THIRD PERSON’S POV
"What do you think you are doing?" Maverick asked, his harsh voice surprising everyone.
However, Valencia just smiled, tightening her hold inside his coat’s pocket.
"Did you like it?" She tilted her head, and he narrowed his brows at her.
Of course, he liked it, but why did she do it like this? How could she act more romantic than him? As a man, he was supposed to do all these things.
"How can you –?"
"I want to prove my worth to everyone. That I am worthy of your love and affection and everything you do for ," Valencia said.
Her sincere words surprised Maverick. He was about to tell her she didn’t need to prove anything to anyone when a crisp sound echoed.
"That was quite a show, wasn’t it? I see you have great marksmanship, and it’s good to see I can have soone I can really compete with," Dilbar clapped her hands as she walked towards them.
Valencia imdiately knew the princess ant trouble, and her brows knitted.
"Compete?" She asked warily, not liking the sound of where this was going.
"Yes, Miss Valencia. I would like to challenge you to a ga of target shooting. Moving targets this ti," Dilbar said smugly.
Anyone could shoot a ten on a still target after so practice. The moving targets were the real deal.
"I would like to deny," Valencia said.
Her words surprised Dilbar because she really thought Valencia was the kind of girl who takes challenges seriously and doesn’t back off.
"Are you chickening out already?" Dilbar asked, her words full of mockery.
Valencia’s calm expression didn’t change.
"You are a royal princess, Miss Dilbar. I am sure you don’t need to compete with to establish your dominance in the field after being an international awardee. This is just my hobby, and I participated for fun, not to compete," Valencia said.
Prince Ethan, who had other plans, imdiately mind-linked Dilbar, not liking how she changed the course of things, which would delay their plans.
’Dilbar, what are you doing? Don’t you know what we are planning? Stop being wishful all the ti,’ Prince Ethan reminded Dilbar.
However, Dilbar wasn’t going to back off, not when she saw everyone openly saying the girl could give her a competition internationally.
’I know what I am doing, brother. You stay out of it. Our plans will work as we had decided,’ Dilbar said.
"It’s a healthy competition, Miss Valencia. I am sure it won’t hurt," Dilbar persisted.
Valencia nodded.
"Princess Dilbar, my man, is the beast alpha and called the most powerful werewolf to be alive. Have you ever heard Prince Ethan challenging him? He doesn’t do so because he knows that outco, and Alpha Maverick doesn’t because he respects the royalty in his heart," Valencia smiled at Maverick briefly.
She looked back at the princess ticulously before saying,
"I am just following my man’s example. So things and people are better left off undisturbed and unperturbed," Valencia said.
Everyone could see what she was trying to insinuate here.
If Princess Dilbar persisted in competing and lost, she would lose her dignity and beco a laughingstock in society.
Valencia, being the bigger person, was stopping it from happening.
However, it also ant that Valencia was confident that her skills were refined enough to challenge the princess.
What started like a fun ga was starting to beco the deciding factor of respect now.
Everyone waited for the Princess to make her move, wanting to know what she would choose.
Prince Ethan saw the royal’s status in turmoil and huffed exasperatedly.
This was precisely what he didn’t want to happen.
He had interacted with Valencia before, and at that ti, he actually liked her for her skills. But what was more interesting to him was her way of putting things in a way that left the person before her speechless.
She was good with twisting words.
He knew Dilbar would fall into the trap if he didn’t stop her. However, what had been done couldn’t be undone, and as the prince and future king, he needed to step up his ga to protect his sister now.
He looked at his father, who was standing on the second floor and watching the commotion.
He didn’t attend today’s royal ball because of his weak condition, but that didn’t an he wasn’t watching what was going on.
One signal from his father was enough for him to understand what he needed to do.
"It’s okay, Miss Valencia. As you said, it’s just a fun ga. Rather than taking this as a competition, why don’t we just take it as participation? My sister is young and quite competitive. It cos with royal blood. I hope you don’t mind," Prince Ethan said, deliberately ntioning royalty.
Valencia scoffed inwardly.
"Does that an you—" Valencia paused when she felt Maverick’s hand tightening around her.
She looked into his eyes and smiled sheepishly when he saw helplessness in his gaze.
He knew exactly what she was going to say. She was about to insult his birth origins right before him while attending the royal ball.
Valencia licked her bottom lip before a blush spread across her cheeks as she realized her running mouth would have created a bigger problem for them. She wasn’t just a rogue anymore.
She was also a council mber and Maverick’s chosen woman.
"Let’s have so fun then, I guess," Valencia quickly relented, and a smirk appeared on Dilbar’s face.
They soon got ready for the so-called ga.
And all the alphas who had been discussing things earlier stepped out of the halls into the backyard to see the ga live.
"Valencia has always been smug about things. Let’s see what she will do now when she is faced with soone even her alpha man can’t afford to offend," Matilda said snarkily.
While Tyler kept looking at the woman who was still confident even with all the gazes on her.
"She knows how to use that very well. Your sister was the leading girl on her team. She has won three national under-teen archery prizes. Have you forgotten about it? She stopped participating because she was deed incapable of representing the pack after she couldn’t find her wolf," Alpha Tyler said.
This was one of the few tis he respected her as a genuine human rather than going after her because she had powerful birth origins.
Seeing her soon-to-be husband siding with her sister, Matilda felt a deep pang in her heart which was followed by a sudden pain in her abdon, a clear indication that her child was suffering because of her ever-changing emotions.
She promised herself she would make Valencia pay tenfold for all the pain she and her child were going through.
"Do you think I will do good?" Valencia asked, her voice soft yet loud enough for everyone to hear as she looked at Alpha Maverick earnestly.
Maverick smiled at her, tucking a strand of her lock behind her ears before looking at her face affectionately.
"It doesn’t matter. In my eyes, you are the only winner. You can lose everything here, and you will still be a winner in my heart," Maverick said.
Valencia narrowed her eyes.
"Are you trying to say you don’t have much confidence in ? Why are you comforting even before the ga started?" She asked.
Maverick looked at her helplessly before suppressing the urge to bite her neck before everyone.
"Do you want to calm down a little before starting?" He asked.
Valencia understood what he was trying to insinuate, and her cheeks turned red.
She wanted to. She didn’t think much about why she felt weird, but now that Maverick indicated, she felt like she needed it too.
However, it was impossible before everyone.
She sighed dejectedly, glaring at Maverick for picking her desire for his blood in a place like this.
"You can have it once you do well," Maverick said.
The competition started with still boards before shifting to moving boards, and surprisingly, both won scored all tens.
They were competing neck to neck.
Since these boards couldn’t decide, Dilbar threw the targets in the air, and they were supposed to hit them with their arrows.
For Valencia, who was used to hitting rogues with her brows and arrows while sitting on a horse, things were so complex that she shot the target and threw it into the sky.
Her talent surprised everyone but Dylan, who already knew how good she was at this.
And why not? Bows and arrows were supposed to be her primary weapon when fighting the devil, too.
Valencia went for the second shot.
She quickly shot the target and could barely recollect her form when she saw sothing shining in the forests at so distance, and her hand trembled.
Soone was aiming a blade at her.
She quickly did a sumrsault to protect herself from the blade that went past her, surprising everyone before she shot another arrow straight into the forest.
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