“Dahlia…” Bradon I murmured his name softly while I felt myself being sucked into the depths of his blue eyes. It was already too late by the time that I realized that I shouldn't have teased him, the look in his eyes told me that I had to pay the price and deal with the consequences of my provocative actions. I didn't have time to brace myself when his lips captured mine in an aggressive kiss. His lips felt soft and warm as they began moving against mine. His arms moved to circle my waist before he pulled me roughly against him. I could feel the hard lines of his body against mine along with his body heat. His familiar scent surrounded me as his taste filled my lips when he suddenly thrusted his tongue inside my mouth. I could feel the heat of his kiss and the intensity of his desire as his tongue moved fervently against mine in a passionate dance. I made small whimpering sounds in my throat as his hands began stroking the small of my back. I could no longer hold back and began moa
The celebration held in the evening ended with a spectacular display of fireworks. Despite the budget cut, it seemed that Desmond was kind enough to ensure that there would be firework displays in many major cities across the country so that everyone could feel the celebratory vibe of his coronation. I personally thought it was a good choice that he decided to cut down on the decoration and the flowers while also shortening the celebration from a whole seven days to only three.“The fireworks look like flowers…” I murmured to myself as I kept on staring upwards into the sky. The fireworks decorated the sky like large flowers blooming in a dark field. Its vibrant colors sparkling and dancing as if it were alive. I felt Bradon’s arm tightened around my waist as he pulled me closer. When I looked up at his face, I thought that he looked quite concerned as if he was worrying about something important. Unlike the other people around us, Bradon didn't seem to be enjoying even a speck of th
He's so pissed off…Bradon must have realized that Desmond wanted to talk to us and that was why he made me promise to return home with him. Although I fully intended to keep that promise, I also wanted to live up to the deal that I made with Desmond to support him and his plan. Now that he was king, it was my turn to act out my part, and I needed to know the details of what he expected of me.“Please?” I said pleadingly as I pulled on Bradon's arm. With a displeased look on his face, Bradon decided to sit back down next to me. “We're listening,” I turned to tell Desmond to urge him to explain his plan to us.Apart from the fact that I had to be back in the country to act as his girlfriend, I was certain that there was a more meaningful reason behind Desmond's urgency to return me to the country.“As I was telling you before, I need your help to direct everyone's attention away from me. Then I also thought that as the new king, I need a way for everyone to remember my ascension to
**A Few Years Before**“We should head down now or we’re going to be late for the event…”I said while I struggled to catch my breath. “Already?” he murmured close to my ear. Despite just ending a very passionate round of lovemaking, I could tell that Desmond was eager for even more. It had become almost customary for us to make love before he would attend to any official duties. At least the event was being held at a hotel and that meant that we could do it in comfort on the bed in the hotel room while we were supposed to be preparing for our appearance at the event. Desmond held me in his arms as he hugged me from behind before placing a kiss against my naked back. “We have to go…” I reminded him again as I tried my best to pull up the straps of my dress up my shoulders. “Let's go for another round, Dahlia…” he suggested as his hand moved downwards to caress my bare thighs suggestively.His hand skillfully slipped under my dress before he began teasing the wet mess in between my
Despite how precarious my situation had gotten as each day passed, my parents had no problem abusing the fact that the prince favored me. My connection with the prince was abused in every way possible by my parents whether it be simple boasting at parties and gatherings all the way to manipulating results of business deals. Everything escalated and combined together until my situation was beyond repair and decisive action had to be taken. The day when everything came crashing down, I was allowed to meet the prince one last time so that we could say our ‘goodbyes’. Apparently that was how the king was willing to show his mercy; however, I was certain that Desmond had to pay a heavy price just to see me one last time before I needed to leave the country for good. Despite the king’s promise to let us meet, we weren't even able to have any private time together. Desmond evidently looked distressed and that made me feel that he was taking our parting much harder than I was. With three roy
Apparently, the king didn’t go through the trouble of adding me to the blacklist of people who were banned from entering the country and that probably explained why I managed to fly back to take my sister’s place at her wedding based on my parent’s requests. Either that, or they had somehow managed to get permission from the king. Regardless, it didn’t change the fact that the king made my banishment so public that it was news that everyone in the country knew about at that time. Even if I could return to the country, he made sure that it wouldn’t be an easy return for me. The king’s intentions of protecting his only son and the royal family from further scandal was clear. After officially announcing the end of my relationship with Desmond and my ties to the royal family and this country, we reached an agreement that I would never return to the country. Everything was supposed to end at just that, until Desmond’s genius idea to bring me back. Clearly, all the official announcements t
