Chapter 16 The Princes Interrogation
His grip on my wrist wasn't just tight, but it was bruising.
It forced the wet, sticky fabric of my sleeve against my skin, and it stung.
To make it worse, his black leather glove was soaking up the rose wine from my arm.
The sour, fermented grape smell was expanding between us, ruining the clean air of the corridor.
I took a short breath, holding back the urge to wince from the sudden yank.
"My dress is ruined enough for today, Your Highness," I said, my voice deadpan. "Please don't add a torn sleeve to the list."
Didier didn't let go. His blue eyes glared down at me, full of demands, like he had every right to inspect my every breath. "Don't play games with me, Ilse. What are you and Gisella planning?"
I didn't answer. I just looked down. I stared right at his hand, locking my wrist.
I didn't fight back, and I didn't put on a pathetic, pleading face.
I just stared at his leather glove until the silence got awkward enough for him to realize he was pinning a noblewoman down in a deserted hallway.
Realizing where I was looking, Didier finally yanked his hand back, looking stiff.
The second I was free, I took a step back to fix my posture. I smoothed the wrinkled grey sleeve where he'd grabbed me. I took my sweet time, letting the Crown Prince stand there, waiting in the dim light of the wall sconces.
"Cornering a lady in an empty hallway without an escort," I said, looking him dead in the eye.
"I didn't know inner palace etiquette allowed the Crown Prince to act like a common thug."
Didier's face went rigid. His jaw clenched, irritation visibly ticking near his temple.
"You're lecturing me on etiquette? After all the crap you and Gisella have pulled?"
He took a step forward, crowding me, using his height to trap me completely in his shadow.
"You think I'm blind, Ilse? I know what you are," he hissed, his voice low and biting.
"Gisella hate Lysandra because she gets the attention both of you never could. That servant... you or Gisella paid him off, didn't you? You staged that little accident just to play the heroes in front of my mother!"
I almost snorted. Seriously. What a textbook egoist.
His entire world revolved around a black-and-white narrative where his little saint was the ultimate victim and we were just monsters with nothing better to do than mess with her.
He had no clue. If I hadn't moved two seconds faster, he'd be busy wringing out his lover's wet dress tonight.
"If I wanted to hurt Lady Lysandra, Your Highness," I said, crossing my arms against the sudden chill. "I wouldn't be stupid enough to sacrifice an expensive Madame Laurent dress just to catch a splash of wine."
"Then what was it for?!" Didier snapped. His patience was completely shot because he wasn't getting the fear or the screaming reaction he wanted. "Why did you put yourself in front of her? Tell me!"
Watching him lose his cool actually made me calmer. Screaming back at a raging idiot is a rookie mistake. I stared into his sea-blue eyes without blinking once. I watched the confidence on his face start to crack under my silence, and I enjoyed it.
"I was protecting the reputation of the Mercer engagement, Your Highness," I said, keeping my pace painfully slow, letting every syllable sink in. "Something you seem to have completely forgotten to do."
Didier flinched. His next step froze right on the marble floor.
"What did you say?" he choked out.
"You're the Crown Prince, and Lady Gisella is your official fiancée chosen by the Emperor himself," I said, taking a step closer until he could smell the sour wine on me.
"But this afternoon, in front of every single aristocrat, your eyes were glued to a temple servant's back. You were even ready to humiliate your own fiancée at the gate based on nothing but rumors."
I tilted my head. A single drop of wine fell from my hair and landed right on his polished leather boot.
"If a scene had happened, everyone at that party would know you care more about a common girl than your own mother's dignity. My move... was to make sure you didn't look like an ungrateful boy who forgot his duties in front of his people."
I finished the sentence with a cold, formal, empty smile.
Didier was speechless. He know completely incapable of throwing an argument back at me. He just stood there in the shadows of the hallway, gaping like an idiot. His entire logic and royal pride had just been ripped apart by the girl he thought didn't have a brain.