No One’s Pov
The silence in the grand ballroom was thick enough to suffocate.
Crown Prince Julian’s flawless gentlemanly smile froze entirely on his face, his fingers whitening against his golden goblet as his gaze locked onto the dark couple.
Beside him, Catherine’s jaw dropped in absolute shock, her innocent sapphire eyes widening as her carefully orchestrated victory turned into ash in a single second.
Julian forced his breathing to stabilize, desperately trying to reclaim his gentlemanly mask before the whispering ministers.
He stepped down from the royal dais, his boots clicking sharply against the marble as he dropped his voice into his best gentle-prince register.
“Vivienne, darling,” Julian said, his hand extending slightly as he looked at her structure-heavy gown of deepest obsidian silk.
“What is the meaning of this? You fled the estate in the middle of our engagement feast, and now you return dressed in the colors of mourning? If you are anxious about your responsibilities, you only need to look to me for guidance—”
Before Julian could take another step or touch a single thread of her fabric, Caelum stepped forward.
The Iron Tyrant didn’t say a single word.
He didn’t offer a threat, and he didn’t draw his legendary obsidian broadsword.
His massive frame simply shifted, completely blocking Julian’s path like a colossal stone wall.
A wave of pure, suffocating bloodlust and raw physical heat radiated from Caelum’s tunic, forcing Julian to halt his advance instantly.
The pure, silent dominance in Caelum’s crimson eyes made Julian’s extended hand tremble by a fraction of a millimeter.
Bypassing Caelum’s broad shoulder, Vivienne stepped up to the front, her voice a low, freezing melody that cut cleanly through the quiet chatter of the hall.
“Save your breath, Julian,” Vivienne said, her deadpan, unyielding glare fixing directly onto his pale features.
“I am not anxious. I am thoroughly disgusted.”
“You speak of responsibility,” Vivienne continued, her gaze shifting to the ministers whispering behind their fans.
“Yet everyone in this room already knows about the heavy travel suitcases hidden behind the velvet curtains of the eastern corridor. You didn’t want a fiancée, Julian. You wanted a submissive puppet bride to fund your central garrison expansion with my father’s iron mines. And when I refused to play your puppet, your backup string was already packed and waiting.”
A sharp murmur of shock rippled through the high nobility.
Seeing her invisible orchestration ripped wide open, Catherine’s innocent face twisted in a brief flash of panic before she quickly forced a flood of fake tears into her sapphire eyes.
She ran down from the dais, her white lace dress rustling as she threw herself directly beside Vivienne.
Catherine reached out, her fingers firmly clutching Vivienne’s leather glove, putting on a grand display of a pitiful, weeping maiden.
“Sister! Please, I beg of you, do not say such cruel things in front of the court!” Catherine sobbed, her voice trembling beautifully.
“I only packed those bags to follow you because I was worried! Look at how you have broken our father’s heart today! You are being so unfilial, treating everyone who loves you with such ungrateful brutality!”
Catherine turned her head toward the surrounding ministers, her shoulders shaking with pathetic, fragile movements.
“She left her own imperial fiancé in the middle of the night just to run off and meet another man! Isn’t that outright cheating? Is this how the House of Abernathy raised you, sister?”
Having dropped her venomous accusation, Catherine slowly turned her sapphire eyes toward Caelum, batting her eyelashes to display a pitiful, vulnerable look.
“Your Imperial Highness… my poor sister doesn’t deserve a noble warrior like you. She is deceitful, clumsy, and only uses people for her own selfish gains. If you only knew the truth—”
Vivienne looked down at her half-sister with an expression of pure, unadulterated disgust.
Caelum didn’t even bother to look down at the groveling girl.
His piercing crimson eyes remained locked entirely onto Vivienne’s face, treating Catherine’s pitiful display as if she were nothing more than a piece of dust beneath his leather boots.
Seeing her fake charm entirely ignored by the Tyrant, Catherine’s eyes flashed with a sudden, vicious malice.
She subtly shifted her weight, pretending to lose her balance so she could violently push Vivienne into the marble pillars—a classic maneuver to make it look like Vivienne had aggressively attacked her in public.
But Vivienne was reborn.
She knew every single mechanical step, every shift of weight, and every deceptive habit her half-sister possessed from her past life.
The exact millisecond Catherine lunged forward to execute the push, Vivienne smoothly stepped backward, her body moving with fluid, mechanical precision. You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
Catherine’s hands hit nothing but empty air.
The violent momentum of her own hidden attack carried her forward, her silk slippers losing their grip on the polished marble floor.
“Ah!” Catherine shrieked in genuine, sudden panic.
With a heavy, echoing thud, Catherine crashed face-first onto the cold marble, her pristine white lace dress tearing at the seams as her golden hairpins scattered across the floorboards.
She lay there groveling in her own failure, completely exposed before the entire imperial vanguard.
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A/N = Hello everyone hope y’all doing grate
I just wanted to apologise for my mistake
I unknowingly did, I do forget to read my chapters before publishing, which made some many errors.
The painful part is y’all reading but not telling me I made a mistake ,it kinda hurt though.
Well that’s pass I’m trying to re-edit it , So y’all can enjoy it peacefully and drop your comments and review .
I know ave re written this book countless times but it really ain’t or maybe it’s actually my fault for not being careful at all.
Weekly plan
For those who already read this chapter
I added more scene