Just as I was about to answer the question, a voice shouted loudly and drew the attention of everybody including myself.“You homewrecker!!!”I could not pinpoint who was the one who had yelled that out in the large crowd. Right after, other people started yelling out similar accusations. “How dare you come back here?!” “Shameless woman!”“Homewrecker!”I had no idea who in the crowd had accused me of being a homewrecker but those words almost made me break out in a smile. There were just too many people and I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. Soon enough, I figured out that it didn't matter anymore because that was just the very start of what seemed like an unstoppable wave of countless people screaming out similar accusations. A parade of people poured into the airport holding signs as if protesting against my return. Now that I think about it, something like this didn't happen before when I was banished from the country. I wasn't sure how much of these people's fury
“I guess now that Miss Dahlia is back, we can expect to see the three of you together more often,” another reporter said with a smile. With some effort, I managed to keep on smiling although I knew that what everybody was looking forward to was practically impossible. I should have realized that something like this was going to happen the moment that I agreed to play both my sister and myself at the same time . “Are you looking forward to seeing your sister? It has been quite a while since you came to this country," a reporter asked. They had no idea how much I wanted to see my sister. Despite the complications that she had gotten me in, I still felt a longing to see her in person. It had been quite a while since I had last heard from Diana, and I couldn't stop myself from worrying about her while at the same time praying that she was doing well. “Of course, I miss my sister, but it isn’t like we didn't keep in touch. We are very close,” I said before showing them a confident smil
Just thinking that the fool right in front of me dared to say he was in love with my sister, while he couldn't even tell the two of us apart, made my blood boil. It took a lot of effort to repress the urge to reach out and strangle his neck right then and there. I reminded myself that I had a part to play and quite an audience to impress."No... this can't be..." Mr. Malton whispered hoarsely from a distance, stepping even further away from me. I stood up from the table, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back to my side as I glared up into his face."It's actually quite simple to fool you. All I had to do was dress up in my sister's clothes whenever I met you and talk a little more sweetly..." I said, letting out a hysterical laugh. I could still feel everyone's eyes on us as the attention in the room escalated even more than before.Mr. Malton was speechless as he tried to pull his arm away from my grip, but I wasn't about to let him get away so easily."Well, now I guess the secret is
I had no idea how Diana managed to keep the girls silent up until that point so that the news wouldn't spread; however, I knew that it wouldn't be too long before everyone in school knew about this illicit affair. We would be extremely lucky if this news did not spread beyond the school walls. Despite the gravity of the situation, Mr. Malton was already ready to make his retreat."What if they don't believe us? I feel so scared. I don't want to be alone, and I don't want you to leave me," I said pleadingly just to see his reaction."You know that I would never do that. It would just be temporary until everything blows over. I promise that I will never leave you. How could I possibly leave you? I love you so much," he declared his love for me boldly.The more dramatic things became, the more I felt that his act of adoration was completely fake. No matter how many times he claimed to be in love with my sister, it seemed like he couldn't even tell us apart. I wondered what kind of face h
"Leya, you need to help me find a way out of this. Diana simply cannot make this kind of mistake," my sister told me slowly and clearly as she stared directly into my eyes."You're right. You can't afford to make these kinds of mistakes," I agreed solemnly."No one else must find out about this. We have to do something before word gets out because word is definitely going to get out,," my sister stated calmly, and I could tell that she had returned to her calm and collected self."Can't we tell them that they simply misunderstood and that it's not true?" I asked, daring to harbor a little bit of hope."They probably won't believe what we tell them, but they might believe what we show them," Diana replied, and I could tell her mind was made up.Without using any more words, it seemed like an understanding had formed between us, and once again, it felt like it was us against the entire world....**The Next Day**As I pushed open the back door to the building that was supposed to be off
