Is that how she expressed gratitude?
Granted, they were mortal enemies a few minutes ago, but the sheer whiplash of Callista’s character development was enough to give the entire ballroom a collective case of vertigo.
One moment, she was a man-stealing home-wrecker. The next, she was staging a hostile takeover of the villainess’s heart.
"Look," she hissed under her breath, voice barely audible over the sound of aristocratic gasping. "I don’t want to be here any more than you do. Just play along."
"So, you expect me to just forget? To ignore every touch and every scandalous tryst you shared with my fiancé?"
Why were female-oriented romances like this? Since when did the heroine’s primary job description involve being a "side-hoe" that everyone used for emotional target practice?
"I... don’t know what you mean," she laughed, the sound coming out as a strained, awkward trill.
Corvina didn’t back down. Instead, she stepped into Callista’s personal space, her hand snaking around Callista’s waist.
"Fine," She whispered, her breath ghosting against the girl’s ear. "If your memory is as fragile as your reputation, allow me to remind you of your ’innocent’ little hobbies."
1. Purposely "fainting" during Corvina’s engagement toast, ensuring the Prince’s hands were on Callista’s waist while his vows were still hanging in the air.
2. Orchestrating a "chance" encounter in the palace corridors while wearing a negligee that wasn’t so much an outfit as it was a challenge to the Prince’s self-control.
3. Caught sharing a "private prayer" with the Prince behind the rosebushes, where the only thing being worshipped was the proximity of their lips.
4. Using the "accidental" spill of wine to force the Prince to help her out of her bodice in a room that was definitely not a changing area.
5. Dropping a lace cloth soaked in a "Lust-Binding" aphrodisiac, ensuring the Prince spent the night dreaming of her instead of his future Empress.
And my sister called me a mandate for red flags?! Sis, you are playing as the red flag!
The situation was spiraling. She was seconds away from throwing in the silk towel and pleading for a corporate layoff from existence.
"So why give up on him now? Did he finally find another stray to pet behind your back?"
Callista’s brain scrambled for an exit strategy or at least a plausible lie.
"I-It’s not that, my Lady," she stammered, her voice trembling. "I only did those things... to get your attention! You’re the one I’ve wanted all along."
She closed her eyes, offering a silent prayer to any deity listening.
She was a corporate professional, not a player in some toxic, adolescent power struggle by recycling the "rizz" her sister used whenever she got caught two-timing male leads in this game.
It was a desperate, bottom-tier strategy.
[LADY CORVINA FAVORABILITY: ERROR_COMPUTING...]
[NEW TRAIT ACQUIRED: ’SHAMELESS GASLIGHTER’]
Wow, okay.
"Me?" Corvina whispered, her grip on Callista’s waist tightening until it was hard to tell where the corset ended. "You ruined my life... because you were pining for me?"
"Every single scandal," Callista lied through her teeth, "was just a cry for help."
"...You think I’m a fool?"
"Please!" Callista gasped, her dignity currently dissolving faster than a cheap sugar cube in tea. "I’ll do anything."
"Anything, hm?"
Callista was certain she had just signed her own death warrant. She could already see the future: damp dungeons, elaborate torture devices, and a complete lack of high-speed internet.
"Well, well, Your Highness," Corvina chuckled, the sound low and dangerous. "What do we have here? It seems your little stray has developed a taste for a different kind of owner."
"What have you done to her?!" the Prince roared.
To him, there was no other explanation; this wasn’t love, it was a psychological revenge plot orchestrated by the woman he’d just tried to discard.
"I haven’t done a thing," she countered, her voice smooth as silk over a blade. "It simply seems she finds your masculinity as lacking as your loyalty."
The two locked eyes, a heated exchange of glares that could have ignited the very drapes of the ballroom.