was sitting alone in a bar with a stiff drink.

I tried to comfort him, "Bro, don't get mad, this kind of woman isn't worth it."

Jacob picked up his bottle and took a large swig, then put it down heavily on the table and angrily told me, "This bitch, she's always telling me what to do, and I've been fucking dissatisfied with her for a long time. Now she's cheating on me and humiliating me!"

I put on a surprised expression: "I thought she looked very genteel and nice, but she turned out to be overbearing and unfaithful. You've dodged a bullet with this one, and you'd be best to should break off your engagement with her."

Jacob finished the rest of his drink and sighed, "If only it were that easy, I have to marry her, there is no way back for me."

He was clearly not telling me the full story, even when he was drunk. I was disappointed, but I resolved to think of some other way to destroy Jacob's and Zelda's relationship.

But soon came the terrible news that Paul had been killed in prison.