Chapter 259 - 260: A prince?
"And wait, wait, wait—before you start boasting and saying whatever else you rehearse in front of a mirror—I don’t give a fuck about you or your feelings," Isabella said, her voice cutting through the air like the crack of lightning against dry bark.
The words struck the courtyard like a storm.
Everyone gasped.
Like, visibly gasped. One of the guards actually clutched his chest. Another choked on his dried meat. The servant girls behind Garan blinked, stiffening like their backs had turned to stone. Even Glimora flinched with a soft squeak, though she quickly blinked up at Isabella, as if silently asking, Did you mean to be that savage?
Whispers erupted almost instantly, little rivers of shocked chatter:
"Did she just—?"
"She said it just like that?"
"No sugar. No leaf-wrapping. Just—bam."
Garan looked like he’d been slapped with a mud-cake right across his pretty face. His jaw twitched, his smile wobbling as he tried to hold it in place, but it was obvious something inside him had cracked just a little.
"What?" he said, blinking too quickly, voice trying to stay amused—but that smile didn’t quite reach his eyes anymore.
Isabella didn’t even spare him sympathy. She casually adjusted Glimora in her arms like she was readjusting a fur scarf, already halfway bored with the conversation. "And I also don’t have time for all this. I have important things to get to. So, please—no."
And with that, she turned on her heel like a queen dismissing a jester. The guards behind her—still slightly stunned—fumbled into action, parting like the tide to create a respectful path for her to walk through.