Chapter 417: Bound by Suspicion

**Thelma Zane’s POV** When the news of the jailbreak reached me, my reaction wasn’t what one might expect. There was no anger or panic, only a quiet sense of inevitability. It was as if I had been waiting for this moment, a foregone conclusion finally unfolding before my eyes. Locke escaping custody wasn’t surprising. That man had proven time and again that confinement meant little to him. If there was even the smallest crack in the system, Locke would find it and exploit it to slip away. This time, however, there were no monstrous, mutated werewolves to aid him. His escape made one thing clear—there was a traitor in the ranks of the elves. The very notion made my trust in the elves falter. For someone to betray their own people like this, they were either in league with demonic forces or nursing a deep grudge against the elven race. The Elven Capital City reacted swiftly. Martial law was declared, and a city-wide search began immediately. Soldiers combed every street, alle