The stem was thick, covered in sharp thorns that could easily tear skin. But Crown Prince Elian didn’t care. He lightly touched the velvety petals, his fingertips gently stroking the edge of the flower.
He just touched it with a delicate tenderness, his eyes fixed on the empty road where her carriage had been.
A golden cage is still a cage, her voice echoed in his mind.
Elian let out a low, breathless laugh that sounded entirely hollow, "You think you can fly away so wilfully, Evelina?’’
His fingers traveled down from the soft petals, sliding firmly onto the green stem.
The sharp thorns dug straight into the soft flesh of his palm causing a stinging pain, but his expression didn’t even change. A thin line of blood began to ooze from his palm, staining the green stem a darker shade of red.
He had never wanted anything this badly in his entire life. The realization hit him abruptly along with the pain.
He didn’t just want her partnership; he didn’t just want her mind to run his empire.
He wanted to see her composure break. He wanted to see those steady green eyes filled with tears, looking up at him for rcy. He wanted to own her completely; body, mind, and soul.
And if she wouldn’t give it to him willingly...
Snap.
With a sudden jerk of his wrist, Elian crushed his fist around the stem, snapping the rose completely off the bush.
The thorns tore deeply into his fingers, but he didn’t even flinch. He brought his closed hand up to his face, opening his palm slowly.
The beautiful blood rose was completely ruined, its crimson petals crushed and crumpled into a bloodied ss.
He let the ruined pieces of the flower fall from his hand, watching them drop into the dirt beneath his boots.
"If you will not fly into my cage willingly," Elian whispered to the empty garden, "then I will simply have to clip your wings."
He looked at his blood-stained palm, a slow, terrifying smile spreading across his handso face.
He had tried to be her savior, and she had rejected him.
Fine. He would play a different ga now.
"Let’s see how long your freedom keeps you warm when the whole world turns against you," Elian murmured.
...
The ride back to the Guest Estate was entirely peaceful, a stark contrast to the storm brewing behind the palace walls.
Evelina sat smoothly in the moving carriage, staring out at the bustling Capital streets, quickly putting behind the poisonous air in the palace.
But her mind continued to race through the other important things.
The System was still down, but her ledger accounts were perfectly balanced inside her head. The linen sales had grown by another twelve percent this week alone.
When she arrived back at the guest estate, the clean air was once again replaced by a thick atmosphere... But there was a nervous energy in the air at this mont.
As she walked into the dining hall for lunch, she found the source of the tension imdiately.
Ace was already sitting at the long mahogany table.
The fierce Commander of the North looked perfectly well-grood in his dark military uniform, his silver buttons polished to a high shine.
But the mont Evelina stepped into the room, his entire posture stiffened.
They hadn’t spoken a single word to each other since his drunken fiasco three days ago.
Evelina gracefully took her seat at the opposite end of the table.
She adjusted her napkins calmly, while Ace looked like a man sitting on a pile of active explosives.
He cleared his throat loudly, picking up his fork with entirely too much force.
"You went to the palace," Ace said, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly rumble. He didn’t look at her, instead focusing intensely on his steak as if it had personally insulted him, "Early in the morning."
The way he said it sounded like a grievous wife complaining to her husband about his frequent visits to his mistresses.
"I had so work to deal with," Evelina replied smoothly, taking a delicate sip of her water, "The crown prince has officially liquidated House Snow. The southern trade routes are completely open now."
Ace’s fork paused in mid-air.
He finally lifted his dark eyes to look at her, his brows pulling together in a suspicious frown, "And did the prince not offer you sothing? He is not a man who would work without ulterior motives."
"He offered the entire empire’s trade registry, actually," Evelina nonchalantly said as if she were comnting on the afternoon weather. She sliced a small piece of her food, "He also asked to divorce you and beco the future Crown Princess."
A loud, sharp clink echoed through the dining hall.
Ace had dropped his knife directly onto his silver plate. He bolted upright from his chair, his massive six-foot-four fra casting a massive shadow across the table.
His chest heaved, his eyes flashing with that wild territorial madness.
"He said what?!" Ace roared, his hands clenching into tight fists, "That... sneaky snake! I knew I should have broken his nose through that conservatory glass! I will take my elite guard straight to the palace gates and—"
"I told him no," Evelina cut him off, not even looking up from her plate.
Ace froze instantly. The rage on his face suddenly stalled, replacing itself with a look of utter confusion, then disbelief.
He blinked heavily, his broad shoulders dropping an inch, "You... you told him no?"
"Naturally," Evelina said, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin, "The imperial throne cos with too many regulatory hurdles and tax liabilities. Managing his treasury would make my businesses property of the crown. I prefer to own my profits outright."
She finally raised her steady green eyes to et his wild stare.
A small hint of a mocking smile touched her lips as she added in a lower tone, "The palace is not a good option, not for , not for you either. It doesn’t have a rug sturdy enough for a Duke to throw a tantrum on. And I hear their kitchens are quite terrible at sourcing fluffy chickens."
Ace’s face instantly flushed a shade of fried-shrimp-red.
The mories... clearly rushed back to his sober brain.
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