Chapter 35

"Look at you sitting there, eating your desert so coyly" she pointed at my clueless face with a toothy grin.

"What on earth are you talking about?" I asked, realising that our relationship has stretched far beyond professional.

"Don't act dumb now" she laughed, "I found out the real reason you want to go back home so badly" she whispered in my ear.

I frowned.

What was she talking about?

I concluded it was some kind of misunderstanding.

"I think you've misunderstood something?"

She sighed, displeased at my genuine confusion.

"My cousin told me all about your relationship with him" I was glad she only spoke loud enough for me to hear because her words sound misunderstanding.

"Don't word it like that!" I replied, cheeks flushing. "He simply offered to help with the business and I accepted. I plan to fully compensate him so you don't need to worry about that" i told her, noticing she didn't stop wiggling her brows once, both impressive and terrifying.

"My cousin isn't the type of man to drop everything and help someone, you know? He's known as a pretty cold business man" she poked a fork into my half-eaten cake and took a bite.

I didn't believe her at all.

"Your cousin has been nothing short of a gentleman? Maybe you don't know him too well?" I replied.

"Oh trust me, young one, I know that bastard all too well. He likes you which works out well for me since I like you too!" She tapped a finger on my nose and chuckled, "maybe someday I'll qualify for a family discount?" She winked just as the sound of glass shattering exploded in the room.

There was a round of gasps and I turned to see the prince's plate covered in glass shards. His fingers moulded in a way that suggested he should be holding a wine glass, but he held nothing. Lady Willow was no longer sitting and had jumped away along with Lady Montgomery, but the prince didn't move. He stared at the shards with a look of distaste.

Had he… crushed a wine glass to pieces? And not just any wine glass… one made with diamonds to make it indestructible.

Silence enveloped the room as servants shuffled to clean the mess, but the prince lifted a hand to halt them. They stopped immediately, looking at him curiously as they watched the way his finger flicked through the air in a pointing motion.

Everyone turned to see where he pointed . I turned aswell, noticing it was close by. My eyes looked to Crystal who looked terrified and I gasped, noticing how everyone stared at her.

He was pointing at Crystal?

"Why don't you clean it, Lady Hart?"

My heart almost seized when I heard his words, venomously coated in an animosity I had never heard from him.

Crystal hadn't moved for a moment. She was petrified as she slowly manoeuvred her gaze to the prince. Even if she hid her shaking hands under the table, I could still see them.

I couldn't let him do this to her.

It would ruin her image.

"Your highness!" I loudly called him, noticing he seemed unsurprised by my words, "allow me to have the honour of cleaning the glass".

I would've normally snorted at how ridiculous those words sounded, but I didn't care if I looked like a fool at that moment. Because if he thought for a moment that he could drag the people I love in this, then he was dead wrong.