Chapter 316

316 The Kidnapping Of The Orphans

Selma Payne’s POV:

The newly appointed Rhode obviously couldn’t be as idle as before. He had to transfer government affairs from the temporary ruling council quickly. At the same time, he faced doubts from the outside world and internal obstacles, which made him so busy that he even slept in the office for a few days, let alone spend time with my adoptive parents.

I wanted to help him, but the Lycan pack had always not interfered with the internal affairs of other packs. A decision without consideration would send a wrong signal to the outside world, so I had no choice but to stand by and even reduce my contact with Rhode.

However, even if I couldn’t interfere on the surface, it was still very easy to give some help in the dark. Under my instructions, Emma became the middleman between Rhode and me. Their personal relationship also developed smoothly under my tacit approval. More than once, Jordin complained to me that Emma was missing, Dorothy was addicted to collecting specimens, and she couldn’t find anyone to hang out with.

After the election, I had nothing to do. Every day, I would travel with my parents, be intimate with Aldrich, or go shopping with the girls. My days were very leisurely.

Unknowingly, the honeymoon trip was about to end, and the day of departure was about to arrive. Teresa came back before I left and brought me some special products from the Silver Moon Pack and a rumor circulating there.

The wanderers seemed to have become rampant again. They attacked a few smaller packs. Although they didn’t suffer any major losses, many children were taken away, especially from the orphanages in the disaster area.

I was shocked. “They just took the child away in broad daylight? No one stopped them?”

“Of course,” Teresa said helplessly. “But the wanderers only choose the poor and weak. Those places don’t have enough security, and charity organizations like orphanages don’t have much defense. In addition, they also attacked banks, shopping malls, and other places to hide. The local government was busy protecting the money bag, so who would remember the orphanage?”

“This is too much! What do those Alphas usually do? Isn’t the children more important than anything else?”

“That’s true, but in the face of real gold and silver and ‘burdens’ who have no parents, how can human nature stand the test?”

I naturally understood this logic. I was angry but also helpless. The smaller packs were poor, and without banks, shopping malls, and other such places, the financial situation would only worsen. The disappearance of the orphans was much easier to deal with. If the news were suppressed, no one would remember this after two to three months.

This was the cold reality of politics. I hated it, I hated it, and I wanted to change it.

“Didn’t those packs report the situation? I didn’t hear anything before.”

I’d been in contact with my parents every day. If the royal family knew about this, they’d tell me.

“Or I’ll say it’s a ‘rumor’. You know that my family’s business is doing well. I heard this from the pack’s merchant, who was attacked.” Teresa said mysteriously, “No one wants to take responsibility for this. We’ll hide it as long as we can.”

This group of damn politicians! They could not rescue the missing orphans but hid this matter from us. If the rescue time were delayed, the children would be in danger!

After she left, I immediately contacted my parents and told them about the wanderers’ attack on the pack and the kidnapping of the children.

To my surprise, they had also received the news, although not much earlier than me. Those few Alphas didn’t have much ability, but they were very skilled in deceiving and lying. Even the royal spies were deceived and blocked from the truth.

“So far, ninety-four children have been confirmed to be missing. They are from the Yellow Leaf, Flood, and Saber Tooth Packs. These packs are all close to the border and are poor and weak. After the wanderers kidnapped the orphans, they fled into the elf forest and disappeared without a trace.”

My father said in a deep voice, “The elf race has always been isolated from the world. There will be great obstacles in our negotiations with them. They will most likely refuse to let us enter the elf forest to search.

“Can’t we ask the elves to help us with the pursuit? A group of extremely vicious criminals has escaped into their territory. With the proud nature of elves, they can’t tolerate this, right?”

“That’s true, but I can’t guarantee anything. There have been cases of criminals escaping into the elf forest before. Sometimes, the elves would capture the criminals, but sometimes, they would let them do whatever they wanted. As long as they don’t harm the interests of the elves, the elves would pretend that they didn’t see anything.”

Personally, I had a little prejudice against the elves. For thousands of years, the race that had always claimed to be kind, reclusive, and peace-loving was the proudest.

When their people were hurt, no matter who did it, they would make a statement to condemn all races indiscriminately, as if the whole world had wronged them. When others needed their help, they would pretend to be invisible.

I didn’t want to put it too harshly, but how much of their isolation was because they were ‘reclusive’, and how much was it because the other races were unwilling to pay attention to them?