Chapter 122: Choosing You
The afternoon light stretched across the wooden table. Maren sat with the king’s letter open in front of her, reading it carefully for the third ti.
Austin stood by the window with his arms crossed while Alina sat beside Maren, her hands folded tightly in her lap.
"The king ntions ’foreign origins,’ but he doesn’t na Arcasedia. It ans he doesn’t know the whole truth yet," Maren said.
Alina let out a slow breath.
"Looks like Audrey is keeping that information to herself for a while," Alina said. "It gives us so ti."
"Yes," Maren replied. "But when his investigators start digging on their own and discover the truth before we control the story, it will look like we betrayed the king."
Austin turned from the window and looked at them.
"What are our options?" he asked.
"We have two," Maren replied. "We need to build a strong case against Audrey to make her look vindictive and dangerous. And we need to prepare to reveal Alina’s heritage ourselves, on our own terms. We need to fra it as a discovery we made recently, not sothing we hid."
Alina looked between them.
"Revealing it ourselves is risky."
"It is," Maren agreed. "But the alternative is worse. If the king finds out from soone else, especially Audrey, he’ll see it as deception. We need to be the ones who tell him."
Austin walked over and rested his hand on Alina’s shoulder.
"I agree with Maren. We need to attack Audrey’s credibility while preparing our own story."
Alina reached up and covered his hand with hers.
"And if it still goes wrong?"
"Then we’ll have to deal with consequences together," he almost smiled.
Maren watched them for a mont, then nodded.
"I’ll start preparing the docunts. We don’t have much ti."
Later that afternoon, Austin found Alina standing alone near the lavender wall in the east garden, after finishing with the sewing circle.
Without saying anything, he took her hand and led her towards a patch of sunlight. A blanket was already spread on the grass with a basket of food he had brought from the kitchen.
"You planned this?" A big smile spread across her face.
"Poorly," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "But yes."
They sat and he pulled out two cheesecakes from the basket.
"Evelyn caught
sneaking out with these. She told
not to co back without feeding you properly."
Alina smiled and took one of the cheesecakes.
"I didn’t expect you to be so bad at sneaking."
"I’m good at sneaking," he defended himself. "It’s just..."
Suddenly, Harwick appeared and jumped straight into Austin’s lap, purring loudly.
Alina laughed softly.
"There he is. Your secret responsibility."
Austin sighed and scratched his ears.
"He thinks I’m his servant. Because I bring him food," he laughed.
Alina cut off a small piece of cheesecake and offered it to Harwick. He ate it as if he hadn’t eaten in years, then rolled onto his back for belly rubs.
"You look tired," he said, watching her.
"I am," she sighed. "But I’m better now. Just... sitting here with you and a demanding cat."
He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.
"We don’t have to talk about the king or the letters or right now. We can just eat and let Harwick think he owns us."
"I’d like that," she replied and rested her head against his shoulder.
They sat in the warm sun for a long ti, sharing food, teasing each other about Harwick’s royal attitude, and stealing small kisses between bites. For a little while, the two-week deadline felt far away.
But by the evening, the weight of the day finally pressed down on Austin. He stood by his room window, looking out into the darkening courtyard.
Alina watched him from the bed. She could see the storm he tried so hard to hide. She stood up and walked over to him.
"Talk to ."
He hesitated but then spoke.
"I knew the cost of choosing you," he began. "I knew it could cost
the duchy, my standing, and everything my family built. But realizing it could actually happen now... it feels heavier than I expected."
He turned to her, looking troubled.
"I keep thinking about my father," he added. "About what he did to my mother. He loved her once and still destroyed her. I’m afraid...that my choices will make you suffer."
Alina stepped closer and took his hands in hers.
"You didn’t make those choices alone."
"But still I made them."
"Austin...are you going to keep choosing ?"
The question was simple. He looked at her as if she had said sothing that moved sothing inside him.
"Yes," he replied. "No matter what."
Alina smiled.
"Then that’s enough."
He pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly, because that answer was enough for him as well.
Later that night, the room was quiet except for the soft scratch of Austin’s quill at his desk. He was working on plans for the journey to the capital. Alina sat on the bed, nding a dress for one of the sewing circle won when she pricked her finger.
She made a small sound and sucked her finger imdiately to stop the bleeding.
Austin was already on his feet.
"It’s nothing," she said.
He ignored her words and crouched in front of her, taking her hand. He examined the cut with his full attention, then reached across to the table for his handkerchief and wrapped it carefully around her finger.
"It’s just a cut," she muttered.
"Hold still."
She obeyed. He tied the cloth but didn’t let go of her hand right away. He brushed his thumb over the edge of the handkerchief, checking it. Then he slowly turned her hand over and kissed her palm.
"How long have you been working on this?" he asked, looking up at her.
"For two days now."
"That’s a long ti."
"This stitching is difficult," she replied.
"Then I’ll sit with you while you finish it."
"Don’t you have work?"
"It can wait."
"Austin... "
"Alina," he said her na in a way that left no room for argunt. "Let
sit with you."
She looked at him for another mont. Then she moved a little, making room for him, and picked up the needle again.
He sat beside her with his shoulder brushing hers. Neither of them spoke for a while. She worked, feeling his presence beside her warm and steady.
Then, suddenly, she turned and kissed him. It was a simple kiss, as if she had wanted to do it for a while and had finally decided it was the right ti.
He froze for a fraction of a second, then kissed her back without any urgency or hesitation. Her fingers curled into his sleeve, and his hand rose to her cheek, holding her there as if anchoring himself.
"You do that a lot now," he murmured, as they pulled apart, their foreheads resting against each other.
She smiled.
"You don’t seem to mind."
"I don’t."
And then he kissed her again, even slower this ti, like he had nowhere else to be.
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