The moment that thought entered my mind, I quickly killed it and pushed it out of my mind as if extinguishing a small flame before it would spread and engulf everything. I told myself that it wouldn’t have to come to that and that we could find another way to figure things out.“Does it matter? Why does it have to matter?” Diana asked, and her tone was cold.My sister’s response quickly snapped me out of my thoughts and back to reality. I narrowed my eyes at her as my irritation started to take over.“It does matter! Have you completely lost your mind? He’s our teacher,” I reminded her as I started to truly lose my head over what my sister had confessed to me.Had I known that the person she had been dating was one of our teachers, I would have definitely stopped her. That was probably the reason why Diana decided to keep it a secret, even from me. In reality, I had my own doubts about whether or not I could have persuaded my sister not to pursue her taboo relationship with Mr. Malton
"I guess he is not someone in this school," I said as I ran my mind through potential candidates who could be my sister's true love."It's a secret," Diana repeated again before pressing her index finger teasingly against her lips."Are you really not going to tell me?" I asked."Honestly, you have no idea just how much I am dying to tell you who he is. But you see, I did promise him to keep it a secret between us... at least for now," Diana said before flashing me a regretful smile."I don't think I will end up liking this guy. He's telling you to keep secrets from me," I replied teasingly."I'll make sure that you're the first one to find out," Diana promised me with a beaming smile."I guess that it's good enough for me that you're happy," I told her honestly."Thank you, Leya. I love you so much. You're probably the only one who truly cares about my happiness," my sister said before pulling me into her embrace.Back then, when I held my sister in my arms and hugged her back tightl
“Shall we?” Bradon asked as he offered me his arm invitingly.“Thank you,” I replied as I smoothly slipped my arm into his.Appearing in front of the public as Diana, with Bradon as my escort as he flawlessly acted out the role of Anthony, drew quite a lot of attention to us. I could tell that Bradon felt restless, even under his calm and collected exterior, and that was probably because he couldn’t wait for this engagement announcement to come to an end. Even though he should have been reassured now that Diana was taking my place at the ceremony, it seemed that nothing could make Bradon completely feel at ease given the situation.“I sincerely hope that they keep it short,” Bradon whispered right into my ear before planting a soft kiss against my temple.I was sure we looked like the perfect loving couple, and perhaps that wasn’t so far from the truth. For the life of me, I had no idea how Diana managed to convince Desmond to let her take my place at the engagement ceremony, but I wa
"So, are you going to get on your hands and knees to beg? How much longer will you keep me waiting?" I asked while pointing my index finger at the empty floor right in front of my feet.If looks could kill, I would have died an extremely painful death, stabbed by the millions of daggers flying out of my father's eyes from the way he was glaring at me. Even when I was clearly his only route of escape from the impending hell that was awaiting him, it was clear that my father felt nothing but hatred for me. I returned his stare with one of my own as I continued pointing to the floor where I wanted them to get on their hands and knees."I'm still waiting. Oh, but if you're not willing, then I'll make sure that some men will escort you out," I said before grinning at them. I could tell that my father was hesitating, and that meant that he was truly considering abandoning whatever pride he had left to get down on his hands and knees to beg for help from his long-abandoned daughter.Time mov
“Dahlia, dear! Please help your dear father!” The head of the Alnault family desperately pleaded for my help. I squinted my eyes at his face as I took in the evident panic and helplessness displayed on his features. I wasn't sure what I was hoping for when I wanted to see him, but his reaction surely surpassed even my wildest expectations. Gone were all of his confidence and arrogance. Perhaps, for the first time in his life, this man was feeling truly hopeless and helpless. “Dahlia! You have to help get us out of this. You need to help our family!”my mother's high-pitched voice begged openly for my help.I glanced in her direction. I wasn't at all surprised to feel absolutely no pity for her. The only question that went through my mind was why these two people were still standing on their feet rather than kneeling in front of me on their knees. My biological father continued begging while giving me countless reasons why I should help him out. However, most of his words were lost to
It was true that I had ample opportunities to tell Bradon about it, but it was also true that bringing it up would ruin the romantic and joyful mood between us and whatever we were in the middle of doing. Bradon came home early and in time for dinner every day, as if it was a change in habit. We spent time together just like regular couples—staying at home, watching movies, taking a dip in the pool, walking together in the garden, and doing many other things just to enjoy each other's company. It felt like we were making up for all the lost time.…**Around a week later**Diana's brewing plan kept me on edge. The secret preparation for the royal engagement announcement was in full swing. As for me, I spent a lot of time mentally preparing myself for what was to come. Each peaceful day that went by felt like the perfect calm before a raging storm. One day, I woke up to find Bradon sitting on the side of the bed, his eyes on me as if he was waiting patiently for me to wake up from my sl