Prince made some changes in his plan, and directly went inside the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was noisy a moment before he entered, but went silent afterwards.
Juniors slightly bowed to him as he walked past them.
A few of them whispered behind cupped hands the second his back was turned, no doubt trading the same rumors he’d overheard that morning.
Prince didn’t bother correcting any of it.
He booked the last table all for himself in the corner of the cafeteria.
The cafeteria wall beside his table was made entirely of glass, so anyone inside could see out and anyone outside could see in, without any trouble.
And that’s how Elisha found him, sitting on the table alone, and came to the cafeteria to join her fiance.
She sat in front of him, her long dark-violet hair neatly tied up.
"Lord Prince, I’m sad about what happened in the dungeon after hearing the news from the Coordinators. Are you okay?"
’Why is even she caring about? She is in Class C as Kale, I know they had already planned this.’ he thought.
"Yes, I’m all okay, you can go now."
She stood up, her right knee on the table, as she leaned toward him, her hand grazing his chest. "But I can’t let go of those rumours spreading around."
"Rumours?" he repeated.
She was too close now, he could feel her warm breath. "Yes, whom are you seeing when I’m your girlfriend and your only fiancé?"
’This damn girl sure knows exactly how to seduce a man.’
In his past life, this exact move had worked flawlessly.
He’d fallen for it once, but not this time around.
He kept his poker face, refusing to give her even a flicker of the reaction she was fishing for.
He quickly turned his head towards the glass wall.
As he turned, he met her blue gaze, her long silver-white hair, streaked with soft blue, caught in the wind outside.
She was Snow. Her gaze turned annoyed the instant she saw his face.
Behind the glass, she could see Elisha too, leaning halfway across the table like she owned the room.
She didn’t care much for royalty to begin with, but watching royalty having fun boiled her blood.
"Ahh for hell’s sake, why is he following me around?" Snow muttered.
He gestured for Snow to come inside the cafeteria, because there was no chance for his voice to cross the glass wall.
She couldn’t refuse, because there were so many people watching them.
"Why do you keep ignoring me, Lord Prince?" Elisha asked.
"Elisha, please maintain your status. Everyone’s watching us." He replied.
Elisha didn’t budge, if anything, having an audience only seemed to embolden her further, her hand creeping an inch closer to his on the table.
"Ahem!" Snow coughed, she was now inside the cafeteria, where they were.
"So what?" Elisha quietly backed off, and sat neatly on the chair. "Aren’t you Snow Quen?" she asked.
"That’s correct, by the way, why did Lord Prince call me, a fallen noble, here?" she replied.
"Are the rumours of you and Lord Prince being girlfriend and boyfriend true?" Elisha narrowed her eyes.
"Huh—"
"Yes. They are true, hundred percent." Prince cut in.
Snow shot a deadly glance at him. "What are you saying Lord Prince?"
Elisha slammed her hands hard against the table, and stood up, with a twisted expression on her face.
"That’s enough, Prince! I’m your girlfriend! How could you cheat on me?"
Prince knew exactly what she was doing, seducing him now so that, on their wedding day, they could frame him as the villain in front of the world and put a bounty on his head.
Although her plan to make Prince fall for her seemed to fail as another girl walked straight into the middle of it.
"Don’t make such a fuss. You may leave now, Elisha." Prince replied calmly.
"This bitch." Elisha muttered under her breath as she made her leave from the cafeteria.
Before she reached the door, she shot one last glance back directly at Snow.
It lasted only a second, and there was definitely nothing friendly in it.
Whatever she and Kale had planned, he’d just handed them a reason to move faster.
Prince filed the look away for later. Right now, he had a different fire to put out.
Snow was still there. She now turned to him, and asked, "first of all, I’m not Lord Prince’s girlfriend, and why did you lie to your real girlfriend?"
He asked her to sit first.
"Snow Quen, I can add one more ’e’ in your last name, and make it true, if you want."
He said it to tease her, but his intentions might not be fake at all.
"The hell is wrong with this royal ass?" she muttered.
Prince thought his words would make her face go red, but instead of that she continued staring at him coldly.
"Haha! Let’s be friends first, okay? Everything starts from the basics, right?" He covered up for himself.
"I still haven’t got my answers, and there are hundreds of girls Lord Prince can play with, so why did they choose me? You sure know the reason why I hate royalty." she replied.
He’d been teasing her until now, but his expression turned serious.
Sorry for messing around. I know what exactly happened to your father, and I know it all happened because of the current emperor. My father.
He grabbed her hands, which were tapping on the table a moment ago. "But I truly want to retain your family’s dignity."
Snow’s fingers went still under his, the sharp mockery in her eyes gave way to something rawer, something she clearly hadn’t planned on feeling in front of him, of all people.
She didn’t pull her hand away, which said more than she probably meant it to.
"And why would you?" she asked.